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Did she say the murmur was caused by excessive water due to the canned food or did she think that the bacteria on your cat's teeth were travelling to the heart valves?
Our Smokey went in for a routine vet exam and a booster vac., and the vet said her teeth were very dirty with plaque and that she had a new heart murmur because of wet cat food we were feeding her.
You need to find a new vet. One that keeps up with the times and the most recent information on cat nutrition. Wet food cannot cause a heart murmur. Plaque is the plague of cats feed DRY food.
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I read an article on this blog about 10 rules of owning a cat, and with much agreement from other bloggers, started switching our 2 girls over to high end, very expensive canned cat food [Innova] which they ate, but they still wanted some dry. So the vet said no more canned food, just dry.
Find another vet. This one has no clue that cats are OBLIGATE carnivores.
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Talk about confused. I feel I have to trust our vet, she has known Smokey for 5 years now and said these were new findings. She obviously is not a fan of canned food. She was very encouraging about the fountain we bought and said Smokey was well hydrated. So who knows, it's back to all dry. Comments welcome.
Too bad she doesn't keep up with the LATEST findings on cat nutrition.
Listen to your vet. Not people on an internet bulletin board with no credentials.
Her vet is obviously IGNORANT of the fact that cats are obligate carnovores and cannot and do not thrive on dry food which is full of grains, fruits and vegetables depending on the brand. The information is out there - no veterinarian needed. I hope she went ahead and cleaned your cat's teeth before it advances to gum disease.
If she believes that eating canned food causes heart murmurs, she must have made it through vet school by some other method than studying and paying attention.
Is she blonde and big breasted by any chance?
She probably also smacks chewing gum, has BIG HAIR and lives at the lower end of town.
Please, please don't put your cats back on dry food. Dental health is genetic. If your cat has plaque, she will have it regardless of canned or dry. A raw diet would be the only diet that would prevent it.
Canned food does not cause heart murmurs. What a crazy thing to say.
You did the right thing, getting your Smokey and other cat on a canned diet. Don't stop now!
Please, please don't put your cats back on dry food. Dental health is genetic. If your cat has plaque, she will have it regardless of canned or dry. A raw diet would be the only diet that would prevent it.
Canned food does not cause heart murmurs. What a crazy thing to say.
You did the right thing, getting your Smokey and other cat on a canned diet. Don't stop now!
Haha, longtime no hear.
Yes, no way is canned going to create issues. Canned PREVENTS problems not harms cats. Dry will dehydrate cat, hurt kidneys, get stuck in teeth & CAUSE plaque, etc. How can any vet say canned is bad? Wow, most folks can't get cats to drink h20, so canned is the best option.
Some folks can't get cats to eat canned either but still, if you're not able to feed/afford raw, then you must find ways to get your cat to eat as much canned as you can. But if either occurred (drinking more &/or eating canned daily) it'd be good for a cat.
Dry is terrible & junk food. Would you eat popcorn, not brush & then go on a date? So, that is what it is when dry food is used for a cat. The plaque just sits between teeth, rots them out & then costs YOU (& gives your vet money) to have a huge bill for more cleanings, more frequently. Does this make sense to give vets MORE $, & then harm your cats' health too in doing so? Hmm, I hope not.
Long ago our vet told us just the opposite, that out cat who was fed only dry food without adequate liquid intake contributed to his kidney problems. For the last 30 years I have fed mine a combo of wet/dry and let them lick the water in after my shower or trickling from the bathroom sink... a habit they both picked up from another cat we used to own.
Smokey had gingivitis and heavy plaque build up, this was new, she never had gum disease or plaque build up before so just like people, these issues lead to heart disease, I think that's the root of the vets concern. I agree that cats are carnivores and I appreciate all the comments. She said in order to clean her teeth, she would have to be put under anesthesia.
Yes, a dental is done under anesthesia. Dry food will not reverse the dental disease already started, nor would it have prevented it. Canned food did not cause the dental disease. This kind of dental disease is genetic. My cats have always been can fed. All their lives. 32 years of cats on a canned diet, none ever had dental disease. Sure, some needed cleanings as they got older, but that is normal. Who doesn't need their teeth cleaned?
Dry food does not clean teeth. Think about it. Would you eat cookies to clean your teeth? The only diet that actively cleans teeth is a prey model raw diet, which is of course the kind of food a cat was designed by nature to eat.
Kibble, if the cat bites into it at all, simple shatters into crumbs. These crumbs stick between teeth and under the gums. Cats need a wet diet to keep them properly hydrated, first and foremost. Wet food does not "rot teeth".
Get her teeth cleaned, by all means (but have blood work done first) ask your vet to use sevoflurane anesthesia it is fast acting, and the safest going. Your vet is sadly uneducated about feline nutrition. Mine was too, but she's learning, thanks to me
Do read the website we have linked in this thread. It will help you understand more why canned food is so important.
I have read extensively about feeding cats and the vast majority of articles support high quality canned food, and has taught me how to read labels of what to avoid like gluten, corn meal and other grains and carbs. We have decided to defy out vet after my partner took the time to read up on how to properly feed cats and agreed with me that we're going to continue to feed canned food, and we will get Smokey's teeth cleaned. The vet is supposed to call this afternoon, doubt I can argue with him, but we'll do what the literature supports-canned. [with some dry on the side]. They love the fountain and frequently drink from it so we're not too worried about hydration but it's the nutrition I care about most. Thanks again for all the info.
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Would you eat popcorn, not brush & then go on a date? So, that is what it is when dry food is used for a cat. The plaque just sits between teeth, rots them out & then costs YOU (& gives your vet money) to have a huge bill for more cleanings, more frequently. Does this make sense to give vets MORE $, & then harm your cats' health too in doing so? Hmm, I hope not. 
