# Cat Question - wet/dry food



## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

So, I've heard numerous times before that cats should be given wet food as their main (or only) diet since they do not often drink water on their own. My cat is definitely the epitome of this. I refill his water dish daily but I could probably get away with only every four days or so, and he drinks from a small saucer style bowl. But he does not like wet food. I know that you can get an animal to eat anything just by making it their only choice, but he seems to really like his dry food. What I've been doing lately is mixing his dry food with a lot of water, which he loves, and he'll even lap up some of the water on its own before the food soaks it up. So I'm wondering, can I keep doing this instead of switching his food? Or is there some reason this could be bad? His food is grain-free by the way.


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## Kaliloca (Jan 24, 2013)

If your cat is doing well then just keep doing what you're doing. 

I don't understand why you think cats don't drink water on their own. I've never heard this before. We have 3 cats and they all drink water daily. One of them even likes to use her paw to scoop up water to drink it. Another one of our cats, who used to run outdoors, used to love to go out and drink fresh rain water. Anyway, my cats love to drink water.


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## Awaiting_Abyss (Jul 24, 2012)

Actually it is unhealthy to only give cats dry food. I feed my cats a can of wet food each day, so it is their main diet. Cats do not drink much water. If they were wild they would obtain almost all of the water they need from the food they catch. Wet food mimics this and helps them get the water that they need. Yes, they will actually drink water, but if they are on a dry food diet only, then they will become dehydrated because they won't drink enough. Wet food also usually has more meat in it. Many dry foods are mostly made out of corn and grains, which is not at all what a wild cat would eat. It is a good thing that you're feeding your cat grain-free food, by the way.

What wet food are you trying? My cats love the chunks of meat in gravy (But it must be a good brand for them to eat it), but they don't care for what I call "mush meat." Different brands taste different also. My cats favorite brand is 9 Lives wet food. They will eat other brands, but they really enjoy 9 Lives.


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## alexn (Sep 30, 2012)

There are so, SO many different types and brands of cat food out there that you're guaranteed to find at least one that both of you like. I can only speak for the UK, but there are some cat foods out there (Hills, Applaws, James Wellbeloved etc) that are dry, but have far superior nutritional benefits (and meat quality) than a lot of wet foods. However, because so many people LOVE to spoil their cats, the market is there for a lot of brands to make their food reasonably good quality anyway, and most of them are decent. It's not like dog food, where 90% of brands are, frankly, **** for the dog's nutrition (and made of **** recycled five times over).

If your cat is an outdoor cat, he'll be getting water when he needs it outside. keeping his water bowl full will let him drink it when and if he needs, and you can experiment with whatever type/brand you choose. 

For the record, dry foods (of good quality) usually work out cheaper in the long run, plus keep teeth etc healthy. Of course this is all dependant on your cat, brands available near you, etc.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I agree; if it seems to be working keep it up. I tried to switch my girls to wet food but they can't keep wet food down, even if I only feed them wet food in small meals throughout the day (these were high quality wet foods as well). Grain free kibble is definitely nutritional. I am looking into raw diets, though, because I keep reading stuff about the dehydration factor of dry foods and it has me worried.


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

He's an indoor cat so he's definitely not getting much water otherwise. Sometimes he likes to drink out of my glass, but thats about it. Logically I don't know why adding water to dry food wouldn't work (and he does seem healthy, but he's still a kitten, so pretty young for any nutritional issues to be cropping up yet), but since I'm not a nutrition expert I figured I'd ask if there's some reason it may still be worse than canned food.

Also, has anyone had luck getting cats to drink from those water fountain things? I know animals instinctively prefer moving water so I was wondering if that might encourage him to drink more.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

My cats drink from a slow moving fountain and they LOVE it. I wonder if, instead of soaking the cat food in water, you could soak it in something with electrolytes to ensure that it's hydrating him? I feel like water would be fine, but I know sometimes water can't re-hydrate on its own. I don't know. My cats drink a LOT of water so I'm not really worried about them being dehydrated. I have a six gallon fountain and I have to refill it at least once a week.


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

Rumy91989 said:


> My cats drink from a slow moving fountain and they LOVE it. I wonder if, instead of soaking the cat food in water, you could soak it in something with electrolytes to ensure that it's hydrating him? I feel like water would be fine, but I know sometimes water can't re-hydrate on its own. I don't know. My cats drink a LOT of water so I'm not really worried about them being dehydrated. I have a six gallon fountain and I have to refill it at least once a week.


That's a good idea, I'll see if there's anything else I could put in there that could help him. And cool, I'll definitely look into getting a fountain when I have some extra cash!


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## Eden10 (Aug 11, 2012)

I heard that all cats are different when it comes to how they like their water...some like shallow dishes, some like a deep dish, some like to only drink flowing water, then some will only drink from the faucet...my current cat happily drinks from her diva heart shaped bowl lol ....but my other cat who recently passed away he was a nightmare to encourage to drink, he already was suffering from kidney failure but he was also dehydrated where he wasn't drinking enough. He was quite nasty as the only place he would willingly drink water was out the toilet! I had to give him wet food in gravy for extra fluids & constantly make sure he was drinking. It was most likely his illness adding to everything, but I know some cats are just plain stubborn & picky! As for food, I think as long as its a good brand & you check the ingredients it doesn't matter. I think wet food is recommended as being better for cats, but be sure its good quality.


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## Kaliloca (Jan 24, 2013)

If your main concern is you don't know if he's drinking enough. Just check his litter pan. If he only urinates 1 time a day. He might need more fluids in his system. If he urinates 3 or more times a day, he's probably getting enough fluids.


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## a___smith (Apr 4, 2013)

We've had many, many cats (around 15, in my 21 years - my mum is a proper cat lady, I feel sorry for my dad) and we've always fed them _both_ wet and dry food. They get a 'main meal' in the evening, which is wet food, and then have dry food available to them all day. Our cats seem to drink from puddles and things outside, while the dog drinks from their water bowl instead of his own.


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## sunshadow (Apr 5, 2013)

they dont drink water? wow, i guess my cats are just weird in the fact that All of them <i have 10 of them> drink from the sink, and i refill the water bowl several times a day. Also, feeding cats JUST wet food will rot their teeth, they need the crunchies to keep the tarter down. However, that being sad, we feed out cats both, as trhey much love their wet And dry food.


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## sunshadow (Apr 5, 2013)

hmm. just read my rep;y and it seems a bit snarky, my apologies i didnt mean for it to come off that way! Try different wet food with him to see which ones he likee, or like my one cat who cant have normal cat food cause of his unrinary thing, tuna in water is good too!


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

Sigh. I wasn't trying to tell anyone how much water their cats drink. If your cat drinks water, that's great. I've also known cats that drink water on their own. Awesome for your cats! But (according to everything I've ever read about cat nutrition) by nature they do not tend to drink much water often and the current "health trend" for cats is all wet food/raw diets. And as I said, MY cat does not drink water on his own. So I was asking people who are proponents of wet food diets whether adding water to dry food would be about as healthy and hydrating as wet food.


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## sunshadow (Apr 5, 2013)

i did apologize for my comment sounding snarky i didnt mean it that way ;-; and if your cat will eat dry food wetted down that would work well, all i know is my cats hate when the dry food gets wet but they love wet food...of course my cats are crazy. if i could delete that post from above i would :/ i feel really bad now


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

Ah it's okay. Truth be told I was in a bit of a grumpy mood anyway when I read your reply/wrote mine. No hard feelings! 


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## sunshadow (Apr 5, 2013)

ia ois ok i was just like mrrrrrrf cause i love cats and had never heard of them not wanting to drink


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