| Paw Colors | Points |
|---|---|
| Grey | 0-49 |
| Red | 50-149 |
| Orange | 150-299 |
| Green | 300-599 |
| Magenta | 600-1499 |
| Purple | 1500-4999 |
| Blue | 5000-9999 |
| Brown | 10000-24999 |
| Black | 25000+ |
my question is more of an opinionated one. I have been reading some responses to food issues and was surprised to see that many people only feed wet food and won’t feed dry. I am wondering why?? I have worked at a vet clinic for many years with several different vets; but it has always been the same recommendation of feeding dry food for several reasons. One being dental hygeine which if they don’t have good teeth than any numerous of problems can erupt. But they must have a GOOD brand diet with meat as it’s main ingrediant; or you can have problems with blockage (which if left untreated could be fatal as well as repeat blocking problems if you don’t address the main source of cause which typically is diet). Anyway I wanted to get your views on why wet food only or dry food only or any combination. I would also like to know what brand you feed and why you recommend it. Thanks so much for your help with my learning how to be a great kitty care taker. I sure can’t say owner cause they rule the house not us mortals. (LOL)
Keywords: food
Answers to this question
12 Answers
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I’m one of those people. I do offer some dry food, but it’s about 10 pieces of kibble used as a treat every night. But I don’t do it for their teeth, because that is a myth. I do it because they’re so friggin’ cute when they beg and I just cave in.
I may make it my next goal in life to personally kill off the myth that dry food cleans the teeth.
Now, I don’t believe that wet food is good for the teeth either. I DO believe that a species appropriate wet food will at least promote a healthy environment in the mouth, unlike dry food which is full of lovely sugary substances and neato crumbs which can lodge under the gums.
That’s why dental care is mandatory for cats. You must do something for them, whether it be actually brushing their teeth, adding a supplement to their food or water, or offering them a species appropriate item to gnaw on.
Notice that I don’t say chew on. Cats don’t chew. At least not in the side to side motion of humans and cows. Their teeth are made to rip and shred through muscle meat and bone. That’s why cats who eat a diet of chunked meat may have less dental problems, and it’s why chicken necks or other “raw meaty bones” are often suggested for dental health (not to mention jaw strength).
I won’t do nearly as good a job of debunking the dry food cleans the teeth myth as this vet, so I will leave you to read her excellent article: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=doesdryfoodcleantheteeth If that article doesn’t contain enough good arguments for you, then all you need to do is watch your cat eat sometime. One of my girls hoovers her dry food. No tooth cleaning action going on there! The other cracks it in two and then swallows. So ok, she has maybe one clean tooth!
Dental health aside, the MAIN reason I don’t feed dry food is because it’s so fattening and so often full of very distressing ingredients. I hold Purina personally responsible for my 25 pound cat with loose stool. Back then I didn’t know the first thing about cat food so I figured Purina was good food. Wrong-o!
Canned food and now raw meat has helped Poppy to lose weight and to clear up her digestive issues as well.
And good grief, I haven’t even gotten into all the other issues that dry food can lead to! I won’t go into great detail but urinary issues top the list, there’s obesity, diabetes, kidney problems…..etc. Dry food may very well lead cats into one or more of these problems. So even if it did clean the teeth the risk wouldn’t be worth it.
Comments to Answer
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I wouldn’t be so quick to say it’s a myth about dry food and cleaning teeth. We fostered a cat while my friend was in the hospital. He came in with horrible breath, drooling, and he desperately needed a dental cleaning. We switched him from the cheap food they had been feeding him. Canned and friskies to the Eukanuba Indoor Hairball food we had been using. A month later this cat's teeth had cleaned up! No more stinky breath, drooling or junk on his teeth. One of our cats was due to go in for a dental cleaning. We took her in for an exam before we set up the cleaning appointment and our vet said "Her teeth have cleaned up!!! She no longer needs a cleaning." There are junk dry foods out there. We have had excellent results with Eukanuba. We have a cat who had serious bowel issues and was on 3 types of medications to help her. She no longer needs her meds since she's been on Eukanuba. We have another cat that has colitis. He's been non-stop diarrhea for a year taking prednisolone. His stools have finally formed and he no longer has the runs. We had several cats with UTI’s that cleared up once we switched to Eukanuba. We had two obese cats that slimmed down when we switched to Eukanuba. The best advice is to talk to your vet! Decide on the best food through his/her advice.
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3
Just like kibble there is also low-quality wet food as well. With wet food you also need to find a great brand. Cats are carnivores whose teeth are designed to rip and tear through fur, muscle meat, bones and organs. Their teeth aren’t made for grinding pellets. Which is why it’s quite common for cats to simply swallow some of their kibble whole. Or only crack it in half, they don’t chew because they don’t have the teeth for it. And that also explains why dry food doesn’t clean their teeth, in spite of everyone thinking that’s true. If you want clean nice teeth check out petstores around you for dental aide or pick up a cat toothbrush.
I use canned food, Natural Balance Ultra Formula. Why it’s great for my kitty: She gets a healthy and shiny coat. Water, Water, and Water. No nasty meat meal or by-products. More meat-proteins, rather than dry foods packed with plant-proteins. A lower level of carbs and so a lessened chance of her getting diabetes. “natural” “healthy” “veterinarian recommended” don’t mean it’s good or the best always. Look at the ingredients.
The Cost: $30-40 a month. More than dry kibble, yes. Too much to spend, not at all. What would I spend the money on throughout the month? A cup of coffee? A new top? Eating out for lunch? Dinner? So why not spend a bit more on cat food, aren’t your cats important? Instead of buying things I can live without, I’m getting my cat the quality food that she NEEDS.
I hope this helps you, Tasia.
Here are some links.
Source Link: Dry Food Does Not Help Your Cat\’s Teeth
Source Link: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition
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From what I’ve heard, wet food is generally better for your cats. It closer to their naturaly diet of, to put it bluntly, raw flesh. But dry food is more convinient. You can leave it lying put and it won’t spoil or dry out. You can store it in bags instead of the fridge. There are some dry foods that are quite healthy for your cat.
I feed my cats both wet and dry food. They appreciate the variety.
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Both of them are actually quite similar, and they each have their pros and cons. I found a great website though that tells why the website writer thinks wet food is better. Go to catinfo.com to read it.
Source Link: catinfo.com
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My cat actually prefers dry food….he sticks his nose up when I’ve tried him on wet. Just make sure that your cat always has an supply ample fresh water.
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Well, lots of canned cat foods seem to cause dental problems. There are also healty types of canned cat food, as well as dry. That is why I feed my cat a small portion of both. I made sure the two types are the healthiest i could find on a cheap budget.
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2007) — Although society is accustomed to seeing Garfield-sized cats, obese, middle-aged cats can have a variety of problems including diabetes mellitus, which can be fatal. The causes of diabetes mellitus in cats remain unknown, although there has been a strong debate about whether a dry food diet puts cats at greater risk for diabetes. A new study from a University of Missouri-Columbia veterinarian suggests that weight gain, not the type of diet, is more important when trying to prevent diabetes in cats.
Our vet has always recommended dry food as long as it’s a good brand. His recommendation has been Eukanuka and our cats have done wonderful on this food. We use the Indoor Hairball. Two of our cats were having bowel issues that were corrected when we switched to this brand. Their fur is soft and shiny. We don’t have obese cats anymore. Canned food caused many of our cats to have diarrhea. We use canned but only as a treat and not the main part of their diet. We found that by leaving food out all day for them, they would nibble as cats should do and not gorge on food that caused them to vomit their food back up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BARF_Diet
Source Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203164728.htm
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i prefer dry food… only due to the dental hygeine issue…but occasionally i will give the cats a treat and mix some wet in with the dry
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Dental problems are also a huge issue with canned food. We had several cats that needed to go in for dental cleaning. But when we switched to Eukanuba, their teeth cleaned up and they no longer needed to go in for a cleaning. Dental disease in cats is very serious. The heart is one of the main internal organs affected in advanced dental disease, because bacteria from the mouth infection can readily deposit on the heart valves (especially the mitral valve). Although the minor dental problems alone don’t sound terribly dangerous, it has been shown that bacteria from the mouth can and will get into the cat’s bloodstream damaging the kidneys, heart and liver if left untreated over a long period of time.
Unfortunately, some cats will not tolerate brushing no matter how much you persevere. In these cases, there are still ways in which you can help prevent plaque and tartar formation.
Food. There are now dry foods which are formulated to require a lot of chewing before they begun to crumble to be swallowed. This means more mechanical for the teeth and therefore less plaque build-up.
Plaque is the underlying cause of gum disease and the first step in preventing dental problems. Plaque is composed of food debris, saliva and bacteria. After each meal the plaque sticks to the surface of the tooth, and can only be removed by mechanical means (chewing, scaling or brushing). This is the same as what happens when we humans eat and don’t brush our teeth. If the plaque is not removed, it will calcify into tartar (calculus) build up within 48 hours. The calculus that you can see on the teeth allows further plaque build up to occur. Calculus can only be removed by your veterinarian. So your best bet is to remove plaque before it becomes calculus.
The plaque that really causes damage to the teeth and gums is found under the gum line. The bacteria in the plaque multiply and invade the gums and the bone, causing inflammation and irritation. This irritation and inflammation of the gum area is known as gingivitis. If the bone of the tooth socket is eaten away by the infection, the tooth eventually becomes loose and may either fall out or may need to be extracted. Broken teeth, FORLs, tooth loss are common problems of older cats who have never had good dental hygiene.
In more extreme cases cats can have stomatitis or oral cancerous tumors. Stomatitis, inflammation of the mouth, is thought to be caused by an overproductive immune system reaction that attacks the bacteria of the mouth. This leads to extreme inflammation of the mouth and is very painful for cats. A cat with stomatitis is usually seen drooling and being unable to eat or drink. Cancerous tumors are also seen in cats with severe dental disease. This type of cancer can be difficult to treat, so prevention is the best precaution against oral cancers.
The best way to avoid dental problems in your pet is to begin a regimen of dental cleaning once a week. Also make sure to feed your cat a staple of dry food only once he/she is weaned. Wet food has a tendency to sit on the teeth and form plaque. And wet food, for many other reasons besides plaque build-up, is not as good for your cat’s health in the long run as a staple of dry food.
artar management is cats can be challenging, as you have found. If you have seen that there is significant tartar on your cat’s molars and premolars, you are already at a stage where you will need your local veterinarian to perform a complete dental prophylaxis under anesthesia. This tartar is probably causing the gingivitis that you are seeing.
Dry kibble diets help in tartar prevention, however, even cats who eat nothing but dry food occasionally need dental prophylaxis. The most important thing is to have the tartar taken care of because leaving it in the mouth can cause kidney infections and heart valve disease.
FROM THE AMERCIAN ANIMAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION
http://www.healthypet.com/faq_view.aspx?id=195
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Tartar management is cats can be challenging, as you have found. If you have seen that there is significant tartar on your cat’s molars and premolars, you are already at a stage where you will need your local veterinarian to perform a complete dental prophylaxis under anesthesia. This tartar is probably causing the gingivitis that you are seeing.
Dry kibble diets help in tartar prevention, however, even cats who eat nothing but dry food occasionally need dental prophylaxis. The most important thing is to have the tartar taken care of because leaving it in the mouth can cause kidney infections and heart valve disease.
THIS IS FROM HEALTHY PET.COM WHICH IS CERTIFIED BY THE AMERICAN ANIMAL HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION….
The growing popularity of the Internet has made it easier and faster to find health-related information.
Although much of it is valuable, some of it is false and misleading. This fact sheet can help you decide
whether information you find on the Internet or receive via e-mail is likely to be reliable.
Who runs Healthy Pet.com?
Any Web site should indicate clearly and often who
is responsible for the site and its information. The
American Animal Hospital Association’s consumer
Web site (www.healthypet.com), for example, clearly
notes its affiliation on every major page and includes
a link to the AAHA home page.
http://deerfieldvetclinic.com/articles.htm
click on “should you trust pet health care websites”
To put it bluntly, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Opinions are one thing but your vet is still the best place to go for advice on your pets.
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you should give your cat a little of both dry in the morning canned in the evening
or ask the vet what’s best for your cat (if it’s a new kitten it’s probebly best to give it canned
so it won’t get stuck in it neck but after give it the small dry food.) 
0
I use dry food. I’ve used Imas, it really helped my cats fur and allergies. I’ve also used wet food. There are so many pros and cons to both of them. You need to make your own call and what works best with your pet. When my MacGoo was ill the vet gave me wet food, he wouldn’t eat it. I had to go back and try the dry which he did eat. Unfortunally the cancer did get him. I will meet him at the rainbows bridge. I’ve since made room in my heart for more kitties.
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