Wet food vs. Dry food for cats

[southerner]

We feed our cats a can of wet food and 1/2 cup of dry food each day. We ran out of wet food last week and gave them only dry food for the week. I noticed they are less hungry (well, begged for food less at least) when they were eating the dry food exclusively. I'm thinking about switching them to an all dry food diet.

What are the pros and cons of dry and wet food?

What do you feed your cats? What factors led you to that decision?

[maxandmolly]

I had mine on only dry food until Molly got very sick and lost half her weight-from 9lbs. to barely 5. She also wouldn't drink water. So I figured canned food would get her weight back up and get some moisture in her too. She took to it IMMEDIATELY. I fed her on the counter at first-since MAx wasn't a jumper-and she got only Iams for years. After one of our moves, though, Max suddenly got curious about what was going on up there, so soon they both got canned food. Once she back to a healthy weight, we moved to just a spoonful each in the morning and at night. (All this is in addition to dry food, though I didn't catch Molly actually eating dry food for about 3 years!)
The Iams got harder and harder to find, so I started trying new stuff. All of which they turned their noses up at. Then all of a sudden, Friskies became the greatest thing ever. So great, in fact, that Molly will eat all of hers AND sometimes beg for more.
But a can doesn't go as far as the Iams did-only 2 feedings, compared to 3, maybe 4 from the Iams.
Also, I noticed this weekend, that they are both rather suddenly turning into a couple little chubs. :o Momma feeds them too much, I guess.

[greenbunny]

Our one cat, Bella, was a breeding queen until we got her, and they had her on wet food because it's better for pregnancy (at least, that's what I was told; I have no experience with breeding cats). However, her teeth are a disaster. A lot of tartar build up, evil breath, etc. We had them professionally cleaned when we first got her, but she still gets build-up a lot faster than normal.

The vet says that the dry food is better for her teeth, but that wet food is good for organ function, which is especially important as cats age. Wet food also gets more moisture into their bodies, because cats tend not to drink as much water as they should.

We feed Bella a few spoonfulls of wet food at dinner, and she has dry food the rest of the time.

Summer has a grain allergy and eats only special grain-free dry food. She very rarely gets any treats or wet food because it makes her GI tract go haywire.

If not for her special condition, I would also give her mostly dry food with wet food as supplements. I think it provides the benefits of both without the negatives of exclusivity.

Of course, the quality of the food is extremely important. The wet food is Meow Mix pouches, which I admit is junk, but it's only given in treat portions and they both go nuts over it. The dry food is premium quality, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul for Bella and Innova Evo for Summer.

We are looking into transitioning Bella to the Evo in order to prevent any mistakes from Summer sneaking into her food, but a high protein diet can be detrimental to older cats, so I need to do more research first.

Then again, there's also a raw diet, if you have the time to do the prepwork.

PM me if you want any sites about this stuff, I have bookmarks out the wazoo.

[Rico'sAlice]

Seeing as cats are obligate carnivores, and the extrusion process requires "kibble" to be about 60% grain, I don't view it as an apropriate food for cats. I do know that particularly with males, the not drinking enough thing can be a problem (leading to UTIs) and feeding wet food (canned or fresh) can help with that. I also find the incidince of diabetes in cats to be pretty alarming.
Personally I would say raw is by far the best, followed by home cooked, then canned wet, then dry. There is not unanimous aggreement that dry food is good for the teeth, as the grains and sugars in them are cavity promoting. I think that's a lot of the problem with many of the canned foods- that they've got sugars added. That's the nice thing about feeding raw vs. canned/cooked, because then you can feed the cats bones as well, and the crunching will keep their teeth clean.
I do not have a cat at the moment, but lived with my mother for about 6 months and transitioned her cat to raw food, so I would be happy to answer any questions you have. You can find tons of resources by googling raw cat brf, etc. are there are also several raw-cat yahoo groups.

I know there are a few grain-free dry foods available now, and I can help you find some of those if you like.

[Sazoo]

I used to feed my cat, Pepper, a little bit of wet food each day & then dry food to supplement. But several years ago I noticed she was becoming more & more picky about the wet food & no matter what brand/flavor I bought she either didn't like it, or would eat it & then throw up afterwards. I talked to my vet & asked if she NEEDED to eat wet food regularly, & the vet said no. He said to make sure she drinks enough water & to maybe just give wet food occasionally as a treat.

Now, several years later, I have another cat as well & both of them eat dry food probably 95% of the time. I do sometimes give them canned food, but sometimes they either don't like it or they get sick. Last mongh my little kitty, Ginger, was having some problems (lots of throwing up, not interested in eating, etc.) so the vet now has her on a low allergen food (dry food) exclusively.

[tlew12778]

When my boys were little they would eat canned mixed with KMR and some dry. Eventually they stopped liking the canned so we moved to all dry.

After a year or 2 on dry dietetic food, our fatty wasn't losing anymore weight so I tried the wet formula. Sometimes he really wants it and sometimes not. He eats a mix now. The other cat still eats all-dry (I have a package of Nutro wet though that I want to try).

[fuzzy]

The vet says that the dry food is better for her teeth, but that wet food is good for organ function, which is especially important as cats age. Wet food also gets more moisture into their bodies, because cats tend not to drink as much water as they should.

I do know that particularly with males, the not drinking enough thing can be a problem (leading to UTIs) and feeding wet food (canned or fresh) can help with that.

*nods*

We have three of our four cats are male and two have recurrent UTI issues.

We free-feed prescription dry food and give all the cat ~one tablespoon of wet food per day.

[tlew12778]

I forgot to mention that I think fatty feels more satisfied after half a pack of wet. In fact, I only give him half at a time bc I noticed he was letting it dry out. He eats less overall this way. I give him 2 servings of dry per day and 1 serving of wet (half the pack), but if he wants the other half later on, I will give it to him as he is still totalling out to his allotted max per day.

[southerner]

maxandmolly, So, wet food is higher in fat?

greenbunny & Rico'sAlice, I would love more info on raw diet. I'm really embarassed to admit that I don't know much about it :o I'll go check it out. Any helpful starting points to offer me? I'm sure there's a ton of info out there and as you know it can be a pain to sift through to find the good stuff. ;)

greenbunny, what makes Meox Mix "junk?" What ingredients in wet food constitute?

tlew12778, That's weird. I think mine get fuller on the dry food.

It sounds like I shouldn't totally give up wet food and that it has alot of benefits (organ function and moisture). Although, my cats do drink their water.

[hockeybrat]

Rocky will only eat kibble. He won't even touch a can of tuna.

[vwinkel]

I always had cats growing up and my parents never fed their cats dry food. It was always canned food (and my mom's first cat would only eat turkey! She roasted turkey breasts just for the cat. :rolleyes: ). All of our cats were healthy and lived to be 20 years old or older! I figure if it's working, why change it?

Dry food has a high ash content which means that it will dehydrate your cat, which causes them to drink lots of water. Make sure to change the water as often as possible because cats can be picky about the taste of their water too. However, dry food is necessary when you are going away for the weekend.

I now feed my cats a combination since one cat will only eat dry food. I leave out a feeder of dry food and feed the other two one can of wet food in the morning and one at night. They can graize on the dry food if they want, but rarely do. I've read that it is necessary to feed a cat one can of cat food per day. Maybe your kitties are begging because they are only getting a half can?

I feed them Friskies canned food (they only like seafood flavors) and the whiskas pouches (again, only seafood). When I try the beef or chicken, they sniff and then look up at me like, what in the heck is this?

My advice - don't switch to dry only. Yes, it's easier and less smelly, but in my experience, wet food leads to healthier longer lives.

[greenbunny]

Some good LJ communities:

http://community.livejournal.com/rawdogs/

(don't let the name discourage you, it's for cat owners too)

Their userinfo page has a ton of great links for sites, product suppliers, and books, so rather than copy them all, I'll give you that directly:

http://community.livejournal.com/rawdogs/profile

This is also a helpful community:

http://community.livejournal.com/grain_free/

Here's a site with a lot of raw info and alternate resources. Her credentials are also listed.

http://rawlearning.com/

Here's another raw site, geared toward dogs but still has some helpful stuff:

http://www.dogaware.com/dogfeeding.html



Here's a site that makes frozen patties of raw food. Easy-peasy. There are more in the rawdogs community info:

http://www.sitstay.com/store/edibles/food1.shtml

Keep in mind, though, that a big benefit of raw feeding is the tooth cleaning they get from eating the bones, and pre-made patties can't do that.


And here's the FDA guidelines for food labeling, that should help you figure out if the food is quality or not. As far as dry, the general rule of thumb I've heard is that the top three ingredients should be meat, the top four is even better. Wet is a little more iffy.

http://www.fda.gov/cvm/petlabel.htm


As vwinkel mentioned about the ash, I have heard of older cats having issues with that, and in fact our neighbor's cat is on a low-ash prescription kibble.


Raw feeding is controversial at best. People are very passionate both ways about it. It is something that must be done right--you really have to educate yourself, it isn't easy like dumping kibble in a bowl. Frankly, I am not up for the challenge at this point in our lives, even though I recognize the benefits.

[maxandmolly]

maxandmolly, So, wet food is higher in fat?
I have no idea-you'd have to ask one of the feeding experts! I just know I was told to start feeding it to Molly for weight re-gain after her illness, because she was more likely to eat it (more attractive/better tasting/it was a treat) and for the moistuer factor. And since they've decided Friskies is the best. thing. ever., they've been eating more food in general (the Iams was starting to get left in the bowl), so I think that's why they've gained weight.

[Rico'sAlice]

Since greenbunny posted a lot of good links already, I won't overwhelm you with mine. The sitstay site also has a message board with a whole section on raw feeding with some very well educated and experienced raw feeders. Raw feeders usually love to talk about this stuff and would answerr any questions you have. Like Greenbunny said, it is somewhat controversial. It is what my vet (holistic, majored in animal nutrition) strongly recommends, but others tell you it will kill your pet. Most vets really don't recieve much education in nutrition except from lectures/demonstrations given by pet food companies.


I will say that it was a lot more difficult to get the cat to eat raw than the dogs. (I've "switched over" 10 dogs and just the one cat) However, I actually believe it is more important for cats than dogs, b/c they are obligate carnivours whereas dogs are omnivours with a carnivourous system. Many kitties are extremely addicted to their dry and refuse to anything else. This is what I did:
1) have no dry food anywhere in the house. (Including in the clset, garage, etc.) Cat's will know it's available and refuse anything else. It's like crack.
2) First we switched over to a random canned food, for about 3-4 days.
3) My mom's vet had given her this vitamin drop stuff that the cat really liked (turned out it had corn syrup and that was why. yuck!) We would put that on top of whatever we were trying to get her to eat.If there is something (besides kibble) that the cat really likes, you could mis that in. (Canned tuna)
4) If the cat will eat cooked meat (ground chicken, turkey, beef, etc)
then you can just serve it less and less cooked eachday. Then switch to raw that has the bone ground in.
5)Cats can be gradually transitioned to eating larger bone pieces. We would cut up chicken necks into tiny pieces and then bigger chunks. Now she will eat just a whole neck. But even if you stick with ground, there should be enough bone chunks in there that the kitty will get some teeth cleaning benifits. After I left my mom starting feeding only pre-ground raw b/c it was easier for her. The cats teeth still look a lot better than when she was on just dry.

6) It won't kill the cat to miss a meal. I know you have to be extremely careful with notfeeding cats whereas it is healthy to fast dogs. We used 48hrs as our maximum window as long as the cat was drinking water. My mom felt bad b/c the cat wouldn't eat her raw at first and would give her a little bit of canned. That just encouraed her to keep holding out. When my mom went away for a week we just didn't offer the cat anything different after her breakfast. Stuck it back in the fridge and offered again at dinner. She ate it all the next mornign at breakfast and we never had a problem after that.

5)Cats don't necessarily prefer fish and poultry. A great many, including my mom's, find rabbit to be their favorite (you can buy whole ground rabbits, organs, bones, everything) The cat also liked lamb, beef, goat, and sometimes turkey. Will eat the chicken, but it's not a favorite. The only fish she will eat is expensive sushi-grade ahi (my mom gets boxes of it frozen from Horizon) So she doesn't get that too often. It makes my mom feel better to give the cat vitamin supplements (new stuff, not that junk w/ the sugar) but she really doesn't need them. The main thing you have to watch out for is them getting enough taurine. This can be done w. a supplement, or you can just be sure to feed enough heart. We also have fresh cat grass growing in little posts.

ETA: As far how difficult it is, once you have the basic concept down, I find it pretty simple. I think it's amazing that we've become convinced we need a degree to feed our pets. How do you make sure your (general you) child is eating a balanced diet? Not every single meal needs to be perfect or balanced. That's not how things work. Balance over time is what is important.

[jesvet]

Most vets really don't recieve much education in nutrition except from lectures/demonstrations given by pet food companies.


Not totally on topic but I keep seeing this on the boards and it's a huge pet peeve of mine. While pet food companies do offer 'educational' presentations on their food both before and after vet school, those were always optional presentations. In school, we had a nutrition curriculum taught by a faculty member who was a board certified veterinary nutritionist, leader in the field, who had no affiliation whatsoever to the big companies.

FWIW I am very interested in nutrition, both holistic and traditional, and I think I have a very balanced approach.

[Rico'sAlice]

JesVet: I really am sorry. I can imagine than it would get frustrating reading that all the time and not feeling it applied to you.
Do you think your experience (having a nutrition curriculum taught by unbiased expert) is currently common? That the majority (most) vets do recieve education in nutrition?
As I said, my vet majored in animal nutrition, so obviously there are exceptions. I think this may also be (hopefully) getting better- as all of the vets I've spoken with who recieved no nutrition classes are over 50 yo. However, my friend currently at Cornell only has one semester left and hasn't had any sort of classes/training in nutrition other than the pet food ones, which as you mentioned are optional. I wasn't trying to imply that the students were not aware of who was delivering the information.
I suppose it is at least partially dependant on what one as a student is interested in. (Surgury vs. general care, etc.)

[Hello Kitty]

I free-feed Azure Wellness Salmon & something dry. At first I thought it was expensive, but a $17 bag lasts about 3 months. He likes the food and I feel it's superior nutrition - not a speck of corn, a ton of meat & some fruits & veggies. He does get 1 Tbsp of canned food at night - just an old habit. I see him drinking water several times a day and he makes plenty of wet litter, so I don't think he's missing any moisture.

We did raw with our dog and it worked wonderfully. We tried it with our cat and he was not amused with the ground meat/fruit/veg patty. He did however LOVE chopped poultry on the bone. I think someday when I have more time we'll do raw again.

[jesvet]

JesVet: I really am sorry. I can imagine than it would get frustrating reading that all the time and not feeling it applied to you.
Thanks, truly! I just keep thinking AARGH! I really do know some things! ;)

Do you think your experience (having a nutrition curriculum taught by unbiased expert) is currently common? That the majority (most) vets do recieve education in nutrition?
As I said, my vet majored in animal nutrition, so obviously there are exceptions. I think this may also be (hopefully) getting better- as all of the vets I've spoken with who recieved no nutrition classes are over 50 yo. However, my friend currently at Cornell only has one semester left and hasn't had any sort of classes/training in nutrition other than the pet food ones, which as you mentioned are optional.

I'm surprised that Cornell doesn't have any nutrition classes. One of my LJ buddies is attending there, I should ask her what her experience was. At Davis is was part of the core curriculum, and my coworkers from other schools all had some training too. There is a nutrition service at Davis that trains residents, and they routinely develop personalized home cooked recipes for clients that address any problem from renal failure to obesity to 'I just want to home cook'. It's a fantastic service.

Granted we all are on the younger end of the scale, and I don't doubt there are a lot of old schoolers who never got a lot of training. I definitely think there is a big push from clients and trends in general to approach nutrition from a more holistic standpoint. There are a lot of people/vets out there who think allergies and poor dietary choices are a HUGELY underdiagnosed cause of secondary disease.

My frustration is from my own experience with some of the proponents and reps from the 'good' companies who tell clients the vets don't know anything, all big pet food companies are bad, and really foster distrust or the assumption we are getting some sort of kickbacks from Purina or whatnot. If this is something important to you, there are vets out there who will support you!

I totally support what you are doing and the fact that you are all so proactive with your research. :D

[keska]

My cats all eat dry food, Iams weight control hairball formula. Right now, it's also mixed with 1/2 Science Diet dry weight control formula because I had a hard time finding that type of Iams after I moved. I have a 10 year old Siamese and a 5 year old Bengal. They've never had any UTIs or health problems and my Siamese has great teeth for his age, so I think we'll keep feeding dry food unless something comes up.

[greenbunny]

jesvet, I don't doubt that there are vets who are taught nutrition in school, but I think it is important for a pet owner to be cautious.

For example, despite numerous tests and no diagnoses for our one cat, the vet kept prescribing different types of Hill's prescription diet. When I did research, I found that the food she was selling me was for constipation, and my cat had diarrhea problems! It was exactly opposite what she should be having. She was also recommending Science Diet off the shelf all the time. I can't help but think she must have had some motivation for constantly pushing one brand like that.

She also refused to even discuss raw with me, she just shook her head and told me in a stern voice that animals die from that all the time. I have no idea where she got her info, she just wouldn't even talk about it.

[Hello Kitty]

Jesvet, I think it's good that you're so openminded and well-read with respects to pet food. Unfortunately my vet's not like that at all, but we still love their practice.

When we brought our puppy in for her 1-year he asked what we fed her. I said 'wellness' - he was like, 'well, I'm not sure who makes that, but you want to be careful with food - a lot of those generic brands don't have the right ingredients. You may want to think about switching to Purina [one] or SD.' :eek: I do wonder, what the correlation is because both of those brands were sold in the office.

[southerner]

This info had been very helpful, but I never expect anything less from the ladies here.

Greenbunny, Thanks for all those links. I read some of the stuff and I definitely think that's more work than I can take on right now.

Rico'sAlice, What a dedicated furmom you are.

jesvet, I was hoping you'd stop in here. :)

[BlackMagicRose]

If you feed your cats canned food please make sure to give them dry food as well. Daisy Mae, the cat I had as a child, was fed only canned food because after she ate it she was picky and would not longer eat dry food (those finicky cats!). She had horrible issues with her teeth and gums when she was older because she did not eat any dry food. I really wish we would have fed her a mixture of both or just went with dry food. I miss my girl :(

[Katy]

I bumped this up because I've noticed our little guy has gotten quite picky. He's fine with eating his dry food (except he really didn't like the MaxCat line, at ALL!) He drinks plenty of water and I'm filling his extra bowl (the one that he doesn't really share with the pupster) at least once a day. But, I've noticed that the ONLY cat food he'll eat now are the Iams packets.

I'm not all too happy with that. First, it's Iams and I'm not a fan of their's for many reasons. Second, those [Iams] packets are much more expensive than canned. Thirdly, he lets the canned food sit and it basically just goes to waste (he inhales those damn Iams packets!). And lastly, I have quite a few cans of MaxCat lying around from my last purchase spree.

Any suggestions? Should I just cut down on how much canned I give him - from daily half of the small can he used to get to a tablespoon? Since he likes dry and drinks water, should I just continue with that? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[JoyousAutumn]

Oh goodness. When I brought my kitty home from the shelter, they told us she always had dry food out and they gave her a can of wet food every night.
Put it this way: Ebony knows EXACTLY when 8:00 pm is. If you even say the number 8 out loud, she runs into the kitchen crying.
It's weird because she's the opposite of most of your cats- she is VERY picky about dry food- and only eats a certain flavor of Friskies- won't even touch anything else. She has to have a lot of water at all times- she has her own water fountain that makes bubbles. But wet food? She doesn't care what brand, flavor, what packaging it comes in- if it's moist she gobbles it up like the little fur-covered pig she is. I even have a picture of her picking the food out of the can with her "hands" and eating it that way.

[{b}]

We have three cats, two boys and a girl. They free-feed on kibble at all times, and share a small can of wet food at 11 p.m. And yes, they know EXACTLY when canned food time is!

I'v always heard from vets that the kibble is very good for their teeth, and canned food should be seen as a luxury, a treat, a dessert, almost. Used sparingly, basically.

We've never had any problems with UTIs (knock on wood), and one male cat refuses to drink out of a bowl. He has to have running water out of the tub or sink faucet.

We feed Wellness. Meow Mix and Friskys and stuff like that is generally the junk of the junk in the meat processing plants. Look at the ingredients lists. Just like with human consumption food, the item listed first is the most prevalent ingredient. We always call Meow Mix McDonald's for cats ( we don't eat McDonald's ever ourselves).

[jnettie]

Katy, I hear ya on the Iams. I'm not a fan either. But, they are actually one of the cheeper packet foods. Friskies is cheeper, but total junk food. I give my girls Nutro packets, which is about 75 cents each.

Is it the gravy they like? That's what my girls like. You can buy just gravy at the pet store and pour it over dry food.

I'm very thankful Jade and Sissy are not picky. Tuna, any wet food, people food, whatever. They love the Nutro food, which is good. Like {b} said, look at the first ingredents in the pet food. Nutro's first ingredients are "chicken" "beef" or "salmon", just what it says on the pouch!

[diam124]

Our cat would only eat wet food when we first got her, but it was so frustrating because she wouldn't eat it enought of it at once (we would give her 1/4 can at a time) so it would always dry out and go to waste. After she was spayed she magically would only eat dry food. I do give her boiled chicken every now and then when I'm using it for a recipe and she loves it.

[Katy]

Katy, I hear ya on the Iams. I'm not a fan either. But, they are actually one of the cheeper packet foods. Friskies is cheeper, but total junk food. I give my girls Nutro packets, which is about 75 cents each.Okay, considering he ate Friskies and other equal quality foods prior to my arrival, let's just say that I refuse to go there. Iams is bad enough! I tried the Nutro packets and he really didn't seem to dig them as much as the Iams stuff.

I'm wondering if maybe he's just not eating his moist food now because the weather's changing? To be honest, he's not even yelling at me first thing in the morning to feed him and feed him NOW! He's just watching me fill the bowls and then he walks away.

Dunno.

[mb1197]

We have always fed our cats dry food on a daily basis and usually I will give them a can of wet food as a treat on the weekends. They are picky about the wet food I give them and happily eat all their dry food so it works well for us. I think every cat is different and have had many (about 12-15) cats over the years. You really have to experiment to find out what works and what doesn't.

I have heard about raw food diets and our vet actually sells it preportioned and packaged. I have not had the need to try it yet.

As a side note, last year I had to have all of one of my cats teeth pulled with the exception of 4 on the bottom. he liked his dry food so much that he went back to eating it within just a few days after surgery. I did put down soft food, but found him eating the dry which our vet said may happen.

[maplekitty]

I feed my cat dry food. He doesn't like wet food, I've tried a few brands, and he just isn't interested. He's also not interested in tuna fish, tuna fish water, cat treats, or really anything that isn't his dry food. I've tried giving him these things as "treats" and he smells them and walks away...guess he's not a "dessert" kinda guy ;)

[ignutzz]

Our particular vet isn't on the bandwagon with the dry=better teeth so all of our guys get wet food twice a day because we have one furball that has serious urethra issues.


FYI: if you have male cats, and you're concerned about their water intake (especially if they have a UTI history), you can add water to their wet food servings. We actually do it for all of our cats and they love slurping up the extra gravy.

[annie_girl]

All three of my cats get high quality dry food. (Nutro Max Cat)

Two of them started out on wet food, but I began mixing it with dry, and weaned them. Well, one of them took a lot longer, as he was always thin and wouldn't eat just dry food. Eventually though, he did. That's around the time I got the third cat. They all are feed less than 1/2 cup food per day. Two of them are overweight (just a little) and one is still thin. He gets extra whenever he wants, since he never finishes one serving in one sitting. He'd be better as a free fed cat, but the other two would eat it all.

Any regular grocery store food is like fast food or junk food for your cat. My three cats all have beautiful coats and are very healthy. Well, Zeke does have a lot of build up on his teeth, he's 7 years old and almost always fed dry food. Jordy is the one who had wet food longer, his teeth are beautiful. Noel is 5 and her teeth are great too, she's never had wet food. So I think it's like humans, hereditary most (or second to chocolate and sugary foods and lack of brushing that humans have that cats don't)

[greenbunny]

Two of them are overweight (just a little) and one is still thin. He gets extra whenever he wants, since he never finishes one serving in one sitting. He'd be better as a free fed cat, but the other two would eat it all.

I SO feel your pain on this! One of my girls is a dainty eater and likes to snack all day, the other is a vacuum and will eat as much as you put in front of her. She's not only overweight, but has a grain allergy and needs special food.

Since we've switched to scheduled feedings, I swear the skinny one has only gotten smaller and the fat one has gotten bigger! It's awful.

[tlew12778]

We have the same problem. Our solution is to put a bowl of regular food up on a high shelf for the skinny one, then we measure out feedings (slightly adjusted) for the fat one. He gets Royal Canin obesity formula which has a high apetibility so the skinny one likes to eat that too (hence the adjusting). But at least he has his normal food in case he gets hungry during the day.

[annie_girl]

a dainty eater and likes to snack all day, the other is a vacuum and will eat as much as you put in front of her

Oh, I LOVE the way you worded that. Perfectly describes mine. :) (except I have two vacuums, a male and a female. And my dainty eater is male.)