What are the benefits of moist food for cats and dogs?
I’ve always just fed my animals dry cat/dog food on a regular basis. Occasionally, I give them a treat of moist food, or soft food. I just purchased some soft and hard mixed dog food and my dog loves it. I guess I’m not sure why people feed their animals moist food as well as hard, or just moist food. I heard that moist Food is bad for their teeth. What is your thoughts?
OH NO! Just kidding, well kinda, but anyway don’t do it! I have been trying to get my two off of wet food for several weeks now. I have a pomerpoo who loves it, and knows it by name, (only the expecsive stuff too) and won’t touch dry unless you hand feed it to him. Yes, he is spoiled rotten, but he’s mine. My other is a pup, and she almost got hooked on the wet, but I think I’ve got it stopped now. My vet said it was bad for their teeth, causes plaque build up and initiates decay at a faster rate, which makes sence to me since I work in dental. So I’ve been giving just dry, and adding warm water, (a little less water everyday) to moisten it and they have started eating only it. I still have some back up wet for special occassions. They love the Beneful in the tub food! It looks better than my beef stew! Sometimes we forget who is the master (I know mine are but) and who is the pet, and we just have to decide what is best for them. They are like little children, or babies. They don’t know any better. Put your foot down and say NO. They will eat when they get hungry. I know it wouldn’t hurt mine to skip a meal or two, they both have enough there to last awhile off of. Another thing that wet food is the culprit of, excess weight! My vet really gave me a lecture last visit. One thing I’ve notice since they have been on the dry, no gas. That in it’s self is a good enough reason to stop the wet! Good luck and I hope I was of some help.
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PS. Please don’t give your pets eat chicken bones or any bones that splinter. Mine had to have any extensive operation to remove a blockage from his intestine that almost killed him. Cause of this was chicken bones. Could have been easily avoided.
Animals are just like humans they need there fiber also
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Yes moist food is worse for their teeth, and I cant think of any benefit to using it in a healthy animal thats already on a dry diet. I have seen vets occasionally prescribe to cats in kidney failure who need to increase their water intake (canned food of course has more water than dry) or we use it to stimulate appetites in debilitated patients who wont eat. If you want to use it occasionally as a treat, thats not a problem, but I would recommend dry for all dogs. People tend to over feed with canned food because of how quickly a dog can eat it, kibble takes longer to ingest.
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er vet tech
moist food is not bad for their teeth, it simply doesn’t clean their teeth like dry food. it’s best to have a balance of both because ingredient wise wet food is better.
cats and dogs ancestors food intake had somewhere around 70% water, dry food only has about 20-30% water.
dry food doesn’t provide nearly enough protein either.
so it is best to provide pets with a bit of both each day.
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Hi Jay…moist food has it’s own benefits aside from dry food. Although, wet foods are not ideal for dental it does provide extra hydration for animals who suffer from lower urinary tract disorders, kidney disorders/failures, those who need to be on a weight loss plan as they are higher in protein and low in carbs (great for cats who need to lose weight). Both dogs and cats bodies ideally never were designed to eat dry foods because these foods were solely created for the convenience of the consumers lifestyle so that food could be left out all day without spoiling unlike canned food.
Dry foods lowers the urine pH to be more akaline which causes urinary disorders in both dogs and cats. Therefore by increasing the moisture in their diet you will acidify the urine like cranberry juice does for humans and minimize the risk of lower urinary tract disorders and other ailments.
More on dry vs. wet for with regards to cats: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/cat-food/review.html
See also my lengthy answer with regards to how weight loss is achieved in cats: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As0AWcXSt7jRyt3i53axSJwAAAAA?qid=20070115060037AAqPCIk
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Animal Trainer to domestic and exotic cats
27 year friendship with a veterinarian
Dry food works like a toothbrush as all of the dry bits and grit move around in their mouth. On the other hand dry dog food will make the dog feel a bit thirsty because it absorbs moisture once eaten. More importantly it expands once moistened so if your dog scoffs down a heap of dry food it may end up feeling very uncomfortable once the food swells in size- put some in water and see for yourself.
I Feed my dog a combination of dry (50-60%) and tinned at each sitting along with RAW chicken necks or chicken wings every couple of days (mostly because she loves the taste of chicken and being crunchy also helps with the teeth).
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OH NO! Just kidding, well kinda, but anyway don’t do it! I have been trying to get my two off of wet food for several weeks now. I have a pomerpoo who loves it, and knows it by name, (only the expecsive stuff too) and won’t touch dry unless you hand feed it to him. Yes, he is spoiled rotten, but he’s mine. My other is a pup, and she almost got hooked on the wet, but I think I’ve got it stopped now. My vet said it was bad for their teeth, causes plaque build up and initiates decay at a faster rate, which makes sence to me since I work in dental. So I’ve been giving just dry, and adding warm water, (a little less water everyday) to moisten it and they have started eating only it. I still have some back up wet for special occassions. They love the Beneful in the tub food! It looks better than my beef stew! Sometimes we forget who is the master (I know mine are but) and who is the pet, and we just have to decide what is best for them. They are like little children, or babies. They don’t know any better. Put your foot down and say NO. They will eat when they get hungry. I know it wouldn’t hurt mine to skip a meal or two, they both have enough there to last awhile off of. Another thing that wet food is the culprit of, excess weight! My vet really gave me a lecture last visit. One thing I’ve notice since they have been on the dry, no gas. That in it’s self is a good enough reason to stop the wet! Good luck and I hope I was of some help.
PS. Please don’t give your pets eat chicken bones or any bones that splinter. Mine had to have any extensive operation to remove a blockage from his intestine that almost killed him. Cause of this was chicken bones. Could have been easily avoided.
References :
work in the dental field and "pet" of two owners
The theories on dry vs. wet food are always changing. Many people, vets included, believe that animals are obligate carnivores and should be eating protein/meat. Some how we have turned them into carb eaters with all the dry food.
I have heard that wet food is best given in small does as a treat and not the main meal. I feed my cats Nutro because the first ingredient is meat. In "grocery" brands, the first ingredient is often "water sufficient for processing."
So which is best? Are the animals still obligate carnivores or have we breed that out of them making meat secondary in their list of needs?
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