Can cats live on wet food only

CAN CATS LIVE ON WET FOOD ONLY? 4 ADVANTAGES

Can cats live on wet food only? It is normal to be unsure on what to feed a cat, there are too many choices at the store, but at the end, one wants to know what is the best solution for the health of his cat, and whether or not a cat can live on wet food only.

Wet food has a higher amount of water, moisture, proteins compared to dry food. It is most probably a type of food that approximate the most a hunted prey in the wild. Wet food is often fed to cats with kidney problems and urinary tract problems to alleviate the symptoms. Wet food has more fat and protein especially animal protein and fewer carbohydrates than dry food, which is beneficial to cats.

Lets see the specifics.

CAN CATS LIVE ON WET FOOD ONLY?

Every cat owner wants the best for their cats, and sometimes it isnt easy to figure out what can be the best type of food for them. Besides, cats may decide to make our life complicated, acting picky with certain food or certain brands. Sometimes it is a mystery why they eat food from a brand and not from the other or eat only wet food or only dry food.

Wet food present some advantages when it comes to nutrition for our cats.

Cats are obligatecarnivoresmeaning, they are true carnivores and depend upon the nutrients present in animal flesh for their dietary needs. Even domesticated cats will relish freshly killed meat from rodents, rabbits, amphibians, birds, reptiles, and fish. Still, cats are also opportunistic feeders and will readily take cooked food and dried cat food when offered if that food is palatable. The natural diet of cats, therefore, does not include any vegetable matter, although cats have been known to eat certain plants and grasses occasionally, usually as anemetic. Cats cannot synthesize some essential nutrients required for survival, including the amino acidstaurineandarginine, so these nutrients must be sourced from fresh meat in the natural diet. Cats lack the specific physiology to extract nutrients efficiently from plant-based materials and require a high protein diet, which is why high-energy meats from freshly killed prey are optimal foods. (Ref. Wikipedia)

As you can see there are many points that cats can find similar to hunting and eating a prey, when they eat wet food.

Here some advantages for cats eating wet food:

Wet food has up to 78% moisture content than dry food. Moisture is water or other liquid diffused in a small quantity as vapor, within a solid, or condensed on a surface. When cats hunt a living animal, what they eat from it has moisture. Cats take from their part of the water they need for survival.

Wet food tends to have more fat and protein especially animal protein and fewer carbohydrates than dry food. This is an advantage for cats because this is exactly what they need as cats. It fits better their natural feeding habits in the wild. Therefore even if the meat is not freshly killed, it is still very close to it.

Since it approximates the diet in the wild, wet food can prevent certain problems, like obesity, urinary tract problems, weight management, and constipation. Since wet food contains more proteins and fewer carbs than dry food, it helps a cat maintain weight and not gain it. The water and moisture help to prevent constipation problems, urinary tract problems, and kidney problems.

Often cats like wet food that taste more. They think it is more palatable. Of course, not all cats. But the one who likes so much wet food could get it instead of a treat from time to time.

Wet food offer also more variety in the diet, even from meal to meal. Seen all the advantages it is probable that cats can live on wet food only. It most approximate their diet in the wild.

Regardless if you feed wet or dry food to your cat, you have to make sure that it is not junk food. A lot of cat food around stores are full of preservatives and bad ingredients. Find food that is natural and not processed. I explain more about this subject HERE.

RELATED QUESTIONS

Here some related questions to: Can cats live on wet food only? and related answers:

• Can cats live on dry food only?

Dry food is high on carbs and lacks water. A dry food diet may cause different problems to a cat in the long run due to a lack of proper nutrition. I give full detailed answers in this article.

• How often should I feed my cat wet food?

You can feed your cat wet food 2 or 3 times a day. Kittens may require more food, grown up cat less. Therefore, from 2 to 3 times a day.

• Is Wet food better for older cats?

Older cats may have problems eating. Wet food is easy to chew and easy to ingest. So, old cats would have an advantage. Additionally, wet food can provide more nutrients, which they may need if they have some health problems.

• Can i give my cat wet food as a treat?

Most definitively cats would like wet food as a treat, however due to the nutrients in it, wet food should be used as a main meal, or primary food for cats. Even though, I do not deny that when my cat is asking for treats, I may give him wet food instead and he is totally fine with it.

• How much wet food should I feed my cat?

In average feedan average-sized adultcatone 3-ounce can per 3 to 3-1/2 pounds of body weight daily.

• do cats poop less on wet food?

Wet food has more nutrients than your cat will need. A cat will absorb and use more of the wet food. There are more proteins and fats in them. Those are the things your cats system will need to have. Dry food has more carbs, and a cat normally would not eat carbs. Additionally, there is more water in wet food, and a cat needs that too. Dry food doesnt contain that much moisture. Because of all those factors, it is possible that a cat on wet food would poop less since the body retains more of it.

• Is wet food bad for cats teeth?

The short answer is NO. Cats wet food is not bad for cats teeth. There is an idea that dry food helps clean teeth; however, not always a cat will chew the dry food really.

CONCLUSION

Can cats live on wet food only? I hope this was useful. If you want to ask a question or add anything, leave it in the comments below.

Is It OK To Give A Cat Only Dry Food?

Updated April 13, 2021

Listen to this rubbish.

If your cat only eats dry food, she is likely to be getting less nutrition than a cat eating wet food. Many low-quality dry foods contain a lot of fillers.

Throwaway lines like these are typical of the overly simplistic advice you find online about feline nutrition. The truth takes a deeper look. To know whether wet, dry or both are best for your cat, we need to talk about:

• nutritional adequacy & completeness
• fillers in wet & dry cat food
• the risk of obesity
• diseases associated with wet & dry foods
• other alternative cat diets

Lets dive in!

Complete vs Unbalanced Cat Foods

The main reason why the opening statement misses the point is that more than half of available wet foods are severely lacking in essential ingredients. Ive listed Aussie examples here and shown you how to tell from the packaging. Therefore, while plenty of good, balanced wet foods exist, if you feed the others, your cat risks suffering a nutritional deficiency.

Dry diets, on the other hand, are almost always balanced for all essential nutrients. If you then feed an unbalanced wet food with these, it generally doesnt matter so much. And yes, for nutritional completeness you can just feed a dry diet. But that still isnt the whole story.

Fillers In Cat Food

Now lets clear up some myths about fillers. By this, most people mean carbohydrates from grain sources. Here, three things are clearly true:

1. High levels of carbohydrate in cat foods are not natural
2. Despite this, most cats tolerate high levels of carbohydrate
3. Many wet foods are as bad as dry foods

I have written before about the problematic levels of carbohydrate in cat foods, and Im not going to make any excuses for the companies. However, despite being a vet who regularly trials sick cats on low carbohydrate diets, its actually rare that I get a positive response.

Similarly, theres no evidence that high carb levels are by themselves dangerous to cats. And before going on, I want you to notice that most dry diets sold as grain-free have just swapped the carbs out for another source, such as sweet potato. This is marketing, not nutrition.

So lets relax a bit about carbs. While not great, theyre mostly a minor evil. If you still want to feed a low carb diet, and why wouldnt you, Ive made a list of carbohydrate levels in Australian wet cat foods. Theres an online calculator you can use if your food isnt listed.

Do Dry Foods Cause Obesity?

If you research the risk factors for feline obesity, youll find that dry foods dont get a mention. So the answer is no. Instead, its much more important how you feed.

The reason dry foods get such a bad name is that they are so often left out for a cat to graze on. This whole concept of free feeding is severely frowned upon by vets, because very few cats can be trusted to regulate their food intake.

Click here for advice on converting a free feeder to accepting timed regular meals. Once you do it, youre at least three-quarters of the way to fixing feline obesity.

Disease Risks With Wet vs Dry Foods

There are only two evidence-based risks based on the food type.

Firstly, lower urinary tract disease in cats is more common on dry diets. These are the cats that get cystitis regularly, or have urinary obstructions. If a cat starts showing symptoms, I will always recommend a wet-only diet. However, as less than 5% of cats experience this problem, my opinion is that this advice doesnt need to apply to all cats.

Dental disease, on the other hand, is more common on wet foods. However, the difference, while real, is small. Where it gets significant is when you choose the dry dental foods made by Hills or Royal Canin. These can be extremely effective in preventing tooth and gum disease.

Any other diseases you might read about are only in the authors overly fertile imagination. That includes diabetes, liver, gastrointestinal and skin diseases. And in all the years of performing wellness blood testing, I have yet to find a healthy cat thats dehydrated just from eating dry foods.

Alternatives To Commercial Cat Foods

What about following some of the advice that says you can make a raw diet for your cat instead?

When I read this I get very, very cross. Cats arent little dogs. Theres almost no way a normal person without specialised training and equipment can make a reliably balanced cat food.

You can either have a cat literally eating wild foods, or you have to accept the safety of manufactured cat foods. The only in-between might be found on my recipe for a wild-type cat diet which takes a bit from each. However, like all compromises, it wont satisfy everyone.

So Are Wet Or Dry Diets Better?

The reality that for most cats, a 100% dry diet will be perfectly adequate, and no reason to feel guilty. I recommend spending as much as you can, as its clear that urinary problems go down as quality goes up. I also need you to understand feline water needs.

Dry foods are incredibly convenient, which is why I rely on one for my kitty (thats him here). However he also gets cat grass, a raw chicken neck a day, and as you can see I keep his weight under control. All these factors increase my sense of security.

You may feel guilty and want to add a tasty wet food, and in theory thats OK. My complaint is that when people who already choose a high quality dry get a wet food, its often a low quality one. Thats because wet foods need to be bought frequently, and so most people get them with their supermarket shop.

In the end, if the quality of your wet and dry cat foods are similar, it makes very little difference which one you choose.

Related: Supermarket vs Pet Store: Whats The Difference?

Have something to add? Comments (if open) will appear within 24 hours.By Andrew Spanner BVSc(Hons) MVetStud, a vet in Adelaide, Australia. Meet his team here.