About food:

• What to feed a cat: Dry or wet food or perhaps both?

• Is supermarket food "junk" food or What is "good" food

• Kitten food and other life stages food: Is it really needed?

• Dry food cleans teeth. Right?

• Other food-related titbits: Dos, do nots and some food myths - Rotating brands, soaking dry food and more

• What to learn more about cat nutrition?

Feeding logistics:

• How often to feed? Once a day? Twice a day? Three times a day? More often than that?

~ Thread in progress - please do not post on it~

What to feed your cat: Dry or wet food or perhaps both?




There is a staggering array of foods available, ranging from hundreds of dry foods (for foods available in the UK see: A-Z of dry food for cats) to hundreds of wet foods (for wet foods available in the UK: A-Z of wet food for cats) to raw diets (Thinking about raw feeding - a basic guide).

Yet, people frequently feed only dry food because it is convenient, appears to be quite economical and often the vet tells them to feed it too. Some also believe that dry food smells less offensive than wet food. Some even say that the water in wet food is an expensive “filler” and why should they pay good money for something that they can get for free from a tap?


However, there are a two really good arguments as to why a dry food diet isn’t a good idea for cats:

1) unlike dogs, cats are not naturally good drinkers, which goes back to the time when they would have satisfied most of their moisture needs from the prey that they catch - meat contains a lot of water but they also drink the blood of their prey. So, for example, raw food contains about 65-75ish% of water, and wet food contains about that too; perhaps even a little more. Now compare this to the 7-12% of moisture content typically found in dry food.

Indeed, studies have shown that cats who are fed a diet consisting of wet food that contains about 70ish% of moisture don't tend to (and don't need to either) take in any more water from external sources (61% moisture seems to be the tipping point). Also, cats who previously were fed dry food and were drinking a lot stopped drinking from external sources when fed a food high in moisture content.


Fair dos you might think; I feed dry food therefore I shall make water available to them and either get a water fountain or put down an additional bowl of water. Although great ideas, and fresh water should always be available to cats no matter what you feed just in case, here is the important snag: studies have also shown that although dry-fed cats drink a lot more than wet-fed cats (as much as 6 times as much), they still don't take in as much moisture as cats take in from their wet food! This leads to more concentrated urine (and a cat’s urine is already concentrated a fair bit to start off with), which CAN lead to urinary and other issues. For more info, see here: Dry/wet cat food moisture content


So, that is one of arguments against. The other is

2) the carb content of dry food, which tends to contain an excessive amount of grains (because grains are cheaper than meat). Don't get me wrong, there are some wet foods that I rate very highly that also contain grains but they only contain a small proportion; nothing compared to the 30-40% + often seen in dry food.

Cats aren't very good at utilising that amount of grain (protein) metabolically and it can have all sorts of unwanted side-effects, from smelly to frequent poops, to obesity (cats don’t readily convert carbs into energy ), to urinary issues (because the high grain content alters the urine ph and makes it more alkaline than it should be). Carbs have been linked to feline obesity, diabetes, kidney disease and others. Although the relationship might not be directly causal (see this for a review of dry food on health, particularly diabetes:http://www.crpf.org.uk/upload/docume...cvjarticle.pdf), why chance it when you can easily avoid it?



So, if you still want to feed dry despite these rather good arguments against them, then feed as little dry as you can and measure out how much dry you put down. It might also be a good idea to invest in a treat ball, which means that your cat will need to work for his/her kibble.

A quick note on feeding a mixed diet of wet and dry food. As far as I know, absolutely zero is known about what impact a mixed diet has on cats in terms of their water intake. There is anecdotal evidence from vets who believe that even just a little wet food "switches off" the small thirst drive that cats might have in response to dry food. So, when the rest of their diet for that day then consists of dry food, they might not drink more to make up for the missing moisture content in their diet.

As I said, this "system-being-fooled" assumption is anecdotal* but the advice I guess is:

If can you just feed a complete wet food and no dry, so much the better.

For loads more info see

Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition :: healthy cat diet, making cat food, litter box, cat food, cat nutrition, cat urinary tract health
Feline Nutrition

For loads of tips on moving a dry kibble addict on to wet food see this handy, if a little lengthy pdf: http://catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20for%2...%201-14-11.pdf



* anyone who has any more info on that issue please pm me!

Is supermarket food "junk" food or What is "good" food?




Most people (particularly before they come to forums such as this or before they start to read up on cat food) buy their cat food during their weekly shop at the supermarket. Very often these people are told on forums that they are feeding their cats junk food, deliberately implying that they are harming their cat by feeding this food in the long-term. In return, people who don't feed supermarket food and who label such food as junk food are often outed as "food snobs". So, what is the story with supermarket food? Is it "good" food?

Well, that all hinges on how one defines "good" food? At the most basic level, a good food is a food that contains the nutrients that cats need to maintain their health - i.e. foods that are labelled to be "complete". Any food labelled as being a complete food needs to contain the nutrients a cat needs to maintain its health to a certain degree. However, there are no hard or fast rules; only ranges (albeit with some lower and upper limits) and guidelines, which is why there is so much nutritional variability in the available food. But be aware. There are also "treat" or "complementary" foods that do not contain such nutrients but that often aren't declared as such. For more info on these see the Other food-related titbit section.

However, in my opinion, a food should not only contain the nutrients cats need to maintain their health or to thrive; they should also clearly state what they contain.

Now legally, any pet food manufacturer needs to declare on their labels the statutory minimum, which from a consumer's point of view is completely useless because these are: min 4% meat and animal derivatives of the flavour animal (the flavour meat being the protein source that gives the food the name: i.e Whiskas with Beef in jelly for example would need to contain at least 4% beef; the rest can be other meats), and some top-level heading of the other stuff they put in, such as minerals, vegetable derivatives, oils, sugar, additives etc. Labels can contain a lot more detail but they are at the discretion of the manufacturer (Please note that the labelling regulations are currently changing, allegedly making it easier for consumers to understand them).

Now, the food contains more than 4% of that flavour meat but unless the manufacturer divulges more info on the label, we don't know how much more and what other animal meats are being used. We also don't know how much of this is "real" meat and how much of this is offal or what is termed by-products or animal derivatives.

There is nothing wrong with the use of offal per se; they are a nutritious part of an animal, And if you think about it, a cat hunting prey would also consume things we wouldn't ordinarly eat ourselves. However, imo it is all about the proportions. And let's not forget offal is cheap; cheaper than meat and that is one way they keep costs to themselves down. What manufacturers use is, within certain guidelines, up to them. So, if you want to know what by-products a manufacturer uses either consult their website or ask them. If you are not happy with what they tell you, don't buy it.

For the wet food A-Z (A-Z of wet food for cats) I have tried to find out how much overall meat content there is and how much of that is meat vs offal. While most companies have played ball, the big guns, which also tend to be the ones most often found in supermarkets, are not willing to divulge that information.

So, supermarket foods aren't typically "good" foods because you don't know what they contain. Additionally, they tend to be the ones that are chunks in jelly/gravy, which means that not only will they need to use additives to keep the chunks in chunks but the meat chunks in a tin or pouch also compete with certain fillers - i.e. jelly or gravy. Proportionally these fillers tend to be quite high (well, jelly and gravy is cheaper than meat/offal etc) and are nutritionally questionable. If you can find food that is "pate" food (i.e. the consistency of chicken liver pate). Because of their consistency they need fewer fillers (jelly/gravy), which means that they tend to be higher in meat content.

Lastly, and perhaps for most surprisingly as people tend to associate supermarkets with "cheap" food, these cat foods often available in supermarkets also tend to be either just as pricey, or in some case, even more costly than other food that is better declared but that is only had over the internet.

Needs to be continued

Kitten food and other life-stages food: Is it really needed?




Is kitten food needed? Yes and no. If one were to feed the foods available in supermarkets than it would make sense to buy the kitten food as it tends to contain more protein, fat and minerals than the adult version alongside a similar amount of filler (jelly/gravy). Although the adage is that a kitten can eat as much as s/he wants you really don't want to do that with the food that is high in fillers, such as jelly/gravy, as it is just wasted space nutritionally and one would inadvertently feed quite a lot of it.

Contrary to what many people think there are actually *guidelines* as to what a kitten food should contain nutritionally compared to an adult food - or what the guidelines call food for growth and reproduction vs food for maintenance (other such guidelines for other lifestages foods, such as for senior foods, don't exist). For more info follow the link on this page from the European Pet Food Industry Federation: http://www.fediaf.org/self-regulation/nutrition/

However, most of the good quality foods that you can get online are really foods that are suitable for all life-stages (because they follow the guidelines set out for growth food to be able to satisfy both the needs of kittens and adults). This kind of makes sense if you consider that in the wild kittens would feed off mum before being weaned on to food that the grown-up cats would be eating too.

So, aim to choose the best quality food that your money can buy (and good food doesn't need to cost a lot); ideally one that covers all life-stages (though as I said earlier, most of the high quality foods are allegedly/apparently suitable for all lifestages). Having said all this, the catch to the whole story though is to find a good quality food that your kitten is also happy to eat.

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Dry food cleans teeth. Right?




Unless you use kibble that has been specially formulated for dental hygiene (they also tend to be considerably bigger pieces of dry food), there is very little evidence that actually shows any dental benefits. Check it out yourself: next time your cat eats dry food just observe him/her: most just swallow the pieces whole or break them in half. That is not the abrasive action that cats need to keep their teeth and gums clean. Mind, there are also no benefits if you feed wet food.

A lot of dental issues in cats are genetically determined. So you could be lucky and have a cat that has great teeth no matter what he/she is fed, or you could be most conscientious and your cat still ends up with crap teeth. Luck of the draw.

However, whatever the genetics may be, care for your cat's teeth by either brushing them regularly (see here for a vid that shows a gradual, stressfree approach to brushing: Brushing Your Cat's Teeth | Partners in Animal Health) using a cat specific toothpaste (don't use the human stuff, that contains ingredients that are toxic to cats) and toothbrush/finger glove and/or feed some raw food (either big chunks of raw food or raw cat appropriate bones) a few times a week.

For loads more info see here: Does Dry Food Clean the Teeth? | Little Big Cat


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Other food-related titbits: Dos, do nots and some food myths



Rotate, rotate, rotate
A lot of people find one brand of cat food and stick to it. In particular, a lot of people seem to think that kittens have sensitive stomachs and shouldn't be exposed to too much variety to avoid upsets.

However, contrary to those beliefs and practices, one certain "do" when it comes to wet (and dry) feeding in my opinion is to find a few (say 3 or 4) brands of food of equal quality that your cats will eat and feed them and their flavours in rotation. That is for three main reasons:

1) it helps combat possible boredom with their food
2) no food is perfect and by feeding a few different foods you are maximising the chance that you are feeding a balanced diet in terms of nutrients (and are minimising the likelihood of any harm if you are feeding a food that has got a nutritional problem or that is in some way contaminated)
3) if a manufacturer changes the recipe or even discontinues a certain product you are feeding then you are not stuck up the creek scrambling around for something else your cats might eat. And them tinkering with their recipes happens more often than you might think.

Want to learn more about cat nutrition



The above few posts have really just been a quick introduction into the world of cat food. In order to feed most sensibly and in order to select the food(s) you feel are best for your cat, take the time to learn more about cat nutrition, food labels and the like. It really isn't rocket science but it will help you cut through the PR crap of food manufacturers, nutritional spiels by vets and well-meaning other people.

Some excellent sources are:

• http://www.catinfo.org/

• http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm

• http://www.catnutrition.org/index.html

• http://feline-nutrition.org/index.php

• http://www.catinfo.org/docs/zorans_article.pdf

• http://fnae.org/index.html

A lot of these link are also about raw feeding. Don't let this put you off. Although you might have no interest in raw feeding, this information will provide you with the nutritional reasons as to what you should be looking for in your own cat's food.

Some other interesting, more general links, are:

• http://www.fabcats.org/

• http://healthypets.mercola.com/

• http://www.catsofaustralia.com/index.htm

• http://www.animaltalknaturally.com/

How often to feed? Once a day? Twice a day? Three times a day? More often than that?




Observations of cats who live in laboratories and feral colonies have shown that when they are given free choice, cats would eat up to 20 meals a day.

As a matter of fact, they aren't designed to only eat one big meal a day, unlike dogs who can deal with just one big daily meal. 2 meals a day is better but the more often you can feed your cat (obviously the size of the portions is negatively related with the number of meals), the better for your cat!

So, if you can feed him 3 or 4 or even 5 times right now, then go for it. If pesky work gets in the way, then you can still establish a frequent meal schedule by feeding your cat before you go to work, when you come back and before you go to bed. You could even get an automatic feeder or come up with your own ingenious contraption so that your cat can have meals during the day when you are away.


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