The Safety of Dry Food

Dry food is far from a clean, safe, and pathogen-free source of food for your cat. Please see this section on my Making Cat Food page which details just a few of the many pet food recalls due to contamination of commercial pet food with deadly chemicals,  bacteria (salmonella, etc.), fungal mycotoxins, and storage mites.

Fungal mycotoxins are deadly chemicals produced by molds. Molds are very common contaminants of grains but molds can be found in many different food sources.  In mid January 2011, 200 cows died from eating moldy sweet potatoes that were mixed into their feed.

There is no doubt in my mind that many cats and dogs have become ill from the contaminants that are often present in dry pet foods yet nobody (including the veterinarian and pet owner) puts 2 + 2 together and realizes that the diet is the source of the pet’s illness.

Keep in mind that dry foods are not refrigerated and they sit in warm warehouses, on pet store shelves, and in your cupboards for weeks or months before your pets consume them leading to increased bacterial growth and rancid fats.

At the very least, dry food should be kept in the refrigerator but it is better to just refrain from feeding this type of food completely.

This is the hard part. Cats, like children, often resist what is best for them.  The two most frequent comments that I hear from people when trying to convince them to feed their cats a healthier diet are “my cat won’t eat canned food” and “but my cat really likes his dry food.”   Children really like potato chips and ice cream but that certainly does not mean those food items constitute optimal nutrition.

The transition process often involves much more than just plunking down a new food item.  Time, patience and tricks are often required.

One reason that cats like dry food so much is because the pet food companies do not play fair when manufacturing this sub-optimal food source.  They coat the kibble with extremely enticing animal digest sprays which are very pleasing to a cat – making a poor quality diet very desirable to the target animal.

In addition to the aforementioned coating of dry food with animal digests, another issue  is one of a crunchy texture which is very different from canned food.  Cats are very resistant to such a drastic change in the texture of their food.

If you are convinced that getting your cat off of dry food is the way to go, read on for some tips on how to accomplish this.

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