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 found all vets I've been to recommend cat food with grain that isn't good for cats. They also airways recommend dry food because its good for their teeth, but I've had several cats over the years that couldn't tolerate dry food with grain.

My problem now is I have a male cat that will only eat dry food but won't drink enough and is prone to urine problems. I have applaws dry food and butcher's wet.

Just been looking at lick-e-lix, it seems to contain milk, does this cause problems or is it cat milk?

Thank you for all the posts. Opinion seems quite divided on this.

I'm thinking maybe a mixture of both is the way forward, although he seems much more keen on dry than wet food. This surprises me as the wet smells so much more juicy and meaty .

My rescue cat refused several wet foods I tried. I was keen for him to have wet food as he had had stress related constipation when in the rescue centre.
On advice from the rescue, I bought some probiotic powder for cats (Purina fortiflora) and dosed the wet food with it. He ate it. Gradually reduced the amount of fortiflora down and he now prefers his wet food to dry.

Only chunky wet food though..smooth pate stuff is still rejected.

He has royal canin urinary care wet food with some thrive grain free biscuits down to snack on. He is not greedy and doesnt seem to overeat.

My cat has dry food left out throughout the day (I wouldn't do this though if your cat is the sort to overeat - mine isn't just goes to it when actually hungry) and then at dinner time she has half a punch of wet food. However, I do buy the best quality food I can afford whether wet or dry. Lilly's, Thrive, Wainwright's, Purely, Vet's Kitchen, Harrington's. I chose a mix as dry apparently is good for cleaning their teeth, yet wet good for water content, as some cats don't drink much water at all although mine tends to. Sometimes I put a few drops of water into the wet food and mash up, mine seems to like it like this plus she's getting extra water!

Our two kittens are now eight months and have felix kitten food and purina biscuits. Only one of them will eat the biscuits. We've had cats for many years and have always given usually whiskas or felix plus biscuits. I'm wondering about what to move these kittens onto next. They seem hungry and I wonder if they need a better, higher calorie food but I don't know any other brands of soft food. I want to continue giving a mix but can anyone recommend a good quality wet food?

What's the ingredients in the Purina dry food? If it doesn't have a high percent of meat content than I'd change that first rather than the wet food.

I've never thought to read the ingredients actually. It says 17% chicken then a lot of grain type ingredients. Our older cat is on a Royal Canin biscuit and hypoallergenic soft food now. My problem is one kitten won't touch biscuits, we've tried different types so I want her soft food to be nutritious.

Mine eat AVA dry food from pets at home (they do a kitten version). It has at least 60% chicken in it and no grains

Ok thanks, we have a local branch so I'll have a look. Still need a good soft food for the one that refuses biscuits.

Have a look at the kitten food there too as they have a fair selection. Zooplus and bitiba can be good for foods too

I think the answer must be a mix. Dry food is good for their teeth, however both wet and dry food can be full of grain filler which leaves you with a fat cat heading to diabetes.

I'm currently trying for a mix and avoiding grain - however the cats have other opinions. Just because it's 'the best diet' doesn't mean your cats wouldn't prefer to eat Maccy D's all day

I give a mixture of dry and wet. The dry is high-meat content and grain free. I buy a few different ones and mix them together so the kibbles don’t all look the same, which seems to matter to her ladyship. The wet tends to be grain free, although she does like the occasional gourmet casserole tin or cat soup. Her favourite treat is a little bit of raw minced beef if I’m making a bolognese. I think that really helps with her teeth as it makes her really chew for a change.

You can buy wet and dry grain-free foods. One of mine is intolerant to grains so all their food is grain-free. They prefer dry but they eat both, and a bit of chicken and tuna as well.

As long as you're not feeding them a diet of Whiskas and Go-Cat you should be good to go!

I don't think all whiskas is bad. I bought some pouches the other day and they had no cereals or sugars

Mine has dry food but a fairly good one I think (applaws). She seems to drink quite a lot, half her bowl every day plus she loves puddles in the bath.
She refuses her wet food now (Butchers) and as her stomach is quite sensitive I'm reluctant to try a new brand in case we get shit everywhere!

Applaws sell wet food too @Marcine - might be worth trying her on that if the biscuits agree with her?