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If you were correct, then ALL cats who are on all-dry diets, would have kidney failure. Since MANY cats live on an all-dry diet and do NOT get kidney failure, then your theory is just - wrong. The truth is, that cats have a low thirst drive, and most cats don't try to drink enough water. Some do - but most don't. And you can know for sure by find out how much water a cat -should- consume, in order to be properly hydrated. Even cats living on the savannahs seek out water holes to supplement their all-raw-meat prey diet.
But many is not all. Neither is most. All is an absolute. Dehydration leads to kidney failure. If any animal is consistently dehydrated, eventually their kidneys will suffer. Since suffering kidneys is not a truth of all cats who live on all-dry diets, the claim that all-dry diets always result in dehydration is also not true.
Again - this is just plain logic and common sense. It's something we learned in grade-school, sorry I don't have the source since the internet hadn't been invented yet. It was called sets and subsets, and it was part of our math curriculum. It goes like this:
All cats require food and water.
ALL dehydration eventually leads to damage to kidneys, if not treated, and can lead to kidney failure, and death as a direct result of kidney failure.
SOME cats who eat only dry food, are dehydrated.
ALL cats who are dehydrated, and whose dehydration is not corrected, eventually suffer kidney failure.
NOT all cats who eat all-dry food suffer kidney failure, or even kidney damage.
THEREFORE
NOT all cats who eat all-dry food will become dehydrated.
It's not a matter of "becoming" dehydrated. A cat on an all dry diet will be chronically dehydrated. There is just no way around it. To quote yourself "this is just plain logic and common sense".
Not all dry fed cats show kidney failute, true. Often they die from other things before the kidney disease shows up. This is because kidney failure does not show up on bloodwork until the kidneys are already 75% gone.
You keep trying to confuse the issue with smoke screens. Talking about birds and lizards and fourth grade math. There is no point to your arguments.
None of it has anything to do with this basic fact: Our domestic feline companions, commonly known as cats, are obligate carnivores, strict obligate carnivores, (thank you Lola4.) They are designed by nature to derive their moisture from the food they eat. They will not drink enough, eating a diet which is at the maximum 10% moisture, to overcome the dehydrating effects of an all dry diet.
They may never show any "symptoms" of this debilitation. This is simply because the person feeding the cat doesn't know, hasn't seen, the difference. That, and because cats are masters at hiding any kind of feeling poorly, including excruciating pain. Who's going to notice if a cat isn't at his best on a dry diet? Once that switch is made, then a person will see how much better than..."fine"...a cat can, and should, be.
Last edited by catsmom21; 06-13-2014 at 09:01 PM..
Just try and discuss this on the Purina Cat Food FB page and see who fast they ban you. This education of the public must be costing them money. I see they now have more kibble to choose from that doesn't contain corn and is over 40% protein. But what is the protein from? After all the reading I've done and my past experience working in Animal Hosp's in the past - I'm convinced a dry kibble diet is not the way to go. Before kibble became so popular we seldom saw the problems so prevalent in cats today. After kibble became so popular due to cheap price and convenience, not because cats were healthier on it, we started to see severe constipation, more blocked males, gum disease and tartar covered teeth, obesity and diabetes....
When it comes down to being on a budget choose whatever cat food you can afford. The alternative would be to have to give up your cat if you can't afford to feed him. The cat food snobs on here will try to make you feel guilty, but you shouldn't at all.
I am 66 years old and there has been a cat in my life everyday since I was born. My parents didn't fret over what to feed them and OMG!!! they even let our cats go outside and we lived in the city. Since I have had my own kitties I fed them dry and wet and it has always been what I could buy at the grocery store. They have all done very well. This thing about the expensive foods is relatively new and I did try Blue Buffalo, succumbing to the hype. Well, I have 5 cats and ALL of them began to lose weight to the point that you could feel their hip bones when petting them (their weight loss wasn't visible because they are all long hairs who look fat anyway). So I switched to Purine One and some of them got bad diarrhea. Now I am trying the Salmon Goodlife because that's the only flavor one of the cats will eat. I looked at the ingredients and they looked better than the purina one. I will have to wait and see what happens after a week or two.
When it comes down to being on a budget choose whatever cat food you can afford. The alternative would be to have to give up your cat if you can't afford to feed him. The cat food snobs on here will try to make you feel guilty, but you shouldn't at all.
I am 66 years old and there has been a cat in my life everyday since I was born. My parents didn't fret over what to feed them and OMG!!! they even let our cats go outside and we lived in the city. Since I have had my own kitties I fed them dry and wet and it has always been what I could buy at the grocery store. They have all done very well. This thing about the expensive foods is relatively new and I did try Blue Buffalo, succumbing to the hype. Well, I have 5 cats and ALL of them began to lose weight to the point that you could feel their hip bones when petting them (their weight loss wasn't visible because they are all long hairs who look fat anyway). So I switched to Purine One and some of them got bad diarrhea. Now I am trying the Salmon Goodlife because that's the only flavor one of the cats will eat. I looked at the ingredients and they looked better than the purina one. I will have to wait and see what happens after a week or two.
Neither Blue Buffalo nor Purina One are considered good foods, they are all on a par with this Goodlife. All pretty much junk.
Changing up dry foods is not going to help your cats maintain health. Why are you doing it? Just keep them on a high moisture canned diet. Even grocery store canned foods are better than any dry food.
When it comes down to being on a budget choose whatever cat food you can afford. The alternative would be to have to give up your cat if you can't afford to feed him. The cat food snobs on here will try to make you feel guilty, but you shouldn't at all.
I am 66 years old and there has been a cat in my life everyday since I was born. My parents didn't fret over what to feed them and OMG!!! .
No, the alternative is to have unexpected EXPENSIVE vet bills accumulate for blockages, crystals and PU surgeries, among a dirty-laundry list of other things THAT THE VETS WILL KEEP YOU COMING BACK FOR INSTEAD OF TELLING YOU TO CHANGE TO A CAT HEALTHY DIET. Try telling someone on a budget that it all could have been PREVENTED. When they are on a tight budget to begin with.
I am your age and when we had cats and dogs, we didn't have to WORRY about what to feed because, if you got your head out of your butt, you'd see that INGREDIENTS have CHANGED DRASTICALLY over the years. Don't take my word for it, though -- READ THE DAMN INGREDIENT LABELS!!
How about: Know what you are talking about before throwing the "food snobs" dig around.
No, the alternative is to have unexpected EXPENSIVE vet bills accumulate for blockages, crystals and PU surgeries, among a dirty-laundry list of other things THAT THE VETS WILL KEEP YOU COMING BACK FOR INSTEAD OF TELLING YOU TO CHANGE TO A CAT HEALTHY DIET. Try telling someone on a budget that it all could have been PREVENTED. When they are on a tight budget to begin with.
I am your age and when we had cats and dogs, we didn't have to WORRY about what to feed because, if you got your head out of your butt, you'd see that INGREDIENTS have CHANGED DRASTICALLY over the years. Don't take my word for it, though -- READ THE DAMN INGREDIENT LABELS!!
How about: Know what you are talking about before throwing the "food snobs" dig around.
RE; ingredients
One of the worst being 'powdered cellulose'..... aka sawdust.
I have no doubt that pet food manufacturers have consistently tried to find ways to cheapen their products to increase profits for many years, and will continue to do so. The crap pet food will continue to sell until the pet owning public at large educates itself as to what's actually in it.
Hey look, back to this...no need to be obnoxious. Same question. Have you read the content at catinfo.org?
If not, please do. Otherwise, your contribution to the conversation is one-sided and uninformed.
If you read it and don't believe it, I'd still be happy to respectfully converse with you about it. I'd be interested in why you don't accept Dr. Pierson's findings. To me, they were pretty definitive.
If you honestly cannot afford anything but cheap dry food, and you have cats that would otherwise not have homes, well you're doing what you can do. I don't go to shelters and scream at them about what they feed cats. Those cats are not starving to death, that's what's important.
Slinging anything about such as "food snobs" or "head in butt" comments...come on folks, let's be civil. Alright?
Also, a dry fed cat that has access to the outdoors may be supplementing with raw prey, and while they are exposed to a myriad of dangers outside, their diet might in fact be better. Assuming none of the creatures they eat contain poison or parasites or anything that is. A friend of mine had 2 cats and only one went out. The outdoor cat had excellent dental health, while the indoor dry fed cat had almost all of her teeth removed last year, to the tune of a huge vet bill and much crying and carrying on by her owner, who was told that dry food cleans the teeth.
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This education of the public must be costing them money. I see they now have more kibble to choose from that doesn't contain corn and is over 40% protein. But what is the protein from? After all the reading I've done and my past experience working in Animal Hosp's in the past - I'm convinced a dry kibble diet is not the way to go. Before kibble became so popular we seldom saw the problems so prevalent in cats today. After kibble became so popular due to cheap price and convenience, not because cats were healthier on it, we started to see severe constipation, more blocked males, gum disease and tartar covered teeth, obesity and diabetes....
