From: collene@unisql.UUCP (Collene Pearce)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Re: Dry food only okay?
Date: 19 Nov 92 17:31:37 GMT
Organization: UniSQL, Inc., Austin, Texas, USA

In article <1992Nov18.155013@is.morgan.com> mpiet@is.morgan.com (Mark Pietrasanta) writes:
>Does anyone know if there is anything wrong with feeding only
>dry food to cats?  I have two male cats, Kafka and Spock, and
>they are both healthy....

I still buy my Tamora some canned food, so she can lick the gravy 
off of it.  ;-)  That's the only thing she will do with canned food.
She much prefers dry and would be happy eating only that forever, if
I would just stop trying to develope her "gourmet" instincts.  ;-)
But I feel guilty if I don't try to give her the fancy "canned" stuff
once in a while, like I'm depriving her.  So, she licks the gravy and
then I feed the rest to the cats next door (they are getting chunky
and their mommy doesn't know why).  ;-)

I asked my vet if it was normal and ok for Tamora to like dry food and
not the wet stuff.  He said - Normal, no.  Good for her, definitely
yes.  He said I was lucky because the new "nutritionally balanced" type
of dry food is much better for them than most (if not all) of the wet
types.  He was refferring to something like Science Diet, Iams, Nature's
Recipie (sp?), Nutro's Max Cat (which is the only one Tamora will touch).

>My question is, are there any side effects?  They don't appear to
>have any urinary problems, as the litter box is plently full.
 
He says this stuff is specially balanced to not cause the FUS problem
(I think that may just be a male thing) and that it's great for their 
teeth.  He says it will be much longer between teeth cleanings if I will 
continue to feed her the dry stuff.  She's just over 2 and I haven't had
to have them cleaned yet, but probably will within the next year.

>Does this cause more, uh, solid waste?  My cats do seem to go to
>the bathroom alot.

The new, fancy, nutritious, dry foods all seem to cause less waste than 
the old fashioned stuff that you buy at the grocery store (Little 
Friskies, Special Dinners, Meow Mix, etc.).  Also, there are actually 
some of the new fancy, nutritious types that are supposed to cause less
solid waste than others.  You would need to read the label -- if it does,
then it will say so.

>I have to clean the litterbox daily, and
>friends of mine (with one cat) clean it every three to four days,
>and that's not even necessary with them.

I clean Tamora's litter box every day.  There are usually 3 or 4 clumps 
in it; one solid and 2 or 3 which didn't start out that way.  She eats
Nutro's Max Cat (adult), plus a daily vitamin, plus 6 or 7 Pounce or
Fisheys, per day.  She gets the canned food gravy once or twice a week.

>Looking for advice (please e-Mail me if possible).
Couldn't.  My "replies" to net articles rarely work.  


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* A. Collene Pearce (512-343-7372, x114) * Organization: UniSQL, Inc.  *
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