Cat food/litter help..

[micah_mae_]

Ok so what I've gotten from some internet research is that dry food is bad because it has carbs in it and carbs are bad. (?) So should we be feeding our cats wet food? I am a bit confused.
Also, we used to leave food out for them 24/7 and they both became over weight. They have been with a friend for the past 6 months while DH was deployed and I left the state to be with family. She has been feeding them twice a day. I don't know how much. A vet also put one of our cats on prilosec or something like that. She threw up a lot. But they are both at a healthy weight now. So should we do dry or wet? Out all day or separate meals? I'm so confused!

Also, what is the best litter for odor reduction? Thank you!

[LeahBoo]

Wet food is better. Cats need the moisture in it, and it is higher in meat content and lower in grains. Cats can't digest grain, and it will make them overweight.

[micah_mae_]

I've heard that wet food is bad for their teeth and is high in sugar..ugh I'm so confused!

I was looking into Felidae grain-free dry food..

[LeahBoo]

No, it's fine for their teeth, that's a myth. I've never heard of the sugar thing, but dry food has sugar too. If you want to feed dry though, grain free is best.

[lonegirl]

Both are good. As long as you buy a good quality food. For older cats it is good to have a mix as the extra moisture is good for their kidneys....bear in mind the canned food is higher in calories/fat...monitor closely.

[sunnysandiegan]

We feed a raw food diet after reading up on pet nutrition. Cat are obligate carnivores.

There are a few sites out there for more information. Here are two I have read and were easy to find:
http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm
http://www.rawfedcats.org/index.htm

We have tried a few litters and strongly prefer the Feline Pine in the clumping formula. Also, cats fed a raw food diet have smaller, less smelly solid waste. They urinate more because they are getting a lot more liquid with their food. This is good!

Even if you don't want to do raw, I highly recommend reading up on pet nutrition and checking out alternatives to dry food and typical canned food. There are better brands out there.

We do raw the easy way, fwiw. No grinding, cutting, mixing, blah, blah, blah. We toss the raw meat on kitty's tray and she eats it, bones and all. We rotate the type of "meat" every few days and she has cat grass and catnip growing inside where she can get to it any time she wants. She really, really loves the cat grass!!!

[Oubliette8]

If you do dry, go with grain free. I do recommend that cats get at least some wet food every day though, its important for their kidneys. Cats normally get much of their moisture from their prey. When fed an exclusively dry food diet, they often don't take in enough water to make up for it, this can cause kidney issues over time. So, if you feed dry, give some wet. Wet cant be left out anyway, it needs to be picked up after awhile because it goes bad.

As far as dental hygenie goes- my sisters cat is only a few years old, has always eaten grain free dry food and needs a dental cleaning. I think Victoria Stillwell pointed out- if you ate only hard crackers, would you not have to brush your teeth? Of course not. The get moist from their saliva and contribute to dental buildup just like any other edible. Eating kibble is much different from concentrated gnawing on a bone, kwim?

About sugars in wet food- this may be true in lower quality wet foods. But its also true of lower quality dry foods. Just like their are different qualities of dry food, there is of wet food as well. Generally speaking, the stuff from the supermarket or the superstore is crummy. If its advertised on TV, its crummy. Look for a wet food that has a high quantity of real meat. I prefer foods that do not include "water sufficient for processing" as the first ingredient- I like the first ingredient to be a meat- ie "Chicken" Make sure the meat is named (ie you want it to say "chicken" not "poultry" or "meat") Try to avoid foods that specifically list by products. "chicken livers" is good. "chicken by products" is not. Look for a minimum of thickeners and such. Your cat really doesnt need "wheat gluten meal" as the third ingredient. Almost all foods will however contain either guar gum or carageenan. Just make sure its toward the end of the list.

Wet food brands that are generally high quality-
Wellness
Merrick
Eagle Pack
Innova
Evo
California Natural
Evangers
Canidae
Chicken Soup
Solid Gold
Tiki Cat
By Nature

Generally, if they make high quality dry, they make a nice quality wet as well. There are of course more brands, have a look at your local store and see what they stock.

[Ola_]

Originally Posted by LeahBoo

Wet food is better. Cats need the moisture in it, and it is higher in meat content and lower in grains..

I agree - cats (and dogs) have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates - it's only in their food because it costs manufacturers less than the meat ingredients, and because the extruder machines that make dry foods need them in order to work.

Wet food is much better for their kidneys, one of the reasons is that there is so much water in it which is better than eating dry food and then filling up on water. I feed raw which also has a lot of built-in water content and my dogs drink very little water because they get a lot directly from their food.

Originally Posted by micah_mae_

I've heard that wet food is bad for their teeth and is high in sugar..ugh I'm so confused!

Nope, it's a myth that dry food cleans their teeth. It may be partially true with "dental" kibbles but IMO the ingredients for those are usually awful anyway. Kibble doesn't clean food any more than chocolate chip cookies clean yours!

As far as meals vs. leaving food out all the time, I think you've already tested that theory. You said that when food was always available the cats became overweight, and on 2 set meals/day they are at a good weight - I would definitely go with the set mealtimes. Ask your friend how much she fed them, or check the guidelines on the back of the bag (though IMO they're usually too high so I'd start with a bit less than they say and go from there). Keep in mind those guidelines are usually per day, so I'd divide by however many meals/day you are planning to feed.

[MrsMike]

My kitties have two set mealtimes a day and are not overweight. It works for them.

I just wanted to add my voice to the "dry food is better for their teeth" myth. As someone who does umpteen dental cleanings on dogs and cats every (and pigs) every week, this simply is not true at all. And it's a marketing ploy that all the crappy manufacturers (i.e. Hills, Iams, Eukanuba, Royal Canin) have been running with for years. I routinely see cats and dogs and all-dry food diets who have advanced periodontal disease and severe tartar accumulation. Owners are often surprised to hear how bad their pet's teeth are because "dry food is supposed to be so much better." They need that water in the wet food. One thing that isn't often mentioned is that wet food is beneficial for urinary tract health and the prevention of urinary obstructions in male cats.

[Magelet]

We feed raw food, after learning about it.

I have to say, in addition to being easy and healthy for the cat, his poo doesn't smell. I was freaking out about getting a cat because I always gagged while changing my sister's cat's litter box the few times I did, but there is so little smell with his poos. It's super easy. I hear this is normal with a raw food diet.

there is a yahoogroup (rawcats I think) that is super helpful as I start this.

(also, in case it sounds really daunting, starting out, what I do is I cut up peices of meat and organ (and will do bone when he can eat it) into the size he can eat (which hopefully will increase as he practices and learns), lay them out on a baking sheet covered in parchment in the freezer til they freeze solid, then transfer them to some yogurt containers in the freezer. Every night, I take out some peices for breakfast and dinner, and put them in a tupperware in the fridge. Sometimes I warm them up for him in a plastic baggie in warm water, sometimes I just feed them cold (if they are fully thawed). It takes maybe 15 minutes to prep a pound of hearts or stew meat or chicken thieghs, and then 30 seconds hands on time to prep his food in the morning and evening. (I reuse the plastic baggie but am looking for ways to use something else.)

anyways, in case you were attracted to raw feeding but daunted by the work, it isn't that much work, if you get a system. gl finding the right food for your cats.