Senior Cat Arthritis Help, Please

[1 bruce 1]

HK can't use cosequin. it works well but gives him diarrhea.



nothing but fancy feast. the vet told us years ago not to switch anything since till recently he's been in good health outside of any long-running issues and has a sensitive digestive due to his IBS. and luckily fancy feast makes like a thousand flavors, so when HK goes through one of his "i'm not eating that flavor any more" things, there are many to try and replace the flavors he stops eating with.

interesting to note, they used to have a vet where we go who had three cats, all over 20, and all they ever ate was fancy feast.

Our boy is eating this too, and has done well on the classics only.
He has some problems rooted in inflammatory diseases, and though it could be age and years of fighting this that's taking over but he hasn't been at the top of his game lately. He's not wanted to eat it as vigorously. I've heard there have been problems with this brand like they've changed something If so...why they gotta do that??
He used to eat Natural Balance green pea and chicken. We're thinking of switching back and seeing how he does.
Best to HK...and to you too

 

[basschick]

Our boy is eating this too, and has done well on the classics only.
He has some problems rooted in inflammatory diseases, and though it could be age and years of fighting this that's taking over but he hasn't been at the top of his game lately. He's not wanted to eat it as vigorously. I've heard there have been problems with this brand like they've changed something If so...why they gotta do that??
He used to eat Natural Balance green pea and chicken. We're thinking of switching back and seeing how he does.
Best to HK...and to you too

i haven't heard of a change in formula, but it's possible.

my experience with HK and with a previous cat is that as cats get older, they get much pickier about flavors and textures, and what they like changes over time. for example, for most of his entire 20 years, HK wouldn't eat savory salmon feast classic. now it's the flavor he wolfs down. and he'll suddenly stop eating one of his favorites - for example, tender beef feast classic - after it had been a favorite for a year. after several months off of it, he's eating it again. and he never really liked trout feast (flaked, i think), but he wolfs it down now - sometimes. other times he'll take a lick and move on.

his flavor preferences changing has been very difficult to deal with - he's very underweight, so any time he won't eat a flavor, we have to go to the next. we spend over $350 a month on fancy feast because of this, and throw away a lot of cat food that he refuses. sometimes he'll eat one of those flavors later in the day or the next morning, sometimes he won't eat it for a week or a month or longer.

btw, my mother had issues with flavors seeming different in her 70s - maybe it was the aging process, maybe it was the medications she was on. HK is on a stack of medications, so maybe this contributes to the issue. i know some antibiotics make some foods taste different to me.

 

[1 bruce 1]

i haven't heard of a change in formula, but it's possible.

my experience with HK and with a previous cat is that as cats get older, they get much pickier about flavors and textures, and what they like changes over time. for example, for most of his entire 20 years, HK wouldn't eat savory salmon feast classic. now it's the flavor he wolfs down. and he'll suddenly stop eating one of his favorites - for example, tender beef feast classic - after it had been a favorite for a year. after several months off of it, he's eating it again. and he never really liked trout feast (flaked, i think), but he wolfs it down now - sometimes. other times he'll take a lick and move on.

his flavor preferences changing has been very difficult to deal with - he's very underweight, so any time he won't eat a flavor, we have to go to the next. we spend over $350 a month on fancy feast because of this, and throw away a lot of cat food that he refuses. sometimes he'll eat one of those flavors later in the day or the next morning, sometimes he won't eat it for a week or a month or longer.

btw, my mother had issues with flavors seeming different in her 70s - maybe it was the aging process, maybe it was the medications she was on. HK is on a stack of medications, so maybe this contributes to the issue. i know some antibiotics make some foods taste different to me.

Antibiotics make my appetite say good-bye and dive down the toilet, so that's always possible.
Does your vet have forti-flora? Most cats love this stuff and it's easy to add to any type of wet food.
If he always like things like shreds or grilled food or anything in gravy, try pate, or if he's a pate man, try the shreds maybe.
I understand all your frustrations. For the longest time, the chicken and liver was our boys favorite, now he picks around and wants turkey or beef.
Say to me 30 years ago "you'll be spending all this money and time and upset on a cat" and I would have laughed. Now.......they're good friends, so we are good friends back to them.