Another cat question...I'm still learning....about cat food!  

i have three cats and ive always heard that canned food makes them gain weight. we feed ours Maxim dry food and treat them twice a week with canned food.

I don't know if it makes a difference in the smell, but I do know that feeding too much canned food in a cat's diet can cause tooth decay. Dry food helps to keep their teeth clean and it helps to remove the plaque they build up on their teeth.

As far as the different "special blends" like hair ball remedy or urinary tract health, I'm not sure how much good those really do. If you are feeding your cat the hair ball kind as a precaution, I kind of wonder if you're not jumping the gun a little bit. I have had both long and short haired cats. For the long haired cats, once a week, I gave them a dose of petromalt or similar that keeps their esophagus lubricated so they could pass the hair. I'm not sure what is in the hairball preventative cat foods. I would much rather wait until I'm sure it's needed before I had them on something just because I think my cat could develop a problem later on.

Yes, canned food really makes their poop stink!

You can get some medication at the pet store called PetroMalt. It comes in a tube kind of like toothpaste and you give them a bit of it every week. It helps with the hairballs.

I recently switched my cats to Avoderm brand cat food and they've been doing really well on it. Their fur is beautiful and shiny and they're not shedding as much.

I also brought a rubber brush called a "Zoom Groom" and I've been brushing them with it every few days or so. They really love getting brushed and it pulls out alot of the dead hair.

Does your cat have all its claws and go outside? If so I would stick with giving your cat just dry food. Cats who catch and eat mice and other things often live longer because they are eating what they were created to eat. We feed my cat one scoop of Purina cat chow every day and the rest she catches for herself, and she's fat,so obviously she's eating the things she catches, except for moles, she doesn't like them.

Canned cat food is very expensive, so I wouldn't recommend it unless your cat can't catch anything for itself, then maybe a little of it to get more meat. Raw egg and milk, kind of like French toast consistency or runnier is really good for cats, it makes their fur shinier.

In the summer, it's important to brush your long haired cat daily, or a few times a day if you can. Otherwise hairballs are a natural response to shedding, though very gross if in your house. Brushing also fells good, my kitty purrs like crazy when she gets brushed. It think it helps cool them down too because you pull out all the loose shedding hairs for them which helps their coat thin out faster.

Well for myself we have a bowl of dry cat food available 24 hours a day for the cats and then at night we mix a bowl with wet and dry for them. When it's gone it's gone type thing. They all share.

Yes food can make a difference in how their excrement smells. Not only wet or dry but also the flavors and fillers that are in the food. Some dry might cause it to stink while others done and same with wet. You might also find that if it's a new brand or flavor it might be stronger at first because they need to adjust to them.

For the most part though if your cat seems happy with the dry and the occasional wet for a treat I wouldn't worry too much. So long as he's not over weight and seems healthy you don't need to worry.

I get the dry cat food, and some of the wet food. We live near one of the factories where the wet food is made, so I often go there and get the 2nds to save some money. Cats don't mind. But watch - Ocean Whitefish, really tends to make the cats feces stink.

I opened a can of food for my cats one day and they looked at me like I was out of my mind! That's because we've given them dry food since day one. They're indoor cats and I switched to the Purina Indoor variety some time ago. It's been wonderful, especially for my little one who used to literally lick herself bald. She's 12 now (or 13?) and has the best-looking coat she's had in her life, and previously we fed her food that we got from the vet. I can only assume she had some sort of an allergy. I definitely recommend dry food for cats.

I'm a wee bit late in responding but here I am! lol
As for dry cat food, the only brand I buy is 9-lives because it helps with their urinary tract so crystals won't form in their bladders in which is very painful for them especially the males. It comes in three different flavors, the red stripe bag is Beef and Turkey, the green stripe is Tuna and Egg, the blue bag is Salmon, Chicken and Beef. My cats love it although not at first but they got use to it. As for can food, I check the labels and if the ash content is 3.5 or lower, I'll buy it. I was told this by an old timer veterinarian due to having a cat who had this urinary tract problem and after switching his food, he never had a problem since and died when he was 13 years old. As you probably already know, 9-lives is backed by a cat named Morris and now they have Lil' Mo. My cat looked exactly like the big Morris and in fact, we named him Morris because of that. Anyway, here's the website on this cat food so you can see what I mean about the different color stripes. I find them at different places such as the Dollar General and Walmart.
http://www.9lives.com/def.

Okay, the wet food does make them smell a little bit more..BUT cats need wet food in their diet too. We feed ours wet food at dinner time, a tablespoon each. All other times during the day they have access to their dry food, which does help "clean" their teeth. The oils in the wet foods make their poo smell more but its an important factor in their diet. And the same brand of foods should be given to them all the time because they have such sensitive little bellies.

The dry food does help the cats teeth stay cleaner. I think a little canned cat food is ok for a treat. As for the hairballs, you can put a little dab of vasoline on the cats paw, they will lick it off and that helps prevent hairballs.