Wet or dried food

[PurpleElla]

Hi, I've had Katsu (rescue female cat, 5 years old) for nearly 11 weeks now. I've been feeding her science plan, a mixture of wet and dried food. She has become fussy about certain flavours of wet food and it's becoming a costly issue tbh. I was considering just increasing her dried food and using only that.

Having done some internet research I've found no defininative answer regarding which is best for her, and so I ask the Mumsnet wisdom, wet food, dried food or should I continue trying to do a combination of both?

My understanding is that wet food is better, because cats have a very low thirst drive and find it difficult to drink enough to avoid dehydration if they're on dry food, and it can lead to kidney problems. When my two were switched from dry to wet they definitely started weeing more, so I think they were dehydrated before.

Apparently wet food can stick to teeth and cause tooth decay. I've seen my cats rub their teeth on dry sticks and stuff outside to clean them, and their teeth always look clean, so I don't think it would necessarily be a problem for you. You can get kitty toothpaste too.

Mine are on Butcher's Classic, which is grain-free and costs about £5/week for 2 cats. It doesn't smell too bad and they like it fine, but mine aren't fussy about food. If you decide to switch, could you maybe mix wet food into her dry and gradually reduce the quantity of dry food in the mix?

Mine is on dry, but he drinks a lot (at least one bowlful a day). Has since a kitten eats a bit from his bowl, then drank from his water bowl; never eats without drinking after.

Mine are also on Butchers Classic as it's grain free but they LOVE Aldi tinned which is also grain free (not the packet stuff and Lidl tinned isn't grain free).

They also have a small amount of Applaws dry (again, grain free) which we buy in bulk now we know they like it.

I think a mix of both wet and dry is still best for hydration/kidney health/teeth/weight maitenance. I have three and it's obvious from their size and teeth who likes the dry more than the wet!

If you want to swap the brand of dry do it gradually by mixing about 20% new for a couple of days, then 40 etc til swapped over. Gives their digestion time to adjust. We did this when swapping them from Royal Canin (got cereal in) to Orijen (they hated it) and on to Applaws.

Gratuitous cat pics post!