Dry food, wet food, dry/wet mixed...what's best?

[Nature9000]

I have another food question for you. I've had Prince forr nearly three years, and Nikita for 2 and 1/2. They are used to being fed wholehearted cat food which it dry food two or three times a day. They are also used to and get excited whenever I open a bag of treats and they enjoy wet food as a treat or the gravy and flakes as a treat. I am wondering if it's better to combine wet food but I am not sure

 

[cataholic07]

Dry food is horrible for cats, it makes them prone to obesity, chronic dehydration, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease. It's all carbs, and most tend not to have enough protein for cats. I always recommend feeding at least wet food once a day and for sure carrageenan free wet food. If you can mix wet and dry for every meal that's fine too just make sure your not over feeding as it can be hard to judge sometimes

 

[Nature9000]

Dry food is horrible for cats, it makes them prone to obesity, chronic dehydration, diabetes, kidney disease, and heart disease. It's all carbs, and most tend not to have enough protein for cats. I always recommend feeding at least wet food once a day and for sure carrageenan free wet food. If you can mix wet and dry for every meal that's fine too just make sure your not over feeding as it can be hard to judge sometimes

Yeah it is hard to gauge because I have two cats on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Prince loves to eat and will eat until he's completely full and could possibly keep going I jokingly called him the glutten cat. Nikita will it a little bit here and there and walk away but come back 30 minutes later to eat a little bit more so I've called her the dainty eater. So where I worry about overfeeding I should say where I worry about Nikita possibly not eating enough I would worry that Prince would eat too much

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Yeah it is hard to gauge because I have two cats on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Prince loves to eat and will eat until he's completely full and could possibly keep going I jokingly called him the glutten cat. Nikita will it a little bit here and there and walk away but come back 30 minutes later to eat a little bit more so I've called her the dainty eater. So where I worry about overfeeding I should say where I worry about Nikita possibly not eating enough I would worry that Prince would eat too much

I have two like yours. They each have their own bowl, and I feed them in separate rooms. I don't need to monitor the glutten, so I monitor the dainty eater's bowl, just to make sure the other one doesn't come in and finish his off (both of mine are males). Sometimes it takes the dainty eater an hour to finish, but that's the way it is. If I need to leave, I just pack it up and stick it in the fridge for the next meal. I

 

[Nature9000]

I have two like yours. They each have their own bowl, and I feed them in separate rooms. I don't need to monitor the glutten, so I monitor the dainty eater's bowl, just to make sure the other one doesn't come in and finish his off (both of mine are males). Sometimes it takes the dainty eater an hour to finish, but that's the way it is. If I need to leave, I just pack it up and stick it in the fridge for the next meal. I

I may try doing that. Prince usually won't eat out of Nikita's bowl until she's already walked away so I'm not so sure can fennel make a lot of difference but it's worth trying to see if Nikita will continually eat. She does sometimes but it's rare I have seen her actually eat longer than Prince does

 

[KarenKat]

I also have a glutton and a slow-poke. They used to be fed all dry, the poky eater (Gohan) would eat a few bites and walk away. We joked that he would calculate exactly how many calories he needed for the next 10 min. But he seems healthy, hydrated and was a good weight.

Olive, on the other hand, would finish a bowl of kibble all at once. She was outdoors for the first few years of her life and is a bit food insecure. She also gained weight super fast on kibble, even when she was isolated and we measured out her food.

We started feeding her wet food and it helped the weight loss. We continued to give Gohan kibble, but she would eat a mix and that seems to cause her to throw up from overeating. So we had to switch them both. It took months to get him to a schedule and convince him to eat all the food as a meal. And we have to monitor to make sure she doesn’t get any leftovers. But eventually he completely switched over and eats full meals. We do feed him 4 times a day, and measure his food on a kitchen scale to make sure he gets enough.

I will say that after switching we are very happy. He’s always been healthy but he started putting on weight (he’s always been a bit skinny), his coat quality improved (and it wasn’t bad, it’s just super shiny and smoother now) and you can tel his enjoyment of food increases a whole bunch. He has gotten a bit whinier around an hour before mealtimes, but that’s the only downside. It’s very doable with the two different cats, and it does show some nice improvement in health.

 

[ElocinSWIP]

I lost a cat to repeated urinary tract obstructions. I will never feed dry in any large amounts again- I use it to supplement with kittens and for treats but never as a meal for a cat over 1.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

I feed our cats three times a day, so 21 meals a week. For five of those meals (usually Monday to Friday), they get dry food, which I try to rotate for a little more variety. The remaining 16 meals are wet food, which I add water to for an extra bit of hydration. This schedule works beautifully for us, both for convenience and costs.

As far as the type of food....I've given up on that battle. I was driving myself crazy trying to force them to like high quality foods, such as Dr. Elsey's. The wet food that works for my cats is a mixture of Friskies (certain varieties), Fancy Feast Classic pates, Purina ProPlan True Nature, Sheba, and Tiny Tiger. Do I wish some of the ingredients were better? Sure. However, these foods tend to be water, animal protein (by-products are not a bad thing!), and appropriate vitamins and minerals, which is all a cat needs- no frilly stuff like veggies or fruits, etc.

As long as they like what they are eating and won't throw it up (we think Evie has *some sort* of chicken intolerance so I have to watch what food she gets), I am happy.

 

[lucicat]

My cats get 3 meals a day. .. no free feeding and one of those is a small dry food meal. The other two are wet or raw food. Id prefer to cutout the dry food altogether but it is convenient and they love it.

Dry food certainly is not the best choice, especially in large amounts.