Dry Food Or Wet Food? Both?

[Mike89]

Yes- absolutivalee!

Thanks so much again for your wisdom and advice! My cat and I really do appreciate it!

 

[Vega's Dad]

Vega's Dad WOW, yea friskies is like maybe .45 cents a can?? anything over a dollar you are taking the higher end stuff. And then anything over $2 is like premium. for like a 5oz can.
I really shouldn't complain then.

The Friskies is large can (13oz?). The lowest of the 5.5oz is 0.58, sometimes 0.60 but usually 0.68. Still a bit more expensive but it is what it is

 

[Saf]

Saf Did you just skim over the part where he mentioned his income? I don't think the diet you are recommending is possible. I fed my two cats this "garbage" dry food and Friskies wet food all their life and they lived to be 17 and 14 years old.

Now, I feed my new cats something better because I can. But that's not possible for everyone. And you shouldn't recommend that and call the other garbage and make a person feel guilty for feeding their cat what they can afford.

I live off welfare too. I think the a raw diet will end up costing me around £1.25 per day per cat. And I don't need to buy extras like treats, which are mostly garbage. Yes, and my grandad smoked till he was 90 and my auntie lived of fast food all life and died at 70. So that argument's easy to make. If you look at the ingredients of pretty much of any of the major commercial cat foods you'll come to one conclusion: it's garbage.

 

[MeganLLB]

Saf But that adds up. 1.25 a day even with one cat will end up being close to $40 per month. Compared to fancy feast at .70 that's nearly half the cost at $20 per month. And I don't think that is an accurate calculation.

I just looked at a bag right now of a prepared raw food. it is $18 for a 1.25lb bag. The serving size is 1 cup, and you will get about 4 servings in 1 bag. Now multiply that for the whole month and you're looking at over $140 a month in raw frozen food.

Raw isn't for everyone, so stop trying to force your method on people who don't want it.

 

[Saf]

Saf But that adds up. 1.25 a day even with one cat will end up being close to $40 per month. Compared to fancy feast at .70 that's nearly half the cost at $20 per month. And I don't think that is an accurate calculation.

I just looked at a bag right now of a prepared raw food. it is $18 for a 1.25lb bag. The serving size is 1 cup, and you will get about 4 servings in 1 bag. Now multiply that for the whole month and you're looking at over $140 a month in raw frozen food.

Raw isn't for everyone, so stop trying to force your method on people who don't want it.

If you look at the original post I went through various options, raw was only top of the list. I write as someone who's become elightened through bitter experience. Have you ever wandered why the pet food industry has deemed that cats need a mature/senior diet at around 7? It's because that's the age the dessicated garbage they sell starts killing off cats as it destroys their kidney function at a rate of between 0.5 and 1 percent a month. Symptoms only appear when around 70% has been lost. So they need to slow down the destruction to keep you buying their garbage. They do this by reducing the amount of phosphorus in their garbage to sub optimal levels. Phosphorus has been an essential part of a cat's diet for millions of years and has only become a problem with the advent of dry food/ kibble/dedicated cereals or, as I like to call it, garbage. Inedequate hydration is the real problem, this causes phosphorus and also calcium to get clogged up in the kidneys, which damages them over time and eventually destroys them. You would not believe the amount of things kidneys do and the cascade of failures that happen when they themselves start to fail. The garbage they sell for 11+ cats is essentially a Chronic Kidney Disease diet.

It's about making informed choices and I wish I had been more informed when I got my first cats.

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats actually feel better on Fancy Feast and Friskies canned food than they do on any dry food. So I wouldn't call it junk or garbage. But I kinda agree with you about the dry food. It makes me wonder if they are putting something different in it the past 15 years or so. When I was a kid my cats ate mostly dry food and they never had any urinary problems like my cats do now. It would be interesting to compare the labels of dry food back then to now. That's interesting what you say about senior cat food being lower in phosphorus. So do you think that is healthier? I might try a bag.

 

[betsygee]

MOD NOTE TO ALL POSTERS: This thread is about wet vs. dry, not about feeding raw. Please remember our site rules about recommending raw diets Recommending a homemade diet? Hold your horses! and please keep the thread on topic. Thank you.

 

[MeganLLB]

My cats actually feel better on Fancy Feast and Friskies canned food than they do on any dry food. So I wouldn't call it junk or garbage. But I kinda agree with you about the dry food. It makes me wonder if they are putting something different in it the past 15 years or so. When I was a kid my cats ate mostly dry food and they never had any urinary problems like my cats do now. It would be interesting to compare the labels of dry food back then to now. That's interesting what you say about senior cat food being lower in phosphorus. So do you think that is healthier? I might try a bag.

Senior cat food is usually high in carbs and low in protein. I dont know why they do that. Its not like they need less protein and more carbs just make them gain weight. I dont really like senior food for that reason.

 

[maggiedemi]

Okay, thank you. I probably won't try the senior dry food then. My cats hate Indoor dry cat food and I think that type is reduced protein too.

 

[Saf]

Senior cat food is usually high in carbs and low in protein. I dont know why they do that. Its not like they need less protein and more carbs just make them gain weight. I don't really like senior food for that reason.

It's because their kidneys are already failing and can't handle processing too much protein any more as it makes their urea levels start rising, which can make them feel nauseous. So they stuff the food with carbs to keep their weight up, stop getting nauseous and maintain the fiction that their body is doing fine when in fact it's slowly falling apart from the garbage they've been fed.

 

[hannah's.dad]

everyone's got a point here.

But first is always to take in to your budget, personal choices & your lifestyle. Feeding your cat something is better than no meals at all or them being out scavenging for food.

I saw a stray pregnant cat the other day looking food in the heat, and it's a heart breaking sight.

Everyone should follow what they can afford and serve it at whats convenient for them. Raw & Wet are superior, fixed time feeding is recommended. But if you cant reach it for what ever reason then find the next best alternative that suits you & your cat the best. Every pet needs a home & love. Give those in abundance as best you can.

Hi @mrsgreenjeens
I feed her approx 1.5 cans a day divided 3 times a day. she does seem still hungry. and keep wanting more. and during her feeding time she is quite vocal. but dont think i should feed her more. She is approx 6.5 pounds as such she needs around 200 Kcal a day (based on 6.5 * 30 kcal per lb of weight, my vet gave me that number). 1 can of red barn wet food that i give provides 174Kcal (company website). so i think i covered her total requirement. i also supplement some meals with mybeau cat supplement to cover all minerals & vitamins.

she is also moderately active and when not home she sleeps.

in other note... the funny thing is i researched more about pet food nutrition than human food nutrition. Should take an interest in what I also eat as well i think. I guess when you are responsible for some else health you worry more. Should show the same interest in what i eat as well.

 

[MeganLLB]

Should show the same interest in what i eat as well.

Yea if I had someone else controlling all my meals on a schedule I might actually be able to lose a few pounds.

 

[Mike89]

My cat doesn't seem to eat a full 3oz can of wet food in one sitting. Is that bad?

 

[lalagimp]

That's ok. They can eat 1-3 ounces in a sitting, usually. Right now I feed my cats up to 1.5 oz at a time, but through several meals per day (5)

 

[MeganLLB]

My cat doesn't seem to eat a full 3oz can of wet food in one sitting. Is that bad?

No, mine don't, they eat a little, then go back to it. I give them 1/4 cup dry food that they pick at all day and one 3 oz can which they usually eat half and then go back and eat the other half. And that's all they get, which is about what the vet says my cats should have. They should get a total of 2/3 cup of any food (wet/dry, wet or dry)

But with the two cats separated right now, and with my schedule, I really can only feed them once a day. Once everyone doesn't want to kill each other, then I could maybe feed twice, but they just eat what I give them whenever they want to eat it.

So I don't think theres a problem with that. Probably better to do more smaller meals.

 

[maggiedemi]

Are you feeding three meals per day? If you are home all day you could try 2oz three times a day. I think she would only eat the whole 3oz can at once if you were giving just two meals a day, one can in the morning and one can at night. But if she's eating lunch too, she will probably eat less at each meal. Am I making sense?

 

[Mike89]

Are you feeding three meals per day? If you are home all day you could try 2oz three times a day. I think she would only eat the whole 3oz can at once if you were giving just two meals a day, one can in the morning and one can at night. But if she's eating lunch too, she will probably eat less at each meal. Am I making sense?

I try to feed her three meals per day, yes. And yes I am home all day/night. Considering it's 3oz cans, how do I give her 2oz of that? I don't have a scale to measure oz. You're kinda making sense, sure. She barely ate much of her wet food this morning and afternoon, but she did eat like half a 3oz can for supper. And I'm worried about her today because she hasn't had much water today. I'm trying my best, okay?

 

[maggiedemi]

You are doing fine! Just feed her what she will eat 3 times a day and put the rest in the fridge. Why the sad face? It's all good.

 

[maggiedemi]

She will probably drink less water because she's getting it in the wet food. Did she eat her 1/4 cup of dry food? Don't worry about doing it perfectly, there's a million ways to do it. You could even measure out a little dry food to go with the wet 3 times a day. There are 4 Tablespoons in 1/4 cup, so maybe try a Tablespoon of dry with her wet on a separate plate. I fiddle around with my cats' meals all the time, I'm still experimenting to find the best way to do it.

 

[maggiedemi]

And 2oz is 1/4 Cup. So if you wanted to split the two 3oz cans into 3 meals, you could do 1/4 Cup breakfast, 1/4 Cup lunch, 1/4 Cup dinner for a total of 6oz.