Dry food, Wet Food, Or Both

[Seru1]

Mine will kill bugs and mice, and then have literally no idea what to do with it.

[Charlie And Lucy]

Ours get free fed dry and then as a treat they get soft food, which they go crazy over whenever their bowl goes from the dishwasher to the cupboard. They get regular cat treats every now and then but most of them won't eat treats.

They catch flies too and ladybugs outside on our balcony. They've taught themselves how to do flips trying to catch flies!

[LaFilleClochette]

my kitties get both... a can split between the three of them in the morning and also dry food all day.

[Crazy4Herps]

My Ira is a spoiled brat. He eats mostly dry food but gets a third of a can of wet food daily (that stuff is so fattening, I doubt we'd give him so much if he weren't an outdoor cat and generally very active). The thing is, he usually pesters me for wet food early in the afternoons, so I'll give him his third of a can. Then, later in the evenings he'll beg my mom to let him in and give him his wet food. Then he'll go to my dad and my brothers. So, most of the time he gets a good deal more than 1/3 a can every day!

Yeah, we end up with some birds at our doorstep. Not from Ira, he's the only one of the four neighborhood cats that doesn't hunt, but the others catch stuff all the time, though Ivan's the only one I've ever seen eat any of his catches.

[Nate]

My cat albert is on dry food because the poor boy can't keep wet food down. He always throws it up. We try feeding it to him in small portions, but he either eats it so fast or his stomach just cant handle it...we're not sure...but I'm sick of picking up wet cat food vomit

[Christina]

When they're kittens they get the special milk, water, some vitamins (sometimes), some kitten dry food, and a little bit of wet stuff.

When they're adults, they get an adult dry food mixed with a hairball control dry food. And lots of treats!

[wolfy-hound]

My cats always got dry food. My currant cat PrettyFace not only ate dry food, she would go and eat the DOG'S dry food instead of her own dry food.

Right now, she's having issues with kidney failure, and aha!! I hear some of you wet food folks gearing up to shout "See! That's why she has kidney failure!"

She's 23 years old.

Did you read that correctly? 23. At this point, if she didn't have something wrong with her kidneys or some other major organ, I'd suspect aliens.

I bottle raised her, and she went on dry food and has eaten strictly dry food for 22.5 years. She's now on the special kidney canned diet food (at $2 a freakin' can too!) and doing just fine.

So as far as I'm concerned, all my cats and my 23 year old cat all did perfectly fine on dry food only and also, the 23 year old has darned decent teeth(and all of her teeth). I would never presume to tell people that they MUST feed their cats dry food, wet food, raw food, or whole prey items. I'm just telling you what worked for me.

[myreptilehabit]

I feed only dry food to my cats, it is ssoooo much better for maintaining their teeth. I stay away from any fish flavors though, thats where you get urinary problems, too much salt. I learned that from the vet I worked for. I am extremely picky about the type of dry food I feed though. I feed Taste of the Wild cat food. Its made with meat, fruits, & veggies, no fillers and definately no grains of any kind. Its also the brand I feed my dogs as well. Its an excellent choice if you have animals with allergies.

[jfreels]

My cats are on the Royal Canin Urinary SO forumula. $50 a bag sucks, but the vet visits were costing more.

I'm currently looking into a raw diet. Logically, couldn't I just put a couple thawed mice in their bowl? That would finally give me a good excuse for buying mice in bulk. I am researching it, and most sources say chicken. Why not a natural food item, eh?

[omahapied]

Coming from someone who works in a high volume boarding facility & vet, wet food does far more damage to cat's teeth than dry food. We consistently find that the cats with the more extensive dental problems (and obesity!) and on the soft/canned food exclusive diet. Dry food acts as a dental "toothbrush" and can eliminate tartar and plaque buildup.

Mine gets a 1/4 cup dry and a 1/3 of canned as a "treat" and motivation to eat.