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My cat is currently on an all wet food diet. We are thinking of leaving out a bit of dry food out on occasion in case he wants a small snack in between meals or if we will be gone more than a few hours.
Just wondering if there's any issues with doing this? We won't leave out much at all and won't do it all the time. My concern is that he will start liking the dry and not want to eat the wet. I really want his diet to be mainly wet.
Well, it really depends on the cat, which probably isn't terribly helpful, I realize. If Sirius is really liking his wet food, he probably won't start turning his nose up at it just because he gets an occasional snack of dry, but some cats really do seem to prefer dry.
I think the thing that would concern me more is the possible impact to his weight. Some cats see food left out as a challenge, and they'll gorge themselves sick trying to polish it off. Other cats couldn't care less, and will only stop by for a mouthful if they actually feel hungry. If Sirius is the voracious type who eats all available food whether he's hungry or not, you could be setting him up for weight-management challenges in the future.
We always have dry food in our cat's bowl and we give her some canned cat food in the morning and in the evening. We did that with our last cat too. Neither one is/was crazy for the dry food, compared to the routine we get when it's time for canned, but it's there for when the canned is not available.
Well, it really depends on the cat, which probably isn't terribly helpful, I realize. If Sirius is really liking his wet food, he probably won't start turning his nose up at it just because he gets an occasional snack of dry, but some cats really do seem to prefer dry.
I think the thing that would concern me more is the possible impact to his weight. Some cats see food left out as a challenge, and they'll gorge themselves sick trying to polish it off. Other cats couldn't care less, and will only stop by for a mouthful if they actually feel hungry. If Sirius is the voracious type who eats all available food whether he's hungry or not, you could be setting him up for weight-management challenges in the future.
Since he's still a growing boy, I wouldn't worry too much about the weight issue yet. Once he's grown, if he seems to be the type to put on weight, you could always adjust the wet food amount by how much dry he's eaten. A small amount of dry should be fine for him IMO.
I do this. It's my understanding that cats who are fed all-dry can get "addicted" to it and won't eat canned or anything else, but not sure if it happens the other way around. Not in my experience, anyhow.
I feed quite a bit of raw and canned, and some dry. Depending on what I have on hand. However, the cats don't typically have food out all the time for snacking....they eat twice a day when the dogs eat.
Cats aren't really meant to snack. Feral cats hunt and eat small animals, and then don't eat again until they catch something else. Their bodies are better off eating spaced out meals, rather than grazing on dry kibble (even grain-free, quality kibble).
That said, I have Comet, who is a kibble addict. We call her the KibbleMonster. So we balance the wet and the dry, keeping the emphasis on wet. She has an unfortunate habit of waking her humans when she is hungry ... first she nuzzles and nudges, then licks, then ... CHOMP. You get motivated to get up and deliver in a hurry.
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Sophie will only eat dry food. I got her at a shelter and I guess that was what she was used to. She will not even try the gourmet wet food or even roast turkey from the deli that all of my oter cars loved.
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We leave a little dry food out, but I hardly ever have to fill up the bowl because they eat so little of it. Like you said I leave it out so that if I'm late coming home from work they will have something and won't be starving. I think a mostly wet diet is the best, but a little dry food now and then couldn't hurt. Moderation.
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