My wife moved in with her two cats. I absolutely adore these little guys and I would do anything to make them happy.
Anyway, when one of them moved in, his fur was greasy, had dandruff and just seemed odd. The other guy was normal as he is now. We did research and decided to feed them both half a can of natural wet (Maxi Cat is the brand we use) and fill it with two TSPs of water because they don't drink enough.
We've been doing this now for about two months and their fur simply amazing, especially the one that had the dandruff. What's amazing is that his fur has gone from black to a little bit of auburn when he's in the light. It's sleek, shiny and smooth. It's fantastic to feel (he hates it, though!)
If anyone is experiencing problems with your cat's fur, try this method!
I have heard that feeding a cat a diet of dry cat food only will dry out their fur. I'm glad that you have shared this information here so that other people can benefit from knowing that meaty food is healthier and more natural. Personally, I feed my two cats both kinds. I keep a bowl of dry food out at all times for them to snack on throughout the day and I split a can between the two of them every day. Indeed, they do have lovely, healthy fur and I can't resist petting them every time I see them. Cheers!
My cat eats dry food: a Science Diet kind for urinary health and he has awesomely soft fur. But I do agree that most cats don't drink enough. I would, however, caution you from leaving wet food out all day. It can start to grow bacteria and stuff. So you should only serve what your cats will eat. Especially if you are adding extra water to the dish. You really don't want to grow bacteria on your cat's food. I've had it suggested that you should feed you cat twice a day and only give them the dish for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take it away and put the wet food back in the fridge.
I agree with that idea. I've redone quite a bit of my cats' feeding regimen recently, but with the fur problems with allot of cats, I don't think it's as much from dry food, as it is from what's IN allot of the dry foods. Namely, corn. I have not had a bit of corn based cat food in the house in over a year now, and all three of my cat's coats are ten times better than they were, (and they were nice to begin with). And the shedding has cut down to almost zero. If you think about it, humans have a hard time digesting corn, much less a carnivorous animal.
I agree with the water part as well, one of our male cats came down with a UTI, which is where all of this came from, and I have started feeding him more canned food, and adding water to it. I've actually gone so far as to buy a "fountain". It has helped greatly though.
That's such a simple tip I do all the time. Cat's don't drink enough! I always mix water into my wet food for this reason. It also bulks up the food and slows them down whilst eating, because my guys love their food so much they just devour it like it's going out of fashion.
My cats have even been known to drink from the toilet on occasion! So anything I can do to stop them doing that crazyness is OK by me!
Most people don't know that cats don't drink a lot, and think that simply feeding them dry food is enough, but it really is not. This is why you find so many senior cats with so many health issues such as UTIs, diabetes, and IBD.
