Feeding 1 year old cat..?

Absolutely not. In fact, it's quite the opposite... there's no need for dry food at all! Contrary to popular belief, wet/canned food is actually healthiest for cats.

The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least (cats barely even chew their dry food and, really, does a pretzel clean /your/ teeth? Cats should have their teeth brushed with cat toothbrushes and cat toothpaste at least a few times a week as well as see the vet for dental cleanings when necessary /regardless/ of what they are being fed). Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:

http://www.catinfo.org/ (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=libra... (Why Cats Need Canned Food)

http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canned_food.htm (Canned Cat Food: Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?)

http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4.php (The Dry Food Crisis)

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm (Max's House: Feline Nutrition)

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

Beware, Friskies and Science Diet are low quality cat foods! You may want to look into switching your kitty to a higher quality cat food.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to the dump cheap leftovers and things that aren't safe for human consumption (from human food processing plants) into their foods. Will it kill your cat? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent cat foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material and higher quality ingredients means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less poop!

Seriously on a budget? Two of the most affordable of the higher quality foods would be Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul and Felidae.

Before following your vet's food recommendation, keep in mind that vets get /very/ little nutritional training during their schooling. Besides that, what training they /do/ get is usually sponsored or taught by... you guessed it, the crappy pet food companies! They also often get kickbacks from the companies for pushing these products at their clinics (Science Diet, Royal Canin etc.)

A great option is to go with an entirely grain-free diet. Diets high in grain/carbohydrates have been attributed to problems with diabetes in cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so why should there be grain in their diet? Many of the high quality foods now put out grain-free formulas. Some good grain-free diets include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Horizon Legacy, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now!, GO Natural Grain Free, Sold Gold Indigo Moon, Ziwipeak, and Taste of the Wild.

Some pretty decent foods can even be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness, Solid Gold, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack Holistic Select, Blue Buffalo, Castor & Pollux Organix, Pinnacle, and Halo.

If you can't find a food, most of the high quality cat food brands have websites with store locators on them that will help you find the store closest to you which supplies their products. Simply type the cat food brand's name into Google, go to their website, and type your zip code into their store locator.

Another option, if you can't find anywhere around you that sells good foods, is to order your pet food online. Here's an excellent place to do so: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/

Remember that foods should be switched gradually (mixing the new slowly in with the old over the period of about week or so), especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies. For example:

Days 1 & 2: 75% old food, 25% new food

Days 3 & 4: 50% old food, 50% new food

Days 5 & 6: 25% old food, 75% new food

Day 7: 0% old food, 100% new food

Another option for feeding cats is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.rawfedcats.org/ (Raw Fed Cats)

http://community.livejournal.com/rawdogs/profile/ (Raw Dogs Livejournal Community [not just for dogs despite the name!], excellent raw feeding information on the profile page and overall helpful community for raw feeding questions)

http://www.rawfed.com/myths/index.html (Myths About Raw Feeding)

Also remember that freefeeding (leaving food down) is the fast lane to feline obesity. Make sure to have scheduled feeding times loosely based on the feeding guidelines on your cat's food. Adult cats are typically fed two meals a day.

More:

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/ (Dog food reviews. It's for dogs, but most of the high quality brands also put out excellent cat foods. Four stars is a decent food, five stars is a great food, and six stars is an excellent food.)

Darksong~

It is absolutely not true that you are not supposed cats wet food.

Of course, you don't want to overfeed your cats, but as long as you are following a regular diet, it will be fine.

Generally on the side of the tin of cat food, there are directions as to how often and how much food you should feed an adult cat. So, if the tin says, 1/2 can of food twice daily, then do that, and add a handful of dry food. I usually keep them on the same plate, but unmixed.

You can still give her some wet food just start feeding her less and less.We have always given ours some and ours all lived to be healthy cats over 14 years old..We never gave them more than a teaspoon a day though.Also be sure your dry food is a quality cat food..Holistic foods are the best.they have no dyes,gluten's and wheat..Cats and dogs alike don't need that..The food ingredients should be listed as meat first then veggies..No meat meal..That's just full of other stuff besides meat.

NO - its a myth that all dry is better. Its better to feed more canned then dry (in the wild they do not eat dry food). Its not any better for their teeth either.

In the past most of my cats were on mainly dry and still had tarter build up on the teeth - so its a false statement.

Feed a meal of canned and a meal of dry - do not freed feed the dry - they will get fat.

You can feed cats dried food for the term of their lives as they get all the nutritional needs from this and really don't require anything else unless you want to just give them little treats from time to time. But, in saying this, you must always buy a good quality one that's designed for their age and health.

Some of the generic brands and the cheaper ones from supermarkets I wouldn't recommend at all because of the contents.

There are a variety around, best purchased from a vet. I use Hills and IAMS and have been since the oldest cat now 9 was a kitten.

Some of the varieties are designed for:

teeth cleaning

hair balls

old age

kittens

urinary problems

coats

just to name a few

You can leave a bowl of this food out for them at all times so they just eat when they're hungry - remember cats aren't like humans who prefer set meals. They prefer to graze.

Always ensure there's plenty of water around for them as well.

If you look closely at the contents in cat foods you'd be amazed at the amount of fillers used, and the high salt content as well.

You can feed them wet or dry food. I have an old cat who eats wet food, and my kitten eats wet food too. We only feed them one can a day. Make sure you don't over feed your cat!

In my opinion, you should give your cat dry food called "Science Diet".

It's sold in every petland store. It's also OK to feed your cat with chicken or fish. ~MAKE SURE THERE ARE NO BONES!!!~

I gave my cat chiken once not knowing there was a bone and saw her choking.Good thing I took it out,though.

So you can feed your cat foods that aren't dry.

crush up some grainy cereal like cheerios or sumin like that

and see if it works