Can I feed my cat dry food only?

Trina90

When we tried dry only the cats had constant diarrhoea (tried different brands too). Their bellies only settled on wet. 

Trina90

sourpuss2021 said:

Thank you for all of your advice and stories of your experiences with your own cats.

I hadn't realized that a dry food only diet might make a cat more susceptible to urinary problems in later life, so that's a good thing to know.

Well, I guess I will keep trying with wet food!   I bought Sheba 50g sea food selection which he is happily eating.  So it might just be a matter of finding the right brand, or rotating them!  

Not only later in life. Male cats are prone to urinary issues. I've had 2 male kittens that suffered urinary tract infections when I fed dry only (on poor advice from their breeder!). No issues with wet, as it contains so much water (and many cats are not great at drinking.. I never see my boys drink.. fountain or bowl!)

Silvertabby

Our last cat was a biscuit muncher, but she did have a little wet food as well   She lived to 18 and was otherwise very healthy until the big C sadly got her.

Our current feline madam won't touch dry.  Not even Dreamies!  I sneak a few biscuits into her breakfast, when she is so hungry she doesn't seem to notice, simply for the benefit of her teeth.

Elisheba

I've fed my 3 cats on wet only all their lives - mainly tins of Butcher's which is grain free.

One still gets UTI's, and one had kidney problems before he died. So I would say - feed them what they will eat and doesn't make them vomit, and hope for the best and prepare for the worst! 

Gavin83

Our cat has food allergies so has to have a special diet but we have a mix of wet and dry. However mainly because she doesn’t have many teeth left we started wetting the biscuits. Not to a silly degree but just enough to soften them up, so she gets water that way too.

Our cat is fussy with water though. We have several bowls around the house but she won’t touch them. Instead she prefers to drink from a pot in the garden or from the pond. If we’re worried about her water intake she also loves licking water from our fingers. Yes she’s a weird cat!

TBagpuss

Gavin83 said:

Our cat has food allergies so has to have a special diet but we have a mix of wet and dry. However mainly because she doesn’t have many teeth left we started wetting the biscuits. Not to a silly degree but just enough to soften them up, so she gets water that way too.

Our cat is fussy with water though. We have several bowls around the house but she won’t touch them. Instead she prefers to drink from a pot in the garden or from the pond. If we’re worried about her water intake she also loves licking water from our fingers. Yes she’s a weird cat!

I have read that cats are more sensitive than we are to the taste of water, and that tap water i dishes can taste more 'chemically' to them , - having a fountain drinker so the water is moving and gets re-oxygenated can help with this, and it's also why sometimes they like to drink from a dripping tap or even (bleuch) a toilet as the larger volume and the movement of flushing means the water isn't so 'flat' as quickly.

I've also read that their instincts are not to drink where they eat, or vice versa, so having the water some distance from where you feed them can be a good idea (it sounds like you have that sorted, but for more general information!)

I think it is very common for them to prefer rainwater if its available .

My old boy used to li to drink from the tap and would come and stare at me meaningfully until I came to turn it on at just the right rate of dribble for him. (I also ended up building steps from boxes for him, as he got too old and creaky to jump up to the sink comfortably in one go, but didn't like it if I just lifted him up!