Expert: Jessica - 9/15/2010

Question
Hey Jessica, so my kitty is about 11, 12 weeks now. im feeding her Felidae wet food and chicken soup for kitten dry food. the problem is that i think she likes to chew on stuff and felidae is all mashed meet, so she seems like she sometimes prefer dry food over wet. we are giving her wet food multiple times a day since she doesnt eat old wet food and we dont wanna waste it and just leave dry food out for her anytime she wants. im just concerned if i should buy more felidae or switch to some other brand which has kitten formula in chunk or slice. if i do, what brand would you recommand that is affordable and good ingredients. and does it matter if she eats more wet or dry? what's your suggestions?? thank you!

Answer
I personally would recommend that cats eat more wet food than dry.  It's healthier for them.  Cats who eat too much dry food don't get enough moisture in their diets, and most of them are getting too many carbohydrates.  It's suspected to be a major contributing factor to kidney disease later in life, and all the carbohydrates in dry food lead to dental tartar.  Cats fed canned food usually only supplement their diet with a little dry food here and there.

I recommend feeding canned food twice a day with free access to dry food for kittens.  If the kitten isn't eating all of the canned food you give her, cut back on the portions.  If she isn't very interested in the wet food, you can try another brand, and other textures.  In my experience, most cats like the loaf kind of food (also called pate), all mixed up very well with the sauce.  But some others like sliced or chunky food in gravy.  Nutro is a decent brand, especially the Nutro Naturals, and ProPac is good, too.  Taste of the Wild is my favorite and isn't too expensive, but is a little hard to find.  My own cats eat 9-Lives because I have so many fosters to take care of, and it's inexpensive.  I find that cats do not tend to be as sensitive to canned food ingredients as they are to dry food.  Since canned foods don't have a lot of carbohydrates, which are the major problem in most cat foods, most of them are okay to feed, as long as you don't notice them causing diarrhea.  

As the kitten gets to be closer to six months, you can try removing the dry food and feeding her only canned food twice a day if you like, if it seems that she's becoming a dry food junky.  This way you have better control over what she eats.  Cats can actually become carb "addicts", and crave dry food, eating it non-stop.  You will need to stop free-feeding cats like this so that they don't become obese.  However, in general, if she is a responsible eater, most vets recommend feeding a combination of canned and dry food, with two meals of canned food and free access to dry food throughout the day.