My family has always done the traditional thing with feeding our cat. We feed him Fancy Feast wet food out of a can 2-3 times a day. My mom rarely really gives him any water, but I have seen him from time to time at the toilet, and he goes outside for about 4 hours a day and I’m sure he gets some water that way too.
My questions are: What changes or additions should we add to the care of our cat? Is feeding him the same crap all the time unhealthy in some way? Would it help if we feed him water and possibly some high quality fish from time to time?
By the way, if this has any relevance, he was done up too early in life, so he is fairly small and extremely non-aggressive. He rarely meows, but rather squeaks when he wants food. Nicest cat you would ever meet… he is 11 years old and has only a few teeth left for some reason.
Definitely leave out a bowl of fresh water for the little fella. Since cats don’t get walked like dogs, there’s no reason to restrict water intake. With dogs, many people prefer to schedule water so that walkies are scheduled too.
My fiance has 4 cats, all get Iams dry food most of the time, with the occasional wet food / people food treat. They all seem pretty content and healthy, well, except for the one very old, diabetic cat. I don’t think food had much to do with that one’s ailment.
High quality dry food is the best: keeps teeth healthy, lowers poop frequency (is absorbed better), is easier to handle and keep, and is less fattening. It is worth it to spend a little more on the good stuff.
I was told that canned food could be a source of moisture for cats who refused to drink enough water, and thus stave off urinary tract disease to an extent. Your cat does not have that aversion to water. Since he drinks from the toilet, he wants to drink water, and he should be given fresh water daily.
My vet told me that dry food is better for the teeth, but dry and wet food are equivelent as to nutrition.
Fancy Feast is not a particularly high-quality food, although most cats like it. You might have better luck with something like Nutro (found in pet supply stores, but not generally in grocery stores). Wet or dry is OK - I’ve heard that the “dry food cleans the teeth” thing is a myth. My teeth certainly don’t get any cleaner when I eat hard crackers.
The most important thing is to feed your cat proper cat food. They need different balances of amino acids and minerals and such than people or dogs. Milk and tuna fish and table scraps do not make proper cat food. Fancy feast is certainly proper, if not the most cost effective.
The second most important thing is to feed your cat the same thing, day in and day out. Cats require consistency. Change is a source of stress for a cat. They far prefer the same thing every day, and changing cat foods too frequently can make your cat a “finicky eater.”
I’ve fed my boojum Purina ONE since I brought him home from the Humane Society shelter, with occasional gourmet wet food treats. The only time he gets anything different is when he stays at the vet. And he’s fine with that. He absolutely NEVER begs for table scraps… well, except for that one time I brought home some smoked trout… he insisted on sharing and refused to take no for an answer…
I’m not saying Purina ONE is any better than any other food, it’s just what I picked at Vons. When I was a kid, it was Tender Vittles, day in and day out for our cats. It was my mom’s choice. The biggest difference is the price.
That, and what it’s like on the way out. Wet food definitely makes for a much stinkier litter box.
And as for dental health, boojum’s teeth are worse than those of any other cat I’ve owned. Every year he gets more yanked. Now at age 13, he gums the dry food and I swear he swallows it whole. So if there’s any dental benefit to dry food, it’s not enough for him.
Are any of these cats with bad teeth flat-facers? I’ve heard that flat-facers have more dental problems, something to do with the way their teeth line up.
A local vet who has a newspaper column here has been suggesting that we should all feed our adult cats canned kitten food, saying it’s less likely to cause kidney problems down the road than any dry food. I asked my vet about this, and he was skeptical.
Since dry is what my cats are used to, my vet suggested that I feed them any high-quality dry food. He also suggested that I change their food every few months, making the changeover gradually over the course of a week or so. His theory is that cats are such creatures of habit that if their accustomed food is discontinued or reformulated, they’ll sometimes just quit eating, which can be life-threatening in an older cat.
I wish I could find the cite (I’ll keep hunting), but I recall a study done by a veterinary school that determined that the best diet for a cat, the one food that fulfilled all of a cat’s requirements for vitamins, minerals, protein, etc., was, wait for it…