Note: this is a narrow case of Can cats survive solely on dry food?
Two and half years my wife and I rescued a cat and went to the vet for a medical check. One of the recommendations was to take care to provide special food after the neutering.
We have neutered him when he was about 11 months and our current vet recommended feeding him with high-quality urinary SO dry food only (Royal Canin, Hills or another brand I do not remember). The purpose is to minimize the chance of developing kidney stones or similar urinary issues when he grows old. The steps to follow:
- pick up a brand
- slow transition from initial food to the picked-up urinary SO food
- if the cat accepts, continue providing urinary SO food + clean water
- switching of the food should be done only if the cat does not accept the food anymore and replacement food should be a high-quality urinary SO one also
Currently, our cat is on urinary SO dry food + 3 x wet urinary SO food + rarely a treat. The wet food is very appreciated, but the dry food not so much. A trick that has always worked so far was to sometimes place the dry food over the wet food.
If not bought online, urinary SO food is sold as a medication (within pharmacies embedded into the pet shops). The staff there were wondering about feeding the cat only like this and argued that urinary SO food should be provided only for a limited time (e.g. 6-12 months).
I have asked the vet about this and confirmed that if the cat accepts the food, it is best to minimize health problems in the future.
The cat is very active and has a normal weight (measured at the annual check at the vet).
I tried finding the possible side effects of such a diet and I could only find the following potential issues:
- dehydration - cats are not into drinking water and prefer water from their prey, so they risk dehydration if provided dry food only. Our cat likes to drink water from his cat fountain
- expensive - not an issue since we only have one cat
- cereals in the food - since this is high-quality food, I expect for this to not be an issue
Is there any authoritative (i.e. ideally based on studies) answer on the way a neutered male cat should be fed?
Important: the cat has no detectable health issues, the primary goal is to understand how to feed him to minimize health issues in the future.
