Is it OK to only give dry food

[Sprogonthetyne]

When we got DCat he was on a mix of wet and dry supermarket own cat food, eating predominantly the wet, with dry available if he's hungry between. But he has a sensitive stomach and was getting diarrhoea regularly on this. Vet ruled out anything serious and suggested diatry changes and after some trial and error, a grain free diet seems to have resolved the stomach issues.

However we've tried a few grain free wet foods and he's not massively keen on any of it. The higher meat ones he refuses to even touch and the cheapr Amazon grain free (though it might be more similar to the supermarket ones he use to eat), he licks off the gravy but leaves most of the meat.

We have found a dry food he will eat, its 70% meat content so nutritionally quite good (actually better then the wet) but I've read that feeding dry only can lead to kidney and bladder issues. I think he drinks an OK amount, not generally from his bowl but he loves sitting in the sink and licking at a dripping tap (but ignore cat fountain) and we also have a pond in the garden that I see him drinking from regularly.

My two cats have been on grain-free dry food their whole lives and, although they’re getting on a bit now, they’re both happy and healthy. They do get dreamies at night as a treat, and sometimes a bit of whatever meat we have for our dinner. I think as long as you know your cat is drinking plenty of water, then it’s fine.

My previous three forks all refused to eat wet food. They were fine.

My three have only ever had dry food as I don’t like the smell of wet. They are 6 now and the vet is very happy with their health. They always have water down.

Maybe introduce a naturalicks treat daily to up his hydration. They are grain free.

I started on a predominantly raw wet food. One of mine throws up regularly and after trying lots of different wet options (starting with my initial ‘real’ food down every spectrum to cheap and shite) they are now 100% dry. She rarely throws up now. The bonus is that the money I was saving to have teeth removed from cat No.2 is no longer needed - the vet told me his teeth were in good health. Despite previously being very bad.

edited to add: I now have one of those plug in water fountains. They love it and I know they are getting enough water (no longer sticking their nose up at water that’s 1 hour old and stalking off).

I personally wouldn’t feed a dry diet to a male cat. Blockages can get very serious, very quickly (speaking from experience).

If he won’t eat wet food then try things like cat soup, cat milk and cat yoghurt for increase the liquids in his diet.

Silly question probably as I'm not a cat person but could you add water to the dry food @Sprogonthetyne ? Or pet-friendly stock? I realise they might like the crunch but for some of the food at least.

Male cats need wet food to help with hydration and prevention of crystals in the uretha. Per my vet.

My cat won’t eat wet food 🤷‍♀️ they seem happy and healthy on the dry food.

Thanks everyone who answered! will keep working on trying to get some wet food in him. How much water does he need to be getting? I've been experimenting with the pouches that he licks the gravy off (I brought lost trying to find one he likes). I've found that I can water down the gravy to more soup like consistency and he'll still lick it all. Nutritionally he won't be getting much as he barely touches the meat, but it gets quite a lot of water in and he's getting the calories he needs from the dry. Will this be enough?