What Is The Best Canned Foods For A Senior Cat ( Age 11)?

[myrnafaye]

Mittens is 11 and healthy. I have been giving her a Hills chicken and rice formula but it is for younger cats. My vet said it would be better for her to be on a senior formula. I am looking for the BEST. I am not interested in feeding her raw, or dry. She has a dry food that I give her a little of and loves it. I am considering Hills ID...the only canned, non prescription canned variety that Hills offers (non prescription) is tuna and vegetables. I dont want to feed her a fish only diet.

 

[cheesycats]

Is there a particular kind she recommended and why? Most senior foods are lower cal and higher carb. I would be careful. If your cat is keeping a decent weight there probably isn’t a reason to change. Senior foods have no other differences than the cal and carb count.

 

[1 bruce 1]

The best would be whatever she eats and cleans up 100% of it (and goes looking for more) and maintains a good weight, good stool and urinary habits, nice coat, good energy and overall body condition.
Depending on your general location, you might find some stores that carry a bigger variety of higher end foods.
I wouldn't personally consider Hill's the "best" by ingredients unless it's the only food she actively prefers and really thrives on it.

 

[myrnafaye]

Alpha Cat, I asked her for recs and am waiting. But, when we went through this with my kitten a few months back (a food change) she just recommended that I go with a Hills or Royal Canin kitten food. I have just been on the RC site and they too have all kinds of additives I find unacceptable. In fact, Hills looks better as far as additives. Bruce, she eats her Hills Chicken and rice but I would not say she is crazy about it. The only food she really LOVES is the RC HP dry - but I am not about to give her only dry. A while back she had Instinct but I think the clay in it gave her hard stools. So I am back to square one.

 

[mizzely]

Best would be something high protein as they tend to start to lose muscle mass when they get older

 

[kittyluv387]

Stay away from those senior foods labels. Less nutrients which isn't good because older kitties start losing muscle mass anyways. I'd recommend something that's high in protein but lowish in phosphorus. Since she's getting older it's normal that her kidney function would decrease a little. That's where the lower phosphorus would help.

 

[myrnafaye]

Thank you all so much..but I need specific recommendations! meow.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

The Fancy Feast classic pates are decent foods. FF also came out with a "naturals" line that I have yet to try, but it's quite pricey compared to the regular FF.

Tiny Tiger and American Journey, both on Chewy(dot)com, are decent foods.

I've heard good things about Weruva, but it is very low calorie, so you would need to feed a lot of it. Also pricey.

Rawz is a good brand. Pricey.

Redbarn is good (mine used to love the lamb but are taking a hiatus...lol). Not terribly pricey, maybe just over $1 per 5.5oz can.

But remember! A cat food is only super premium if your cat will eat it!

 

[mizzely]

There are hundreds of cat foods and the best is the one your cat likes and does well on, and that has ingredients you like at a price you can afford.

The best is very subjective, to people and to cats! Are you against vitamin K? Are thickeners a concern? Any proteins you avoid?

This might be helpful for you though. It ranks foods by lowest Phosphorus to highest, and includes the protein content

Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease- Canned Food Data USA

That being said I fed Jasmine all 17 years not even realizing Phosphorus was a thing to watch lol.

Feline Naturals may be the best cat food on the market but it is $50 for 24 3oz cans. I personally cannot afford that.

Other premium brands I can think of :

ZiwiPeak
Wellness Core
Rawz
Koha
Hounds and Gatos
Caru
Weruva
TikiCat
Nature's Variety Instinct
Crave


Out of that list, my cat likes 4 LOL and then only specific flavors. I can't feed any of these exclusively for the cost. So I rotate with lower priced foods that are still good.

Fancy Feast Classic Pates
American Journey
Sheba
Tiny Tiger
Nutro
Dave's
Wellness Complete
Redbarn

Here are some best cat food lists. As you can see the lists are quite different as the authors have different criteria

Today’s best cat foods–reviews of canned and raw options

CatFoodDB's Best Wet Cat Foods

10 Best Healthy Canned, Soft, & Wet Cat Food 2019: Reviews & Ratings

 

[lisahe]

Best would be something high protein as they tend to start to lose muscle mass when they get older

Stay away from those senior foods labels. Less nutrients which isn't good because older kitties start losing muscle mass anyways. I'd recommend something that's high in protein but lowish in phosphorus. Since she's getting older it's normal that her kidney function would decrease a little. That's where the lower phosphorus would help.

mizzely and kittyluv387 beat me to it again! Muscle wasting is a huge problem for older cats; we saw that (as well as decrease in kidney function) in our previous cat. It is also exactly why the higher-in-carb senior foods that cheesycats and kittyluv387 mentioned are worth skipping!

I agree that it's difficult to know what specific foods to recommend without knowing what you and your cat prefer, myrnafaye ! I'd suggest probably suggest starting off by narrowing things down a little with the food chart on catinfo.org.
The chart is huge but you can search on it and eliminate high carbs and/or high phosphorus pretty easily.

 

[maggiedemi]

FF also came out with a "naturals" line that I have yet to try, but it's quite pricey compared to the regular FF.

My cats got a free sample of the new Fancy Feast Naturals and loved it. I'm sad to hear that the price is higher.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

My cats got a free sample of the new Fancy Feast Naturals and loved it. I'm sad to hear that the price is higher.

Chewy has a 12 pack for $10.20, or 85 cents a can.

 

[myrnafaye]

mizzely and kittyluv387 beat me to it again! Muscle wasting is a huge problem for older cats; we saw that (as well as decrease in kidney function) in our previous cat. It is also exactly why the higher-in-carb senior foods that cheesycats and kittyluv387 mentioned are worth skipping!

I agree that it's difficult to know what specific foods to recommend without knowing what you and your cat prefer, myrnafaye ! I'd suggest probably suggest starting off by narrowing things down a little with the food chart on catinfo.org.
The chart is huge but you can search on it and eliminate high carbs and/or high phosphorus pretty easily.

What level of phosphorus is appropriate for a senior cat?

 

[kittyluv387]

What level of phosphorus is appropriate for a senior cat?

I'd stay at 300mg per 100 kcal or approximately 1.6% dry matter basis. As recommended by dr. Pierson. The lower the better. All the cheap brands like fancy feast, friskies, sheba...etc will have higher levels of phosphorus.

 

[lisahe]

I'd stay at 300mg per kcal or approximately 1.6% dry matter basis. As recommended by dr. Pierson. The lower the better. All the cheap brands like fancy feast, friskies, sheba...etc will have higher levels of phosphorus.

And it's Dr. Pierson's chart I linked to -- her figures on phosphorus are given in the milligrams/100 kcal format. Some food companies (notably Weruva, which has full charts on all their foods) give the dry matter.

I tend to relate best to dry matter because that's what I used when we had a cat with mild kidney disease. I tried to keep her foods at around 1% dry matter phosphorus, which was pretty doable. I think the 1.5% range sounds good for an average for a healthy cat; I think that's about where we average out. We feed a weekly serving each of Fancy Feast classics (high in phosphorus) and Sheba pate (within the range) but the cats get some foods that are considerably lower.

Many of Weruva's foods tend to be low in phosphorus and carbs. They also tend to be low in calories but lots of cats love them and they're great for cats who tend to gain weight and/or need plenty of water.

 

[daftcat75]

Krista says Rawz Duck with Duck Liver pate is the best!

 

[kittyluv387]

And it's Dr. Pierson's chart I linked to -- her figures on phosphorus are given in the milligrams/100 kcal format. Some food companies (notably Weruva, which has full charts on all their foods) give the dry matter.

I tend to relate best to dry matter because that's what I used when we had a cat with mild kidney disease. I tried to keep her foods at around 1% dry matter phosphorus, which was pretty doable. I think the 1.5% range sounds good for an average for a healthy cat; I think that's about where we average out. We feed a weekly serving each of Fancy Feast classics (high in phosphorus) and Sheba pate (within the range) but the cats get some foods that are considerably lower.

Many of Weruva's foods tend to be low in phosphorus and carbs. They also tend to be low in calories but lots of cats love them and they're great for cats who tend to gain weight and/or need plenty of water.

Yeah good point. You can still feed some cheaper brands as long as it averages out in the end!

 

[daftcat75]

Find something she enjoys as much as Krista enjoys the Rawz Duck. I’d look for a pate over a shredded or gravy texture. You’ll get more nutrition per ounce: more protein and more calories. As cats age, their digestion slows down. If you don’t compensate by feeding them a higher protein food and more of it, they experience muscle wasting—skinny old cat syndrome. On top of that, their digestion also often gets more sensitive. I would prefer quality over price. You pay now or you pay later in vet bills. You may also need to give her an extra meal than before because it’s likely she won’t be able to eat larger portions. Her stomach doesn’t get bigger with age.

Finally, because switching foods can be tricky and stressful on a cat, especially an older one, I would experiment with what I would call the “Test Kitchen Tweener.” Pick one or two new foods a week to offer as a quarter ounce or half ounce snack between meals. You want to see if she’ll eat it first. Then if she likes it, offer it again same time the next day. Wait a full poop before increasing the amount in case it’s disastrous in transit or egress. Krista loved Tiki Cat Velvet Mousse. It didn’t love her. It came out the same as it went in. One poop cycle was enough to know we wouldn’t be keeping that one. Once you’ve found a food she likes and it transits through her well, you can slowly increase the portion size over several days until you either have a new meal or you can replace an existing meal. Then you can repeat the Test Kitchen Tweener if you want to try for another food for her rotation. If you want to shift all meals to this new food, I would transition one meal at a time. This makes it easier to back out the change if you realize the food doesn’t agree with her in larger amounts or more meals.

 

[myrnafaye]

I looked hopefully at Hounds and Gatos but the fat content is quite high. Disappointing.

mizzely and kittyluv387 beat me to it again! Muscle wasting is a huge problem for older cats; we saw that (as well as decrease in kidney function) in our previous cat. It is also exactly why the higher-in-carb senior foods that cheesycats and kittyluv387 mentioned are worth skipping!

I agree that it's difficult to know what specific foods to recommend without knowing what you and your cat prefer, myrnafaye ! I'd suggest probably suggest starting off by narrowing things down a little with the food chart on catinfo.org.
The chart is huge but you can search on it and eliminate high carbs and/or high phosphorus pretty easily.

 

[myrnafaye]

This is all very frustrating. For example on the Hills site, t heir products are clearly listed as to protein, fat, carb, etc. When I look at other charts, their comparisons are different and I dont know how to make the conversions. Right now Hills Ideal Balance is looking like the best option...partly because I cant evaluate the more commercial brands.