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Wet and dry are very different on the gut (even if you managed to match brand and lines together.) Wet food is easier on the stomach and gut as it is closer to their natural prey. Dry food tends to be lower in animal protein, higher in plant protein which will make the stomach less acidic. The trigger to produce stomach acid is animal-based protein. It is probably a difference in amino acid compositions between plant and animal protein. A less acidic stomach also slows down digestion in the small intestine because digestive enzymes and bile release rely on a highly acidic environment. Some dry foods make up for this difference by adding chemicals to make the stomach more acidic. Now you can see where cats can get into trouble eating only dry food. It's not right for their gut and the add-ins/"corrections" can upset their stomach. In the Purina Cat Chow, there is phosphoric acid. Purina will tell you this is a phosphorous supplement but meat should have plenty of phosphorous already. That's another clue that there may not be enough animal-based protein in this food if they have to supplement phosphorous. And phosphorous acid is what it sounds like. It makes the dry food, which is mostly grains according to the top five ingredients, more acidic.Thank you! At this point, with incorporating wet food into her diet, I wanted to be sure she was still getting enough to eat. I'll see if that possibly helps in some weight loss at all just by giving her wet and dry food instead of just dry food like she was originally getting. I'm going to try to space out the dry and wet food instead of around 12 hours apart for both. Maybe give her 1/4 cup of dry and then an hour or two later I'll give her 1/2 can of wet. That may suffice seeing as she does try waking us up really early to be fed.
Fancy Feast does not require acidification. It has enough animal protein to strike the proper pH balance. If it does need additional phosphorous, that is provided by tricalcium phosphate which is the calcium supplement since there is no bone in this (or any cooked/canned food) recipe. This does not acidify the food like phosphoric acid does.
It's all mental that we even need to question cat food ingredients. Look for meat, moisture, organs (also called byproducts which are simply unnamed organs), and supplements and regard anything else with suspicion.
Long story short, I would space wet and dry meals at least two to four hours apart if you can.