# Hello, and I have a question...



## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

Greetings.......first post here.

I joined this forum to see if I could get advice on one thing, but will enjoy other posts as well. I have a very nice cat that I care about and enjoy. His name is Benjamin. Black and white semi-short hair, rescue from shelter at about 5 1/2 weeks of age, and now 10 years old and healthy. ( There's a reason he was so young when I adopted him but I won't go into that now.) He is an indoor-only cat, neutered, playful and lively.

I had been feeding him canned food in the morning, kibble in the evening, but I recently switched to having a bowl of kibble available all the time so he can free-feed. I did this because in the past year or so it became a strain on our relationship that he would meow at me for food so much in between meals, and I did not want to be feeding him at all different hours. 
Since I started letting him free feed, he doesn't meow at me any more. I am putting out twice as much kibble as I used to when it was only in the evening, because if I don't he eats it all at once and the problem still exists. He seems to be much more content free feeding throughout the day, and so am I because he doesn't scream at me any more. 

My question to those who know about such things: 
It is my understanding that cats should eat some wet food daily, and I am concerned that he get enough moisture. But since I have left kibble out all the time he no longer has much interest in the canned food, and only eats about half of what he used to, if that.
He does drink water from the bowl he shares with the dogs.

Is this any concern, or should I not worry about the proportion of dry and wet food he is eating? 
Thanks.


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## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

Thanks for the reply.
I tried to give him a separate water dish and he ignored it.
He prefers to drink out of the same bowl as the dogs.

I am only concerned about the proportion of wet to dry food......he is eating very little wet food at this point.


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## Nicki's Human (Aug 28, 2021)

Hmmmmm... Not sure if this helps, or not but, Nicki's vet told me to limit wet food, because it gets stuck in their teeth, over time, & causes decay & that dry food, most often, is better, because it works like dental floss


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## Mosi (May 17, 2021)

I don't like to contradict a vet, but the fact is dry food doesn't work like dental floss for dogs or for cats. It definitely doesn't clean their teeth. If you look it up online you can see that dry food doesn't clean the animal's teeth and it's a myth that it does. Google this: Does dry food clean cat's teeth? and you can read about that.

A cat definitely needs wet food.

I solved the problem by getting a puzzle cat dish that makes it a challenge for him to get the dry kibble out of it. This way he only gets a piece at a time.

When I put canned food out for him in the morning, he eats it because it's easier than getting kibble out of the puzzle bowl. Once he has eaten all the canned food, then later in the day I put more kibble into the puzzle bowl. This way, he always has dry food in the puzzle bowl to work at getting out, which is good for giving him something to do, and it has completely stopped his yowling at me between meals for food, because there's always something available to him. AND he eats the wet food, to which I add water, so I know he's getting enough moisture. Before, he'd just eat all the kibble at once and then want more food later.


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