A quick breakdown on cat history and diet.

Cats are obligate carnivores in the family Felidae.
Our Domestic Cat evolved from a long line of felines who were biologically adapted to surviving in dry desert climates where water was scarce, and as a result; evolved to source over 70% of their water intake through the food they ate (mice, birds, etc) rather than through drinking water, because searching for water in a desert as an obligate carnivore is a waste of energy in comparison to the need to locate; hunt, catch, kill, and eat several prey items daily to survive.

Being very close genetically to their ancestors, modern day domestic cats have incredibly weak thirst drives, and often fail to drink enough & often enough to stay properly hydrated, which can lead to serious problems and hefty vet bills.

To put it as clear as daylight: Cats are not biologically equipped to be able to hydrate themselves adequately on a dry kibble diet regardless of ingredients; because they do not have the necessary instincts to get their water intake via drinking.

Cats get over 70% of their daily water intake through their diet. Dry food is only a mere 10-12% moisture content on average, wet food has a whopping 75-78% moisture content on average.

Due to just moisture/water content alone, a diet of canned food, a diet of properly balanced raw food, or a diet of adequately researched and properly balanced homemade food are all much healthier options for cats than a diet of dry kibble food.

Sources & more info

To learn much more on why dry cat food is so unhealthy for cats, please read through the sources listed below for more information and a better, more clear understanding, including a boatload of more reasons than provided in our synopsis above, such as how dry food isn't actually beneficial for cats teeth due to aiding the growth of tarter; the carb content vs protein content, how carbs affect cats, and much much much more, written by actual experts.

The highlighted section by doctor Pierson even has a section going through and debunking common rebuttals made by pro dry cat food folks! Please read through that!

Loads and loads of options

Luckily, the alternatives to feeding an unhealthy diet of dry cat food are plentiful - there's a misconception that wet food is crazy expensive, but wet food comes in a ton of price ranges, and can be ordered online on sites like Chewy.com and even Amazon, where you can sort by lowest price & case size, filter out ingredients, and have a ton of flavors; textures, and options at your fingertips.

..Hold on though!!!

It is essential to learn how to transition a cat from one food to another before attempting to do so. Abrupt dietary changes can cause cats to vomit; have diarrhea, stop eating; can result in your cat not even touching the new food and worse. Typically people who've tried going from dry to wet and failed tend to have not followed proper transition protocols, it is essential that you do so.

Abruptly rushing your cat into eating a new food or rushing transitions is a recipe for disaster in more ways than one. NEVER fast your cat into transitioning foods. Transitions are slow, they can take weeks to months, never rush transitions; it is essential to go at your cats pace, not your own pace.

Diet is the first building block to health, there is no race to the finish line in ensuring your cat has the best odds possible at living a long; healthy life. Research and patience are the key to success. Here are some sources on how transitions work. Please read them thoroughly before attempting any dietary transitions.

A great read on transitioning to wet food
In-depth read on the process
How to transition by FoodFurLife
More tips on transitioning

If you'd rather watch a video on it, here's a great one by Jackson Galaxy on transitioning diets! We're not affiliated with him in any way, just a great video on the subject.

On the topic of people who have tried to transition their dry food addicts to wet food and failed, it is important to note that not every cat will respond to one single method. It is important to have the patience to try as long as possible; for as long as your cat takes, and to try every single method possible in order to help your cat get onto the right path. A lot of the sources on this page contain pages and pages worth of tips and tricks you can try, there are forums and groups and people you can ask for tips, there are infinite options. There is no reason to give up.

..Right, so TL;DR: Please transition your cat from a dry diet to a wet canned diet for your cats wellbeing. Read the sources. For all intensive purposes, you've completed the page and learned all you need to know on why dry food is so unhealthy, and why to feed wet instead.

If you want to return back to the homepage at this point, feel free to do so. The next section will be discussing information regarding homemade diets and raw diets and why they - when done right - can be healthier for cats than even a wet canned food diet.

If you're uninterested in homemade and raw diets, click this, if you're interested, continue on!

Keep in mind that a few small parts of the above section may be repeated briefly due to the fact that the above and below sections are separated with a link that people can click to jump directly to it, rather than having to read the entire page. Example: https://felinenutrition.carrd.co/#raw

Homemade & raw diet resources

As stated above, cats are obligate carnivores. And while wet cat food is a 100% better than dry cat food, it's nearly impossible to find a canned diet that rivals or even mirrors the natural diet cats have evolved over thousands of years to be designed to consume. Whole prey - mice, rats, birds, entire little animals. Whole, organs, meat, bone, fur - all of it, raw. Fresh. And access to a gigantic variety of prey to hunt; catch, kill, and eat.

Homemade food is a wonderful way to mimic the diet of a natural cat, as the variety and options are endless, but it is not as easy as just buying a case of cans and feeding them to your cat - it is more than vital that proper and adequate research is done on making homemade cat food before attempting to do so, and if one isn't using a premix, it is incredibly important that they follow a trusted, credible recipe 100%.

With all of that in mind, we highly recommend using a premix to make homemade cat food until you're fully prepared and have done the proper research to follow a do-it-yourself guide, or even to use as a staple in your cats diet. Premixes are powders that you can buy that you simply weigh the meat, weigh the powder according to the directions of the premix in conjunction with the meat, and add to raw or cooked meat with water to complete the meat, making it as nutritionally balanced as a canned diet.

No buying individual supplements, no fancy or expensive equipment, no having to source organ meat on your own, much less math, much faster to make, much easier to make, and far less margin for error, and the best part? Most of them can be used with almost any protein you want, some even allow you to mix proteins allowing you to achieve the variety cats are built to have in their diet 10X. Kangaroo meat and goat meat? Chicken and rabbit? Ostrich and beef? Variance to the max. Another great part about premixes is that you can email the company and ask questions if you have them, about amounts and all kinds of other stuff.

Below I've listed the most popular and trusted premixes available, check them out!

HOLD ON! Don't close this page without reading this section, it is beyond integral.

Raw diets!
Don't get us misconstrued - we support raw diets, and believe in them; understand that our caution and tone is not malicious. A lot of raw feeders; forums, and people spread dangerous misinformation or grossly over simplify raw feeding which can very easily lead to cats getting hurt or worse. It is integral to the wellbeing of your cat to follow a credible and trusted recipe, use a premade frozen raw cat food, or book an appointment with a licenced and trained feline nutritionist to formulate a custom recipe and dietary plan. Don't wing it, don't guesstimate, don't take advice from random people online.

Below are some of the most trusted recipes and guides online in the community. I have listed them in order to read. Start with the top one!

WAIT!

A proper slow transition to a raw or homemade diet is extremely important, failure to research and conduct a proper transition to a homemade or raw diet can be dangerous - especially when transitioning from a dry diet directly to a raw diet. It is highly recommended by most resources on raw diets that cat guardians firstly transition from dry food to canned food, then transition from canned food to raw food. NEVER fast your cat into transitioning diets. Transitions are slow, they can take weeks to months, never rush transitions; go at your cats pace, not your own pace.

Diet is the first building block to health, there is no race to the finish line in ensuring your cat has the best odds possible at living a long; healthy life. Research and patience are the key to success. Below I've listed some of the most informative pages on transitioning to raw and homemade diets, read through them thoroughly.

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