Soft vs. Hard Cat Food

beardybrewer

So my cat was a bit off her food for a day and the next morning there was blood in her urine. Took her to the vet and treating her for urinary tract infection. Now I won't change anything yet but I was reading about wet cat food being helpful for cats suffering this condition. Basically they get more moisture (good) but also the pH is higher compared to hard food (also good). I normally feed her supermarket hard food which she despises. I think she's started to wander looking for better eats from sympathetic neighbours.

What's boards take on introducing some wet food in the diet? I'm thinking a tin a day between 2 cats and then keeping the hard food for the rest of the time.

Wildcard7

You can add water to dry food (kibble). IMHO you should, if that's their main source for food. Cats take in moisture mainly through food. They're not huge fans of drinking water.

Also, "supermarket cat food" makes me shiver. Pet food is an industry that sells you sawdust with 4% chicken skin and calls it "chicken", and what you get in supermarkets is the worst of the worst.

Go to your bag of food, look at the backside, read the ingredients, and you will most likely feel like you paid a lot of money for the cheapest ingredients they can source.

In your position I would have a look at a few sources that compares cat food, for example https://petfoodexpert.co.uk

Chances are that you can get a decent cat food from www.zooplus.ie delivered to your doorstep for less than what you currently spend in the supermarket. There are very affordable grain free foods there (cats are carnivores after all).

We changed our kittens over from dry to wet cat food after we had them a few months, no problem at all.

One of our previous cats died from a condition that can be traced back to not taking in enough fluids, so I'm not going to make that mistake again.

loveisdivine

Why would you feed her something she despises? A healthy cat should have a good appetite and enjoy it's food.

Wet food is the better choice for cats, they really do need that moisture/water from the food. A dry food will just exacerbate UTI issues.

There's plenty of options for grain free wet food. We feed Bozita that we get from Zooplus and it always goes down well. Plenty of flavour options so nobody gets bored too.

Try a few different brands/flavours and find something the cat actually wants to eat.

Graces7

Wet food .. For the reasons above.

I use supermarket tins. LIDL if i am there. Cats love it and are fine and healthy. They do also get a chunk of raw chicken each day.

It is cost and availability, Cost mainly. I checked out zooplus etc and it was way too expensive .
With great respect I think the days of sawdust are over.

My 2 oldest are 14 and lively as kittens.

Each to his/her own.

beardybrewer

Ok, sounds like everyone supports wet food. I'm thinking trying the Aldi wet food this weekend.

The reason why she hates her food is she was an alley cat living near Sleepzone and was fed on scraps. So she's going to hate any cat food no matter how expensive.

cocker5

Before you make your mind up.. if you have Netflix - watch Pet fooled...

Graces7

beardybrewer wrote: »

Ok, sounds like everyone supports wet food. I'm thinking trying the Aldi wet food this weekend.

The reason why she hates her food is she was an alley cat living near Sleepzone and was fed on scraps. So she's going to hate any cat food no matter how expensive.

Just a thought but can you follow on with "scraps? ie cat-appropriate?

Mine get a chunk of raw chicken daily and I mix the tinned wet food with porridge oats and a raw egg or two .

Not averse to other tasty bits..

McCloskey_A

My 7 year old cat gets a mix of wet and dry food, about a third of a pouch of whiskas twice a day and then specific nuts geared towards urinary tract infections, haven’t had to bring her to the vet for anything other then vaccinations in five years

Another thing we changed was her water, we live in a high limescale area and this was crystallising in her system, so she gets dunnes stores bottled water ,
Nuts cost 40 every 3/4 months and water about 60 cent a week
When she wasn’t on them was costing 40-60 every time she had to go to the vet
Worth the investment

theteal

Ah the age old question. Some people would argue that the worst wet food you can get is better than the best dry food - not quite sure on that on myself.

I give them mainly wet. We got Bozita for a long while but now the cartons are about 40% jelly so we’ve moved on to some Cosma tins that aren’t too much more expensive and the cats gobble them. Then just to bulk up their meals I’d throw in a small amount Smilla dry food. It’s quite cheap and the ingredients are acceptable but I wouldn’t say they were great. The odd box of Aldi fish in jelly pouches get bought too, the cats love that crap so we treat it like a McDonalds trip for the kid i.e. as a treat every once in a while

Stay away from supermarkets and vet offices for buying food. Zooplus is the way to go

kathleen37

Just a note on raw eggs for cats. Raw yolk is fine, but raw egg white shouldn't be given to cats as there is a protein called avidin, which could interfere with the absorption of the B vitamin biotin. Cooking the egg white negates this.

twiglet24

I have two cats. The almost ten year old female (spayed) is on prescription dry food, and won’t touch the wet version of it. The almost nine year old male eats predominantly Felix As Good As It Looks - despite my best efforts (and I have a stack of canned food from Zooplus in my utility room to prove it!).My vet, however, is insisting that he should be fed only dry food because he has had to have his teeth cleaned twice now. I told him I thought wet was better as I have never seen him drink water, but he insists that as the cat is indoor/outdoor he will be getting water somewhere, so I should feed him only dry.
He does eat some dry - if he is “starving” he will eat the other cat’s food, but usually he will just sit and miaow at me until he gets what he wants! And he is relentless!
Any thoughts?

Graces7

twiglet24 wrote: »

I have two cats. The almost ten year old female (spayed) is on prescription dry food, and won’t touch the wet version of it. The almost nine year old male eats predominantly Felix As Good As It Looks - despite my best efforts (and I have a stack of canned food from Zooplus in my utility room to prove it!).My vet, however, is insisting that he should be fed only dry food because he has had to have his teeth cleaned twice now. I told him I thought wet was better as I have never seen him drink water, but he insists that as the cat is indoor/outdoor he will be getting water somewhere, so I should feed him only dry.
He does eat some dry - if he is “starving” he will eat the other cat’s food, but usually he will just sit and miaow at me until he gets what he wants! And he is relentless!
Any thoughts?

I have fed raw chicken daily for many years for the cats on wet food, same as the dog. Bones and all. and all their teeth are in great condition. Cats are 14 years old and dog 13 years.. I never feed dry. And mine are fine on supermarket food also.

miezekatze

twiglet24 wrote: »

I have two cats. The almost ten year old female (spayed) is on prescription dry food, and won’t touch the wet version of it. The almost nine year old male eats predominantly Felix As Good As It Looks - despite my best efforts (and I have a stack of canned food from Zooplus in my utility room to prove it!).My vet, however, is insisting that he should be fed only dry food because he has had to have his teeth cleaned twice now. I told him I thought wet was better as I have never seen him drink water, but he insists that as the cat is indoor/outdoor he will be getting water somewhere, so I should feed him only dry.
He does eat some dry - if he is “starving” he will eat the other cat’s food, but usually he will just sit and miaow at me until he gets what he wants! And he is relentless!
Any thoughts?

A lot of dry food is so small in size that it barely needs to be chewed, can't see how that's any better for their teeth tbh! There's sugar or grains in a lot of dry food too which isn't great for teeth. I'd keep feeding wet food and maybe give a bit of a larger type of kibble or try cleaning the cats teeth.

I switched my cat to mainly wet food soon after I adopted her about 6 years ago. I read a lot about this at the time and it clearly seemed to be the better choice. It annoys me that a lot of vets still try and talk people into feeding dry food, I guess it probably makes more money for them.

Nody

theteal wrote: »

Ah the age old question. Some people would argue that the worst wet food you can get is better than the best dry food - not quite sure on that on myself.

I give them mainly wet. We got Bozita for a long while but now the cartons are about 40% jelly so we’ve moved on to some Cosma tins that aren’t too much more expensive and the cats gobble them. Then just to bulk up their meals I’d throw in a small amount Smilla dry food. It’s quite cheap and the ingredients are acceptable but I wouldn’t say they were great. The odd box of Aldi fish in jelly pouches get bought too, the cats love that crap so we treat it like a McDonalds trip for the kid i.e. as a treat every once in a while

Stay away from supermarkets and vet offices for buying food. Zooplus is the way to go

Only a warning on Cosma; most of them (are any?) are not complete which Bozita is which means that they don't meet all dietary requirements. It's a bit like feeding chicken breast only; it's simply not enough but works great as supplement.

theteal

Nody wrote: »

Only a warning on Cosma; most of them (any?) are not complete which Bozita is which means that they don't meat all dietary requirements. It's a bit like feeding chicken breast only; it's simply not enough but works great as supplement.

Yeah, only the tuna is complete which makes up about a third of our mixed order and this is why we add a bit of dry Smilla to bulk it out.

Enochwasright

I give my cat a grain free kibble and then cook him some salmon or chicken etc also give him some tuna now and again.