We mix a little bit of Alpo canned into our dogs dry kibble. One of our dogs is fussy and gobbles his food up with the wet added, if it's just dry, he has no interest.

We also mix dry & wet for our cats, I like the feral outside to get some wet food, and the inside cat gets a bit before we take the bowl outside to Baby.

Long ago, I worked in an animal hospital. We used to take dry food, add some hot water, let it sit a few minutes, then mix in some canned. The animals usually liked it. I'm sure the wet was to entice sick or nervous animals to eat.

I also have a dog who is a finicky eater ... dry kibble gets water added and then some canned food. Not so finicky with that mix! Thank goodness.

I always add water to my dog's dinner, which is usually a mix of kibble and canned, with a raw bone. I heard that many dogs who eat kibble exclusively can be dehydrated, because that food is sooooo dry, and the dogs don't necessarily drink enough water. Tinned and raw food has a lot of water in it anyway.

Mind you, my dog is not particular, and I think she would eat just about anything, regardless of how it is presented. She slops a lot of the water around while eating, but at least she cleans it up before asking for seconds.

Dogs drink, cats don't, so it is cats who need to eat canned food. Cats were originally desert creatures and got all of their water from their prey, which is why it's so rare that a cat would drink unless it's sick. Many like running water though.

So it doesn't matter if you feed your dog canned or dry food from a water perspective, but cats SHOULD be fed exclusively canned food to keep their kidneys healthy.

Why can't dry kibble be mixed into canned food for cats to provide abrasive action for their teeth?

I use a Drinkwell water fountain for our cat, and for 2 cats before him. They all like(d) it. New cat Sammy sticks his head under the fountain part and sneaks up from behind it, it's cute to see. But he drinks from it too.

We also have a large bowl DH calls the pond in his office where the dogs and cat hang out when he surfs the net, etc. The 2 dogs drink from it at the same time, stereo slurping! We also have them in the habit of drinking water after walks but before treat time. Now they head there automatically after walkies.

Meghane, I recall a hundred yrs ago when I worked at an animal hosp, we were supposed to inform owners of male cats that they had to eat canned after the male was neutered, possibly to prevent kidney stones. I guess they don't do that anymore, cause when we had Sammy neutered last yr, nobody said anything about it.