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comment by WanderingEng
WanderingEng  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: CATS - an informal guide

    would disagree re: dry food bc i think the advice going around right now is wet food is better bc in the wild cats get most of their water from their food and not straight water

This is what my vet told me, too. Also, wet or dry, it should be grain free. My vet especially stressed this. When I tell them I give them primarily wet but some dry and always grain free they pull a velvet rope that drops confetti and triggers a round of applause. Not really, but they do seem happy it's grain free.

    separate the water and food dishes

Again I agree. The most popular water dish in my home is the one in my bedroom. I have water in the kitchen, too, and it does get used, but the separate one is the key one.





_refugee_  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I am a crazy cat mom and I have a running water fountain for them. Zeke loves running water (runs to the bathroom whenever he thinks anyone is going to turn on the shower) and used to even shower with me as a kitten. I've read cats in general prefer running water and because of my experience with Zeke I just knuckled under and went for the fountain. (If I turn off the fountain after a few days Zeke gets really, really aggressive about chasing down running water sources. Also, my parents spoil him (turn on the tap for him in the bathroom) which hasn't improved his insistence.)

I have heard wet is bad for their teeth, potentially?

I had a roommate with a cat who developed hives if she ate non-grain-free food.

someguyfromcanada  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I had a cat that would also get in the shower with me every morning! And he really loved ice cubes.

arguewithatree  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've also heard dry food is bad for their teeth. There's no winning with their teeth lol. My tortie got very stinky at one point from tooth delay.

ButterflyEffect  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Why is grain free so important?

user-inactivated  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

To add to OftenBen and WanderingEng, grains often cause digestive and allergy problems. Our dog, for instance, has real bad skin irritations (she would literally chew herself raw) and grains in her food were part of the cause.

OftenBen  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Carbs are bad for cats.

They are predators whose natural diet is almost 100% meat.

Which is why I always laugh at vegans with cats. If you own a cat, you are consistently feeding it dead, ground up animals, or else it will go blind/die young.

_refugee_  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Obligate carnivores. You're either feeding it meat or you're starving it. It's the taurine right?

OftenBen  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yup.

WanderingEng  ·  2568 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I understand it's much closer to their natural diet. Cats typically eat very little grain, and my vet likened it to humans eating a lot of sugar. It's kind of the cat equivalent of junk food.