Which Food is Better: Wet Cat Food or Dry Cat Food?
Your cat’s nutrition is one of the most important details for your cat’s health. There are so many different types and brands of cat food available today that it can be confusing to know what you should be feeding your cat. The two most common types of cat food are dry, and wet. So how do you know which one you should be feeding your cat? Which type is better, or does it really even matter which one of the two you choose? Let’s take a closer look at the two types of cat food and see, which one is better: wet cat food, or dry cat food?
Cats need muscle-based meats in their diet; they are carnivores. This is why you see wild cats kill prey in the wild, devour them, and share their kill with their young. They need amino acid taurine from the meat in order for them to thrive. The taurine is found in the muscle of the meat of animals. That being said, what does dry have that wet food doesn’t, and vice versa?
There are cat owners who are known to leave a steady supply of dry cat food out for their cat in a continuous supply to eat any time. Cat experts and veterinarians say that this is the same as allowing your child to snack on fast food all day long. If you just let your cat eat dry food all day, they are going to be nutritionally deprived. The majority are filled with fillers, however, when it comes to either wet or dry food, some dry is actually worse than some wet. The best dry food is better than the worst wet, and then there are some poor dry foods, too.
The best thing to do is check the ingredients. If you choose a high quality food, dry or wet, it should have the primary ingredient as protein and not by-products. You do not want your cat to feast on fillers and carbohydrates all day long, as this is not only not giving them the nutrition they need, but it also just a bunch of calories that will cause weight issues for your cat if this is all it is getting, and no protein. While weight gain is a concern for an all-dry food diet, all-wet food diets can cause issues with your cat’s teeth, like gingivitis.
Another issue related to dry kibbled cat food, is problems from hydration. Cats are not known to be big water drinkers, like dogs. Your cat should always have access to fresh, clean, cool water, but they don’t really spend a lot of quality time over their water bowl drinking water like other mammals. It’s important to monitor their water intake, and one way to make sure they are getting some water, is with wet cat food. Dry cat food has not water content at all, so if you are worried that your cat isn’t getting enough water in his diet, you may want to consider including some wet food in his diet as a way to help increase his water intake.
Wet or dry, they both have their issues they can cause if you choose just one or the other to give them as the only source of food, your cat is potentially missing out on the benefits of both, or may get the unhealthy aspects of only one. The bottom line is, whatever you choose for your cat, make sure it is the highest quality of cat food, and do consider giving your cat some of each to give them the benefits and pleasure of both.
