What's better for cats? Canned or dry food? My vet says dry.?

Question

My vet told me dry food is better for my cat's teeth. But then I read other suggestions saying my cat might get dehydrated from dry-only food because cats normally don't drink a lot of water. What's the real answer? I want the best for my kitty :) P.S

My cat will only drink out of the faucet or toilet. What's up with that?!

Answer 1

If you start feeding it wet cat food it will become spoiled and will not like the dry stuff anymore. This is not good because wet cat food is expensive, and in my opinion pretty gross to deal with in comparison. Don't listen to Anyone's bullshit about dry food being "unhealthy", I had a cat that lived to be like 20, never got sick once, and we only fed her dry cat food. People just want to defend the wet **** because they've spoiled their cats and they don't want to admit it. As for the water, they do like fresh water better than old water that has been sitting around for a couple days, but this makes perfect sense. I wouldn't want to drink an old glass of water either. All in all though cats are not too particular. I saw a cat in Mississippi gobble up a frog, and he was happy as a clam. CATS ROCK!!

Answer 2

both are great! your vet is correct, its much better for their teeth because the crunchyness gets rid of plaque. but what you should do is, give your cat HALF  can of wet food in the morning then later before you go to bed a small handful of dry food. thats what i give m cats =]

Answer 3

Wet food is the way to go.  That can be raw meat or canned food.  See the link for details on why this is the case.

As for dental health, I LOVE the answer the guy gave about looking at puked up dry food.  LOL - I've never seen a better way to prove that cats do not chew.  I hereby request permission to quote him in future!

It's true that dry food doesn't clean the teeth.  How could it when cats don't chew?  Many cats hoover the dry food and others merely crack it with a fang.  They are carnivores whose teeth are designed for ripping and shredding through flesh and bone.  

Sadly, many vets are uninformed about proper feline nutrition.  This situation is starting to improve but more often than not you'll see a vet's office with bags of inferior foods like Hills or Eukanuba or Royal Canin.  Holistic vets tend to be more educated in this area although that's not true in every single case.

And whoever said that dry food is balanced is technically correct.  But so is wet food.  It's very irksome when someone blithely throws out statements of "fact" that are anything but.  Both dry and wet foods may meet AAFCO standards.  But HOW they meet those standards is important.  For example, have they reached minimum protein levels by using meat or plants?

Answer 4

Cats do best on a high protein, low carb diet so make sure whatever dry food you feed him fits this profile. Most of the supermarket brands will be unsuitable, it's best to go with a vet recommended food. I would also give the cat 'wet' food though and always make sure there's fresh water on hand for your cat. You may not see him drink but they do, it's just that they don't need much.

Answer 5

What's up with that?  Listen to your cat's vet.  Of course they will get dehydrated, that is the reason for a bowl of water next to the DRY cat food bowl.  And don't let your cat drink the toilet water.  Toilet water is not the best for your kitty.

  All the Best

Answer 6

Dry is better can cat food can cause diarrhea and in the long run the can food is what causes cats to be dehydrated also if your cat only drinks out of a faucet or toilet try the cat water fountains they do this because they like the cold water and they like FRESH COLD WATER

it cycles in the toilet  

Answer 7

How old is your cat?  Speaking in general, dry cat food is equivalent to the humans eating healthy.  We eat a variety of foods to meet the food pyramid to be healthy...or at least we should.  Cat food (and dog food) is much easier to figure out.  Have you ever read the back/package of your dry cat food or wet cans/pouches of food?  They tell us a lot.

Your first question, I agree with the vet.  Cats NEED dry food on a daily basis because it meets the requirements with AAFCO (Association of American Feed Officials), which is the cat's food pyramid.

Dry and wet cat food brands really range in price.  I usually shop at Wal-Mart because they're competitive and match prices if a grocery or pet store has the same item on sale.  Rule of Thumb:  The cheaper the food is the less nutrients actually break down and become absorbed by your cat.  Cheaper foods usually have excessive amounts of needed nutrients. They are okay to feed your cat, but in the long run they may not have the best of fur or may crave water from the excessive amounts of sodium in most foods.  The more expensive foods have easy to digest proteins and break down easily.  Their are too many pros and cons to list, but go to cat food brand web sites and read about what is in it.  If you go to your vet and ask for information on kittens even, they should have a lot on feeding in there that will be extrememly helpful.

Don't deprive your cat of wet food either.  How would you like to go a long time without having ice cream or an unhealthy hot dog?  Wet food is given to cats of any age for various reasons...softer for kittens or the seniors, treats for those cats with owners on budgets, or having a nice beginning and ending to your cats day.

My cat drinks out of the faucet, they depend on humans and want to relate to us.  They see if filling our water glass from the sink, we don't drink from bowls, they want to be close to us.  You can try an expensive water circulator dish, but drinking from the sink is fine.....and of course the shower, just make sure all the soap is washed away.  Close the toilet lid, that is not good to be drinking from.

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

every see a dry mouse?

as for faucet or toilet, try a different bowl.

and, i hate to disagree with a vet, but if you ever see a cat barf after eattiing dry food, you will notice the food is not chewed.

so much for fighting plaque.

Answer 9

raw food is better actually.

Anyway, cats like running/fresh water. That's why they perfer the toilet or sink.

You can buy drinking fountains for them :)

Answer 10

If people and vets would only read





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 11

I think dry food is better for their teeth but I still give them 2 table spoon of canned food daily as a treat. My cats love canned food too much but they're picky, they only like friskies tuna in aspic. They intentionally starve themselves until I give them the canned food, so on some days I would not give them the canned food and they were forced to eat the dry food:). Believe me they would keep checking their wet food bowl and would look up to me questioningly and I would just ignore them.

Answer 12

ONLY dry. Canned is like giving your cat twinkies. Plus is can make for VERY stinky poopoo. Dry is more nutrisious and cleans the teeth. I feed my 4 cats Royal Canine Special Formula for sensitive stomaches. Their poo doesnt stink as bad and they go less often because they are digesting more of it. Plus their fur and eyes are super glossy. My 9 yr old cat seems more kitten like. Its exspensive ($41) for 14lbs but way worth it. And as far as the faucet and toilet thing. No idea. Maybe just perfers running water. They make water bowls that circulates the water.

Answer 13

Your vet's WRONG.  A dry food only diet is very bad for cats.  And most cats tend to eat their food whole so it has little contact with their teeth to "clean" them as some thing.  The links below will give you some great info.

Very important is the QUALITY of the dry food you give your cat.  Don't buy your cat's food at the grocery store or WalMart.  The foods sold there are made mostly of corn and contain little to no real meat.  Get your cat a healthy MEAT-based food with little or no grain and give your cat canned food as well.

As for water your cat might prefer flowing water.  Get him a fountain.  I have a PetMate one and my cats love it.  It filters the water so it stays nice and clean and they can either l**k at the flowing stream or from the bowl below.

edit: Mason2x - HUH?  Please link to some sources to back up your "facts" because they're opposite to the truth!

Answer 14

whatever the vet said is the way to go. Are you changing your cats water regularly? If you are try using water from another faucet. Good luck!

Answer 15

My cats have 2 sachets a day wet food and dry biscuits there in a bowl for them all the time.

My male cat will hardly ever drink from this water bowl but loves to drink from my dripping kitchen tap? i think it is because it is fresher!

Answer 16

Your vet is wrong unfortunately. Most vets get very little nutritional training, though /some/ further educate themselves (and bravo to them!).

Wet is much better for your cat. The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least. Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:

http://www.catinfo.org/  (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canne...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?ac...

Try getting your cat a cat fountain. Cats like to drink from running water. Don't let them drink out of the toilet, that's dirty.