I confess, I feed my cats dry food. Are you surprised? Cats don’t have much of a thirst drive, so they need wet food to get enough water to survive. Lisa Pierson, DVM believes that cats should be fed wet food only. That certainly would be the safest thing to do.
I also free feed my cats. That is, Joy and I leave a bowl of dry food out all day so the cats can eat as they please. Yes, water is out all day also but even before I read Dr. Pierson’s article I noticed they didn’t drink much of the water. Cats that aren’t getting enough water will develop urinary tract infections, which can be fatal if left untreated. The problem is how do you know when your cat isn’t feeling well, and if you do know will you catch it in time? We feed our cats wet food about three times a week, and that has been working well for us.
How to choose a brand? There really aren’t many rating good sites out there. Go here first:
http://www.catinfo.org. This is Dr. Pierson’s site. While there are no brand specific recommendations, the site is jam packed with great nutritional information and advice on how to choose a commercial cat food so I encourage you to spend some time there.
Then go here:
This is an easy to use tool to find a brand that is a fit for your cat. The PetSmart engine will suggest brands, then use the information from Catinfo.org to pick just the right one to meet the nutritional needs of your cat.
I said at the beginning that I feed my cats dry food. How do you find the right dry cat food? To tell the truth, I use the dog food reviews mentioned last week in my column Dog Food Advisor and trust that they put the same care into mixing their cat food.
How do you find a good brand for your cat? Let me know at: Dave@yourpetspace.info
Dave Jones is an insurance sales desk supervisor by day and a professional magician by night. He lives with his wife Joy in Anderson, Ohio, but grew up on a farm with pigs, chickens and cows as well as dogs and cats. You can e-mail Dave as well as follow him on Facebook.
My two cats get about a tablespoon of wet food each morning with dry food available all day. There are two bowls of water for them. Jiji eats all day between naps and fighting with Kat. Kat grazes – in fact, I have to put her remaining wet food up on the counter for when she’s ready to eat again, otherwise Jiji helps herself. I was using Blue products for a while, but had to adjust costs so they are on Purina right now.