New Kitten help- Dry or wet food?

[CharityLynn]

I'm not sure if this is a hot topic or not, I'm hoping to not start any drama though. I have received conflicting information about feeding our new kittens wet food or dry food or a combination.

Both kittens are around 8-10 weeks. I was told wet gives the kittens diarreh (Sp?)

We have currently been feeding them dry food. We also give them milk ( which they love) But they're not drinking much water when we give them milk, is that ok?

Any way, what are your suggestions?

TIA,

Charity

 

[CharityLynn]

Oh and one more question, one of the kittens likes to scratch the couch. I stop her every tuime and move her from the couch. We also bought her one of those cardboard looking scarting posts. Any other advice on how to get that to stop?

 

[maelstrom]

Are you giving them real milk or cat milk? It's not good for cats to have real milk. You can get cat milk, which is safe for cats, at the pet store; I know that Whiskas makes it, but I'm sure that other brands do as well.

 

[chyam]

I feed my cats a combination, they get wet food for breakfast and then they have free rein on the dry food, I have a feeder that I keep filled. Cats are not like dogs, they only eat when they are hungry. Dry food is great for their teeth and a good quality dry food is really all they would need. But I guess I think they are human and need a little variety.
People will tell you that milk is not good for cats, and that it will give them diarrera. Make it more or less a little treat and not to much of it! So many people will tell you this and tell you that but play it by ear. I have 6 cats presently, and there are 2 of mine that perfer the dry food over the wet food. Almost all of my cats have lived to be 20 and I have never done anything special.
Good luck with the kittens, you may also want to invest in a small scratching post and show them how to use it, especially after you catch her using your couch!

 

[DisneyBlonde]

I've always fed my cats both canned and dry...they had a self-feeder with dry that they noshed on all day, and they would get canned at dinner. My cats are older...about 13-14, and their new vet just told me that they should only get canned, that dry is too high in carbs. So we have compromised, and they get a bowl of dry in the morning and the canned at dinner.

I should say though that I had a vet once that said dry was the way to go...so I would find a vet that you trust and go with what they say.

 

[Feralpeg]

My vet told me to only give my cats dry food. The wet sticks to their teeth and promotes decay.

 

[bekkiz]

Hopefully this might help?
http://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

 

[pppiglet]

Milk is what gives them the runs, also a change in cat food. As soon as they adjust to the new food they should be ok. We have 10 cats right now of our own and a mama with 4 babies we are fostering. All are on wet food. The difference healthwise is amazing. Raw is even better if you can afford it. Dry tends to cause urinary tract infections as the cats don't get enough water with it, where wet is 95% water. Fur is healthier, shinier, and softer also. We do give a few dry treats, but only stick to one brand.

 

[MomofKatie]

We have 3 cats, and they eat only high quality canned food. I feed them 3 meals a day. We used to feed a little canned and have dry out all the time, but found that 2 of our 3 were way overeating. They had gained too much weight with demand feeding, so we went to just meal feeding. I talked with our vet and did research- we decided on all wet food.

In the wild, cats are obligate carnivores- they ONLY eat meat. They are on a natural low-carb diet! The carbs in dry food are bad for them- their systems weren't meant to digest all those carbs. They really should have a low carb/high protien diet. The cat foods that contain whole grains, veggies, and fruits ARE NOT what cats need. Those ingredients are what we humans consider "healthy", but they are totally unnecessary in a cat's diet (and can actually do harm).

If you want to read up on feline nutrition, there are some good sites out there- these are the ones I got a lot from. http://www.catinfo.org/ and http://www.catnutrition.org/index.php . There is also a good resource to help find the canned and dry commercial cat foods that have the high protien/low carbs that cats need- http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html . This site lists calories, % of carbs, protien, fat, etc, and other important stuff that isn't on cat food labels.

 

[Stitchfans]

we feed our 3 cats both as a matter of fact the vet I worked for when I was younger told me that was the best.

we also have a scratching post for our cats

 

[Rence]

As for the scratching (or just general kitten behaviour modification) - the solution that I used (and I know several others who used it as well) is the squirt gun. Keep a squirt gun (or spray bottle) filled with water handy. When the kitten is doing a "no no" just give it a little spritz - I tried to not be too obvious that I was the one doing doing the squirt. Cats don't like water - it doesn't hurt them, but it does annoy them. The kitten will associate scratching the sofa with getting squirted and will (hopefully) stop. Now I always tried to do just a quick squirt - you are not trying to soak the kitten, just annoy the kitten. It won't hurt them. Some people don't like it because they consider it mean - but it is harmless (just don't over do it).

 

[pppiglet]

All of the links above by the other posters are great links. One of them has a book written by the vet I was going to called Your Cat. This book gives many examples of cats that came in to her office and were switched to raw or canned and cured of their illnesses.

Dry food is the same to cats as cereal and donuts are to kids.

One of the best canned foods low in carbs also is Fancy Feast Gourmet Turkey and Giblets. With all the fosters we've had, this has been the best at controlling diahhrea also.

 

[robinb]

I feed my cats only dry food and they are perfectly happy and healthy. Why get your kittens hooked on wet food? I have had to feed my cats wet food in the past and it is stinky and disgusting. And then you need to clean the bowl when they are done. The dry food is a simple scoop into their bowls when it's empty and a once a week swipe. I feed a "Chicken Soup For the Cat Lover's Soul" ... stupid name but it's a cat food with human grade ingredients. There is a website which has analysis of all the cat and dog foods out there and ranks them but I lost the link. Maybe someone else has it?

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Definitely DRY, and don't switch foods......keep it the same from day to day.

A tall, wood scratching post w/rope on it works MUCH better since cats like to reach UP and scratch. You can usually get them at your local humane society for around $50-75. People volunteer their time to make the posts, and all of the money goes right back to the humane society. I have one scractching post on each level of the house. All three of my cats use them throughout the day.

 

[pppiglet]

I feed my cats only dry food and they are perfectly happy and healthy. Why get your kittens hooked on wet food? I have had to feed my cats wet food in the past and it is stinky and disgusting. And then you need to clean the bowl when they are done. The dry food is a simple scoop into their bowls when it's empty and a once a week swipe. I feed a "Chicken Soup For the Cat Lover's Soul" ... stupid name but it's a cat food with human grade ingredients. There is a website which has analysis of all the cat and dog foods out there and ranks them but I lost the link. Maybe someone else has it?

Actually with as many cats as I have, we use paper plates and throw them away after they've eaten!

 

[DVCLiz]

Please don't tell my cats there is such a thing in the world as wet cat food. I have memories of my childhood cat's wet food and it was disgusting - never again!!

We are on the third round of pet cats in my adult lifetime and they have all lived to be at least 15 with no health problems.

 

[Tina]

MomofKatie already posted this link: http://www.catinfo.org/index.htm but I also highly recommend reading here. After reading this site thoroughly (especially the stories of feline obesity) I put my cats on Wellness canned food and the transformation was incredible. I always thought they looked beautiful and healthy, until Wellness. Now they look absolutely stunning. And their hair is so soft! I have one cat with chronic diarrhea and Wellness has helped to get that under control.

Most commercial cat food is the equivalent of human fast food/junk food. Looks and tastes great, but they tend to overeat, causing obesity and its not all that healthy. Wellness has no by-products and also has a grain-free option. My only downside to feeding Wellness is having to go to Petco or Booth Feeds to buy it. Its not carried by Petsmart.

 

[Tina]

As for the scratching, you may want to pick up more than one scratching post for them, preferably something vertical with sisal rope on it. If your cats find a favorite piece of furniture to scratch, put a strip of Sticky Paws (double sided tape) on that spot. The squirt bottle helps a lot too.

 

[PollyannaMom]

My cats have some of both kinds of food. It's what they were on when we adopted them, so we stuck with that - at first just because we didn't want to change too much at once, but later because they seem to like it that way.

They love wet food at "mealtime", but it does get yucky if it sits out too long. So they like the dry for munching at other times (and I think it's good for their teeth.)

As for scratching, have you tried putting a little catnip on the scratching post?