Is dry food okay?

On Oct 14, 2:28*pm, "Jeff Caspari" wrote:
Hi,
We have a new kitten and we have been feeding him Purina dry mix. *The vet
said she believes cats that eat dry food as the main meal will develop
kidney problems, etc.

Is that true? *Why can't they make a dry food that won't cause problems?

TIA
Jeff

If your pet gets bad kidneys, it's probably from being bathed in a
Hartz product. At least that's what the lunatics in here will try and
get you to believe.
The bottom line is, I don’t know the answer to your question. Try a
neutral source. IOW, SEEK ADVICE ELSEWHERE. Anywhere but here….

The Nice Mean Man



http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/?mid=28345098

On Oct 16, 2:57*am, The Nice Mean Man wrote:
On Oct 14, 2:28*pm, "Jeff Caspari" wrote:


If your pet gets bad kidneys, it's probably from being bathed in a
Hartz product. At least that's what the lunatics in here will try and
get you to believe.
The bottom line is, I don’t know the answer to your question. Try a
neutral source. IOW, SEEK ADVICE ELSEWHERE. Anywhere but here….

The Nice Mean Man

http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/?mid=28345098

FELLOW POSTERS....PLEASE DON'T FEED THIS TROLL.

Suddenly, without warning, DWMeowMix exclaimed (10/16/2008 11:04 AM):
On Oct 16, 2:57 am, The Nice Mean Man wrote:

The Nice Mean Man


FELLOW POSTERS....PLEASE DON'T FEED THIS TROLL.

Not me. I only see him now when people repost his drivel. Killfiles
are cool

(note extra snippage)

jmc

On Oct 16, 11:04*am, DWMeowMix wrote:
On Oct 16, 2:57*am, The Nice Mean Man wrote:

On Oct 14, 2:28*pm, "Jeff Caspari" wrote:

If your pet gets bad kidneys, it's probably from being bathed in a
Hartz product. At least that's what the lunatics in here will try and
get you to believe.
The bottom line is, I don’t know the answer to your question. Try a
neutral source. IOW, SEEK ADVICE ELSEWHERE. Anywhere but here….

The Nice Mean Man

http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/?mid=28345098

FELLOW POSTERS....PLEASE DON'T FEED THIS TROLL.

Typical fearful narrow-minded coward. If you can't defeat them on the
field of logic, then LABEL then.

Then maybe they'll go away and you won’t have to feel inadequate
anymore.

On Oct 16, 4:00*pm, jmc wrote:
Suddenly, without warning, DWMeowMix exclaimed (10/16/2008 11:04 AM):

On Oct 16, 2:57 am, The Nice Mean Man wrote:
The Nice Mean Man

FELLOW POSTERS....PLEASE DON'T FEED THIS TROLL.

Not me. *I only see him now when people repost his drivel. *Killfiles
are cool

(note extra snippage)

jmc

LOL...!! That's why they let them make so many addies.

On Tue, 14 Oct 2008 18:28:47 GMT, "Jeff Caspari"
wrote:

Is that true? Why can't they make a dry food that won't cause problems?

House cats are by evolution *desert animals* as such they usually gain
their moisture mainly from the food they catch and eat. Wild cats
(small ones) rarely if ever need to drink!

However, with food that is totally dry they clearly *won't get enough
moisture just from eating so apart from the obvious need to make sure
they have enough fresh water available wet food is better for them...
except of course you really have little idea what 'wet' *or* 'dry'
food is made of!

A friend of mine used to buy frozen mice from the local pet food shop
and defrost one or two a day. It grossed me out so can't do this, but
his cats seemed to thrive on them. He'd also give them fresh chicken
wings on occasion as well... said it helped clean their teeth.

Welshdog
--

News and views... for people like youse!!

Australian Opinion
(http://australianopinion.com)

Not as strange as it looks!

On Oct 14, 12:28*pm, "Jeff Caspari" wrote:
Hi,
We have a new kitten and we have been feeding him Purina dry mix. *The vet
said she believes cats that eat dry food as the main meal will develop
kidney problems, etc.

Is that true? *Why can't they make a dry food that won't cause problems?

TIA
Jeff

I think you should be discussing this with your vet. If you don't
trust this vet, ask a different one.

However, to answer your question, I have been told many dry cat foods
contain chemicals (sometimes it is called "ash") that are potentially
harmful to cats, especially male cats. The ingredients in most dry
foods can cause male cats to get "blocked" in their urinary tracts
requring expensive medical treatment. In some cases, the owner
decided to put the poor cat to sleep.

Not all dry cat foods are the same. Some are low ash or are otherwise
better than others. You may want to ask you vet which ones are the
safest.

Personally, I prefer to give my cats moist food. The fresher the
ingredients the better. Fresh beef, chicken, fish, liver, etc. They
often love it and I believe it is more healthfull than something laced
with artificial ingredients.

For convenience, I often give my cat canned food, but again, moist
food, not dry. Only once in a while I give him dry food.

On Oct 14, 7:42*pm, jmc wrote:
Suddenly, without warning, James exclaimed (10/14/2008 6:27 PM):





On Oct 14, 4:55 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
"Jeff Caspari" wrote in message

...

Hi,
We have a new kitten and we have been feeding him Purina dry mix. *The vet
said she believes cats that eat dry food as the main meal will develop
kidney problems, etc.
Is that true? *Why can't they make a dry food that won't cause problems?
You have a really good vet. She's right. I saw a huge change in overall
health when I stopped feeding my cats dry food.

There's one good reason for feeding dry: your convenience. That's it. If you
love your cat, go to the trouble of opening a can twice a day.

Can't you add water to dry food?

My understanding is that dry food molds much more easily, so wetted dry
food will go bad even faster than wet food will.

My pussy drinks often and if I don't have water ready she raids the
toilet bowl. *All this time I was worried that she drank too much but
I guess it's due to the dry food diet. *I stopped offering her chicken
when she started turning up her nose and refusing to eat it.

I'm glad your cat drinks often. *If she's not getting enough from what
you have out though, you need to put out more or bigger bowls. *With a
dry diet, even if she's drinking well, she's still at higher risk of
cystitis. *Meep continued to have attacks even when I got her to drink
more water - we didn't get the cystitis under control until she went to
a completely wet diet.

FYI, she didn't have her first cystitis attack until she was about 7
years old (he was on an exclusively dry diet to that point), and it has
taken 4 years to finally get it under control - she hasn't had a real
attack in about a year now.

jmc

jmc- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I've owned several cats over the years and fed them mostly wet food;
I'd give them dry food only once in a while.

None of my cats ever had cystitis or kidney problems. They all lived
to be quite old and were healthy their whole (9 hee hee) lives other
than an occasional cold.

Suddenly, without warning, The Nice Mean Man exclaimed (10/24/2008 4:20 AM):
On Oct 16, 4:00 pm, jmc wrote:
Suddenly, without warning, DWMeowMix exclaimed (10/16/2008 11:04 AM):

On Oct 16, 2:57 am, The Nice Mean Man wrote:
The Nice Mean Man
FELLOW POSTERS....PLEASE DON'T FEED THIS TROLL.
Not me. I only see him now when people repost his drivel. Killfiles
are cool

(note extra snippage)

jmc

LOL...!! That's why they let them make so many addies.

....and why good killfiles are so easy to use. I can plonk you, as I
already did, in less than 5 seconds.

jmc

Suddenly, without warning, Fattush exclaimed (10/26/2008 12:15 PM):
On Oct 14, 7:42 pm, jmc wrote:
Suddenly, without warning, James exclaimed (10/14/2008 6:27 PM):





On Oct 14, 4:55 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
"Jeff Caspari" wrote in message
...
Hi,
We have a new kitten and we have been feeding him Purina dry mix. The vet
said she believes cats that eat dry food as the main meal will develop
kidney problems, etc.
Is that true? Why can't they make a dry food that won't cause problems?
You have a really good vet. She's right. I saw a huge change in overall
health when I stopped feeding my cats dry food.
There's one good reason for feeding dry: your convenience. That's it. If you
love your cat, go to the trouble of opening a can twice a day.
Can't you add water to dry food?
My understanding is that dry food molds much more easily, so wetted dry
food will go bad even faster than wet food will.

My pussy drinks often and if I don't have water ready she raids the
toilet bowl. All this time I was worried that she drank too much but
I guess it's due to the dry food diet. I stopped offering her chicken
when she started turning up her nose and refusing to eat it.
I'm glad your cat drinks often. If she's not getting enough from what
you have out though, you need to put out more or bigger bowls. With a
dry diet, even if she's drinking well, she's still at higher risk of
cystitis. Meep continued to have attacks even when I got her to drink
more water - we didn't get the cystitis under control until she went to
a completely wet diet.

FYI, she didn't have her first cystitis attack until she was about 7
years old (he was on an exclusively dry diet to that point), and it has
taken 4 years to finally get it under control - she hasn't had a real
attack in about a year now.

jmc

jmc- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I've owned several cats over the years and fed them mostly wet food;
I'd give them dry food only once in a while.

None of my cats ever had cystitis or kidney problems. They all lived
to be quite old and were healthy their whole (9 hee hee) lives other
than an occasional cold.

Which is additional anecdotal evidence that feeding a mainly wet diet
will help keep cats healthy and live longer.

jmc