# Is there a downside to eating canned?



## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

A week or so after I got Zelda in October, she decided she no longer desired kibble. I had been giving her the food her previous owner fed her (Blue Buffalo), which she initially nommed down, but just appeared to have a change in heart. She would only eat about five kibble a night.

I tried several different types of food from the dry cat food list on the forum. She won't even try the higher fat Fromm's which Petunia is addicted to (that's a whole other issue :roll: ).

Finally, I purchased some canned Chicken Soup for the Soul Adult Light (PSP was out of the kibble at the time). Zelda loves it. It's the only cat food she will eat. I later bought the kibble form, and she won't eat it. I ground some up and put it on the canned, but she still won't eat the kibble.

She is steadily losing weight. Every week. I have been trying to incorporate other higher fat foods into her diet, but she's so darn picky. Today I'm going to pick up some RC, and I was also thinking I might try to get a higher fat version of the Chicken Soup canned.

Now to my question: Say that Zelda will only eat canned versions of cat food. Is this a bad thing? Someone once told me that kibble is preferred because it helps keep their teeth clean.

I have thoroughly checked her mouth to see if she has any lumps or teeth issues (thinking that might be why she won't eat kibble), but I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. I may take her to the vet anyway, since I've yet to get her in for a wellness check.

Oh Zelda. You are going to make my hair turn grey.


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

She should totally see a vet. They may see something that you can't. I don't think there is any reason not to feed canned. I'm not sure how much I believe that dry food actually cleans their teeth it's hard to know how they are chewing it, if it just shatters as their teeth bite down it doesn't seem like it would provide much abrasion against plaque build up. In any case getting her to eat is more important than having her teeth clean. I've started switching my hedgehog to canned food, he has no teeth though so keeping them clean is not a concern for us. I decided canned food would be easier than mixing the kibble with water and grinding it up.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I second the vet visit, just in case. It might be easier for the vet to get a completely thorough look if he puts her under for just a few minutes. But really, there shouldn't be any harm in feeding canned food. The main reason it's not recommended is because you can't leave it out as long since it goes bad faster. She definitely needs to eat though, and if she's eating that well (and there's no medical issues to be concerned about otherwise), I don't think it'd be a problem!


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

It's not ideal, but it's fine. Canned food is the best option for a non-kibble diet because, unlike things like baby food or homemade recipes, it's designed to be a complete diet, so it's going to have all those little details covered the same way that kibble does. My boy Grimm went on strike against kibble but will eat soft food, including carnivore care, baby food (turkey is his favorite), and finally I was able to get him on a combination of the baby food and canned CS light. With anything but canned food I'd worry about deficiencies in the long term. Canned food isn't great because the fat content is higher, but the CS light is pretty good, though still higher than the kibble CS light. Chicken Soup is at the top of my list in terms of quality for canned food.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

If you want to see if she'll try chewing something a bit more solid, Lily also really loved Wellness Healthy Indulgence packets. They're chunks of meat in gravy - http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/products ... t=cat&ft=4 The protein and fat is a bit high on them too, like other wet/canned foods, but the ingredients are really good. I used them mainly for treats for Lily, though. The seafood ones (like the tuna) have lower fat, but then they have higher protein as well.


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## LizardGirl (Aug 25, 2008)

Be sure you check the Dry Matter Basis of the canned food you're feeding, the values listed aren't a good representative of fat and protein content because of all the water. Convert it to DMB and see how much fat/protein is in whatever canned or wet food you're feeding, since usually they are very very high (which for fat, for her, would be a good thing!).


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

LizardGirl said:


> Be sure you check the Dry Matter Basis of the canned food you're feeding, the values listed aren't a good representative of fat and protein content because of all the water. Convert it to DMB and see how much fat/protein is in whatever canned or wet food you're feeding, since usually they are very very high (which for fat, for her, would be a good thing!).


Very good point! And if you have trouble remembering how to do this, like I do... :lol: Kalandra explains it very simply here - viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11177&hilit=+affecting I have it bookmarked so I can check it when needed, lol.


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## moxieberry (Nov 30, 2011)

LizardGirl said:


> Be sure you check the Dry Matter Basis of the canned food you're feeding, the values listed aren't a good representative of fat and protein content because of all the water. Convert it to DMB and see how much fat/protein is in whatever canned or wet food you're feeding, since usually they are very very high (which for fat, for her, would be a good thing!).


For the CS light canned I was speaking from experience using that one already. The conversion comes to 13% fat and 43% protein. Protein is high, but for a healthy adult it's not going to do any damage. The normal adult version is about the same protein but the fat is around 22%.

For general reference, the easy method of conversion is to subtract the moisture % from 100, then divide the fat/protein/etc % by that number.

Most canned foods are around 75-80% moisture. So say the moisture content is 75% and the fat content is 5% for a canned food. 100 - 75 = 25, then divide 5 by 25, which gives you 0.2. So for this hypothetical food, the dry matter fat content is 20%.


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## Sar-uh (Sep 6, 2011)

Lilysmommy said:


> If you want to see if she'll try chewing something a bit more solid, Lily also really loved Wellness Healthy Indulgence packets. They're chunks of meat in gravy - http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/products ... t=cat&ft=4 The protein and fat is a bit high on them too, like other wet/canned foods, but the ingredients are really good. I used them mainly for treats for Lily, though. The seafood ones (like the tuna) have lower fat, but then they have higher protein as well.


I've actually gotten these before on your recommendation! Unfortunately, Zelda tried a bite and spit it out. Petunia loves them, naturally.

Thanks to everyone for the replies, this has been very helpful. I had no idea you had to do a conversion to figure out the actual percentages in canned food.

I put some RC babycat kibble in Zelda's dish next to her usual CS canned meal, and later I heard crunching!  Come on Zelda, fatten up!


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