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Answer:
Yes, soft/wet food is very good for a cat! Domestic cats aren't all that different from cats in the wild such as lions. Pet cats, like their wild cousins, get all their nutrition from meat-based proteins and fats. A pet cat that has access to outside might hunt and eat small birds, mice, voles and other small wildlife animals. Some owners feed their cats raw meat, offal (organs) and bone to mimic the food a cat would eat in the wild. Good quality wet foods often have a very high meat content with all the essential nutrients and is thought to be the next best thing to raw feeding.
It is advisable to stay away from brands that include Corn, Wheat, Cereals, Soy and various Sugars in their foods - cats have difficulty in digesting these and do not provide any nutritional value to the cat whatsoever. Wet food with these specifications are much easier to find than in dry food.
The amount of moisture in cat food is also very important. Dry food contains no moisture, so is quite dehydrating. Cats are notoriously bad drinkers, even when they are thirsty. This is because they have evolved to get all their needed moisture from their prey (their ancestors were cats that lived in very dry and arid environments where water was hard to come by), so therefore have a low "thirst drive" and will not often seek out water on their own. This is a trait that has been passed down over the thousands of years.
Canned or pouched food has anywhere between 60 to 80% water. Seeing as in the wild a cat's prey is around 65%-75% water, wet and raw food provides a cat with more than enough water each day. Dry foods in comparison have 0% - 10% moisture. Even with drinking, a cat on a dry food diet often does not drink enough.
Many dry foods and low-quality wet foods are often packed with carbohydrates - "filler" in the way of grains and cereals, none of which cats can digest or gain any nutrients from. Grain is used instead of meat because it is cheaper to produce and helps kibble pieces hold together. Cats need MEAT based protein, not PLANT based protein. Cats will often overeat on lower quality foods because they are not getting all the nutrients they need, which often results in obesity. Because kibble is baked at such high temperatures, all the "natural" nutrition is destroyed. Wet food isn't processed to such high levels as this, so most of the nutrition stays intact.
Lastly, it is not proven that dry food cleans a cat's teeth. Kibble is hard and brittle, so shatters at the tips of the teeth - providing little or no cleaning friction. Dental issues usually start under or around the gumline, so kibble is usually ineffective. Some cats don't even chew; they will just swallow the kibble whole. However, some cats will have perfect teeth no matter what food they eat, while others will not benefit at all.
You could feed both, but dry food only really serves as a convenience to us, and provides very little for your cat. There are some decent dry foods out there such as Applaws, Orijen and Felidae with a high meat content in them and zero grains, but even that will never compare to the nutrition of canned food.
For high-quality Cat food there is: Blue Buffalo, Felidae, Weruva, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Wellness, EVO, Bozita (the canned stuff is 90+% meat, Applaws (70+% meat and comes in both tinned and dry), HiLife (60% meat), Feline Fayre, to name a few.
Yes, cats have a low thirst drive. What that means is that they don't drink liquids merely for the pleasure of it, the way humans do. They drink water only when their body signals to them that it needs water. If the cat eats dry food, and gets dehydrated, its body will tell it to drink more water eventually.
It's just irrational to say that an animal could remain dehydrated for the rest of its life, just because it's eating different food. Life on this planet would never have survived if animals were so incapable of adapting. Animals can go weeks without food, but not very long without water.
Innova-Evo dry food, or Back to the Wild dry food, or other similar high-protein, no-grain dry foods all make their food with similar high-quality ingredients that their wet food is made of. Some brands may even cook their foods at a lower temperature to ensure that nutrients aren't destroyed.
I agree that a cat's diet should not be made up of just dry food. I also think that a cat's diet should not be made up entirely of wet food, either. A healthy balance of the two is ideal, in my opinion.
It is advisable to stay away from brands that include Corn, Wheat, Cereals, Soy and various Sugars in their foods - cats have difficulty in digesting these and do not provide any nutritional value to the cat whatsoever. Wet food with these specifications are much easier to find than in dry food.
The amount of moisture in cat food is also very important. Dry food contains no moisture, so is quite dehydrating. Cats are notoriously bad drinkers, even when they are thirsty. This is because they have evolved to get all their needed moisture from their prey (their ancestors were cats that lived in very dry and arid environments where water was hard to come by), so therefore have a low "thirst drive" and will not often seek out water on their own. This is a trait that has been passed down over the thousands of years.
Canned or pouched food has anywhere between 60 to 80% water. Seeing as in the wild a cat's prey is around 65%-75% water, wet and raw food provides a cat with more than enough water each day. Dry foods in comparison have 0% - 10% moisture. Even with drinking, a cat on a dry food diet often does not drink enough.
Many dry foods and low-quality wet foods are often packed with carbohydrates - "filler" in the way of grains and cereals, none of which cats can digest or gain any nutrients from. Grain is used instead of meat because it is cheaper to produce and helps kibble pieces hold together. Cats need MEAT based protein, not PLANT based protein. Cats will often overeat on lower quality foods because they are not getting all the nutrients they need, which often results in obesity. Because kibble is baked at such high temperatures, all the "natural" nutrition is destroyed. Wet food isn't processed to such high levels as this, so most of the nutrition stays intact.
Lastly, it is not proven that dry food cleans a cat's teeth. Kibble is hard and brittle, so shatters at the tips of the teeth - providing little or no cleaning friction. Dental issues usually start under or around the gumline, so kibble is usually ineffective. Some cats don't even chew; they will just swallow the kibble whole. However, some cats will have perfect teeth no matter what food they eat, while others will not benefit at all.
You could feed both, but dry food only really serves as a convenience to us, and provides very little for your cat. There are some decent dry foods out there such as Applaws, Orijen and Felidae with a high meat content in them and zero grains, but even that will never compare to the nutrition of canned food.
For high-quality Cat food there is: Blue Buffalo, Felidae, Weruva, California Natural, Instinct, Prairie, Natural Balance, Eagle Pack, Wellness, EVO, Bozita (the canned stuff is 90+% meat, Applaws (70+% meat and comes in both tinned and dry), HiLife (60% meat), Feline Fayre, to name a few.
Answer
Cookies or dry cereal may scrape plaque off your teeth. Any crunchy food can help scrape the gunk off your teeth and your tongue. It's just that scraping plaque off your teeth and tongue doesn't get your whole mouth clean. I'll admit that dry food doesn't do a good job cleaning their teeth. My point was just that it's better than nothing. Since my cats fight me so violently whenever I try to stick a toothbrush in their mouths...I don't see any alternative besides dry food.Yes, cats have a low thirst drive. What that means is that they don't drink liquids merely for the pleasure of it, the way humans do. They drink water only when their body signals to them that it needs water. If the cat eats dry food, and gets dehydrated, its body will tell it to drink more water eventually.
It's just irrational to say that an animal could remain dehydrated for the rest of its life, just because it's eating different food. Life on this planet would never have survived if animals were so incapable of adapting. Animals can go weeks without food, but not very long without water.
Innova-Evo dry food, or Back to the Wild dry food, or other similar high-protein, no-grain dry foods all make their food with similar high-quality ingredients that their wet food is made of. Some brands may even cook their foods at a lower temperature to ensure that nutrients aren't destroyed.
I agree that a cat's diet should not be made up of just dry food. I also think that a cat's diet should not be made up entirely of wet food, either. A healthy balance of the two is ideal, in my opinion.
First answer by Kaye820.
Last edit by LimeAid.
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