Cat Food - Dry, wet or both?

I have always fed both. It is bad enough having to eat the same meal or the same three or four meals for your entire life. Plus all dry or all wet for life, would be rather miserable too. The contrast of food I think keeps them healthier as well, both physically and mentally. I know it would me!

 

I feel my kitty only dry food. I tried doing wet food, but since he did not grow up getting it he just looked at it like I had put sand in his food bowl. After trying that a few days I just decided that there is no way he was going to eat it and I got rid of all the cans I had. I was hoping to get him started on wet food so that I could mix some medication into it. That would have made giving him potassium much easier than a pill, but those cats they just know what they want and what they don't. I mean, I used to have a cat that would only eat dog food. Of course that was not good for the cat, but he was just stubborn like that.

 

The only wet food that my cats would go for is wet raw fish. They love it.

 

I used to give my older cat only wet food, but we had a major problem with her trying to get onto the table for people food. When I asked the vet about it, she told me to switch her to dry food and the problem would disappear. She was right. So now both cats are only on dry food full time.

The only exception is on Christmas and once or twice a year for their heart worm pills. My oldest is really picky and won't eat anything that seems tainted (so dumping the pill on top? she'd just avoid any food with powder on it). Mixing it into wet food is the only way I can get her to eat it and she adores the treat.

 

We give Sophie dry and wet food.
She seems to like wet food better.

 

My cats eat nothing but dry cat food, unless I have to give them a pill of some kind, due to the fact they need something soft to place it in. My cats tend to have too soft of stool, if they eat soft food of any kind. They must have sensitive stomachs. Most people I know that have cats tell me they like giving their cats the soft food, and have no problem with their stool. Dry food for my cats is best, Maybe if I would have started them out on soft food they could now eat both.

 

I find that dry food can be quite a mouthful for kittens. I have watched some of the strays I brought home. They are hungry and would eat anything I give them but it hurts me to see them having such a difficult time crunching the dry food with their little teeth so I usually soften it first with some warm milk.

 

^ Good point, Victor. Worse than not being able to crunch it is when they try to just swallow it whole then, because they're so hungry, and you know that can't be good for them either. Actual milk, like from a cow, isn't really good for cats, but even a little water can go a long way at making it easier to chew and digest.

 

If I remember rightly, cow's milk contains fat which is not easily digested by cats. So the cat milk powder is made from goat's milk. Of course, goat's milk is more expensive than cow's milk. Hmmm, maybe it's just a marketing ploy to make us pay more for, more or less, the same thing.

 

It's because cats are lactose intolerant, just like most humans. Giving them cow's milk is likely to cause diarrhea, abdominal pain, etc. This can be especially hard on young kittens who are already malnourished or struggling. Goat's milk does have lactose still, but it's smaller quantities and the milk overall is more easily digestible (which is why many lactose intolerant people can handle goat's milk, too).

 

I see. So it's not just some marketing smart aleck's idea of parting us from our money. I suppose dog's milk and car's milk are similar because I have seen kittens nursing on a bitch.