dry or wet food?

So recently (about 3/4 weeks ago) we came across a stray and we have taken her in. We've been feeding her 2 portions of wet food a day and some dry kibbles (she was very thin but is a healthy weight now). However, we took her to the vet yesterday who told us the cat was healthy, but we should cut down her wet food to 1 portion a day and then eventually half, then none. She said the cat would be healthy on dry food and that feeding it too much wet food could lead to obesity. I realise we had been feeding it too much, and was initially relieved as the wet food is very expensive, however I did some research online and found that an all dry food diet could lead to problems such as chronic dehydration (my cat rarely drinks water), diabetes, and th cat not getting solid animal protein. I'm unsure what to do, I want my cat to be healthy but the wet food is quite expensive, so I was wondering what if I fed it wet food 2 times a week, and then the rest dry food. What do you guys do? I've never had a cat before, and I want it to stay healthy!

So recently (about 3/4 weeks ago) we came across a stray and we have taken her in. We've been feeding her 2 portions of wet food a day and some dry kibbles (she was very thin but is a healthy weight now). However, we took her to the vet yesterday who told us the cat was healthy, but we should cut down her wet food to 1 portion a day and then eventually half, then none. She said the cat would be healthy on dry food and that feeding it too much wet food could lead to obesity. I realise we had been feeding it too much, and was initially relieved as the wet food is very expensive, however I did some research online and found that an all dry food diet could lead to problems such as chronic dehydration (my cat rarely drinks water), diabetes, and th cat not getting solid animal protein. I'm unsure what to do, I want my cat to be healthy but the wet food is quite expensive, so I was wondering what if I fed it wet food 2 times a week, and then the rest dry food. What do you guys do? I've never had a cat before, and I want it to stay healthy!

There are some very confused people here...

The simple answer is that there are advantages and disadvantages to wet and dry food. You do not have to feed both, nor do you have to feed dry.

Dry food:
1) Convenient - easy to store and prepare.
2) Better for oral hygiene as it is less abrasive on the teeth (NB: it does not replace tooth brushing)
3) Increased risk of developing constipation, cystitis and renal disease (even with ad lib access to water)

Wet food:
1) More palatable - most cats prefer its taste and smell
2) Reduced risk of developing constipation, cystitis and renal disease (through greater overall moisture intake)

Generally I would recommend picking one or the other. Mixing both wet and dry food in my mind mitigates the benefits of feeding one or the other. Plus it simplifies the process of monitoring food intake and with that preventing obesity.

Closing points:
1) Wet food does not cause obesity - feeding too much food (wet or dry) is what causes obesity. If anything you could argue it is easier to overfeed a pet dry food because it is more calorie dense (ie; less moisture, hence higher calorie content by volume).

2) Wet food does not cause diabetes - the leading cause of diabetes in cats is obesity. Do not overfeed your cat (wet or dry), SIMPLES!

3) Dry diets do not cause "chronic dehydration" in clinically well animals however pets on dry food (even with ad lib water) will consume less moisture in general than cats or dogs on wet food.

4) Be wary of what you read on the internet - there is a lot of nonsense out there. Cat Protection and RSPCA have offer great free advice for new pet owners. If you require anything more technical have a word with your vet.

Source: Vet.

Every vet i have spoken to has recommended dry food, and i work for pets at home and our nutrition qualified (we are all nutrition trained but some people do the uni qualification) also recommend dry food...

The key point to note that they do say that there is nothing wrong with most wet foods, its just comparing dry food snd dry food diets wet food is generally better for your dogs health, your convenience and your bank balance.

There is a huge amount of speculation online, most of it is true to some extent, and is based on trials, but often the figures are distorted.

I can tell you now very few vets universally recommend dry food, it should be judged on a case by case basis and like I said earlier there is no clear "winner". Pretty much all of our hospitalised or ill patients go on wet food unless they prefer dry (rare when given the choice).

You need to have a long, hard look at why we recommend dry food. Unfortunately it rarely has anything to do with pet health, rather profit and our own convenience (which shouldn't really be a defining role in the decision making process).

Unfortunately I would say that some people, particularly less experienced vets and pet nutritional advisors, tend to be more easily influenced by business managers and food reps with regards to dry food sales.

I have no issues in admitting that dry food sales across our company brings in £10,000s a year and undoubtedly we're looking at £1,000,000s for a company like PAH. Some people would call that a conflict of interest.

Your paragraph has come out a little bit garbled - are you trying to argue that dry food is generally better for pet health? I am sorry but that really isn't the case.

The only health issue which you could argue is mitigated by dry food is dental disease, even then it has a relatively small effect. The vast majority of the dental cases that I operate on are fed dry food and dental supplements, normally until their teeth get so bad that they physically can't eat dry food.

On the other hand there is a substantial amount of evidence in favour of wet diets in the management of renal disease and cystitis (particularly in cats). Some feline specialists even recommend generic wet food over and above dry prescription renal and cystitis food!

In terms of profit, we as a company would actually make a much greater profit off wet food, as it is mostly moisture more is required to actually get the same nutritional value as dry food, and wet food is a lot more expensive than dry food, so we would make more money!

please can you just accept that everyone has different experience and thus has different outlooks on the same situation. I personally would never put my dogs on wet food again, it made my Yorkshire terriers coat incredibly oily, and made my chihuahua loose all his teeth (he was not with me when he was on wet food, we adopted him), and made them both have very bad diarrhea (and I literally mean constantly).

the best way to prove a point is to back it up with evidence, so why dont you just post an article about the pros of wet food if your so sure its absolutely amazing!!

Honestly I am not trying to argue with you, although you seem to believe your absolutely 100% correct, I am just putting across my experience and my knowledge of dry vs wet dog food (including that of many vets) and didnt want to honestly be bombarded by people like you who insist on disproving every one of my points made.

If you compare equivalent foods the savings aren't that great, somewhere in the region of 10-20% (if that).

It is much the same picture with regards to nutritional value, if you compare equivalent products the nutritional value is pretty homologous between servings (despite the serving sizes being different).



Small/toy breeds and brachycephalic breeds carry a much higher risk of developing dental disease regardless of wet or dry diet. Dry food will slow down the process slightly (read slow down, not prevent) but I will pretty much guarantee that they will need dental work at some point even if they had been on dry food from day one.

Likewise things like coat/skin quality and diarrhoea I suspect are independent of the whole wet/dry debate (unless you substituted equivalent wet food for dry and not a completely different low allergy diet for example).



Strictly speaking you were the one who claimed that dry food carries significant health benefits, the burden of proof lies at your door.



A couple of anecdotes about your own pets and a fleeting reference to a vet you know does not constitute a universal consensus across a field of professionals nor conclusive evidence of significant benefits or savings (when in reality there are little or none).

This really isn't something worth getting upset about.

as for my dogs for a moment, they were on wainrights wet food after we moved them off bakers as I educated myself on dog foods. On bakers dry food my dog did have a bad coat, but no diarrhea, yet on the wainrights wet food they both had that, and my yorkies hair was even worse. so I moved it onto wainrights regular dry food and it changed over night, they just seem to suit dry food better.

what career are you in, as you seem very knowledgeable about this topic!

I suspect this has more to do with variance in the manufacturer's recipe rather than moisture content of the food.

Many food manufacturers change their recipes on a regular basis depending on supply and demand (you could insert the word "price" here). It may not be by much but if you have a dog with a dietary allergy or intolerance it can be noticeable, even between dry/wet food or even batches of the same food.

That's why a lot of your premium brands like Royal Canin or Hills are relatively expensive because of this homology they are trying to achieve across batches and their wet/dry ranges. With prescription foods this is even more important.

Do not get me wrong, Wainrights, JWBL, Arden Grange, etc are all "good" foods and they are lower allergy foods compared to most (read lower allergy NOT low) but they are not strictly low allergy diets. If you are particularly unlucky and have a dog with an allergy or intolerance even these can cause issues.



I am a vet but I have also recently done some further training in diet and dentistry relatively recently (hence the pounce!).