Spinoff of cat thread: canned vs. dry food...?

[zoom-zoom]

I saw this touched-upon, a bit in the "to cat, or not to cat" thread. Give me your opinion/experiences re: dry vs canned food. We've always done dry, since it's cheaper and the conventional wisdom used to be that it's better for teeth, but recently have started feeding our nearly 18 year old female canned food to help with what appears to be urinary tract issues (crystals--she avoids peeing in the box, but still poops without incident. She was treated for a mild bladder infection, but the vet didn't think that was the cause of her inappropriate peeing. I think the vet was right, as it's been almost a week since she finished the antibiotics).

The boys want and LOVE the canned food when we let them finish whatever she doesn't eat and when they eat it seem to be far less prone to wandering off and puking on the bed, sofa, places where we step in the middle of the night with bare feet, etc.

So I'm thinking that maybe we should switch them all to mostly canned diet, since they shouldn't have to eat as much if they aren't barfing half of their food up (seriously, at least 2 of our 4 binge/purge with most meals. They're not good about chewing the dry food, so it's likely causing some digestion issues) and many experts say that a wet diet helps ward off urinary stone issues. We've already made a point to look for the dry foods with the highest protein content, avoiding stuff with corn in the first few ingredients (I don't like corn, why would my carnivorous cats?).

Thoughts...?

[Koronin]

We have dry food available at all times (free feed) and give wet food a few times per month. Ariel did get a urinary stone and is now on a prescription dry food (Royal Canin SO), which for the stones she's been great on. Unfortunately it has corn in it and she's allergic to corn, so we have to treat that occasionally (no water cat bath actually works for help her allergies). (She's also allergic to dust). The dry food we feed is Nature's Variety Instinct. It's a high quality food that you have to go to pet specialty type stores to get. PetsMart, Petco, grocery stores, ect will not sell it. We dry two hours every so often to buy/stock up on it and then keep it in air tight containers. Here's a link to their website if it's something you might be interested in:
http://www.naturesvariety.com/
We also get their wet food as all three of my cats actually like it. (I have one that won't eat most wet foods, but loves theirs.)

[Eden]

I've been totally sold on the ideas that cats are not meant to eat either carbs or veggies - that they are true carnivores, they don't need food that isn't meat and that dry kibble foods are not particularly good for them. Eating dry tends to leave them dehydrated and contrary to popular opinion for many of the last years it's actually worse for their teeth, rather than cleaning them...

My two eat only canned Ziwi Peak (no carbs or veggies of any sort) and I give them chicken jerky treats (dog sized "Breathies" - broken up a bit) once a day to really exercise their teeth. I'd do raw if I could get my male to tolerate it, but he's just puked every raw diet I've tried on him...

[zoom-zoom]

I should look at those meaty treats. I recall years ago finding some shredded sort of jerky treats for cats. I should see if I can find those, again.

Yeah, carbs + cats...it's not too surprising that there are so many overweight, diabetic cats. We're omnivores and don't do well on a corn-heavy, carb-heavy diet, either.

For those who have done raw diets, are you truly feeding your cats raw meat or are you cooking it in some capacity? Are there other foods you feed the cats or things you give them to ensure that they're getting all the necessary nutrients?

[Biciclista]

my cats eat raw meat. No, it's not cooked (except for the occasional time that i forget to defrost it and then i microwave it and oh yuck, it got too hot and cooked a little)
I wish you could come pet my cats and see how nice their fur is. i give them each the equivalent of a tablespoon of dry cat food a day. it's a treat, they still love it.

[Eden]

For those who have done raw diets, are you truly feeding your cats raw meat or are you cooking it in some capacity? Are there other foods you feed the cats or things you give them to ensure that they're getting all the necessary nutrients?

When trying to switch my kitty I read up a lot - it does sound a little challenging to do a "do it yourself" raw diet and be sure to get in all the nutrients - but there are supplements to add. The main thing to remember does seem to be that in the wild they'd be eating the whole critter - so it's actually very important to get the right mix of bones and organs into the food. I only tried pre-made raw foods.....

And they were totally raw. Apparently kitties are not as susceptible to the buggies that humans are, because they have a different environment in their guts and a much faster transit time.... Us humans need to take care when handling their food, but they are good with it. I've also read (don't know if it is true or not) that cooking destroys some of the enzymes/nutrients in the food, so if it is cooked it is necessary to add things back in the form of supplements.

[Biciclista]

yes, Eden, that's right, cooking (and freezing for that matter) destroys some of the good stuff, but that's why you add to the mix, yes.

PS Since I use human grade meat for the cats, I handle it like I handle food I am going to eat. My husband says "I always know when you made cat food because the kitchen is always much cleaner when you are done."

When I first started feeding the cats raw food, they left the bits of bone in their dishes. I was very disturbed by this (because they need bones, too!) eventually they got used to it and now they eat it all.

[zoom-zoom]

Very interesting--that makes sense that they'd need the bone, too. I take it you have to make sure that the bone is ground or something to avoid them eating splinters...?

[Biciclista]

I grind the chicken in a Maverick grinder -- coarse grind (bones and all) I also leave chunks of breast meat, gizzards and whole hearts for them to chew on.

[zoom-zoom]

Our Kitchenaid mixer has the meat grinding attachment, but I suspect it couldn't handle bones.

[Biciclista]

Uh, Kitchenaid mixers can't handle bones. Ask me how I know? Their customer service was great, they replaced one mixer. When my husband tried to make sausage and the gears started groaning (no bones) he actually got rid of the thing. Too bad, it had been a life time dream for him to own one.

[zoom-zoom]

Uh, Kitchenaid mixers can't handle bones. Ask me how I know? Their customer service was great, they replaced one mixer. When my husband tried to make sausage and the gears started groaning (no bones) he actually got rid of the thing. Too bad, it had been a life time dream for him to own one.

That's kind of what I suspected. Ours (an 11+ year old Heavy Duty mixer, which isn't very heavy duty compared to their more recent models) sometimes labors with cookie dough.

[Titania]

Both of my cats are FIV positive, so we do everything we can to keep their teeth in good shape to reduce the risk of systemic infection. Our cats do get wet food as an occassional treat, but dry food is 99% of their diet.

[indysteel]

Titania, I've read a lot that refutes the idea that dry food promotes oral health. Having used dry food for years, it has done nothing to obviate the need for regular professional cleanings and care. My cats swallow their dry food whole as it is, so I'm not sure what benefit it could provide. In the end, it just seems that quality wet food provides better nutrition and moisture, which ultimately promotes better immunity.

[Aggie_Ama]

I was told dry food is filled with tons of empty calories, cats tend to overeat because they don't get satisfied. My vet also told me they are not big water drinkers at all so they are usually dehydrated. Tortilla is not a big canned food cat, she turns her nose up at it. I may have to put her back on it though because she is overweight and my vet felt canned food would help this issue.