wet food v dry food and opinions on brands

[Michelle]

Hello

My second post this evening, but since I've just found the site I'll get all my cat questions out there!

My cat was on a regular diet of wet food in the morning, and dry food for the rest of the day (one or two servings). He had some bladder problems lately and the vet suggested we stop the dry food for a couple of weeks. He went onto 3 wet sachets a day. He now seems hungry all the time, and I do believe he is hungry rather than greedy. We re introduced dry food but less than before, and that does seem to have reduced his appetite.

The vet said that dry food isn't good for bladder problems, but then I've also been led to believe that too much wet food can be bad for their kidneys. Can anyone offer opinions on this?

Regarding dry food, he used to have go cat, but we tried purina one lately, and since then he has had a lovely shiny coat. I had read that dry foods containing cereals are bad for cats because grains form no part of their natural diet, and I was shocked that the purina one is only 17% meat. Can anyone offer opinions and suggest a good dry food?

[bobbys girl]

Mine all love James Wellbeloved fish or turkey. At least they agree on something! I like them to get some biscuits for their teeth - a bit of crunch rather than all soft food.

[fjm]

Carbohydrate is almost inevitable in biscuit foods, if not grains then potato or other starch - it is needed to make it crunchy as well as being a cheap filler. I would look for a high meat content wet food, and see if that satisfies his appetite better. I cook my own, based on the frozen minces from DAF petfoods, and I have found it an inexpensive way of feeding high quality food, although it does require quite a lot of freezer space if you don’t have a local stockist.

[Ruth B]

The general opinion seems to be that a diet of mixed wet and dry is the best option. Dried food can be problematic particularly if the cat doesn't drink enough and can lead to bladder and kidney problems.

I have four cats and each one gets two pouches or small tins a day and the dried food is left down for them to graze on. There are also 2 water bowls and 1 drinking fountain scattered about the house so that they can drink as often as they want to.

I also use Purina One for dried food, and I have tried to change to other brands at times only to end up throwing the new stuff away and going back to Purina. I am assuming you are in the UK, I know the Purina One in the US and possibly in other countries isn't as good as what we get in the UK. I have just checked the site and the Adult Chicken flavour is 17% Chicken, it then lists dried poultry protein and animal fat separately, so the actual animal product content is much higher than 17%, the protein content is 34% (dried foods are always high as wet foods have to take into account the water content). Pet food labeling is a bit of a nightmare to understand and to know what to look for, it doesn't help that just giving a cat lean meat would not be good for it, one option i have heard used for a raw diet is chicken wings, meat, skin, bones, gristle, and all, they might be 100% chicken, but they would not be 100% meat or 100% protein, a cat may only gain nourishment from animal products but they need much more than just meat.

One suggestion I would give would be to look at a Urinary dried cat food, Purina One do have one and if your cat likes Purina that might be a good option. These are formulated to help prevent or limit kidney and bladder problems.

[issiandarchie+68]

My Gandhi has bowel problems, threw up loads of different, prescribed, expensive specialised food, now thrives on Felix and a side dish of Purina One, and yes, his eyes are bright, his coat is shiny, his problems eased. Some years back, Purina didn't contain wheat but rice, then they changed the recipe and separately produced Purina sensitive, more expensive, containing turkey and rice. A marketing ploy methinks. Royal Canin has a good name but Purina brand also produces Go Cat, it is the same parent company producing most cat food, including the supermarket brands. Dried food is very calorific, that's probably why your wee pets appetite was more easily satisfied. Try mixing a little of his favourite dry in with his wet food. My sweet Cody ate a mixture of wet food and Purina Dry Sensitive, drank loads of cat milk and water, but sadly, still died at the tender age of 8yrs old, of kidney disease. My Vet told me that although too much protein considered bad for a cat's kidneys, it is vital to their growth and health, a real Catch 22 situation. He reckoned she had just drawn nature's short straw. My point is this, by all means try different foods, but my experience with both Cody and Gandhi has led me to believe that, just as we did before the cat food market become such a money making ploy, if your cat is enjoying his food, satisfied, contented, then unless you are feeding it utter rubbish, which I doubt,trust your judgement, with a few tweaks like putting down tuna in spring water and cat milk, let him enjoy his normal diet.

Issi

[fjm]

Very good point, Ruth, and one it is important to understand before considering a home prepared diet. The DAF minces are 80% muscle, 10% offal, 10% bone, so make a well balanced base. Mine also get oily fish, and the odd chicken wing for their teeth - plus, of course the rabbits and assorted rodents Tilly brings home with a come-and-get-it chirrup!

[issiandarchie+68]

The general opinion seems to be that a diet of mixed wet and dry is the best option. Dried food can be problematic particularly if the cat doesn't drink enough and can lead to bladder and kidney problems.

I have four cats and each one gets two pouches or small tins a day and the dried food is left down for them to graze on. There are also 2 water bowls and 1 drinking fountain scattered about the house so that they can drink as often as they want to.

I also use Purina One for dried food, and I have tried to change to other brands at times only to end up throwing the new stuff away and going back to Purina. I am assuming you are in the UK, I know the Purina One in the US and possibly in other countries isn't as good as what we get in the UK. I have just checked the site and the Adult Chicken flavour is 17% Chicken, it then lists dried poultry protein and animal fat separately, so the actual animal product content is much higher than 17%, the protein content is 34% (dried foods are always high as wet foods have to take into account the water content). Pet food labeling is a bit of a nightmare to understand and to know what to look for, it doesn't help that just giving a cat lean meat would not be good for it, one option i have heard used for a raw diet is chicken wings, meat, skin, bones, gristle, and all, they might be 100% chicken, but they would not be 100% meat or 100% protein, a cat may only gain nourishment from animal products but they need much more than just meat.

One suggestion I would give would be to look at a Urinary dried cat food, Purina One do have one and if your cat likes Purina that might be a good option. These are formulated to help prevent or limit kidney and bladder problems.

Hi Ruth, I had to smile when I saw your post on raw food diets. I have had cats for over 50yrs on and off so have seen the 'cat diet' industry change tremendously, fads come and go. A couple of years back, a rather arrogant friend, constantly criticised the feeding regime of my 3 wee pets, boy did she rattle on about it, a veritable expert, according to her, I hadn't a clue what I was doing. She then became a first time owner of 3 cats, sent off for and smugly fed them expensive prepared raw food. I watched as her pets pushed all the bones, skin etc, boy there was a lot, to one side and ate the meat. A few weeks later, I saw said friend in the local Co op furtively buying, you've guessed it, good old Felix. I crept up behind her and said 'I take it that's for you and your partner's tea tonight?' Weirdly, haven't had much contact with her since. Can't think why

Issi

[Michelle]

That's fantastic, thanks everyone. I'm giving him Felix in the morning and purina one (the UK version) for the rest of the day, with the odd treat thrown in here and there. It seems that a combination of wet and dry is best, and I'm interested to read about the occasional chicken wing, I'm going to give that a try; when my partner eats chicken drumsticks, he's always lurking and trying to steal the bones when he's done, so I think he will appreciate it! The info about percentages in food is very useful too.

Now that he's back on his combination of wet and dry, his appetite seems to be getting back to normal, so I think I'm going to keep on with what we are already doing, perhaps with the exception of adding another couple of drinking stations

Thanks everyone

[fjm]

Just a note that the chicken wings most definitely have to be raw - as we all know, cooked chicken bones are dangerous!

[Michelle]

Just a note that the chicken wings most definitely have to be raw - as we all know, cooked chicken bones are dangerous!

Ah, that's very good to know,thankyou! We do have a serious problem with him attempting to steal from plates - we rescued him as a young cat from a girl who was not caring for him, he was not neutered and as a result was getting into lots of fights and still has the shredded ears to prove it, and she wasn't feeding him cat food because she couldn't afford it, instead she fed him on their own leftovers by just putting their plates on the floor when they had finished eating, and he would be eating allsorts of inappropriate food such as pizza and kebabs, chips etc. Even though he was 3 when we rescued him and he will be 9 this year, this seems to have stuck with him, and he hovers while we eat. If he can sneak a chicken bone he will, so we have to be vigilant, but maybe if I can give him a raw chicken wing while we eat now and then we might be able to get him to change this mealtime predatory behaviour.

Thanks everyone for all your advice, its been very helpful