I ask my cat if he wants wet food and he answers

One of the difficulties for a cat caregiver is ensuring that your cat eats all or nearly all the wet food that you give him/her. You have to minimise waste both for financial reasons and because it is a pain in the bum getting rid of waste cat food. Giving it to the foxes is perhaps the best way if your neighbours don't know about it or accept it. Judging by the stories in the internet sometimes neighbours get angry about feeding wildlife by feeding feral cats. 

Anyway, this is how I minimise wet cat food waste. I ask him. Literally. Of course I also understand his body language and the signals he sends to me when he is interested in a meal but sometimes cats can fool their owners in this regard because they want a treat and not regular food. It is hard to tell the difference.

What I do is this:

• I ask in English if he wants wet food
• I place my cat on the kitchen counter - yes, I feed my cat on the kitchen counter. Some people do.
• I hold up a sachet of wet food - a small sachet to make sure he eats all of it - near his face.
• If he is interested and genuinely in the mood to eat because he is sufficiently hungry he head butts my hand. The one that is holding the cat food sachet. 
• He wants it. I remove the food carefully to avoid splashing some on the counter. Sachets can he hard to tear open. I always use a knife to ensure that all the food is extracted. Waste not want not.
• He eats all the food.

The key is his answer in the affirmative response by head butting my hand. This means he butts the top of his head against it. This is scent exchange - depositing scent on my hand but it also serves as a positive response to my question under these circumstances.

How did I get to this form of communication? It took several years of routine. As they say, patience is all when it comes to training a cat.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cats on a dry food diet intake more 'dry matter' and intake less water than when on a wet diet

It might be common sense to many people but when a cat is fed on a dry food diet all the time, their 'dry matter' intake is greater than when fed on a wet food diet i.e. canned food. In effect this means that they eat more; they ingest more solid foods.

The phrase "dry matter" means wet cat food reduced to dry matter so that it can be compared to dry cat food.

And secondly, when cats are fed on a wet food diet they ingest (intake) more water even if they don't drink any water because wet cat food is about 80% water.

And it won't surprise you to know that when cats eat dry cat food they drink more water than they would if they were on a wet food diet. However, as mentioned in the above paragraph, they still intake more water on a wet diet than on a dry cat.

I hope I haven't confused anybody. The point here is that dry cat food is perhaps, in general, more appetising because of the fatty flavour enhancers with which dry food pellets are sprayed. These can make dry cat food pellets very attractive and almost addictive to some domestic cats.

Wet cat food of a low quality can be less than attractive depending on how hungry the cat is. Which tells us that, subject to affordability, a high quality wet cat food is the best and this should contain as much genuine "meat" as possible. It shouldn't be padded out with grain another nonmeat constituents.

The information comes from a study from as long ago as 1981: Feeding behavior of the cat fed laboratory and commercial diets. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0271-5317(81)80053-X

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

My kitten is 13 weeks old and does not eat her wet cat food. Ideas?

 This title was/is on Reddit.com. This is my response on that social media website:

Dry cat food is sprayed with tasty stuff which can make it addictive almost. Without this covering it is like cardboard. I think it is fairly important that she eats some wet. What might work is trying best quality wet and heating it very slightly in the microwave. Also try wet food for elderly cats for a short time as it is smellier. Just some thoughts. Eating dry all the time might make her slightly dehydrated. It can cause urinary tract issues. If she is a rescue cat, she may have got used to dry food at the shelter.

I am not sure I am completely right but the gist is correct. 

Here is the sweet, young, grey cat. Photo by Reddit user: u/Coke900lp.

I will add a little bit of detail. It is not unusual on my research for domestic cats to become almost addicted to dry cat food because it appears to be tastier than some wet cat foods. It must depend upon the quality of the food as well but they do spray tasteless dry cat food with a fatty spray which makes it very tasty. And it probably smells better than some wet cat food as well. And they get in the habit of eating dry cat food only as this cat has.

I think a possible solution is to buy high quality wet cat food for elderly cats which is smellier than your typical wet cat food and then microwave it for a very short time say five seconds on full power. This will ensure that the food is smellier which is important as smell is how cats judge the palatability of food initially.

As stated, I think domestic cats should eat wet cat food as a default and then some dry cat food when appropriate perhaps at night for grazing. And the odd treat. But to feed dry only can, on the say-so of some veterinarians, cause mild dehydration because domestic cats don't compensate for the dryness by drinking more than they would normally drink. 

And if a cat is mildly dehydrated it can affect their urinary tract and it might predispose them to urinary tract health problems especially if they might, for some reason, become slightly stressed. Stress can cause to cystitis when combined with dry cat food only.

Global warming news - having three dogs is as bad for the environment as taking a private jet

Everybody should be as aware as possible about their contribution to global warming because it will affect both us and more importantly our children and generations to come. Companion dogs and cats (as do other pets) contribute to global warming. They don't directly contribute to it. They might in a very small way such as flatulence (carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane)! But this is a reference to the food and products we give them.

Global warming news - having three dogs is as bad for the environment as taking a private jet. Image: MikeB

Farming beef is bad for the environment. Pet food contains meats from livestock albeit wasted livestock that would not be used to feed humans. And as wet cat food contains more protein i.e. more meat than dry cat food it is said to have seven times the carbon emissions of dry food.

We know that private jets contribute to global warming. There is a backlash against their use by people who are concerned about climate change. There are protests at airports for example.

New Scientist:

"An assessment of almost 940 kinds of Brazilian cat and dog food has found that producing wet food creates 690 per cent more greenhouse gas emissions than making dry food"

Patrick Hansen

Patrick Hansen, the boss of Luxaviation has claimed that animals are as polluting as private jets. He is defending his industry. He was speaking at a Financial Times summit.

He claimed that one of his customers' jets emits just 2.1 tons of carbon dioxide a year which is about the same as the emissions of three pet dogs.

As mentioned, he is referring to the carbon footprint of pet food. He took his information, I believe, from consultant and writer Mike Berners-Lee who said that a Labrador has an annual carbon footprint of around 770 kg.

The major carbon footprint factor of keeping a dog or cat comes from their food but there are other aspects which contribute such as buying plastic toys and of course cat litter damages the environment.

Vegan pet food

Some climate change campaigners advocate that pet owners use vegan foods for their cats and dogs. This is a controversial area. For example, your average cat owner insists that their cat eats meat because they are obligate carnivores and therefore, they cannot be vegan.

However, there is a commercial vegan cat food manufacturer on the market right now doing quite well. They make it work by adding supplements to their food which ensures that it is balanced. Plants contain proteins therefore cats and dogs can obtain their protein requirement through plant-based foods to which you can add the required other nutrients to make the food balanced in terms of a domestic cat's nutritional requirements.

People who are anti-vegan cat food are not, in my opinion, thinking through the issue properly. Although, I don't feed my cat vegan cat food because I believe my cat needs wet cat food primarily with some dry. I also don't like the standard dry cat food because the pellets are too small. I always buy dental care dry cat food which is made up of much larger pellets.

Increase in dry foods?

The situation is a little bit worrying because dry cat food is popular as it's convenient. The general consensus is that it is not as good as wet cat food everything else being equal. It contains too many carbohydrates in order to make it. It's too unnatural. it is argued that it leaves cats permanently dehydrated. But global warming may drive people to purchasing it and the vegan pet food market is predicted to rise nearly 7% over the next decade according to consultancy Future Market Insights.

FYI - Joaquin Phoenix feeds his dogs a vegan diet because he is a staunch animal welfare advocate for which I admire him.

Wet food is worse for global warming than dry cat food?

The production and distribution of pet food, like any other food, can have an environmental impact. Factors such as ingredient sourcing, processing methods, packaging, and transportation contribute to the overall carbon emissions associated with pet food production.

Wet pet food generally contains a higher water content compared to dry food, which means it requires more resources for production and transportation. The manufacturing process of wet food involves additional energy for cooking, canning, and packaging. On the other hand, dry pet food generally has a longer shelf life and requires less packaging.

While it's difficult to determine an exact figure of how much more carbon emissions wet pet food has compared to dry food, it is plausible that wet food could have a higher carbon footprint due to the factors mentioned above. However, it's worth noting that individual brands and manufacturing processes can vary significantly, so it's essential to consider specific products and their environmental claims when making comparisons.

If you're concerned about the environmental impact of your pet's food, you can look for pet food brands that prioritize sustainability. Some companies strive to use responsibly sourced ingredients, implement eco-friendly packaging, or invest in renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprint. Additionally, considering alternative diets, such as homemade or raw diets, may also be an option for reducing the environmental impact, although it's essential to consult with a veterinarian to ensure your pet's nutritional needs are met.

For up-to-date and detailed information on the specific carbon emissions of different pet food types, I would recommend referring to scientific studies, industry reports, or consulting with experts in the field of pet food production and sustainability. - Source: Chat GPT.

Best dry food for indoor cats?

This is a question on Mumnet.com by a mum who has started to foster cats. Here is her question:

Hello, I've recently started fostering & have a neutered male who the vet thinks is about three. Because he's being fostered, he has to stay inside, so I'm making sure he gets as much exercise & entertainment as possible while he's here - climbing up to reach treats, jumping & chasing when we play with his toys, etc.

I've been giving him Go-Cat for indoor cats because that's what he was on when he came here, but a friend's just told me this is linked to UTIs. What would the Litter Tray experts recommend?

Image in public domain.

The answer has to be something like this:

Go-Cat is cheap and nasty. There is no effective difference in the dry cat food requirements of indoor or indoor/outdoor cats. The worst cat food is cheap dry cat food only 24/7. That is not good enough. There are stories of cats on cheap dry developing type 2 diabetes and then being cured entirely in time by going onto a canned food. These are normally obese, inactive indoor cats eating too much cheap dry. That is a bad combination.

RELATED: How much cat food by weight should I feed my adult cat daily?

High quality we cat food either commercially prepared or homemade raw must be the default food for all domestic cats but homemade raw requires real skill and knowledge of storing raw foods as there are risks with bacterial contamination and pathogens like Toxoplasma gondii. If you are good at homemade raw, I'd use it or at least test it. A lot of people say that it cures a lot of health issues such as diarrhea issues or gut issues. But it must be balanced with supplements and prepared and stored correctly. It is quite technical. Click this for some pointers.

RELATED: 3 diabetic cats cured with an exclusive wet cat food diet.

To this default food you can add a high quality dry for grazing at night. I use Hill's Dental Care. It is large kibble which is better for teeth cleaning. There is a big question mark over whether dry cleans teeth but if it is large there is chance that it does. 

But it should ideally be a secondary food. The wet is the default because it is more natural in terms of water content. It should have a high genuine meat content too. Insect based dry cat food is coming onto the market now and it looks good. That's natural too as a raw material as cats eat insects.

RELATED: Best cat food – informative overview discussion.

Even dry cat food made from plant material (plant protein) is okay in my book as the manufacturers add in supplements to ensure that it is fully balanced. Don't shy away from plant based dry cat food because you believe that they have to eat 'meat'. That is a fallacy. But don't try and turn your cat into a vegan or vegetarian either. That could be fatal.

RELATED: Auckland vegan cat owner says that her cat is healthier and happier on a vegan pet food diet.

A third type of food would be the occasional human food treat such as a chicken wing with bones. Dr Fogle DVM recommends that. I guess you could try it raw too. The bones clean the teeth. There is a slight risk with the bones but if Dr Fogle recommends it I'm okay with it too.

Should male cats eat wet food?

This is silly question but Google seems to think that people ask it, but I can't understand why. Of course, male cats should eat wet cat food. Male and female domestic cats have the same basic dietary requirements except for when the female is pregnant (see: How do I know if my cat is pregnant?). This post is bound to be short as the answer is so obvious.

This male cat is from somewhere in the galaxy and does no eat standard cat food but Martian foods. :) Photo in the public domain.

Perhaps there is a more pressing reason why male cats should eat wet food: they are more likely to have a urinary obstruction and the more fluids they can ingest the better to help flush the system. In fact, dry cat food is probably more likely to cause a UTI (urinary tract infection) in male cats than females.

• 3 diabetic cats cured with an exclusive wet cat food diet

The response to the question is to say that male cats must eat wet cat food at least as a major component of their diet.

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.

2 ways to reduce your cat's hunting behaviour

There are two ways to reduce your cat's hunting behaviour and they are: providing your cat with the highest quality wet cat food which is grain-free and playing with your cat as much as possible. The advice emerges from the conclusion of a sensible study by scientists of 335 participating domestic cats in 219 households.

Feeding domestic cats wet food which is grain-free and which derives protein from meat plus play reduces predation on birds and mammals. Image: the scientists who conducted the study and reproduced here under an implied license.

The cats were split into two groups and strategies to curb their hunting behaviour. They discovered that feeding the cats with a high quality commercial food in which the protein came from meat and not plants, i.e. it was grain-free reduced the number of prey animals that the cat brought home by 36%.

Also, playing with a domestic cat for between five and ten minutes daily resulted in a 25% reduction in the same behaviour. The study is published in the journal Current Biology.

Martina Cecchetti, a PhD student of Exeter University, who conducted the study, said that despite some foods claiming to be a complete diet, they might leave the cats with a nutritional deficiency in micronutrients which compels them to hunt.

Another member of the study team, Professor Robbie McDonald, of the same university, said: "Our study shows that with entirely non-invasive, non-restrictive methods, owners can change what the cats themselves want to do."

They also concluded that when a domestic cat wears a bell on their collar to warn birds that they were being stalked by the cat, there was no discernible reduction in the birds brought back home. Further, they decided that the brightly coloured collars that you can purchase for domestic cats to reduce predation on birds were effective by 42% but they did not have any impact on predation on mammals such as mice. In other words, there was a 42% reduction in the birds brought home when the collars were worn. I have an article on that you can read by clicking here.

The study is important in two respects (1) it possibly highlights an issue with high quality complete diet wet foods, which needs to be further investigated and no doubt will, (2) there is, it seems, a connection between appetite and hunting desire.

We have constantly heard the mantra that a domestic cat's hunger is completely dissociated from their desire to hunt. But this study indicates that there is a connection between what a cat eats and the desire to hunt. And essentially it seems to say that if you provide a cat with the highest possible wet cat food they will hunt less.

It is thought that some cat foods contain protein from soy which may leave a micronutrient deficiency which the cats try and make up through hunting.

There is a general concern from both sides of the divide i.e. from cat lovers and cat haters about the predation by domestic cats on wildlife because the environment and the protection of wildlife has become a priority in the minds of many people. 

Therefore, the domestic and feral cat is under fire from environmentalists, nature lovers and ornithologists, and indeed animal lovers of all kinds. The common advice is to keep your cat inside at all times, but this also produces a deficiency in their lifestyle because cat owners tend not to substitute the natural behaviour they enjoy by hunting with play.

This is borne out in the study because one third of the cat owners participating in the study indicated that they would not continue to play with their cats as they did in the study but they will continue to feed them with premium cat food. There is therefore a reluctance to play with domestic cats. That's because it is boring for the person. Notwithstanding that, it is highly enjoyable and necessary for the indoor cat.

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?
• How many calories does my cat need to lose weight?
• How many calories does a cat need?

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.