Is dry cat food cheaper than wet cat food?

I am going to have to take a guess at this. Let's call it a guesstimate based upon lots of experience. It is difficult to be precise because there are many variables such as the quality of cat food which does very considerably as we know. It is probable that the price per kilogram of dry cat food is similar to the price per kilogram of wet cat food of the same quality. In this discussion the context is the UK.

Dry cat food is cheaper than wet cat food of the same quality because there is les waste.  Image: MikeB based on images from Pixabay (copyright free).

Alhtough it is hard to make that assertion because it is difficult to compare quality. However, I believe it is a fair starting point. The big factor in working out whether dry cat food is cheaper than wet cat food is how much waste a cat owner has in respect of dry and wet foods.

It is probably accepted by nearly everyone that is far more likely that you will waste some wet cat food compared to dry cat food. In my estimation, across the board, on average, cat owners probably throw away about 25% of the wet cat food that they buy for their cat. It goes into the waste bin or it feeds the local fox. Although foxes are not that keen on thrown-away cat food in my opinion and my experience.

So this last factor in the calculation swings the result towards dry cat food being cheaper than wet cat food. This is because you simply do not waste any dry cat food, also in my experience. Yes, dry cat food does go off eventually but it can remain in the bowl for long enough for it to be fully eaten without any wastage whatsoever.

It comes down the wastage; the wastage factor is the key factor in this calculation. In the UK, it seems that both wet and dry cat food costs about £5-£6 per kilogram. I'm referring to decent quality food. It's expensive in the UK. One reason why you don't want to waste it. But it is difficult not to because domestic cats can be quite pernickety and picky.

They might give you the impression that they are hungry and then they turn their noses up and walk away from the bowl. They will have their favourites but they will go off their favourites for a while. You have to provide variation. Or they will eat part of the food offered. These are reasons why you end up with some waste. In hot climates wet cat food can go off and become inedible for a cat within an hour or so.

If you make a mistake about whether your cat is hungry or not the whole bowl of food can go into the bin. Perhaps I've been generous in favour of wet cat food when I say that 25% of it is wasted. Or perhaps in some households they will say that they never waste any of it. Like I said I have to rely on a guesstimate and my own experience.

My conclusion is that dry cat food is cheaper than wet cat food on a price per meal basis. That does not mean that cat owners should rely exclusively on dry cat food. I think by now, or I hope by now, that cat owners realised that the better cat food is high quality wet but dry can be used for night-time grazing which is what I do. The reason: wet is more natural and mirrors the standard prey of the domestic cat, the mouse in containing around 70-80% water. Cats needs that. They don't make it up in drinking more.

As an aside, if you don't like your cat bringing back live or dead mice or birds then a study encourages cat owners to provide their cat with the highest possible wet cat food with meat protein and without grain. This may curb your cat's hunting instincts. It is suggested in the study that protein from plants in cat food lacks certain micronutrients which the domestic cat tries to make up by hunting and eating mice and other small mammals and birds. They need that meat protein or cat food based on plant-proteins with these additional micronutrients added as a supplement. Further work is being carried out on that.

Most common domestic cat diseases treated under pet insurance policies in America

The most common domestic cat diseases treated under pet insurance policies in America in 2018 were reported as: undiagnosed diarrhoea and vomiting, urinary tract diseases, kidney diseases, gastrointestinal conditions, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, periodontitis and general oral health problems. This information comes from five different pet insurance companies: Trupanion, ASPCA, Pets Best, Nationwide and Embrace. 

You can see a trend there or at least I can. Urinary tract problems including kidney disease are a major issue in domestic cats and also it seems are diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. These would appear to be related to diet because what goes in has to be digested and waste is expelled. Both ends of the food processing channel are affected.

Photo: Pixabay.

I have this feeling that there is something hidden is going on in homes in the West which is affecting the health of domestic cats. The high incidents of kidney disease is unacceptable. And I don't think anything is being done about it. I'm referring to food and the chemicals in the home such as fire retardants and carpet chemicals. These are volatile chemicals which give off fumes and these fumes linger in the atmosphere inside the home. I wonder whether the air quality inside homes is sufficiently good for domestic gas. If it isn't it can't be good for people either but cats are nearer the surfaces.

Cats lie on sofas. If that sofa has a fire retardant inside it then the cat is more likely to absorb these chemicals. The same goes for carpet chemicals. These are examples. And as for cat food, I think we know now that the cheap dry cat food is simply not good enough. A lot of people rely on it because it is cheap and convenient. They allow their cat to graze at any time day or night. Arguably this is overly convenient.

You add to poor quality dry cat food the extended daytime absence of solme human caregivers and you create a slightly toxic world for the domestic cat which can result in urinary tract health problems such as cystitis, a bacterial infection of the bladder, exacerbated by stress.

If there is a high predominance of gastrointestinal diseases causing vomiting and diarrhoea then surely this points to food. Doesn't it? Shouldn't veterinarians be looking at the quality of food provided to domestic cats? Perhaps they don't want to look at it because they want a huge number of cats coming through their doors vomiting and shitting diarrhoea. I am too cynical. One pet insurance company said that they paid out US$9,650 to treat a cat with a gastrointestinal condition.

They also said that they paid out US$40,000 to treat a cat with kidney disease. Do the insurance companies investigate the cause of these diseases? Do they dig around and try and prevent the diseases happening? Do they have a vested interest in doing nothing about these diseases? Do they work together with veterinarians and pet food manufacturers to try and eliminate them? I know there are lots of questions but can you find the answers? I don't think you can. I know that the pet food manufacturers work with veterinarians and this to my mind creates a conflict of interest.

Two pet insurance companies rated diabetes as their third most common cat illness claim. Arguably, feline diabetes, which I presume refers to type II diabetes or sugar diabetes, might be caused by the high carbohydrate content in dry cat food. Dry cat food has to have a high carbohydrate content in order to make it. It is there simply as a manufacturing necessity. Domestic cats don't need this sort of carbohydrate level in their food. It is unnatural to them and it is causing, it is argued, hypoglycaemic cats and overburdening the pancreas which produces insulin. This upsets the insulin/sugar balance in domestic cats which can lead to type II diabetes. This is the argument of a well-known veterinarian in America called Elizabeth M Hodgkins DVM.

I am harping on about cat food. And I do give my cat dry cat food although it is the highest quality I can find. And I also feed him lots of high quality wet cat food. But I am dissatisfied in general with the quality of cat food. It does not reflect accurately enough the perfect domestic cat diet which is the mouse which is 40% protein, 50% fat and only 3% carbohydrates. The average dry cat food for cats contains 35-50% carbohydrate calories according to the catinfo.org website. Do you see the massive difference and how that could impact a cat's metabolism and ability to cope with it?

Food portion size for domestic cats

You don't have to be worried as a cat owner about the food portion size for your cat and neither do you have to be concerned about the amount of food your cat should eat over a 24-hour period. This is because pet food manufacturers tell you how much to feed your cat, dependent upon the size of your cat, on the box. It is part of the labelling and you simply have to find it and read it. It can be hard to find it!

Sheba food portions and daily feed for domestic cats as indicated on the packet. Photo: Michael

• How many calories does an elderly cat need?
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For instance, with the fancy British pet food manufacturer Encore, they say that for a domestic cat who is lighter than 3 kg you should feed her one can over a 24-hour period. Each can weighs 70 g. This seems like a very tough diet to me! I am sure that this is incorrect and their instructions are poor. They seem to be advising adding dry cat food for a complete diet but once again the labelling is poor because this is not specified clearly. So much for relying on the manufacturer's guidelines!

Another box of cat food: Purina® Gourmet™ Perle states that for an average cat of 4 kg in weight you should feed her or him 3 to 4 pouches per day in at least two separate meals. This applies to an averagely active cat under normal environmental temperatures. The amount fed should be adjusted as required. Each pouch weighs 85 g.

A third cat food that I have is Sheba. These are 50 g pouches and the manufacture tells me that for a cat weighing 3 kg you should provide her with four pouches over a 24-hour period. For a cat of 4 kg, five pouches is applicable and for a 5 kg cat, give her six pouches. They advise feeding the pouches which is a wet cat food with dry cat food and under these circumstances you should provide a 3 kg cat with three pouches +10 kg of dry cat food. For a 4 kg cat you should provide her with three pouches together with a 20 kg amount of dry cat food and for a 5 kg cat it is four pouches +20 kg of dry cat food.

Who reads the box to decide what portions you should give your cat? I have rarely done it. But it might be a good idea to read the box in future except for Encore. Crappy instructions.

Japan's leading cat doctor, a veterinarian, Dr Yuki Hattori, advises that cat owners should calculate portion size carefully. He recommends that you read the daily portion size, as determined according to the cat's weight, on the back of the packet. All you need to do is to measure the right quantity for her size. A cat's energy requirements depends upon their weight, age and body mass. As the calculation is complex it makes sense to refer to the pet food manufacture's guidelines.

What To Feed Feral Cats

Although dry cat food is not as good as wet (high in carbs and too dry), it is more practical for feeding feral cats because it can be left and it won't go off. Any brand of dry cat food would do; the best quality affordable.

Update: Experienced feral cat caretaker writes this:

No, no, no to an absolute dry kibble diet for ferals. That's a lazy mans' way. It's time consuming, but what I do is prepare my feeders as much as I can ahead of time. All feeders have wet food layering the bottom and then covered with dry. They don't get any less than what I give to the darlings inside my home. I don't see them as "less than". They are equals. I make no less than 4 visits to my colonies per day. Early morns are the big feed fest, late morn is checking water supply and taking up leftover food, early afternoon is "snack" feeders put down, and late afternoon is taking up feeders and replenishing water. Because it's scorching hot in summer here, fresh water is a must. I'm especially vigilent during these months.

If the person can supervise the feeding then wet could be put down but it needs to be taken up quite soon afterwards depending on the ambient temperature. It goes off rapidly in warm weather in my experience. I can remember Martha Kane's husband, Richard Vella, feeding feral cat colonies in Malta with dry cat food. Here is the video:



When feeding with dry food, fresh water should also be put down. There should always be a supply of fresh water  - common sense.

Feeding early in the morning would seem to make sense. Feral cats feed throughout the day. Evening and morning are probably favorite times as they coincide with their hunting activities.

One cup of dry cat food per cat per day would appear to be sufficient. If there is food left over it is probably too much and vice versa.

Dee an experienced cat lover may like to add to this in a comment. 

The Lack of a Sweet Tooth in Cats

Domestic cats are neither attracted to nor avoid the taste of sweet carbohydrates. In an extreme adaptation to a carnivorous diet, the domestic cat has taste buds which are very responsive to amino acids but unresponsive to many mono and disaccharides (carbohydrates).

By contrast, many dogs have a sweet tooth and prefer natural sugars, for example: sucrose, fructose, glucose and lactose but not maltose.

Cats and dogs respond very differently to stimuli which is sweet tasting although both as we know our carnivores.  The dog is, it seems, a borderline omnivore. Domestic cats find bitter tastes objectionable. Dogs should not eat cat food and vice versa.

The sweet receptor or taste buds that can taste sweetness are made up of two “coupled proteins" which are generated by two separate genes.

The domestic cat, and in fact all cats, lack the amino acid that make up the DNA of one of these genes.

Cats are the only mammals lacking what is called the “sweet gene".  Despite this well-known fact major pet food manufacturers use corn (24% carbohydrates) and other grains in their food. It has been postulated that this is a reason why an ever-increasing number of domestic cats are becoming diabetic.

Modern dry cat food today has around 30% carbohydrates and cats can't handle it which when we think about it is a bit shocking.  I wonder whether millions of cat owners realise that.

Cats cannot taste the sugars in dry cat food but they are doing the cat harm.

Kibble Kats

There have been three recent cases of famously obese cats: Meow, SpongeBob and now Garfield. Meow was 39lbs. SpongeBob started off at 33lbs and Garfield is just 40lbs in weight. He's the latest in this line of large cats. He is a big boned cat anyway so that extra size puts him above the other two. Both Garfield and SpongeBob are New York state cats.

Garfield weighing in at 39.75 lbs.

The interesting bit for me is what the shelter people say. They believe that Garfield was fed a diet of kibble constantly. I suppose that means there was always a large bowl of dry cat food on the ground for him to graze from. It must have been very tasty kibble. As you know it is the high level of carbs in kibble that causes weight gain - and potentially other health problems such as urinary tract problems and diabetes. Garfield, though has been checked out and is in good health, except for his weight which could cause bad health.

Another interesting thing to come out of this is that some cats simply can't regulate their intake of food. They eat like humans, for pleasure. That is not a wild cat trait. It is a domestic cat development. And it does point to the fact that dry cat food is designed to be very tasty. Although cats can't taste sugar (sweetness) they perhaps can be addicted (is that too strong a word?) to a taste - the pleasure of eating. Boredom may also play a role in cats becoming obese. The experts say 30% (or is it a third - 33%?) of American domestic cats are obese.

The shelter people who cared for SpongeBob also mentioned the health risks of dry cat food. There seems to be a consensus. Are vets coming around to the idea that kibble does carry health risks if not managed properly? What are vets doing to manage this? They have a role to play too, I believe.

Garfield's caretaker sadly died. That is how he was discovered. Perhaps the elderly "owner" had difficulties engaging Garfield and exercising him etc. Dry cat food is incredibly convenient. That's what makes it so marketable. From the standpoint of profitability it is the perfect product. It stores for a long time without any particular requirements and stays edible in the bowl for a long time too. The ultimate convenience food: cat fast food.

Kibble Kats are modern cats. I don't want to over do this. But these famous Kibble Kats are a nice bit of promotion for wet food manufacturers and raw diet makers. Both products are better than dry cat food. Kibble has a place in cat's diet as part of an overall varied diet of mainly wet food that mimics a cat's prey better but let Garfield and the Kibble Kats be a warning. Full-time kibble is not suitable as a cat diet.

Overweight Cats Should Cut Out Dry Food

The good thing about the current heaviest domestic cat in America (probably) is that we can find out what the experts are doing about getting some weight off him. It is a crash course in weight loss for cats. Obesity is a big problem in America and the root cause of it is an unregulated supply of dry kibble packed with carbohydrates. Or that seems to be the case. SpongeBob (Bob) weighed 33 lbs when he entered Animal Haven. He is healthy apparently so his obesity was not due to health problems. The world's most recent heaviest domestic cat was the late Meow at 39lbs.

All you have to do is listen to the nice lady in the video. She says that they cut out dry cat food and are feeding Bob with a "special protein diet". It contains lean chicken some fish and pumpkin and other vegetables. But no carbohydrates. We know that dry kibble contains a high level of carbohydrates. Is dry cat food a major contributor to cat obesity? It could. It probably is. The pet food manufacturers won't admit it will they? It is a very profitable product. They could easily manufacture healthier alternatives.

Bob also needs more exercise. The staff at Animal Haven use catnip to get him moving! I suppose it gets him rolling around excitedly until he falls asleep. They also feed him treats that he has to run for. That is the exercise bit. It has worked so far as Bob has lost 3 lbs to currently weigh 30lbs. The next hurdle is to make sure his new family carries on the good work.

Fel d 1

Timmy - unneutered males are more prone to causing an allergic reaction.
 Photo: MikeB

Fel d 1 stands for Felis domesticus allergen 1. It is also referred to sometimes as "cat dander". Domestic cats are one of the most important sources of allergic disease in the western world with about 10% of people allergic to cats.

The allergen is in the cat's saliva (and therefore on the fur) and secreted from perianal and lachrymal glands.

The allergic reaction can be mild (e.g. itching) or life threatening (severe asthma). Cat allergens are very common and difficult to avoid. An allergen is a substance (a non-parasitic antigen) that produces an immune response. The immune response is the production of Immunoglobulin E (IgE) an antibody. Its role is unclear but the response is inappropriate and causes allergic reaction such as sneezing and asthma.

Life Style Pets Inc (Allerca cats) claim to have modified the gene responsible for the production of the allergen in the domestic cats they breed (or are bred by affiliated cat breeders) thereby eliminating the allergic reaction. They don't explain themselves however.

Some cat breeds are said to be "hypoallergenic" meaning they don't cause the same degree of allergic reaction. Claims have been made for several breeds. Generally these are unsubstantiated. Savannah cats can also be hypoallergenic. But to be honest no cat, not even the hairless cats are hypoallergenic to any substantial degree. 

For the first time I have become allergic to a cat (only slightly though). He is a stray who comes in for food and rest. When I touch him, within about a minute I itch on the hand, head, legs for example. The itching need not be where I made contact with him. In fact I only have to look at him to start itching. This is because his dander is in the room.

I wash immediately after stroking him. I even kiss him sometimes, because my tenderness towards him outweighs the inconvenience of the allergic reaction. He is unneutered and unneutered males are the most likely to have a strong dose of Fel D 1 in their saliva.

Photo of Timmy the stray cat referred to in this post. He's crashed out on my chair having eaten three or four sachets of prime cat food.

Update: Purina have made LiveClear (see above) a dry cat food that has been found to be successful in reducing their potency of the allergen. Look it up if you are allergic to cats.

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