Senior cat food... is it important or does it depend on the brand?

[woodsygirl]

Hello everyone, I'm new and have just recently learned the value of pet food ingredients. I've found a brand that my cats will eat, California Natural, however my cats are 7 years old and they just have "Adult" formula food. Maybe I've been brainwashed by the cheaper cat food companies... but should I get senior food, or is what I'm using okay? If it had low grade ingredients would that be what would make the difference? The first five ingredients are: chicken, chicken meal, ground brown rice, chicken fat and sunflower oil.

Also, my one cat is overweight and has sensitive stomach problems (of course my other cat has an iron stomach and is nice and trim..). I had origionally intended to just use dry food all the time now, but after doing some research, I'm wondering if I should feed 1/2 dry and 1/2 wet? What do you think?

 

[russian blue]

First, let me welcome you to The Cat Site!

Isn't a senior food just less in calories, because the cat is less active?

I'm no expert, but I assume that is the case and if your cat is having weight problems it would be best to put them on a lite diet (once a vet diagnosis your cat to be overweight first). I think the only concern is maintaining a cat's weight in their senior years. The ingredients you mentioned are not of a lower quality cat food and are similar to many premium brands.

Maybe someone else here at the site can share some more info on senior cat foods.

I have also seen that many people have success in their cat's weight loss when they have transferred to a wet only or partial wet food diet. Many cats enjoy the variety.


You mentioned California Natural, but Innova (from the same company) makes a light formula. Here's the website:

Naturapet

I think if your cat's are of an ideal weight,I would check with your vet for his/her opinion on your senior pet's health and diet choices.

(As a side note: I went to IrritatedVowel and loved the site!)

 

[hissy]

Unless your cat has been diagnosed with a specific illness or problem, you can help out your senior cats by just adding extra fiber to their regular food. You can add canned pumpkin, or cooked and mashed green beans, or even a teaspoon of metamucil to help them along, this will help your overweight cat as well, to push the food through the system quicker. But if there is an underlying health issue, you want to follow your vet's advice and guidelines.

 

[glentheman20]

Not too much to add here, everybody gave some good advice. Dry food is very calorically dense, so canned food 1/2 the time is a good way to control weight (canned food is mostly water).

 

[woodsygirl]

Well! Just when I thought I had some idea I find out I had no idea

What you are saying about the wet food makes sense, and it not what I was previously led to believe.

See, this is the situation. My cat was really not that hefty all the time. I had the cats eating 1 can split between them and then dry food out all day. The dry food was a senior variety, as I found that she didn't get sick on it as much as adult foods (looking back now I think she was just sensitive to the colorings and stuff in the adult varieties that the senior formula didn't have..). The dry stuff that Mabel (the overweight one..) was on was discontinued. I *thought* I was doing a good thing, and started feeding Science Diet senior. Well, I guess she liked the dry food a little too much and started eating it all the time. She gained 4 pds (she weighs 14 pds now, but she's a small cat). Her stomach started bothering her and she went to the vets. The vet gave her a pepcid shot and said it was gas after ex-rays and blood tests. Her blood tests came back fine with the exception of high triglycerides. The vet tech told me that the wet food was bad for them (I was feeding friskies senior at the time) and would rot their teeth and make them fat. So, for the past two weeks I've just been giving them dry food. Mabel hasn't lost any weight. It never occurred to me that the *dry* food was the culprit of her weight gain because of the colorie density. I asked about wet food today at this "natural" pet food store and they told me that many store brand cat foods contain sugar which can make the pet fat, but good premium wet foods are not fattening.

I just changed to the California Natural because after reading posts on here and other websites, I wanted to buy a food that had meat from something other than by-products

Maybe I need to reduce the dry food....

 

[woodsygirl]

Oh, thanks for the welcome Russian Blue. Your cat is gorgeous! Thanks for visiting my website and the compliment

 

[lorie d.]

I just want to mention that senior cats can start to lose their sense of smell which would make them less likely to want to eat. I think all the senior cat foods have a stronger smell to make them more appealing to older cats.

 

[nern]

Originally posted by woodsygirl
I just changed to the California Natural because after reading posts on here and other websites, I wanted to buy a food that had meat from something other than by-products

Maybe I need to reduce the dry food....

Im pretty sure their is a recommended amount on the back of the bag of California Natural for weight loss. I have used it in the past and Bean lost 1 pound (over about 2 months) eating 1/2 cup daily.

California Natural also has an nice canned version that is much lower in calories than many other brands of canned I've looked at....there are 3 varieties with calories of 140, 142 & 150 kcal per 5.5 oz. can.