Is wet or dry food best for health?

[freshstart24]

Can anyone shed any light on this please?

My previous two previous cats lived to 17 and 18, they died within 6 months of each other. Both had renal failure and the last year or two was really hard- specialised diet, supplements, pills, endless trickery from
me to get them to eat and drink, vet stays, drips....

At the time my vet explained that dry food can be tough on the kidneys and prescribed a specific wet food. I saw the logic in this and the wetness of the food certainly contributed to their water intake.

Fast forward to us having a lovely crazy kitten (now 10 months), and on his first vet visit I asked wether wet or dry was best for him. The vet said there are pros and cons of both and that provided I fed him a good quality dry food, that was as good as anything.

I do still have a nagging doubt that I'm storing up future kidney trouble and so I'm interested in other people's thoughts.

I give a mix. Wet food a couple of times a day and dry left out all the time.

If you have males then I wouldn't risk dry food at all. It always seems to be a risk for blocked bladders/urinary crystals. For females I'm a bit more relaxed about it.

And if you have males never, never give cheap dry food (such as Whiskas) as there is a direct link there with urinary crystals. If you really have to give dry make sure it's good stuff (Applaws, Lily's Kitchen, Orijen etc)

My vet told me not to give my male dry only because of health problems that she sees.

My vey said dry was best! I have 2 boys and give them wet and dry

Vet*

Mine get a mixture - grain free dry food (either applaws or Lily's kitchen) and wet (same brands) plus the occasional treat of chicken or tuna.

My cats (male and female) will only eat dry but we do buy the better quality biscuits.

There are benefits and disadvantages to both. As a vet I feed a mix of the high wet food and a specific dry food to deal with one cats medical problem.
If I had young healthy cats I would still feed a mix of the best quality food I could afford.

A mixture - my cat has dry left down and 1-2 sachets of wet a day. Good quality dry, but the only wet she will eat is Felix ... but I still think she needs some wet food. Pros and cons. Dry better for teeth

Vets often know very little about diet, sorry to say. (Much like doctors.)

I also nursed my old cat through kidney disease and did a lot of research on this. I repeatedly read that the worst wet food is better than the best dry food.

Dry foods lead to chronic dehydration and also contain unhealthy amounts of sugar, cereal, mould etc - none of these are part of a cat's natural diet.

Please try to ensure that he gets some wet food. My cat had to be euthanised because he developed abladder obstruction. He wouldn't touch wet food and that was partly what caused it. It was a terrible condition. He blew up like a balloon. He had numerous treatments and vet stays and nothing worked. He wasn't elderly either.

My cat gets wet food and dry to snack on i don't believe feeding just dry food is a good idea personally. Ive also heard of mixing a little water in with the wet food to get them to drink without realising

Avoid dry where possible, especially for male cats. Cats simply don’t have the thirst drive to compensate for dry food, hence the chronic dehydration and later kidney problems/ urinary tract problems. Non-domestic cats get most of their water intake from their prey, so it’s best to try to replicate that at home by making sure their main meals are wet.

I used to feed dry only but now feed a mixture of wet and dry. Harry is pretty good about drinking, he always has a drink when he's eaten biscuits and to be honest he's a fussy bugger so I'm happy when he likes something!

My male cat has dry, a good quality grain free one, as he will only eat this one flavour of one brand ( I have tried him with every wet food going).
He does however drink well, from his bowl plus scummy, delicious, outdoor sources, and also heavily supplements his diet with mice.
He also gets one Lik-e-liks a day, which is wet, plus occasional chicken and raw beef.
If I could get him to eat wet, I would, but hopefully he's getting sufficient water with what he has.
He also refuses cat milk and cat soup!

I've just been to buy some food for our new boy (coming home tomorrow). After our last cat had IBD I'm now very cautious about pet food and am thinking grain free is better. We intend to do a mix of wet and dry with occasional boiled chicken or turkey. I got a bag of Lily's Kitchen dry and some Country Hunter pouches-they seem to be grain free.
He will need to see the vet for his second jabs so I will ask her about food, I trust her judgement on things after the way she helped our old cat and she has always had cats of her own.
Once I know what he'll eat I'll probably order in bulk on Zooplus (he better not go off it!!!!)

Our vet said wet is best. But buy the best quality dry food if we were giving it.

Our cats also love their water fountain. I would really recommend one if you want your cat to drink more.

Oh Vino how exciting!!! I’d he from your place?

Mine have Puritzon dry it’s Orijen quality and a good quality wet. Or Sheba which says it’s grain free. They have phases of what they want but they use the drinking fountain all the time and I have water bowls everywhere.

Where on earth does this 'myth' that vets know very little about nutrition come from we do hours of lectures at college relating to nutrition both for healthy and sick animals.
I spend considerable amount of time now I am qualified doing continuing professional development relating to nutrition.
Far, far more training than anyone working in a pet shop.

I feed a mix (male cat)
Wet is natures menu, wellness core, applaws or Lily's kitchen
Dry is wellness core or Lily's kitchen
He's v v good about drinking though and often has a long drink a day. Tends to eat the wet and then snack on the dry at night or when I'm out
Occasional bits of raw - loves turkey mince or heart, then roast chicken as well!

Our cats also love their water fountain. I would really recommend one if you want your cat to drink more.

Hmmmm, not if they are like my cat - he refused to go in the kitchen when it was on!

Lone, from my point of view I've felt in the past that the vet (not my current one, she's given up!) have tried to push me to buy the food they sell whether it was what I wanted to feed him or not.

Each yes he is from there. Just hope he and DP like each other, he likes me and DD.

My vet is firmly pro dry food, she tells me off for letting the cat have wet food because her gums ted to be red by the teeth. But she doesn't like it! I bought the pricey "T (Teeth)" food from Hills Science and she won't touch the stuff.

Pink the selling of particular foods is practice policy which is nothing to do with training. The corporate practices tend to be affiliated with certain pet food brands and put all their staff on targets for everything. You may not know your practice is corporate owned CVS and IVC in particular maintain individual indemnities of practices, but have corporate policies.
In independent practice tends to give vets much greater clinical freedom in all areas, our practice has four vets no two vets have exactly the same anaesthetic protocol, because there are no safe anaesthetics just safe anaesthetists using the drugs they are familiar with.

Thanks for explaining Lone. My previous practice is marmite, people either love or hate them. I found them pushy and I thought a couple of the vets were unkind to William and Harry, which was the main reason for changing. I have no idea if my current practice is corporate and, while I’m not keen on the owner (he was scared of Harry), all the other vets have been lovely.