Dry Food or Wet Food for Cats
By: Hayden Norman
Tags: Cats, Cat Food, Pet Food

Every cat owner has come to this dilemma at least once: shall I go for dry food or wet food for my cat? I have asked and have been asked the same question as I own a cat (a beautiful lady). The easiest option is dry food, but it is usually not the best for your pet. Here, we will talk about if the ease, affordability and cleanliness that dry food brings along is worth it.

Closer to Natural Food

The easiest way to answer the question of wet or dry food is by comparing it to what us humans eat. What would happen if we dry up everything and eat them like biscuits and crackers?

Wet food, whether canned or cooked, is closer to what a cat — or us — would eat in the wild: a mixture of liquids and what the pet needs in food. Of course, it is not unhealthy to feed them dry food from time to time, but it can create sever problems if they receive only dry food. Not all cats like to drink enough water, and if they do not receive some amount of water through food, they could face health difficulties, particularly kidney problems.

And sometimes they want to eat things that are toxic for them!

Hydration

All living creatures must stay hydrated, and cats are no exception. It is not the easiest to make sure your pet drinks enough since most people work outside the house and cannot even provide fresh water all the time. The cat has to be careful not to spill the water, splash it around, or make it dirty, which is too much to expect especially from kittens.

Wet food, either canned or freshly cooked, can guarantee that the pet gets some of the necessary hydration, even if it does not drink water at all until the owner returns home. There are hydration drinks that can help with the process too. Yet, if a problem can be solved by natural ways, it is the most efficient way to pick.

The pet-specific drinks might take some time to show problems that they can cause, as the long-term effects cannot be predicted in some cases. Water, on the other hand, is the safest thing to depend on for hydrating your cat.

Kidney and Infections

Urinary tract infections and kidney problems are the prominent disadvantages of feeding pets with dry food. They become much more prominent when your cat is not much into drinking water.

Using canned or cooked wet food can reduce the risk of kidney problems and infections. Here, too, freshly cooked food is a better option as it has no preservatives and other chemicals. One can even freeze or refrigerate the food for a few days to avoid having to cook everyday (especially that sometimes the smell sticks around the house for a little while).

In general, the more the cat’s nutrition approaches natural ways, the lower the health risks would be. Another point is the calories that the pet receives with each type of food.

Calories and Obesity

Dry food, obviously, has more calories. If your cat does not burn the calories through activities, they might slowly get obese. Cats are not as active as dogs and do not need walks; however, you have most probably seen “fat” cats.

Unlike the popular argument that dry food is cheaper, it is more cost-effective to feed your cat with wet food. Do the math: less expensive dry food plus hydration drinks, or more expensive wet food, less calorie-burning activities required, and water. If the cat gets obese, other problems will arise as well.

A Few Points on Obesity

Obesity and ways to control it are beyond our scope here, but it is helpful to briefly highlight a few points. Your cat’s intake of calories and its activities should always be balanced. The regular visits to the vet can determine both. Feeding in a scheduled manner is usually better than free-feeding and always having plenty of food on the ground.

However, if you do have scheduled feeding but your pet is still suffering obesity, you can reduce the time you leave the food for the cat to eat. For example, if you leave it for 20 minutes, slowly reduce it to 15 and then 10. Reduce the number of between-meal snacks too. Some cats love it.

Lastly, make sure the food is wet unless there is a health reason, like a stomach problem, that the vet advises strictly against wet food. Your cat will eat the same amount of wet food, but receive less calories and more liquids. Normally, wet or fresh food has more vitamins and minerals too.

Higher Dose of Vitamins and Minerals

Personally, I cook for my cat. She loves smashed chicken breast or neck mixed with broccoli or carrot. Normally, the meat that you use to feed your pet with is a natural sachet of a variety of minerals and vitamins.

I mix 80% meat and 20% veggies to make my cat food. She loves it.

Animals like our pets have been living on raw meat for hundreds of thousands of years, and they are evolved into creatures with meat-compatible systems. True, now we don’t feed raw meat to them because of health reasons, but it is still the closest thing it can be to their original food. Their digestion system, health requirements, and teeth are all entangled with the fresh-food diet.

Teeth and Dental Care

The last health factor that we pint out here is the dental health. Feeding only dry food to your cat can cause gum problems and teeth tartar. For example, a cat might even need to undergo anesthesia to have its dental and gum problems resolved. The reason is, like I said, the natural system that is not made for surviving on dry food.

Some believe that dry food cleans the teeth, but the reality is that it does not have cleaning capabilities. Of course, there are some “brushing” treats that are harder and supposed to remove the tartar, but normal dry food doesn’t do that. Plus, you need to brush your cat’s teeth to prevent dental problems.

Do We Need a Conclusion?

I think I obviously showed my stance with dry food. :D I don’t feed it to my cat. I even make treats using tuna fish, chicken liver, catnip, etc. So, dry food might be cheaper to buy, but its side effects might have both financial and health costs that make it considerably more expensive than wet or fresh food.