Got an IM from my sister last night, not to wish me a happy New Year but to berate me because her friend thinks I’m feeding my cat too much. I’m not making this up. This is why I’m glad to have over 2,000 miles between us most of the year.
Anyways, I decided to do a little research on feeding kittens. The general consensus is to let him eat as much as he wants at this stage (Clancy’s about 8 weeks old) because he’s growing so fast and running around so much. Also, he was skin and bones when I found him so he has some catching up to do.
So far so good, that’s what I’ve been doing. Clancy’s putting away 2 3-oz cans of kitten food a day, divided into 4 or 5 little meals. I just recently started transitioning him to a mixed wet/dry diet.
Now, here’s the thing. Seems there are two conflicting schools of thought:
- Always feed wet food, never ever EVER dry, because it’s terribly unhealthy and your cat will die a horrible screaming death.
- Always feed dry food, never ever EVER wet, because it’s terribly unhealthy and your cat will die a horrible screaming death.
Uh-huh. And needless to say, both camps are 100% certain that theirs is the One True Way.
So I’m once more turning to my wonderful, all-knowing readers. What the hell should I be feeding this thing?
Either or both should be fine, in my experience. He’ll probably like the wet stuff better than the dry. The only caveat I’m aware of is that cats can develop allergies to dry food. This can be prevented by rotating the brand/type of dry food you feed him on a regular basis, and not feeding him the cheap varieties.
We had a cat die that way around 2000. We didn’t know what the problem was, except that he lost weight like crazy, couldn’t seem to keep anything down, and was constantly hungry. My parents found out about the problem when they were talking with the vet later.
I thought dry food could give cats/dogs sore throats, then he’ll start mewing about that.
At least I get a sore throat when I eat very dry food.
I use dry.
As a kitten, I use the good stuff (Iams was my choice), then move to the more affordable Purina Cat Chow once they get bigger.
Both cats are healthy, full-bodied (or is that big boned?), and have nice coats.
I don’t mess with wet food. Not because it’s against my cat-raising religion, it’s just a hassle.
And, neither cats started eating too much until after I got them fixed. It’s hard to overfeed cats.
We leave dry out all the time. We used to feed moist once a day in addition, but our cat is a fat mostly indoor cat, so we stopped with the moist and switched to “diet” dry food.
More important than moist/dry is quality–Feed a respected name brand, not an economy or house brand.
I’ve noticed that cats who eat wet canned food usually end up being fat adult cats with terrible dental problems.
Plus, wet food = frightening litterbox stank.
I have never given my cats canned food – I feed my cats a high quality lamb & rice (cats have a hard time digesting corn, so watch out for that)dry food for indoor cats.
Both of my cats always eat dry. Wet gives them nasty shits, and I’m not too keen on that. Dry is better for their teeth, unless you brush them all the time, then it doesn’t matter. Mine get indoor formula mixed with a hairball remedy. I switch their brand of food all the time since I’m a cheap ass and they’ve never had a problem…
DON’T feed the cat dry food that has more than a 7% ash content. Purina, unfortunately, has a high ash content. IAMS and Max Cat are both good choices, and are pretty affordable (about $1 or $2 per pound). For my three cats, this one huge bag I bought seems like it’s going to last at least another month.
High ash content can cause the allergies that someone pointed out earlier with dry food, and can also cause UTI’s and bladder infections. It should also go without saying that a food that doesn’t list its ash content is probably not a food you want to feed your cats, either.
Nothing really wrong with wet food, but cats need the dry food to help clean their teeth and keep them healthy. Feeding a mix is fine – you can leave dry food out all day, and then give wet food at night or in the morning, at a set time. Just be warned that the litter box is going to be BAD when that stuff comes through.
I fed my cats dry food (Science Diet, the really good stuff) until they got very old and constipated and they *had* to have wet food. They’re 18 and 17 now and the vet assures me the stopping-up problem is a matter of age, so dry food must have been okay.