Should This Happen?

mcfarjul

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I have two cats living in my house, one bowl of 'kebble'? And one bowl of water (ethier from the faucet or fridge). Should I change their diets because we ONLY use dry food, and based on other forms or threads I made people say 'canned or wet' food is better? Any suggestions?

Bo My cat - I think he is a korat or Russian blue
Age 9-11
Gender Male
Lui Sisters cat - black and white with more white.
Male
 

Alldara

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At least some wet food in their diet is better than no wet food. Especially if you can add a bit of extra water to it.

I always encourage people to at minimum, give their cat one cat of wet food per day, with some extra water. (And cut back dry food accordingly)

With two cats, that's easier because you can split one can in half morning and night so that they each get a full can!

It's easier for senior cats to digest wet food as well. You might find they have more energy or seem happier 🙂

It's especially important for male cats to have extra water intake. They are higher risk for some things like FLUTD and UTIs.
 

LTS3

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Yes. A canned food only diet is much more healthier for all cats, especially males because they seem to be more prone to urinary issues. Catinfo.org goes into detail about why dry food is so bad for cats and general nutrition info.

I always encourage people to at minimum, give their cat one cat of wet food per day, with some extra water. (And cut back dry food accordingly)
With two cats, that's easier because you can split one can in half morning and night so that they each get a full can!
Don't forget to feed the cats enough calories to meet their needs. Replacing calorie dense dry food with calorie-low canned food can result in hangry cats that lose body weight quickly and fatty liver disease could happen. Rather than feeding by splitting one can into portions, feed by calories. A general rule of thumb is to feed 20 to 25 calories per pound of body weight daily. This may be a few 3 oz cans per cat daily or one 5.5 oz can plus a little more from another can daily. The can label lists how many calories (kcal) the food has.
 

Alldara

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LTS3 LTS3 i believe from their other post that @mcfarful is a minor living at home with parents and needs to be mindful of what their parents will allow for the cats.

mcfarjul mcfarjul You can do the reverse of what LTS said as well and check the can for the calories. Say the can is 70 calories and each cat is getting 1/2 a can twice a day, you'll know that's still approximately 70 calories. Then, you check the bag of cat food and suppliment the rest of their needed calories of dry food.

So for Magnus he is 9lbs and VERY active:
9lbs X 30 calories per pound = 270 calories per day
His canned food comes to about 200 calories per day.
So he needs about 70 calories of dry food. I don't have the bag anymore but it should give you a calories per cup. You'll need to figure out how much less it is for what you need. Magnus's works out to two tablespoons. (Which was all easier to do in metric measures to be honest!)
 
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