Senior Cat Food? First Time Switching, Advice Needed!!

ciciskybaby · Sep 23, 2018

It's finally time to switch our two elder cats to senior cat food, as I can tell they're bodies aren't digesting the food very well anymore, but it's a first time for me. Our cats have been eating Performatrin their whole lives (I know not a great food but I wasn't aware of it until recently, and decided to wait until senior age to switch). I am really considering the Performatrin Ultra Senior Grain Free Turkey Lentil Chicken And Duck formula, as its the only senior food they have and it looks pretty good. I haven't seen any reviews on it, so I am anxious for this first time switch. Cici is our oldest cat at 13 yrs and Sky is 9 yrs.
Please give me any advice you have on senior diets, thank you in advance!

First 11 ingredients: Turkey, Peas, Lentils, Turkey Meal, Potato Protein, Chickpeas, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Dried Potato, Tapioca, Chicken, Duck Meal.

Performatrin Ultra ® Grain-Free Senior Recipe Cat Food - Performatrin - Excellence in Nutrition

Furballsmom · Sep 23, 2018

Hi! I don't have specific thoughts about that food, although I'm not thrilled about the peas and lentils, but have you considered probiotics?

kittyluv387 · Sep 23, 2018

A lot of senior food isn't that great. Very low quality because they put a lot of carbs and other fillers. Seniors should be eating high quality protein. A switch to canned would be better to help with kidney function.

maggie101 · Sep 23, 2018

If you do a search on the catsite you will find threads about performatin

ciciskybaby · Sep 23, 2018

Furballsmom said:
Hi! I don't have specific thoughts about that food, although I'm not thrilled about the peas and lentils, but have you considered probiotics?

Hello! And neither am I.. especially to see the peas and lentils in the top 5 ingredients is a little concerning. And no I really didn’t even think about probiotics! I will definitely take a look into them, seeing how beneficial they are to humans they may help the cats even more.

ciciskybaby · Sep 23, 2018

kittyluv387 said:
A lot of senior food isn't that great. Very low quality because they put a lot of carbs and other fillers. Seniors should be eating high quality protein. A switch to canned would be better to help with kidney function.

A wet food is definitely going to be incorporated into daily meals, both older girls are getting wet food once and awhile, and love it. I just want to have some dry food for them aswell, and not strictly wet food as nobody is home all day to feed it to them. That’s why I’m hoping this dry food could work as a food they snack on but I’m very cautious about it

Furballsmom · Sep 23, 2018

I don't know if this would help;
CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

kittyluv387 · Sep 23, 2018

Cats have acidic digestive systems and shorter intestines. It's not harmful to leave a canned food out for them while you work. You can just throw it out when you get home. But if you really still want to leave them dry i would search for a good quality food and not something for the label of "senior." The one you linked may be grain free but it has a lot of carbs in the form of lentils and such. What you really want is something that is low in carbs. Something low in carbs will be low in grains. I suspect that since they're aging theyre just not able to handle the fillers as well. Dr. Elsey's dry foods have a good ingredient list.

kittyluv387 · Sep 23, 2018

Links:

Wellness CORE Grain-Free Original Formula Dry Cat Food

Dr. Elsey's cleanprotein Chicken Formula Grain-Free Dry Cat Food

Orijen cat and kitten

I haven't dabbled in dry for a long time so i don't know of any other good dry food.

jen · Sep 23, 2018

ciciskybaby said:
Turkey, Peas, Lentils, Turkey Meal, Potato Protein, Chickpeas, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Dried Potato, Tapioca, Chicken, Duck Meal.

Peas, lentils, potato protein, chickpeas, tapioca, dried potato = CARBS CARBS CARBS!

This is a perfect example why "grain-free" is a great marketing ploy. Grains=carbs=sugar=diabetes, kidney issues, etc.... Great they took grains out of this food. But all they did was replace them with, guess what?? MORE CARBS!

Switching them to a mostly or ideally all canned diet is the way to go. As they age it will do nothing but benefit their internal organs, hydration, urinary tracts, etc. I don't even think about senior diets, I am more concerned with a diet my cat does well on.

ciciskybaby said:
as I can tell they're bodies aren't digesting the food very well anymore

This shouldn't necessarily happen. Have they had bloodwork done recently? As seniors this is very important to get an underlying idea of how their organs are functioning and if their digestive issues aren't the beginning stages of a more severe GI issue. Remember cats will do everything possible to hide their pain and discomfort so by the time you SEE an issue going on, it is often far advanced. Not to scare you but I would have this digestive issue investigated. Maybe it just comes down to a developed sensitivity to the protein or another ingredient in the food they ate their whole lives. But it would be great to rule out anything more serious.

jen · Sep 23, 2018

P.S. Dry food is almost never low in carbs.

LTS3 · Sep 24, 2018

jen said:
P.S. Dry food is almost never low in carbs.

What about Young Again Zero dry food? It's supposedly zero carbs. There aren't any starches listed in the ingredients but it needs something to hold the ingredients together in that kibble shape :headscratch:

kittyluv387 · Sep 24, 2018

LTS3 said:
What about Young Again Zero dry food? It's supposedly zero carbs. There aren't any starches listed in the ingredients but it needs something to hold the ingredients together in that kibble shape

It must be the guar gum. You don't normally see that in dry food. I see it all the time in wet. Problem with that food is that its a pork based food. Some cats are sensitive to red meat and it wouldn't be part of their natural diets like white meat (chicken, turkey, rabbit).

maggie101 · Sep 24, 2018

The Dr Elseys canned is similar to lid. It is the only food my cat can keep down. Only online.

maggie101 · Sep 24, 2018

kittyluv387 said:
It must be the guar gum. You don't normally see that in dry food. I see it all the time in wet. Problem with that food is that its a pork based food. Some cats are sensitive to red meat and it wouldn't be part of their natural diets like white meat (chicken, turkey, rabbit).

There were rare times when she would still throw up her food but since I have decreased the amount and mixed in Weruva double dip there have been zero episodes for a whole week! Fingers crossed. It does have a lot of gum in it. Not much is mixed in her food.

Furballsmom · Sep 24, 2018

maggie101 · Sep 24, 2018

ciciskybaby said:
It's finally time to switch our two elder cats to senior cat food, as I can tell they're bodies aren't digesting the food very well anymore, but it's a first time for me. Our cats have been eating Performatrin their whole lives (I know not a great food but I wasn't aware of it until recently, and decided to wait until senior age to switch). I am really considering the Performatrin Ultra Senior Grain Free Turkey Lentil Chicken And Duck formula, as its the only senior food they have and it looks pretty good. I haven't seen any reviews on it, so I am anxious for this first time switch. Cici is our oldest cat at 13 yrs and Sky is 9 yrs.
Please give me any advice you have on senior diets, thank you in advance!

First 11 ingredients: Turkey, Peas, Lentils, Turkey Meal, Potato Protein, Chickpeas, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Dried Potato, Tapioca, Chicken, Duck Meal.

Performatrin Ultra ® Grain-Free Senior Recipe Cat Food - Performatrin - Excellence in Nutrition

Wanna add one more thing. I think part of the reason my cat has a sensitive tummy and food intolerance is that I fed her wellness Core chicken only for a few years. Now she gets a wide variety of meat and textures. Wellness core has more meat In it which she can't handle so she does not eat that anymore. Just don't want the same thing to happen to you. Hope you find something your cats like!

molly92 · Sep 24, 2018

I would pretty much never recommend a senior food. Most of them are focused on weight management, meaning they cut down on the calories by reducing the meat even more than their adult formulas and upping the carbs and fiber, which are not good or digestable. And it doesn't work anyway because the cat just ends up feeling hungrier than they would on high protein. Especially don't do senior food for elderly cats that need to gain weight! The one pro to senior foods is they often have extra joint supplements, but it's easy to just add some Cosequin and/or fish oil to their food, and you'll get it at much higher doses that way anyway.

There are a couple brands that are high quality and have given in to marketing trends and released their own senior formulas that don't cut calories unhealthily by reducing meat (Orijen comes to mind). Usually though, the best foods are for all life stages because cats thrive on the same things at any age-high animal protein, low carb and plant material. So if you want to leave out dry, go for the one with the most meat.

Still, wet food is the way to go as much as possible-fewer ingredients, more meat, and it keeps cats much more hydrated, which is so important especially as they get older and issues like kidney failure, constipation, and urinary tract problems tend to crop up.

Probiotics are also a good idea and never hurt. They can help a lot with digestion!

molly92 · Sep 24, 2018

molly92 said:
I would pretty much never recommend a senior food. Most of them are focused on weight management, meaning they cut down on the calories by reducing the meat even more than their adult formulas and upping the carbs and fiber, which are not good or digestable. And it doesn't work anyway because the cat just ends up feeling hungrier than they would on high protein. Especially don't do senior food for elderly cats that need to gain weight! The one pro to senior foods is they often have extra joint supplements, but it's easy to just add some Cosequin and/or fish oil to their food, and you'll get it at much higher doses that way anyway.

There are a couple brands that are high quality and have given in to marketing trends and released their own senior formulas that don't cut calories unhealthily by reducing meat (Orijen comes to mind). Usually though, the best foods are for all life stages because cats thrive on the same things at any age-high animal protein, low carb and plant material. So if you want to leave out dry, go for the one with the most meat.

Still, wet food is the way to go as much as possible-fewer ingredients, more meat, and it keeps cats much more hydrated, which is so important especially as they get older and issues like kidney failure, constipation, and urinary tract problems tend to crop up.

Probiotics are also a good idea and never hurt. They can help a lot with digestion!

(Correcting myself: I'm pretty sure Orijen only has a senior formula for dogs, not cats, so nevermind, just stick with all life stages foods!)

jen · Sep 24, 2018

LTS3 said:
What about Young Again Zero dry food? It's supposedly zero carbs. There aren't any starches listed in the ingredients but it needs something to hold the ingredients together in that kibble shape

Ahh I haven't heard of this one. It doesn't look bad. What is the deal with guar gum though? Seems like everyone avoids it. I am not familiar with issues it may cause?

Senior Cat Food? First Time Switching, Advice Needed!!

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