Proportioning Dry/Wet food.

[dave]

I'm interesting in hearing what proportions of dry food to wet food others are feeding their maine coon's, from kitten to adult.

I understand some have a sole dry food diet whereas others leave a constant supply of dry but also lay down wet food at regular feeding times.

[Karol]

Our cats get a portion of fresh meat every day (fresh meat meaning meat from the butcher's: steak, chicken or turkey filet, ...). Once a week they get fresh fish (tuna, cod, pollack, ...) and I'm going to try day-old chicks in the near future to see if they like it.
Because they do not like fresh food enough to eat sufficient portions, we provide dry food on daily basis as well.
Wet food (as in canned wet food) has been replaced by fresh food in our house.
Since we started giving fresh meat instead of the regular brands of wet food, we noticed that the fur of our cats is in much better condition and that the cat toilets don't smell so bad nowadays.

[dave]

Interesting that their fur & condition improves. That would suggest the tinned food must be lacking in some vitamin or mineral. This sounds like something I'll have to do some intense googling about ;-)

[kaddyjatou]

I have always had mine on royal canin maine coon feed, obviously the kitten one to start with, then introducing the adult one, they eat wet food a.m and p.m but the royal canin is down all the time, one has a much bigger apetite than the other! I have tried roast chicken, steak, and fish, no, they like what they like! mine are very fussy!

[dave]

Yeah thats what I was thinking of doing, keeping the dry food present at all times and then tinned am/pm, with maybe some meat & fish once in a while.

However I was reading today theres there's a fair few with the opinion that dried is not so good for them, as it tends to make them thirstier as they would be with just wet food.

Perhaps it's one of those things where you need to see what you cat(s) enjoy and try to balance their enjoyment with a sensible diet.

[Karol]

I was always told that the best food for your cat, is the food:
a) they like to eat
b) which keeps them in an optimal condition

Apart from the meat/fish I give them, they also have dry food (Royal Canin) all day through. I think the most important thing is that you offer them a balanced diet which contains everything they need to stay in good health.

[Mylo's Mum]

Hi Dave

I also feed my boy with the Royal Canine Maine Coon dry food and leave it out for him all day. He eats it heaps and enjoys He also gets a small 85gram tin of wet food (fish variety) in the evening and one for breakfast. He is not a big eater of his wet food some times so I worry that he does not eat enough. He is very lean and refuses to eat any other food. I have tried everything but he does not like raw meat and chicken, chicken wings and necks etc etc - in fact no human food at all. He was like that when I got him from the breeder. I worry so much that he is not getting proper nutrition and that he should be a lot bigger and heavier at his age. He is currently weighing in at 7 kilos.

[WoodsideMaineCoons]

Mine are all raw fed. We even wean our kittens onto raw as we believe this to be the best and most natural diet for them.

The only time they have anything different is when the our girls have kittens and then we let them have some of the almo nature biscuit just to give them a little more bulk if they need it.

Louise

[Karol]

The problem is that it's very difficult to get cats who have been raised as a kitten with eating dry food and tinned wet food, to eat raw... In the beginning all our cats simply refused to even have one bite of it. But I kept persisting that they would try it, and now 3 of our cats eat a portion of raw meat every day. They don't like enough different kinds of raw meat, though, to completely put them on a raw diet, so I still give them dry food next to the rest.

[WoodsideMaineCoons]

I have to admit, only one of my cats was hesitant and that was my stud boy Odin. It took me about 3 months of gradually mixing in the raw with his normal food. Now he eats nothing but raw and his condition is superb.

When we bring new cats in, we switch them onto raw immediately as I won't risk having biscuits down for them and having the other coonies eating them. Perhaps we have been lucky so far that all of ours have taken to it so well with no issues but the health benefits for them more than outweigh any inconvenience.