NO! FEEDING A CAT ONLY CRUNCHY FOOD IS NOT THE BEST CHOICE
When browsing online, I often come across the statement: “a cat should only eat crunchy food because it’s complete” … Well, let’s just say that feeding a cat exclusively with dry food is not the ideal choice for several reasons. While it has many advantages, including easy storage and a complete, balanced composition, commercial dry food is not the ideal food for a cat when given as the sole source of nutrition.
CATS NEED LIQUIDS
The main reason lies in the very nature of cats; as animals of desert origin, they tend to drink water very rarely. However, their water needs remain the same, and here’s where wet food it comes to our aid by providing a significant amount of hydration without them even realizing it. This amount cannot be provided by only dry food, which by definition contains around 8-10% moisture, thus exposing the cat to a higher risk of urinary tract and kidney diseases.
IT’S HARDER TO MANAGE A CAT’S WEIGHT
Another good reason to prevent health issues is the calorie content of different food types, for the same weight and level of satiety: dry food is definitely much more concentrated and higher in calories than wet food; providing a mix of both food types allows you to vary meal volumes and avoid risks like being overweight, or even obesity and related health issues (musculoskeletal, metabolic, cardiovascular…).
Metabolic conditions linked to excess weight definitely include diabetes: effective prevention also involves reducing carbohydrate intake, which is not essential for cats but is definitely present in crunchy food. Wet food thus allows us to get closer to a cat’s natural nutritional needs.
MIX FEEDING
By using both dry and wet food, we often achieve the right balance between nutritional correctness and owner convenience, giving them plenty of options to rotate.
This type of feeding, recommended for cats, is called MIX FEEDING, meaning the ability to mix complete dry foods and wet foods. With complete dry food, all necessary nutrients are provided in a balanced way; with complementary wet food, you get the benefits that dry food cannot provide:
- They provide essential liquids for the cat’s diet
- It makes it easier to change the flavor, offering a very important protein rotation
- If the wet food is good quality, you provide the cat with high-nutrition proteins essential for staying healthy
- Adding wet food means removing some of the crunchy food, thus reducing carbohydrate intake, which are not essential for cats and are abundant in dry foods.
GET THEM USED TO IT FROM KITTENHOOD
Every cat is an individual with its own specific food preferences, not just in terms of flavors but also textures: that’s why mix feeding is a winning strategy, especially for fighting boredom and the neophobic tendency towards things the cat doesn’t know. It is important especially for this latter goal to start offering tastes and samplings from a young age!
However, it’s important not to forget that even mix feeding needs to be properly balanced, not improvised. This is to avoid risking deficiencies or excess accumulations of certain nutrients. I always recommend consulting your veterinarian to determine the right amount and ratio of the chosen foods throughout the day.
A cat’s breed, age, weight, health status, and lifestyle are essential factors to consider when selecting and portioning food for each individual patient.
Dr. Alessandra Calini
Veterinarian specializing in nutrition