Which is better for a cat--dry or canned food?

Canned food for 2 big reasons.

1. almost all the dry food is way way too high in carbohydrate for a cat. They're made to be meat eaters not grain eaters. and they can't get nutrition from plant based food like humans or dogs can. There are a few brands of grain free dry like Wellness Core and Merrick Before Grain. but they're quite high in fat & calories so maybe best as a snack

2. And anyway even aside from carbs the other problem is lack of moisture. Cats don't have a big thirst drive. They developed to get their moisture as part of their food (from the bodies of prey) because they are descended from small desert wildcats. So without a drive to drink a lot of water, if they eat mostly dry they risk going around being chronically mildly dehydrated. which is not good for their kidneys and urinary tract.

and 3. There is NO scientific evidence behind the claim that dry food cleans their teeth. It's a marketing gimmick because the pet food companies make a bigger profit from dry food. So they have pushed this idea to vets and consumers alike. but it doesn't stand up. The cats either gulp the food down whole or it crumbles when they bite it, it does not provide teeth cleaning. Chewing on really dense muscle meat might help some. . But people just need to learn to brush their cats teeth and get them cleaned at the vet as needed.

Here i will just give you a link to a site i found helpful i just wish I had found it a lot sooner, before my cat got diabetes! :( http://www.catinfo.org/ It is the site of a vet, and the main article is very interesting and informative and helpful as far as switching food, how much cats should eat etc.

The ideal diet is some canned and dry food each day and some raw several times a week. All dry can cause some male cats to have more UTI problems and its not able to keep teeth cleaned like many people promote or believe.

Think about it - does a cat in the wild eat dry food? No. Canned really is a lot better then dry in the long run for better health. Dry is for our convience - not the cat's.

Quality is the most important thing. So poor quality canned food is worse then high quality dry food. And vice-versa.

Of course, you cat is the decider. If your cat doesn't agree, it won't eat.

With dry kibble, often a fountain is useful to encourage your cat to drink more.

Dry versus canned often brings out the passions. Some will point to problems their cat had on dry or canned food, and assume that was the reason. What they cannot prove is that their cat would not have developed the problem regardless.

So unless the cat develops a particular problem, wet or dry is usually not a factor. But there have been specific foods developed to address particular problems, so changing then becomes important.

For how to read labels, and what your cat needs, I have provided a link from the Cornell Vet School.

I Would Say Canned Food. I used to feed my cats dry food and they didnt like it and plus they get really thirsty.u can try mixing the dry food with the canned food but put less dry food in if you mix i sometimes feed my cats like that and they eat it it fills them up

I like canned food for cats, as it is higher in water content (obviously) and lower in carbohydrates compared to dry food. Cats are obligate carnivores & require high protein (& low carb) diets. My cats get a mostly canned diet with some large kibble cat treats. The thought *used* to be that dry food helped to clean the teeth, but we now know that in order for that to happen, the kibble has to actually be large enough for the cat (or dog) to bite through to achieve the mechanical action, most kibble is small enough to be swallowed whole.

I feed a couple of tbsp of canned in the morning and at night ( I have one cat that is just eating canned right now because she just had hernia surgery ) and keep a separate bowl of dry food out for them to munch. Just make sure it's not the grocery store junk, nothing but fillers and fattening stuff. Get a quality brand from your vet or from someplace like Petsmart or a dealer.

It's best to consult a vet about your individual cat's needs, but the way I handle it is to have dry food out all the time and give them a can of wet food per day. My mother worked at a vet office, and she says to only feed them dry food, but her experience is mostly with dogs and I think a bit of wet food won't hurt.

You should always put dry food in their diet, though--it helps keep their teeth clean. If they don't like it, try adding some water.

It's your choice and of course whichever your cat prefers.

There is evidence online that dry foods can cause problems for cats.

Personally, I choose to feed a mix of both dry kibble and wet meat, plus treat foods on occasion such as pilchards, sardines, tuna and cooked chicken etc... the more choice you offer the less fussy the cat.

Better?? I am assuming you mean healthier...

In the land of healthy eatting I look to the ingredients and Nutrition info on the label. Additionally, I look to the human food processing world.

It may say contains chicken or turkey but that can be the fattiest part of the bird - so it is then not so healthy. Unless it specifies " Lean White Turkey" then it probably is not...it can be just the skin ground up...

So in the land of cat food I would avoid canned food at all cost simply because that can contain anything ground into that mash that we see in the can. It stinks .. and that is probably for a very good reason...there is so much nasty stuff ground in there, toss in some preservatives to keep it so we can sell it and you have mega - Pew.

Additionally, as we pour that mass from the can we can see it is loaded with oils...so they alone cannot be healthy .. you already know this because of our own land of food & healthy eatting.

I would truly look to the nutritional info on the dry food, figure out what is best for the cat .. not necessarily too far from human needs, unlike what most of us think.

There is really no better type, like others said it all depends on what your cat prefers. However, it is best to feed your pet holistic brands because they contain real meat as the #1 ingredient and none of the other artificial crap that your cat doesn't need. Feeding your cat a variety is also good so he/she doesn't become bored or addicted to one particular type of food.

I also list holistic brands in my blog, which you can check out here: http://forpetsandanimals.blogspot.com/