Is it ok for them to just have dry food?

[Methe]

I have a year old cat. She is currently has Iams dry food down all the time and has a desert spoon of tesco tinned supermeat cat food morning and evening.

I am considering doing away with the meat as it stinks but I have no idea if she needs it?

[Fluffycloudland77]

Unless she gets urinary problems I don't think it's dangerous. Does she drink water?.

[Methe]

Not really at home.. She uses her water bowl to dip her catnip toys in so she can trail them round the house

I have seen her drinking from puddles and troughs in the garden though so she must be drinking somewhere.

[sashh]

Mine is on dried with occasional treats of human food (chicken, goat's milk).

[Lonecatwithkitten]

A good quality dry food is fine as long as there is access to water at all times. Cats like wide open water bowls hence why they like drinking out of puddles.

[MedusaIsHavingaBadHairday]

Personally I wouldn't feed a cat purely dry food.. in nature they eat all of their kill and get most of their fluid that way as few are big drinkers. My vet recommends more wet than dry and I have stuck with that for over 20 years with no urinary problems.
However I only leave cat food down for a limited time twice a day.. they wolf it down and then it's high quality dried, and of course bits of chicken or tuna :D

[katiegee]

I feed our two only dry food. girl cat turns her nose up at wet food anyway and bit cat would eat anything. I think if you just make sure there is always water available for them they should be fine. I agree with you that wet food stinks! part of the reason why we don't use it!

[girliefriend]

I don't think it is a problem unless they are really bad drinkers. My vet recommends Science diet over iams though as apparently it just has one protein source and one grain source which is better for their digestion.

[Methe]

Tbh I've normally been buying whichever of the decent quality dried food is on offer. Cat doesn't seem bothered about chopping and changing. Is it better to stick to one then? Cats eat all sorts of vileness when they are out and about don't they.. I thought they would have iron constitutions.

[girliefriend]

Yes Methe so would I however was at the vets with my boycat ystd as he keeps getting a dodgy stomach and is also loosing weight (might start my own thread about that ) and they recommended sticking to one brand and they like the Science diet (currently on offer in Pets at Home 3 for 2 )

However I know lots of very healthy cats that only have Iams so if it is causing your cats no problems then stick with that.

[OddFodd]

There's two schools of thought on this - one is that cats that eat wet food get more kidney problems because they don't drink as much as cats that eat only dry food.

My last pair of cats lived to nearly 20 on an exclusively dry diet of Science Diet. My current ones eat a mix of wet and dry food. I only use pouches though which don't smell anywhere near as bad as canned food which is revolting

[loraflora]

Mine is on dried but she's quite good about drinking water, as long as it's out of a mug. I keep two topped up and they go down regularly.

[ShakeYourTailFeathers]

My nine year old cat won't eat anything other than cat biscuits - nothing.

She's a good drinker and we've not had any probs. We feed Royal Canin.

The kitten gets dry and a big spoon of good quality fishy cat food at breakfast just coz he loves it and the 'normal' tinned food makes me boak.

[Moln]

Oooh I'm interested in this as I've a new kitten, 12 weeks (I think!!! - found abandoned)

He's getting Royal Canin dry food, he drinks lots of water - after every time he eats and in-between But I feel I'm depriving him of a variety of taste. Am I being daft and projecting human feelings on him?

[Moln]

(Oh apologies for high jacking the thread Methe but I was going to start a new thread about this (as I'm a brand new to cat ownership) but I thought it best not to start a second when there was one already!!)

[BlackWings]

Dry food is fine as long ad it's good quality. My current cat won't eat wet food but she does drink a lot to make up for it.
I had a 'family' of cats once, they only ever ate dry and all lived until 17/18 yrs with no urinary problems.
If you're feeding wet you should really brush their teeth as they're more likely to form tartar leading to dental disease which can then cause systemic disease.

[Moln]

Good to know BlackWings.

What is the good quality stuff (or should I really be asking what isn't good quality?)

Royal Canin is good quality isn't it?

[MrsDavidBowie]

My cat 13 only eats dry food. Vet says it was fine. She drinks a lot.

[BlackWings]

Royal canin is good. I used to use James wellbeloved, Now using burns as it contains less grains which cats don't need.

[Justgotosleepnow]

My vet said dry is fine as long as there is water to drink.
The wet cat food rots their teeth, and insurance doesn't pay out for teeth fixing. Plus it must be painful for the cat.
She also said not iams as the cats fed on that have kidney problems as it's too rich.
James wellbeloved is the only one my cat likes. Annoyingly they stopped doing lamb, but it's looking like she's ok on the duck one. Phew

[ditsygal]

We used dried Iams only for our cats initially on advice of a vet. One cat had repeated urinary problems on it, and only got better when another vet told us to switch to wet food. Overall we had 2 cats die of urinary related problems whilst on just dry food. But since we had advice to switch to wet, none of our cats have had any urinary problems. I don't think this is just a coincidence and wouldn't ever use just dry food again. (I do think its more of a problem for boy cats though then girls).

[Moln]

Hmm, my kitten's male.

I'm at the vets next week for his second set of vaccinations so I can speak to him/her then.

I'm so clueless!!! I accidentally become a cat owner just three weeks ago so I'm quite the novice

[PinkSparklyElephant]

H will only eat dry food, and then it has to be James Wellbeloved duck or turkey. He ate anything when he arrived but started turning up his nose at everything when he settled in! He has a huge dog bowl of water in the kitchen and another one in the garden that we fill when it doesn't rain.

[RubbishMantra]

I feed mine on dried Applaws, which is grain free, 80% chicken. They also have 2 meals of Animonda Carny.

Animonda smells rancid though, so I do have vague fantasies plans of doing away with it at some point. They really do enjoy it though...

[PinkSparklyElephant]

I tried him on Applaws wet food and I got 'the look' - anyone would try to think I was trying to poison him!

[frostyfingers]

Our hand reared kitty (now 5) won't touch wet food, for some reason he absolutely loathes whichever we put in front of him. He's not overly keen on cooked leftovers either, he's happy to lick the dish, but won't eat the actual meat. He catches and kills mostly mice but doesn't always eat them either - he's very weird! The vet has always said that he's well and healthy, and not to worry about it.