@Ke Gordon, That's exactly what happened to my cat! We fed him dry cat food for a year, but I noticed that he seems to have trouble urinating, and then he lost his appetite. So I took him to the vet and he placed a catheter in his penis to push away the stones. So after that, we fed him human food since then. He has no more problems urinating after that. Seems like dry food is harmful to cats.
Well I don't think it is harmful to cats, but many male cats have urinary issues or will develop them. I think it is better to feed them wet food or check with your vet on what kind of dry food to feed them. I am not at all happy that I have to feed my cat this expensive food now. I think I got a pretty good price on Chewy.com though. I know Petco has specials on it as well.
My cat is somewhat finicky as he really only wants to eat his dry food. We feed him a little wet from time to time and he leaves more than half of it. Then my dog, who is not at all fincky, scarfs up the leftovers. That's too much for her to eat. We have a new kitten and the only way to get her to eat her kitten chow is to take all the dry food away and feed them all kitten chow, I'm sure they will gain weight.
@Ke Gordon, It is indeed common for male cats to develop cysts, but it is documented that dry cat food is indeed the cause of many of them, try reading this link for reference:Log In
I think it really depends on the cat. I had a female cat that ate only dry food for years, and never had any issues. The cat that I have that developed the problems was eating a combination of wet and dry foods. So, yes, probably only dry is not the way to go if you have a male cat. I think female cats may not have the same problems. Soo, use your best judgment because once they devlop them it is expensive for sure!
@Ke Gordon, I think male cats are indeed more vulnerable because of their urethra, it's tight as compared to the female organs. So they get those stones more than the female ones. But to be safe, I won't feed dry food as well if ever I will have a female cat.
My two dogs have their normal dried food which they get given three times a day. Then they get their extra's which include lots of treats. I give them carrots and apples every day, as well as a rawhide chewy. They get a bonio before bedtime and a couple of glucosomine biscuits in the afternoon. I'll give them my scraps depending on what the scraps are and sometimes mix their food with a wet tinned food. When I give them their daily biscuits, I quite often mix up a little gravy and pour it over. They are living beings and deserve a bit of variety in their diet. How boring it would be to eat the same thing everyday.
So you feed your dogs 3 times a day, huh? Over here we only feed them twice a day, we have a Belgian Malinois and a Jack Russell Terrier. They don't get treats though, but we feed them a mix of human food and dog food.
My dog is pretty finicky. He will only eat one brand of actual dry dog food. He won't even touch anything else which I find pretty weird. He does eat pretty much any kind of food I eat or cook, but as for the dog foods he won't touch anything except for Blue Buffalo.
Yes, Sidney, I feed them three times a day with their main meal at lunchtime. I forgot to say they also get natural yoghurt from time to time. They are in really good health and have lots of vitality. I love that thier diet is varied. They also know that they are not allowed to eat anything unless I give it to them. Most of the treats are healthy being the fruit and carrots. I had a dog who went blind in her old age and I had to be her eyes for three years. I think that using treats to give them vitamins is a great idea. I also forgot to mention that the scraps I give them off of my plate are normally vegetables with a little gravy. I don't give them my scraps if the food contains spices or salt and pepper. If my dogs are off thier food, I try them with a bit of cheese or bread and give them boiled chicken with rice which is always a good healing food. Plain natural yoghurt with a teaspoon of honey always works wonders if they have a dicky tummy, it soon passes.
@janemariesayed, I got curious as to why you don't give your dogs spices, and I found out that they are indeed harmful to dogs and cats. I give my cat what I eat for the past 11 years, and luckily, the salt in the sauces never seemed to harm him. I guess if it's just "moderate" spices like what we consume then it won't harm them. My dad also boils fish for my cat and I assume he puts salt in it as well, but my cat is still healthy as always. I never knew yogurt is good for dogs and cats. I wonder if my cat would eat it if I gave some to him.
Plain yoghurt is a really healthy product @sidney and great if the animal or human for that matter has an upset stomach. It is plain so will not aggravate anything untoward going on inside the body. I always give them plain natural yoghurt if they are off their food and it helps to bring back an appetite. I don't cook with salt because I share my scraps with my dogs, but if I am cooking something with spices I add salt. In this scenario, I give them a raw egg or a chewy after I've eaten.
My cats and dog are quite picky, though some other family members deny it. The cat won't eat certain dog food, only dry and wet cat food. Also, both the dog and cat will not eat crappy dog food and I think the dog won't eat dry cat food, but I cannot confirm that fact. Anyway, giving the animals stuff they won't eat is a waste of money, therefore. I take care to be picky. Note, at the moment, I feed them Dollar Store brand wet cat food because they love it - both dog and cat.
Neither of my dogs are fussy, in fact one would eat anything I put in front of her whether it tasted good or not. However I have to be careful with the other one as although she will eat most things she sometimes gets an upset stomach. I have a friend whose lab will only eat food if it is mixed with water but I would be worried about her teeth as they need to be able to crunch to keep them healthy.
It is only last week I noticed our dog did not come to her bowl for a few days. She was quite normal otherwise. I did not see her going out too to do her job either. I assumed she was constipated and put her on homoeopathy and it seemed to work. Now she keeps looking at her empty bowl and then looks back at me. I am happy she is back to normal now.
I come from the tropics and most of the dogs I come across in this part of the world are not choosy eaters. Part of the reason is that some people neglect them and have to fend for themselves sometimes especially in low income families. Most dogs in my area are easy to maintain with cheap food and leftovers.
My kittens have their own food preferences, and the oldest one which is now 8 months old is the pickiest of them all. She would eat vegetables, but not very fond of sardines. The other one eats almost everything, but doesn't like vegetables.
I really do feel like we could put anything in front of our dog and he would take care of it, which is actually kind of burdensome to us at times. Unless there is something I am missing I would not call him finicky.
I used to have a dog, Labrador Retriever, and she seemed to eat any food we gave her. We used to give her white rice, plain bread and biscuits, but found out those food caused her skin issues. The vet said we can't give such good as her skin is sensor, and we just gave her dog food with lamb and rice flavor, but not chicken flavor, as the vet said chicken flavor would not do good for her. I supposed she didn't have much choice in food, hence whenever she had other food, she would be happy to eat anything.
Our bull terrier only ate when hand fed. It was strange listening to stories of bull terriers being violent and here was this dog only ate when hand fed - a thoroughly spoilt brat.
