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My cats are brother and sister littermates adopted as kittens from a rescue shelter. They eat nothing BUT dry cat food. Since they were kittens, I must have tried every single type of canned cat food on the market today. They either smelled it and RAN away, or attempted to cover it up. I have even tried mixing the canned with dry food, but they did the same thing.
Is this good for them? I do make sure they always have a big bowl of fresh water to drink. I've had cats my entire life and never had cats that refused canned, and even "people" meats and poultry.
It's been common for years to feed them this way, but it really isn't good, no. I did the same thing myself for a long time before I learned better, and then I tried a great number of things to try to get my cat to eat wet food, some more successful than others.
Some of the info suggest most cats will be more interested in the cheaper, lower-quality cans. Mine was never like that; she never liked Fancy Feast at all for example. Also, she wouldn't touch anything that was in the pate sort of form, all ground up and smooth. I did find that she would eat some chunkier stuff. So you might test that if you haven't before. And my cat is not a fan of gravy-based cans, which is the reverse of normal from what I can tell. Those are some variables you might test if you haven't looked at it that precisely before.
It can be difficult to tell what is inside the can sometimes. For textures, look for things that say "in gravy" which are usually chunky, although some say that gravy should be avoided if possible. If not gravy, then look for "gelee" or "aspic" which are still chunky but in a more gelatinous form in the can (I always break that up when I put it in the bowl). "Sliced" or "flaked" is on some cans. And then obviously you can try different types of meat, etc.
Favorite brand for my cat is called Fussie Cat, appropriately enough. Although this is not always easy to find. And most of them have fish in them, which in most cases we would recommend against having in their everyday diet.
The whole site linked above is good reading. It's a tough problem though, and I hope you have some better luck assuming you are embarking on another quest to try to get them off dry food.
Sorry about all the typos and grammar errors previously! I wasn't (still am not) totally awake.
Felines (house cats, tigers, lions, etc.) are STRICT OBLIGATE CARNIVORES.
They need moisture IN their food.
Dry fed cats are almost always dehydrated.
Their teeth are designed to tear and shear...not crunch and swallow whole and partial hard chunks.
My understanding is that if you only do dry cat food, they can get little crystals in their plumbing. George Carlin (of all people) mentioned this in his comedy routine, the bit about pets. Just saw it recently, FWIW.
I keep dry, indoor formula with a bowl of water in the bathroom, and then give Edward 1/2 can of canned every morning in the kitchen, also with water (distilled).
Jasper is also a dry food only addict. I try to feed him wet, but he does not like it, he only licks the gravy. So, I add water to it, and he licks it all off, leaves the chunks behind. He always has fresh water.
This is a little off color for some people, but about 3/4 of the way through, Carlin talks about the condition of crystals in the cat's plumbing due to all-dry food:
Ditto what everyone is saying. Vets have done an about-face on this. They used to say to feed all dry, and now they say to feed all wet if possible. Dry food doesn't absorb well and causes weight gain. Diabetes in cats has skyrocketed because of dry food.
My 16+ year old cat is in good health, has eaten dry food all his life and absolutely refuses to eat wet food. I can put Starkist tuna down next to dry food and he'll go for the dry food. It is Hill's Prescription Diet dry food from the vet, and he just loves it. He may be an "obligate carnivore", but he doesn't know it. I don't want to get into an argument with anyone here.
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Although this is not always easy to find. And most of them have fish in them, which in most cases we would recommend against having in their everyday diet.
