Ewww, LindaC, sweet potatoes? lbpod, how long was that ham in there? Too bad there's no picture, you know how deli style lunch meat gets that slick of irridescent color that looks like petroleum products, kind of a rainbow effect. Or did you get past that stage and into something else. And didn't you smell it? Ugh. Makes me not feel so badly that I put a cup of coffee in the fridge at work once and looked for it until someone found it about two hours later..... Annie

Feeding the "right" amount of any type of food to any animal is basically trial and error. Some animals are more active or have higher metabolism rates, so they require more food. Some animals are less active or have slow metabolism rates, and they require less food. In any case, you'll feed less of a calorie-rich food than you will a food with low-quality ingredients. If you're feeding both dry and canned, you may need to regulate the amount of each if your cat is prone to overeating. The feeding guideline on the food container is only a starting point. The only truly valid answer to your question is to keep a close eye on your cat's weight and adjust the amount you're feeding if his weight doesn't hold steady. Some cats can maintain proper weight being free-fed. Many cats will overeat and become obese if allowed to do so. Laurie

Lukkiirish, the problems with your cats was not due to wet feeding. Dry food is made to shatter IF the cat bites down on it. Of course, when it does, it's nothing but mealy grit that easily lodges in the gingiva. This leads to periodontitis, resorption, and other painful conditions. The only way to care for cat teeth at home is to brush them. Your claim that dry food is good for feline oral health is no different to claiming that eating saltines will clean your own teeth. If you know the anatomy of a cat's mouth, you can see that there are no chewing surfaces, ie., the molars are high on the outside and low on the inside near the tongue. This facilitates shearing action, which, rather than chewing, is what a cat's mouth is evolved to do. Chewing animals have flatter molar surfaces, so that food can be kept in place for chewing. Imagine the action of a mortar and pestle. The tool is designed to hold stuff in place for grinding. That's what your teeth are made for. Cat teeth are shaped to provide a scissor-like action. So, on that alone, you can understand why dry food is useless for feline oral health. Next, dry food is by nature very high in carbohydrates. It must be, since the plant matter is needed to glue the meat meal grit into kibbles. If you're reading labels, good-but if you're not translating them, then you have no idea what you're feeding your cats. Any claims on dry food labels of "50% protein" are utter hogwash. Firstly, any plant matter that is useful protein in any other animal feeds is also considered useful protein in cat food, despite the fact that cats cannot utilise plant protein. You need to know how much animal protein is in the mix, and manufacturers are not always going to tell you that if you call them. Secondly, you need to calculate dry weight to get a grasp of how much of ANY protein is in the mix. If you're lucky enough to get facts from the manufacturer, then you still do the maths. The best dry food on the market is probably less than 20% animal protein, which is grossly insufficient for obligate carnivores. Then you need to consider that cats are not particularly interested in drinking water. Everyone claims that "my cat drinks plenty of water!" But no one can tell you how much water "plenty" is! A cat's natural diet is prey, which is about 70%-80% water. So is wet food! Dry food? Under 10% water. Cats will drink, but are not thirst-driven, so are unable to know if they're getting enough water to function. The dry-fed cat will walk away from the water dish long before it has consumed sufficient water. As a result, dry-fed cats have undue strain on kidney function, digestion, urinary function, and who knows what else because they are always dehydrated. Dry-fed cats are also far more likely to be obese and to develop diabetes and hypertension. Oh, and let's not forget how many dry-fed cats end up with an excess of urinary crystals or even blockages! This is almost always due to dry feeding, which leads to concentrated, alkaline urine. Cats need the sufficiency of wet food fluid intake in order to reduce urine's concentration and to flush out crystals. The higher animal protein in wet food helps to maintain appropriate urine acidity. Another interesting thing is that so many people are completely hoodwinked by the"grain-free" movement! It doesn't matter! Grain-free does NOT equate carbohydrate-free! Grains are often primary suspects in food allergies. The grain-free bandwagon needs to be halted for the sake of our cats. Grain-free dry foods contain as much carbohydrate as do grained foods. You'll frequently see claims that cats in the wild will eat the stomach contents of their prey, but this is not fact. Cats are not keen on stomach acids needed for plant breakdown and carefully avoid eating any part of prey digestive tracts. I suppose that laboratory cats who are only fed digestive tracts will consume them in hope of avoiding starvation, but not cats in more normal surroundings. Lastly, I'm always hearing from people who claim to have cats who were dry-fed only, and lived to be 32 and never had a problem. Well, genetics can make some cats lucky enough to slip past troubles, but these are very much the minority. I also suspect that some of the owners were lying about the cats' longevity, or the cats had outdoors access so supplemented their dry food with nice juicy prey. It is also likely that the cats were never taken to the vet so any problems they may have had were never diagnosed. It's like the centenarian who, when asked the secret to his long life, answers " booze, cigars, and unrestrained sex!". Does that mean that EVERYONE should live like that in order to become a centenarian? Of course not. I see no problem with using dry food in place of cat treats. It's less expensive. Ten to twenty pieces of dry food in a day are amazing as training rewards. But there is no real benefit to dry feeding.

Where do you buy this Wellness food? I hadn't thought of cream cheese. Is that something cats like in general? She doesn't seem to like regular cheese. We are down to 2 very small pills a day, which has made it much easier. In case it's useful to others...I found a very soft cat treat at Petco, "Animal Planet" jerky treats. I had already tried a few other brands that were too rubbery. These treats are small, pea-sized. I am pressing it flat between thumb and forefinger, pressing the pill in, then rolling the treat around it. Heat of hand makes them more malleable. It's working so far; and at $3 a bag is one quarter the price of the Pill Pockets. (I am still shocked at how expensive those are! $12 a bag, for 45 pieces! I don't like to feel like I'm being taken advantage of just because my cat is sick.) If we have to use big pills again I may still have to use those.