Tips to Help Aging Cat

Tobermory

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Strange question - what does the fortiflora smell like? My mom gave me her leftovers and she called it that, but it smelled so much like garlic or powdered soup mix to me that I threw it away, scared she gave me the wrong jar of powder. Now I'm wondering...
It does smell like powdered soup mix! Great description. (I had to go smell it.) I don’t smell garlic, though, and garlic is toxic to cats so if you had the least doubt, I think you were wise not to give it to your cat.
 
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zoes

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It does smell like powdered soup mix! Great description. (I had to go smell it.) I don’t smell garlic, though, and garlic is toxic to cats so if you had the least doubt, I think you were wise not to give it to your cat.
It probably was the right thing but yeah, not worth the risk! If it is, it tastes pretty good (like soup mix but less salty.) Guess I could have cooked with it!
 

daftcat75

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Strange question - what does the fortiflora smell like? My mom gave me her leftovers and she called it that, but it smelled so much like garlic or powdered soup mix to me that I threw it away, scared she gave me the wrong jar of powder. Now I'm wondering...
Smells like kibble. Krista would eat just about anything I sprinkled forti flora on. Unfortunately, it contains chicken ingredients which was an IBD no-no for her.
 

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Strange question - what does the fortiflora smell like? My mom gave me her leftovers and she called it that, but it smelled so much like garlic or powdered soup mix to me that I threw it away, scared she gave me the wrong jar of powder. Now I'm wondering...
This won't tell you about the smell, but it will tell you more about the product, along with other probiotics. While this rating calls Forti Flora as a savory flavor, it is certainly not talking about garlic - and, I don't think I saw anything specific that I would correlate with powdered soup mix, but maybe I missed it!!! The 7 Best Probiotics for Cats of 2021 (thesprucepets.com)
 

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Smells like kibble. Krista would eat just about anything I sprinkled forti flora on. Unfortunately, it contains chicken ingredients which was an IBD no-no for her.
Is there more than one Forti Flora, or am I missing the ingredient you are connecting to chicken?
Forti Flora Ingredients: Liver Flavor, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Zinc Proteinate, Taurine, Salt, Manganese Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.
 

daftcat75

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Is there more than one Forti Flora, or am I missing the ingredient you are connecting to chicken?
Forti Flora Ingredients: Liver Flavor, Brewers Dried Yeast, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Beta-Carotene, Zinc Proteinate, Taurine, Salt, Manganese Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.
Those aren't the ingredients on the label. The "animal digest" must be from chicken sources based on the head-shaking, ear-scratching behavior from Krista when I would give it to her.

feline-fortiflora-ingred-ga.png
 

daftcat75

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Interesting...
The packets that I still have (that were best by Jan 2020 🤦‍♂️ ) also list Animal digest as the first ingredient. It is this ingredient that makes Forti Flora so appealing. I looked it up once and I believe it was an enzymatic digestion of animal protein. Not digested enough because it still triggered the chicken alarms in Krista. 🤦‍♂️😿
 

FeebysOwner

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The packets that I still have (that were best by Jan 2020 🤦‍♂️ ) also list Animal digest as the first ingredient. It is this ingredient that makes Forti Flora so appealing. I looked it up once and I believe it was an enzymatic digestion of animal protein. Not digested enough because it still triggered the chicken alarms in Krista. 🤦‍♂️😿
Maybe it has been determined that 'animal digest' is not the proper way to list it and they are better qualifying it as 'liver flavor'. At any rate, something has changed... Oh well, no mind, the OP here didn't seem to appreciate the product anyway.
 

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It probably was the right thing but yeah, not worth the risk! If it is, it tastes pretty good (like soup mix but less salty.) Guess I could have cooked with it!
Hello Noni and zoes zoes ! Other posters have a lot of excellent suggestions, but I'll just throw my 2c in FYI. My family have always shared life with cats, and though I have lost cats at very young age (wet-form FIP and other reasons, but not due to diseases or sicknesses) for the most part, our cats have been long-lived. My eldest left at age 21 very suddenly, and my second-eldest at 19. Average age is 17 or 18 for us. I believe in keeping it high-quality and natural when at all possible, avoiding drugs if possible. I feed a high-quality wet cat food diet, half a 5.5 oz can per cat if they will eat it, 3x daily, plus a high quality dry food for "mature cats" and "healthy aging" free-fed (they don't overeat this at all; it's more like a snack or treat for them) and a few Feline Greenies cat treats at night, plus fresh water (tap, not fancy) in several bowls and also in a filtered cat fountain (Drinkwell basic). I don't use supplements at all. The foods I feed are Blue Buffalo, various formulas, and Soulistic, various formulas, from Petco.com and in stock at many "pet" supply stores. My cats are 16 and 13 now. They are both quite healthy and get a lot of compliments on their appearance. Baby Su, 16, is not as agile as she was, so I place a single-story cat condo close to the bed, where she loves to be; she uses this sometimes, but usually jumps from the floor onto the bed, which I don't discourage as I believe exercise is good for everyone. I do have a platform bed (IKEA Malm) which has a frame all the way around the mattress that is very easy to jump on if desired. I play with them using an interactive toy (da Bird) and give them catnip toys. I use catnip spray on their cat furniture, provide lots of different types of scratchers, horizontal and vertical, "freshened" with catnip weekly. Elvis, 13, is quite active, though he's spending a little more time relaxing than when he joined us at age 9.
So, I'd recommend high-quality foods, especially wet food, play and exercise, and keeping climbing aids close to places Noni likes to be; she may not use them now, but she may decide to later.
And yes, #1 priority is to enjoy your time together and give her lots and lots of love! :hearthrob: :catlove::hearthrob:
IMG_1992.JPG
IMG_2049.JPG

Baby Su on her bed, and Elvis in his tunnel!
 
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IndyJones

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Smells like kibble. Krista would eat just about anything I sprinkled forti flora on. Unfortunately, it contains chicken ingredients which was an IBD no-no for her.
I gave forti flora to my ancient 20 year old cat but it was the dog one, that's all my vet had at the time and I was told it's pretty much the same thing with a different coloured label. I don't know what the difference is between the two but it smelt like beef stock mix.
 

daftcat75

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I gave forti flora to my ancient 20 year old cat but it was the dog one, that's all my vet had at the time and I was told it's pretty much the same thing with a different coloured label. I don't know what the difference is between the two but it smelt like beef stock mix.
All y'all Forti Flora sniffers are probably right.😹 Neither Krista nor myself have touched the stuff since late 2019. But at the time, I was told it was made with the same stuff that makes kibble appealing: the mystery animal digest ingredient. The same ingredient that made Krista scratch her ears and head shake. 🤦‍♂️ 😿
 
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zoes

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Maybe it has been determined that 'animal digest' is not the proper way to list it and they are better qualifying it as 'liver flavor'. At any rate, something has changed... Oh well, no mind, the OP here didn't seem to appreciate the product anyway.
I liked it for myself! Though less now that I've thought about the "animal digest" part of it.

It's possible I was interpreting the savoury smell as garlic, though if you told me it was powdered garlic I would almost have believed it (except the colour wasn't right for it, and I could taste minerals or other things in it as well.) It definitely smelled edible and savoury. Looking back it probably was the forti flora, but my mother has the same urge as I to do put things in re-used glass jars without any kind of label. I remember what's in MY jars, but I don't trust anyone else's!
 

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tarasgirl06

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Some tidbits for you -
1.) "The animal digest in FortiFlora comes from hydrolyzed pork liver and poultry. In 2020 this ingredient was renamed as “liver flavor.” (Per Purina's web site)
2.) Animal digest - Wikipedia
3.) What is Animal Digest in Pet Food? Is it Good for My Pet? | Petfinder

Probably the reason FortiFlora changed the description as they have.
TYSM for this information. GOOD reason to find out what these terms actually mean before buying/giving them!!!:shocked::running:
 

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This will be my first cat to get old and essentially die of old age in my care. I don't want to sound too dire, she's not dying now, but I know we're in that phase.
I can really relate to this. My first cat Tigger, I was told by my dad (who didn't know better) that cats didn't need major health care. And now I know a lot of the signs of illness we didn't understand / ignored. But I feel like we can be forgiven since it was the 80s / 90s and we didn't have the internet to check. Tigger died at home of kidney failure. We only knew at the very end as we went to the vet. I discovered her dead body by going in to kiss her on the bed of my dad only days later and picking up her head and feeling wet and how lite her head was... she died at 10. I was devastated.

I moved to grad school and got Boo Boo. Boo was a world traveling act, I got her in Michigan and brought her home and back to DC and back home. Boo lived with me for 8 years but, was given vaccines without my permission in the side of her torso and developed a large mass which eventually became a bleeding boil. I took her to the vet but they said it was cancer and not likely to be cured. She had to sit around with a cone on her neck and she was miserable. I put her down. But I could do it because I knew it was cancer.

Then I got Buckwheat. I vowed I was going to do everything possible to keep this one healthy and the internet was around... so I used it. I stopped feeding kibble.. and went to grain free wet food. And largely Buckwheat has made it to 15 (his birthday is coming up soon. But I have never had a cat last for 15 years before. Now my kitty is looking "off". He gets very lame about 1x per week. He often looks like he is not bright eyed and bushy tailed. He still eats fine, drinks fine, uses the litter box fine. But now I don't know when enough is enough. Another massive problem is that Buckwheat has become hysterical at the vet. He now cannot be seen by the vet. The vet even suggests that he not be seen because it just isn't worth it. Buckwheat hurts himself. So I cannot really have him examined.

Covid 19 has made it even harder. Most of Bucky's life I have been at work. Even when I got him as a kitten I only had two weeks off. He got used to me being gone all day. But covid-- he had an adjustment period. But that period has ultimately been great for both of us. I think we have bonded. He loves to feel safe and guarded while he sleeps and is more receptive to my petting and kissing him. When I worked outside the home I think he saw me as a roommate who was his feeding machine. Now I think he sees me as a friend who also happens to be his feeding machine. So for me it is difficult to consider putting him down. Maybe I will feel different when I go back to work and I see him for about 4 hours a day.

I always targeted 16 as the end date.. (maybe just random) and I think I am going to try for that.. but in the last 3 months I have really wondered if I am going to make it there.
 

tarasgirl06

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I can really relate to this. My first cat Tigger, I was told by my dad (who didn't know better) that cats didn't need major health care. And now I know a lot of the signs of illness we didn't understand / ignored. But I feel like we can be forgiven since it was the 80s / 90s and we didn't have the internet to check. Tigger died at home of kidney failure. We only knew at the very end as we went to the vet. I discovered her dead body by going in to kiss her on the bed of my dad only days later and picking up her head and feeling wet and how lite her head was... she died at 10. I was devastated.

I moved to grad school and got Boo Boo. Boo was a world traveling act, I got her in Michigan and brought her home and back to DC and back home. Boo lived with me for 8 years but, was given vaccines without my permission in the side of her torso and developed a large mass which eventually became a bleeding boil. I took her to the vet but they said it was cancer and not likely to be cured. She had to sit around with a cone on her neck and she was miserable. I put her down. But I could do it because I knew it was cancer.

Then I got Buckwheat. I vowed I was going to do everything possible to keep this one healthy and the internet was around... so I used it. I stopped feeding kibble.. and went to grain free wet food. And largely Buckwheat has made it to 15 (his birthday is coming up soon. But I have never had a cat last for 15 years before. Now my kitty is looking "off". He gets very lame about 1x per week. He often looks like he is not bright eyed and bushy tailed. He still eats fine, drinks fine, uses the litter box fine. But now I don't know when enough is enough. Another massive problem is that Buckwheat has become hysterical at the vet. He now cannot be seen by the vet. The vet even suggests that he not be seen because it just isn't worth it. Buckwheat hurts himself. So I cannot really have him examined.

Covid 19 has made it even harder. Most of Bucky's life I have been at work. Even when I got him as a kitten I only had two weeks off. He got used to me being gone all day. But covid-- he had an adjustment period. But that period has ultimately been great for both of us. I think we have bonded. He loves to feel safe and guarded while he sleeps and is more receptive to my petting and kissing him. When I worked outside the home I think he saw me as a roommate who was his feeding machine. Now I think he sees me as a friend who also happens to be his feeding machine. So for me it is difficult to consider putting him down. Maybe I will feel different when I go back to work and I see him for about 4 hours a day.

I always targeted 16 as the end date.. (maybe just random) and I think I am going to try for that.. but in the last 3 months I have really wondered if I am going to make it there.
I would strongly suggest another vet, ASAP. And 16 is not "the end date". My eldest left at 21, very suddenly, with no symptoms of anything and no decline. My next eldest left at 19, after a very good life and a very short decline. Average in my family, going back decades, is 17-18. I feed my cats high-quality wet foods (Blue Buffalo and Soulistic) and Blue Buffalo "Healthy Aging" formula (my cats are 16 and 13). They have a filtered cat water fountain and several bowls of fresh water at all times.
Please get a better vet if you are able. Feliway spray is very helpful, I've found, to spray in the carrier prior to vet visits. And there are natural calming agents for cats including "Quiet Moments" and Jackson Galaxy's herbal tinctures; Bach Flower Remedies also can help a stressed cat.
 
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