Feeding A Senior Kitty

[stephanietx]

My Hannah is now 13 years old. Over the past year, she has lost a lot of her fat pack, but not weight. She is starting to look like an old kitty. Her appetite is still very good, but I am wondering if there is anything different I should be doing with her feeding routine.

Currently, she is fed wet food 2x day, grain-free Canidae, Taste of the Wild, & Nature's Variety Instinct mixed together. She gets dry food "snacks" 3x a day, grain-free Taste of the Wild kibble. Due to her having herpes, she cannot be on anything with grains.

Supplements: Probiotic daily, Missing Link 2x daily, daily antihistamine, fish oil daily, Cosequin daily, and evening primrose oil daily.

Should I up her wet food feeding to 3x a day? Do something different? I just want her to be as healthy as possible as she ages.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, Texas!

Should I up her wet food feeding to 3x a day?

Can you try this and see if it helps?

Can you add some unflavored gelatin, it's protein but I'm not sure if it will clash with the herpes in some way? What about raw egg yolk a couple times a week? (Egg white must be cooked)

Can you try adding some kitten food of the brands you're feeding?

What about freeze dried minnows and other freeze dried treats?

 

[abyeb]

You can ask your vet about this too, but something to try is giving her kitten food. We were discussing this in this thread: Kitten Food For Adult Cat?

Since kitten food is higher protein, it could help her maintain muscle mass.

 

[stephanietx]

You can ask your vet about this too, but something to try is giving her kitten food. We were discussing this in this thread: Kitten Food For Adult Cat?

Since kitten food is higher protein, it could help her maintain muscle mass.

Several months ago when I spoke to the vet, she told me that we should cut her protein intake. SMH! I know that kitten food is higher in fat and calories and I don't want to run the risk of her gaining too much weight as she's not a big kitty to begin with. Her avg weight is about 8.5-9 pounds.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hmmm,did you ask the vet why? I would be really curious about that and whether she can provide you with a way to avoid loss of muscle mass.
I personally think you need to discuss this and have more questions for your vet, is there something going on that you need to know about, and what to do to make up for protein. Disagree with your vet if necessary, this is your cat and you know your cat really well.

 

[duckpond]

I think high protein is very helpful for older cats. a variety of high protein wet and dry foods are good for them, well all cats, but they are important to keep muscle on our older ones.

I like Tiki cat for high protein wet food, and Dr. Elseys for high protein dry food.

I am not one to go against a vets advice, but i would definitely talk seriously to him about that. Why does he want to lower her protein amounts?

I like to look up foods at two different places. The first one shows Tiki wet, and the Puka Puka luau, and koolina luau, both chicken are quite low in phosphorous, if that is what is worrying him? Some of their fish flavors are too actually.

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

 

[stephanietx]

Thank you all and sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I've had a long work week.

The only health concerns with my girl is feline herpes which manifests itself in upper respiratory issues, mainly sneezing. We have been able to control that with a high quality diet and supplements. She was diagnosed 11 years ago.

All of her lab values are excellent. No urinary problems, no signs of kidney disease, no thyroid problems, no arthritis, and no signs of diabetes. Despite her difficult start in life and all she's had to overcome with herpes, pseudomonas infections, and upper respiratory infections, she is extremely healthy. My goal is to keep her as healthy as possible going into her more senior years.

 

[laura mae]

Since her kidney values are good, I would consider asking the vet why reducing protein intake would be advised. Senior cats tend to lose muscle mass and the only thing that will increase it is more protein. My senior boy Scoo is treated for hyperthyroid and he's very old (18) and so he has the boney back thing and virtually no fat on his back hips any longer. With him, there's only so much food he will consume and so the best I seem to be able to do is preventing him from getting skinnier. He used to be such a chow hound too.

I supplement his canned food with cooked meat (chicken, beef, chicken liver (limited).

 

[catminionjess]

I've been given similar advice from my vet on lower protein in senior cats. I had a former stray for a few years that developed kidney disease. The vet really pushed for me to feed him the Rx food because it has lower protein, lower phosphorous. He hated all of them so I just fed him whatever he would eat and not throw up. For my original 2 cats, every time I take either of them in, the vet says they should be on senior diet to manage weight and protein to help prevent kidney disease. They've been telling me that since each was about 8 years old.

 

[stephanietx]

From what I remember, she told me that too much protein in the diet could lead to kidney problems. She has made it to 13 with only a few issues. If she develops kidney problems, we'll deal with it. My RB kitty had kidney problems, so it's not uncharted territory for me. I'm just happy she has a healthy appetite and is bright eyed, lovey, and social with the family.