Hello Everyone Was wondering if I could get an opinion. I have an approx 2 yr old cat. When I first got him, I sort of appeased (spolied) him and tried all sorts of foods till he was happy. He seemed to love the Pro-plan seafood varieties. This led to a a huge blockage and urinary tract issues. Luckily, he is all better with no issues whatsoever. I switched him to Science Diet beef only for the past year. He is healthy, acitve, and has a great coat. A friend had passed on Merrick cat food to me. My cat absolutely loved it. Im thinking of switching to Merrick, but am fearful of the seafood content. I had tried a few testers and he only loved the seafood ones. I was thinking of incorporating those and the SD beef for a little variety. Im fearful of another bladder/urinary issue since he had an issue at such an early age. Any thoughts?

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.

There is no dry food that is best for FUS because all dry kibbles extract water from the digestive tract during the digestion process. All cats, esp. those with urinary issues, are better off eating canned foods that contain a large percentage of water. Those foods more closely approximate the natural feline diet and help add water to the body rather than extract it. Canned (or homemade or raw) diets are healthier for the entire feline body, including the kidneys and other vital organs. Laurie

you can usually purchase Fancy Feast in large quantities for pretty cheap (less than 40 cents per can) at Walmart, and sometimes Target. The kind without gravy (the 'feast' forms) are nearly all high protein, low carb and decent fat and salt ingredients and are pretty good diets for cats. The gravy ones have a lot of carbs in them (more than necessary). Some of the Fancy Feast flavors are considered by some internal med professors (mine in particular) to be among the best all around cat foods available on the market (even better than all the fancy veterinary diets per this professor of Veterinary Medicine). But there are many good quality canned foods available. Just try to stay clear of the ones with lots of grains (or any grains if possible) in them. 'By products' however are not usually something you need to avoid as these are still protein sources- just not ones we humans would normally want to eat, but that still have nutritional value. These do make the foods more affordable, but not at the expense of the kitty... not so with all the unnecessary carbs- thosea ARE cheap and unwanted fillers.