I'm having a hard time convincing my boyfriend (3 cats) and especially his sister, who works at an animal hospital, how much better wet food is than dry. I keep printing out articles and trying to restate what I hear, but they are convinced that wet food = fat cats, and dry food is formulated low fat. I'm trying to push the high carb thing, and how it's devoid of nutrients, but they aren't buying it. How do you sum it up in one statement that would hit home and make sense to those people? Also, out of his three cats, my boyfriend has two that are overweight, and one will literally eat the whole can of wet food he divides up by three -- he will then have to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't eat everyone else's meal. How can this binge eating be resolved? There is also his argument of cost, and feeding so many cans of the good quality, high-cost wet food a month would be way more than the money he spends on the big bag of dry food (they are on Low Residue, because that's the only thing one of his cats will not throw up). They also hear the cats actually chewing on the dry food, therefore saying it's good for their teeth. Please help me convince them to save their cats' lives!

—Alyssa

Dear Alyssa,

You are such a brave soul to be banging your head against the wall for those deserving kitties, when people are so resistant to hearing you. I know it can really cause friction in a relationship, so please, make me the heavy. Don't you be a nag, because a good boyfriend is a hard thing to find! Having said that, he's being quite a hard head! If you can get him to visit www.CatChatRadio.com, I have tons of Q & A's posted about food, and all the information right there. As far as cost, sure, canned costs more. But:

1. Dry food will eventually kill cats. Many will get diabetes, others suffer kidney failure, and still others urinary disasters and intestinal blockages. The cost of treating those ailments -- leaving aside the extreme pain they cause the cats -- is much higher.

2. I have lists on the website of many supermarket brands of cat food in cans which are just as good as the pricier ones. Buy large cans to be more cost effective, give each cat half a large can twice a day, and no other food at all.

2. Raw is awesome -- no doubt about it for cats -- but more trouble and money, so don't even go there with him.

The vet staff at his sister's animal hospital can listen to CAT CHAT and hear it for themselves. I'll be happy to explain.

The whole dry food/dental health issue is also covered by some of the Q & A's on CatChatRadio.com.

Thanks for trying so hard, Alyssa. I'm behind you all the way. Again, make me the bad guy. You just keep care of your own kitty, and we'll rescue the other kibble addicts as best we can.

Tracie Hotchner