I wish this individual would have taken more time to explain to people that it is about the quality or ingredients of the food. I do not think the portrayal of dry food as a whole was properly depicted accurately here. He had sounded as if dry food is low quality, full of fillers, and simply coated with flavoring to get our companion animals to eat it. So for anyone reading, I would like to clarify. Yes, there are lower quality foods out there which do contain ingredients like corn and soy (fillers). Though these lower quality foods can be found nearly anywhere that sells cat food, these foods can be very easily found in places such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Brookshire Brothers, Walmart, etc. Those places I just listed, to make things worse, contain few or no higher quality foods to be found there. And since there are many people that either do not know what to look for in cat food or about ingredients to look for and be wary of, they end up buying the lower quality foods. Just like with dog food, the more optimal foods are those with no corn, wheat, or soy. Basically, check the ingredients. If you see ingredients such as corn, wheat, and soy as the first or top ingredients, or at all, then there is a good chance the food contains fillers to compensate for the lack of meat and more optimal ingredients to cut down the cost of producing the food. Dry food is, in fact, the feeding option that people are the most likely to see certain bags or brands that are lower end, but quality is a concern for both can and even raw feeding as well (though not as much of a concern). High-end dry food is a very convenient, cost effective, and nutritionally balanced feeding option for cats. Another plus side to dry food is that it has been argued that it helps to maintain clean and strong teeth for both cats and dogs. For those who are concerned about hydration, there are some things you can do to make sure your feline companion(s) stay well hydrated. The most obvious is to provide a constant source of fresh water for them to drink. Yes, cats do not lap up water as frequently as dogs do, but they drink water all the same. There is a reason for that. What they eat only gives them so much hydration. No matter where a cat is, whether it be in the house, outside, or in the wild, they still drink water from water bowls, puddles, lakes, streams, etc. Other options to go along with providing a constant supply of fresh water are for the people who are still concerned and want a more hydrated diet for their cat(s) but do not want to spend money constantly buying solely canned food for their cat(s) to eat (for canned food is not as cost effective as dry food especially for people with multiple cats). The first option is to occasionally give canned food or mix it in with the dry food once or a couple of times a week. For those that do not want to buy canned food at all, they could simply add a bit of water or some other type of liquid (such as a broth) to their dry food on occasions.
***** You are very correct that the ingredients are important. The thrust of this webinar is two-fold. We want to feed canned food to cats for the benefits we see with increased water consumption. And, any dry food will contain carbohydrates which degrade the quality for feline nutrition. Take a look at www.catinfo.org for more reading on this. Thanks for the comments. Dr.Jeff
ACE Academy for Canine Educators Thank you, but I am not a Doctor or anything to that extent. Just a person wanting to help clarify and help people better understand some points as well as give people other ways they can also provided their feline companions with hydration. This was probably not the angle or goal of the video, but it almost appeared here that the message was that dry food is bad no matter the quality or ingredients (which there are many which do not contain things such as corn, wheat, and soy and primary ingredients are meat). I was worried that some people, which have decided to feed their cat solely or primarily dry food for certain reasons such as convenience or general cost effectiveness, which do not understand that quality is really what is important, would be frightened and thinking they are harming their cat by feeding them dry, even if it is higher end food. Even the website seems to be playing or discussing more on the lower end foods which do contain corn and other fillers which make the food cheaper to manufacture.
Very interesting! I'll be sure to water down food more often! Thanks very much x
I wish this individual would have taken more time to explain to people that it is about the quality or ingredients of the food. I do not think the portrayal of dry food as a whole was properly depicted accurately here. He had sounded as if dry food is low quality, full of fillers, and simply coated with flavoring to get our companion animals to eat it. So for anyone reading, I would like to clarify. Yes, there are lower quality foods out there which do contain ingredients like corn and soy (fillers). Though these lower quality foods can be found nearly anywhere that sells cat food, these foods can be very easily found in places such as Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Brookshire Brothers, Walmart, etc. Those places I just listed, to make things worse, contain few or no higher quality foods to be found there. And since there are many people that either do not know what to look for in cat food or about ingredients to look for and be wary of, they end up buying the lower quality foods. Just like with dog food, the more optimal foods are those with no corn, wheat, or soy. Basically, check the ingredients. If you see ingredients such as corn, wheat, and soy as the first or top ingredients, or at all, then there is a good chance the food contains fillers to compensate for the lack of meat and more optimal ingredients to cut down the cost of producing the food. Dry food is, in fact, the feeding option that people are the most likely to see certain bags or brands that are lower end, but quality is a concern for both can and even raw feeding as well (though not as much of a concern). High-end dry food is a very convenient, cost effective, and nutritionally balanced feeding option for cats. Another plus side to dry food is that it has been argued that it helps to maintain clean and strong teeth for both cats and dogs. For those who are concerned about hydration, there are some things you can do to make sure your feline companion(s) stay well hydrated. The most obvious is to provide a constant source of fresh water for them to drink. Yes, cats do not lap up water as frequently as dogs do, but they drink water all the same. There is a reason for that. What they eat only gives them so much hydration. No matter where a cat is, whether it be in the house, outside, or in the wild, they still drink water from water bowls, puddles, lakes, streams, etc. Other options to go along with providing a constant supply of fresh water are for the people who are still concerned and want a more hydrated diet for their cat(s) but do not want to spend money constantly buying solely canned food for their cat(s) to eat (for canned food is not as cost effective as dry food especially for people with multiple cats). The first option is to occasionally give canned food or mix it in with the dry food once or a couple of times a week. For those that do not want to buy canned food at all, they could simply add a bit of water or some other type of liquid (such as a broth) to their dry food on occasions.
***** You are very correct that the ingredients are important. The thrust of this webinar is two-fold. We want to feed canned food to cats for the benefits we see with increased water consumption. And, any dry food will contain carbohydrates which degrade the quality for feline nutrition. Take a look at www.catinfo.org for more reading on this. Thanks for the comments. Dr.Jeff
ACE Academy for Canine Educators Thank you, but I am not a Doctor or anything to that extent. Just a person wanting to help clarify and help people better understand some points as well as give people other ways they can also provided their feline companions with hydration. This was probably not the angle or goal of the video, but it almost appeared here that the message was that dry food is bad no matter the quality or ingredients (which there are many which do not contain things such as corn, wheat, and soy and primary ingredients are meat). I was worried that some people, which have decided to feed their cat solely or primarily dry food for certain reasons such as convenience or general cost effectiveness, which do not understand that quality is really what is important, would be frightened and thinking they are harming their cat by feeding them dry, even if it is higher end food. Even the website seems to be playing or discussing more on the lower end foods which do contain corn and other fillers which make the food cheaper to manufacture.