Should cats eat canned or dry food?

Question

I have heard that canned food is too fattening, but I've also heard that dry food makes them gain weight because it contains a lot of carbohydrates that the little meat eaters don't need.

Answer 1

Get a good quality dry cat food, like Science Diet or Nutro. Give the kitties a can every now and then. Remember that if they eat too much canned food, the litter box will smell even worse than normal!

Also, try growing your own catnip, indoors or out. It is super easy to grow and they love to eat it right off the plant! Both my cats like to "floss" their teeth on the branches, too!

Answer 2

I'm not sure why people are saying no to canned here...think about any carnivore's natural diet, and it's entirely moist foods - that is, meat. You are correct about the unnecessary carbohydrates in dry foods. Dry food was created as a convenience for people feeding their pets - you can leave it out for hours, etc.

There is also reason to suggest the earlier thought that dry food helps a cat's teeth was wrong. First of all, carbohydrates on the teeth promote tooth decay faster than proteins (meat). Second of all, unless your cats crunches up the food (actually chews) that food, there is no tooth scraping action. For instance, one of my cats does not chew his dry food. He gulps it down whole. I doubt he is getting any dental benefits from his dry food.

I feel half canned and half dry. I would feed them canned only, except that I am out of town several weekends a month, so again, it is more for my convenience than their health on that point. Still, I try to buy a very meaty dry food. Eukanuba and Nature's Balance are two brands that list meat as a primary ingredient.

Answer 3

I feed my cat a half a can of cat food a day mixed with dry food, and then leave dry food out all the time. If you are worried about weight, they make special food for that. My cat is fit and trim though, so I guess my method works...for my cat at least. They are all different, you know.

Answer 4

I feed my cat dry hairball/weight formula food, AND 1/2 can fancy feast per day. I always keep the dry food available for him. It's important to know that giving either all dry food or all wet food is bad. Cats need both to maintain healthy organs.Also be careful of canned seafood flavor foods. Those can be harmful. I give my cat fancy feast grilled Turkey (half of a can) in the morning next to his dry food.Fancy feast has many flavors and they are very small cans, but when you keep dry food available.. they only need half a can per day. I just take the rest and refridgerate it, and give it to him the next morning.
This is just what I do and my cat is very healthy and happy. Also my vet approves .

Answer 5

I feed my 2 cats both. my 2 year old female gets Purina cat chow Indoor formula plus Friskies canned food. my 5 month old male kitty gets Purina kitten chow and Friskies canned food. I feed them half of the can one day and then let them finish the rest of the half the next morning, my cats luvvvv their food! they're both currently very happy and healthy kitties. except my female needs to go on a slight diet. she's a little overweight right now and currently weighs about 15-17 lbs!! she eats my 5 month old kittens food also so that doesn't help her any. plus, she doesn't exercise at all really. she just lays in her window seal all day and watch the birds. my 5 month old is putting some weight on but not much because he is soooooo active and wild!!! he can't stay still for more than 2 minutes! anywayz, back to your question, feed them both, both are good for completly different reasons. trust me, dry food helps and canned food helps. they need canned food for their water consumption if they don't drink enough water. (my female doesn't drink much water that I know of). dry food helps with their teeth and many other various reasons as well. feed them both though. HIH! Good Luck!

Answer 6

Dry food for the majority of there diet is best. Give wet food as a treat. Try buying your cats a weight management food.

Answer 7

Both. They can do all right on just dry food but canned food provides the moisture that they might not get enough of from just a water bowl, especially if they are indoors cats.

Answer 8

Dry food actually contains more fat. It is best to feed your cat a balanced diet of both types of food. Check the bags or cans for feeding size suggestions.

Answer 9

it best to feed a cat dry food because canned is more of a treat food than a every day food but it kinda more depends on what the cat likes more.

Answer 10

i 've been feeding my cat canned cat food cuz she is nursing and she is really skinny right now, and needs fattened up. Dry food never fattened up any cats for me. but if your cat is neutered, they will fatten up quite a bit and don't need canned cat food, a little dry food is fine. i don't know nothing about carbs though.

Answer 11

Moist food is best- it contains the moisture that they need to get from their food, but is still firm enough that they have to chew it. Dry food is not really good- if you feed them dry food make sure it is a good brand and does not contain animal "by-product" or "animal digest".