Dry Cat Food Vs. Wet Canned Food*
*GUEST POST
Choosing a cat food is very difficult because there are plenty of options available. Not every cat food is good to serve your cat. You need to look for cat food that can fulfill all the nutritional requirements of your cat. Mainly there are two types of cat food; dry and wet canned food. It is difficult to choose between dry cat food vs. wet canned food.
For this reason, we have gathered useful information that will be beneficial for you. Read this article to end to get to know about the up and downsides of both types of food. Reading it will help you to make a choice of food for your cat.
Related: 12 Easy Ways to Save Money on Pet Food
Dry Cat Food Vs. Wet Canned Food
Most pet owners give their cat dry food to eat, which is left all day. In this way, a cat can eat whenever it wants. Some cat owners combine both foods, serving dry cat and seasoning it with wet food.
Only dry food may not fulfill all the nutritional requirements of your cat. Moreover, low-quality foods may contain some filler as well. Similarly, not all wet canned foods are suitable for your cat. Therefore, a comparison between both food types has been explained below so you can decide.
Benefits of Serving Wet Canned Food
Wet canned food comes with benefits for your cat. Some canned food already has measured portions of food for your cat. In this way, you don’t need to worry about the amount of food you need to serve.
Another benefit of wet canned food is its moisture content. These are somewhat the best cat foods for urinary tract health. Moisture content saves your cat from a lot of kidney problems. It also prevents crystal formation and issues of urinary tract health.
Cats usually do not drink a lot of water. Therefore, they may suffer from dehydration. Wet canned foods prevent your cat from dehydration because the moisture content fulfills the water intake of your cat. It can save your cat from different health problems.
Benefits of Dry Cat Food
Dry cat foods have their benefits too. These are packed in different sized bags with the expiry date mentioned on them. Food will work best to date if you clip or seal it closely after opening every time. Dry cat food is not only beneficial but also affordable as compared to wet canned food.
It will not disturb your budget, and you can store it for a long time. Some cats love free feeding, which means that you leave the food out so your cat can nibble on whenever it likes.
Some cats only require a particular amount of food due to weight issues. Therefore, you have to measure it every time, but you can easily do it using a measuring cup. Dry cat foods include many beneficial ingredients that are beneficial for your cat.
Downsides – Dry Cat Food Vs. Wet Canned Food
As both cat food types offer different benefits, they also come along with some downsides. It would help if you looked for everything so that you can serve the best to your cat.
Wet Canned Food:
The very first disturbing thing in wet canned food is its price. You have to pay a lot for a small amount of food. Therefore, it may disturb your budget. You need to refrigerate wet canned food to prevent them from spoiling.
You cannot keep open cans of food in the refrigerator due to its odor. Moreover, you need adequately sized lids to cover cans so that they remain fresh. If the food is left out for 4 hours, you will have to throw it. Not only this, but you may need to microwave cat food every time you serve it as some cats do not like cold food.
Wet canned foods can be a little messy, especially if your cat has a long-haired coat. You may need to clean your cat’s face after every meal.
Dry Cat Food:
Dry cat food is particularly not good for cats with some health issues. Dry cat foods are not rich in moisture content, which may lead your cat to dehydration. Also, it will not provide proper nutrition to your cat. You should consult your vet to serve the best food to your cat.
If your cat has dental or gum issues, dry cat food will be a little difficult for it. In this case, wet canned food will be easy for your old cat as this food has a soft consistency.
Serving a Mix of Wet and Dry Food
Most of the cats are picky eaters, and you have to struggle a lot, feeding them the proper amount of food. How to serve your cat in the best way to not suffer from any nutritional deficiency? Well, this is an essential question as the cat’s health is the topmost priority of every cat owner.
Wet canned foods have intense flavors and aromas that some cats love. Serving your cat a new food may give you a hard time. There are possible chances that your cat will not eat it or may show resistance to it. In this case, a mix of both foods can be the best combination.
If your cat eats dry food, you can mix it with wet food. You can top it with dried or frozen meat, or you can add some chicken broth. It will boost up the flavor, and even your picky eater cat will love it. Making different combinations of food may benefit your cat a lot.
There are also some high fiber cat foods available that benefit your cat in many ways. However, it is always important to first consult your vet if your cat has some health issues.
Conclusion
Dry cat food vs. wet canned food may give you a tough time while choosing the one. Both types of foods have their benefits and some downsides as well. It is important always to check the ingredients of food. Excellent cat food should fulfill the nutritional requirements of your cat.
Most of the cats are picky eaters and may give you a hard time about their food. Also, switching to a new cat food can be a little tricky. For this reason, you can make different cat food combinations that will enhance the flavor, and your cat will love it. Talk to your vet if your cat has some health problems.
About the Author
I’m Muhammad Hamza, a pet blogger who loves to write about pets related informational stories, health tips, and pet nutrition. To read my latest articles, please check my website: www.petsdiaries.com.
This is great information for cat owners! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
This was really interesting. I’ve always assumed (not having cats at an age I’d be responsible for caring for them) that wet cat food vs dry food would be similar to wet vs dry dog food. Yeah, I was wrong…x
There are definitely additional factors to consider. That being said, I am a firm believer that the best option is a mix of the two.
This is a really good post. I feed my cat a pouch of wet food a day and keep her dry food tray topped up too. It seems to work well. Very informative post, thank you for sharing!
That’s our approach as well – they always have dry food available, but we offer them wet food as an extra ‘treat’. What they don’t realize is that the ‘treat’ actually benefits them nutritionally lol
Wow I had no idea how much there was so much to think about when it came to cat food! The dehydration thing is something I had not thought about. I had a cat as a kid that was half barn cat (eating rodents) and half house cat. We fed him dry food, but he was very particular about it. He’d come meow inssessently at you until you followed him down the stairs to his food. He was usually not out of food but he clearly wanted something. So I would shake the dry food around in his tin bowl and give it back to him, and then he would eat it happily. ?♀️ Probably he would have preferred wet food, but he didn’t know what he was missing.
Dry food definitely has it’s nutritional benefits as well and some cats LOVE it. That’s why our two are fed a mixture of dry food and canned food – they get the benefits of both options.
I am so glad Pancake isn’t a picky eater, but it is lovely to learn all of the benifits of the different foods.
We’re lucky, neither of our cats are picky eaters either. In fact, I’m pretty sure Jinx would eat anything that you put in front of her even if it’s not fully edible lol!
Loads of great information there. We give mums cat Roxi a combination of good quality wet food and dry food. It means she gets everything she needs.
That is what our cats eat as well, a combination of the two. Best of both worlds.
This is such a thoughtful article, I think our family cats will benefit from it. It always amazes me how some cat owners don’t really stop to think in the food in terms of healthier options, so educating them is truly important I found this truly helpful, thank you.
Right? Just as there are healthy choices and questionable choices for us, there are also better choices for our pets. It’s key to do our due diligence and make educated choices.
Wonderful suggestions! Thanks for the post.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com
This is such an informational post for cat owners. I am going to share this with my friend who is a cat mom.
I love the name of your blog! I didn’t know a few things about this and I had a couple of kittens in my life… I never knew cats didn’t like cold food. But how did owners warm up food before microwaves? Also, I always thought having dry food helps with cats dental hygiene. We are hoping to get a cat again soon!
There are different ways that you can warm up cold food. We used to add just a little warm water to our cat’s canned food at one point.
I really learn a lot about cats and dogs through your website, which is great. I didn’t really think about the possibility of cats getting dehydrated because of dry cat food before.
It’s definitely one of those concerns that isn’t talked about very often!
I don’t have a cat but this is good info to know. I have many friends who have rescue cats and this will greatly help them. 🙂
This is all very interesting, I don’t know much about cats but I really like them. I didn’t realize that there was much of a difference between the food expect that most cats seem to love wet food. I remember my friend’s cat tried wet food then refused to dry food, and the cat would even eat around the dry food when she mixed it up. Then the cats that hung out at my old job only ate dry food, if we tried to feed them wet food they wouldn’t eat it lol.
Our cats enjoy a mixture of the two – They love their dry food (which I also love as it’s nutritionally balanced) but canned food gives them the extra hydration that they need. Plus, they see their canned food as a special treat.
I still remember having to feet my cat wet food as a kid and HATING it because it was so gross ? We used to shell out for this more expensive stuff because it came in easier to pour pouches, so I could just tear off the top, pour it out, and throw the package away – rather than have to stand there and scoop out the entire contents of a can, as I just couldn’t stomach it. Of course, now that I’m an adult, I’d do whatever is right for the cat, it’s just so stressful to think of all the different things that are out there now!
I’m good with most of the wet foods out there, but there are a few that my cats don’t get simply because I don’t want to serve it up! The smell of a few is overpowering and disgusting… There are plenty of other options without having to deal with that lol
I am not a cat person really and I don’t understand much about keeping them (and it is so unlike dogs!). Most of cats I know eat canned food or mixed dry and canned
Ours enjoy a mix of dry and canned. It’s the best of both worlds.
I have a cat and hates wet food even after trying lots of different labels from brand to supermarket own. So now I just give lots of water to drink and cat milk
There are a lot of great options to help boost the amount of water your cat is drinking too – such as using a pet fountain so that they have fresh, filtered water available.
My friend has two cats so all this information will be perfect for her…sending this to her now as I type x
Thank you!
Thanks a lot for sharing this
Thank you!
It really depend upon the choice of the cat. Some felines prefer dry cat food while others prefer wet/canned cat food. But the thing is if your are feeding dry cat food then feed more water to your felines to avoid dehydration. Let me tell you about my Maddy she likes dry kibbles.
Correct! A great way to increase the amount of water that your cat is drinking is to invest in a pet fountain. I talked about the benefits of using one on another post (https://shedhappens.net/pet-water-fountain-benefits/)
Before I was really confused because my picky eater sometimes choose dry cat food but sometimes canned can food. Thank God I read this article and now the problem is fixed. Happy Kitty Happy Mom 🙂
Our girl Pippen is a little finicky too! The best thing we can do is let them tell us what they like in their own way, right? They may not speak in English, but they are communicating in their own way 🙂