When Is It Time To "upgrade" Cat Food?

[permanentruby]

I feed my cat a mix of wet and dry food. She gets wet food 2x a day, and eats about 1.5 oz at each feeding. Then, she grazes on her dry food throughout the day.

I rotate her wet foods to give her variety (her favorite is probably Nutro Max). However, I've had her on the same dry food for over a year now - Simply Nourish Grain-Free. I transitioned her to that from the Purina the rescue group was giving her, and her skin/coat seemed to get better with the transition. But now I'm wondering if I should start feeding her an even higher quality food. Or, is it simply not worth transitioning her from something she's doing well on?

FWIW, my vet also recommends that when she turns 7 (in two years or so), he wants her on a wet-food only diet, so I guess at that point she won't get any dry food at all.

 

[abyeb]

I think that if she likes the Simply Nourish and does well on it, then you don’t necessarily need to change, unless your vet sees a reason to. You also don’t need to stick to just one kind of dry food, some cat owners mix different brands together, as suggested in tip number 1 here: 18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

 

[Furballsmom]

Eh, not to argue with your vet but in my opinion if your cat is happy, healthy and most importantly, liking what she's eating, why attempt to "fix what ain't broke" ?

Did your vet give you any specifics as to why at age 7 he wants this change? Does he consider a 7 yo cat old (--so not)? Possible allergies? Is he concerned about her kidneys? Are her blood tests coming back with any thing that's got him thinking this way?

If there's nothing like that according to him, you certainly could, if you wanted to out of curiosity, try a new dry food as an addition just in case the Simply Nourish formula gets changed by the manufacturer and she doesn't like it any longer. I've been looking at Tender and True but there are some other dry foods that are tempting...

 

[duckpond]

She is a pretty pretty girl, i'm guessing she is your avatar? I feed my guys Dr. elsey's dry, chicken. I thought about trying the young again dry, as it is the only other one i find with really low carbs. But then i thought... you know they all like Dr. elseys, they are all doing good on it, why change and possibly mess things up. so i didnt sometimes if it is just right, dont mess with it. Now if you want to try a different one, or see if she will do better i dont see a problem with that. Im always feeding or trying to find new wet foods

 

[sweetblackpaws]

It sounds like she is doing very well, personally, I would not change anything.

 

[lalagimp]

Last year I upgraded the ladies from Nature's Variety Instinct dry to Dr Elsey's cleanprotein dry AND started adding wet food. They are about 9 and 12 years old. Right now we have wet foods of Nature's Variety Instinct, American Journey, Meow Mix simple servings with shreds in gravy, and we have a demo package of Stella and Chewy Duck Duck Goose to try the girls on.

 

[sunflower7]

I think that if she likes the Simply Nourish and does well on it, then you don’t necessarily need to change, unless your vet sees a reason to. You also don’t need to stick to just one kind of dry food, some cat owners mix different brands together, as suggested in tip number 1 here: 18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

Interesting tips. I've been thinking of getting saucers instead of my little feeding bowls ( though they aren;t deep) but my water has ALWAYS been right next to my food and they are seemingly ok with it. not moving it now... :-)

 

[1 bruce 1]

If you're happy and she's happy, I wouldn't stress over it.
If you're unsure, you could maybe rotate foods (2-3 different brands/varieties, switching after each bag) and keep Nourish in your line up? It doesn't sound totally necessary but it doesn't sound unnecessary either, and if you're looking potential long term problems (health, food recalls, etc.) it's always nice to have a cat that's happy to switch foods rather than make a huge fuss!

 

[permanentruby]

Did your vet give you any specifics as to why at age 7 he wants this change? Does he consider a 7 yo cat old (--so not)? Possible allergies? Is he concerned about her kidneys? Are her blood tests coming back with any thing that's got him thinking this way?

He said because it's the age they become "geriatric" - which seems insane to me! I was a little hesitant about the advice, especially because she is a grazer and I don't want to be leaving wet food out all day....she likes to nibble on her kibble!
She's never had any blood work done, so no specific health problems, nor allergies that we're aware of.

She is a pretty pretty girl, i'm guessing she is your avatar?

Yep - that's her! Thank you, she's really such a doll.

 

[Furballsmom]

my water has ALWAYS been right next to my food and they are seemingly ok with it. not moving it now

You could always add another bowl elsewhere - I think a person can never have too much water available .
Hmmm, well, like I say I'm with you and just not sure about that "geriatric" label - I thought maybe that was what he was thinking.
So, she is YOUR cat, as has been mentioned, --stick with what works

 

[lisahe]

I can envision several reasons the vet would recommend switching permanentruby 's cat over to wet food at a more, hmm, adult age. (I do wonder what the dividing lines are for adult, senior, geriatric, and so on, it's a bit mysterious! Seven doesn't sound so geriatric to me but...)

One reason would be concern about kidney disease; recommendations there are to stick with only wet food to keep the cat getting plenty of fluids. The other reason would be that senior cats need to eat lots of protein to retain their muscle mass and body weight. Here's an article about senior cats' protein needs. Though the article's from a raw food site, don't worry about that, the principle behind what Dr. Peterson says is for all older cats: the main thing is to feed lots and lots of meat protein!

All that set aside, if your cat is already eating some wet food and you want to keep feeding some grazing dry food, maybe lalagimp and duckpond are onto a good compromise solution with the Dr. Elsey's food, which is high-protein?

 

[1 bruce 1]

He said because it's the age they become "geriatric" - which seems insane to me! I was a little hesitant about the advice, especially because she is a grazer and I don't want to be leaving wet food out all day....she likes to nibble on her kibble!
She's never had any blood work done, so no specific health problems, nor allergies that we're aware of.



Yep - that's her! Thank you, she's really such a doll.

7 is the age a cat becomes "geriatric?" What the hell.
At 7, most cats are still in their prime. My 10 year olds are still in their prime.
An Irish Wolfhound, Great Dane, or English Mastiff might be pushing geriatric at 7 but an otherwise healthy cat is not.

With all due respect to the veterinarian, a 7 year old cat, regardless of health, being considered "geriatric" (not even senior!) is insane.
Ask the vet if he/she was/will be happy with being labeled "geriatric" at 50-60 years old...Geez louise.

 

[Neo_23]

I don’t know about a 7 year old being geriatric but I do agree with the vet that wet food is healthier in general. Maybe he is thinking that a lot of cats develop things like kidney disease as they age and a wet food diet would be a better preventative because it is high in moisture and low in carbs.

It’s fine to leave wet food out. A lot of people also have tricks for leaving it out like freezing it, using ice packs, or timed feeders.

 

[kashmir64]

My last cat lived to 20 yo. 7 is not geriatric.

 

[zunarj5]

Actually, 7 or 8 is considered about the beginning of feline old age. Cats don't age the same way humans do. In case you haven't noticed, cats become sexually mature before they even reach one year of age. Do you think you can project the same way that 7x the onset of adolescence at roughly 13 years would be the reasonable beginning of "old age" in humans? That would be saying we're not old until we hit 91. It's generally believed that cats mature quickly because they need to as predators, then their aging slows in later years, so they spend most of their lives in what is technically old age. Just because you don't see any outward signs doesn't mean their bodies aren't aging inside. If you think you know more than vets, then why bother going to them at all?

 

[Neo_23]

Actually, 7 or 8 is considered about the beginning of feline old age. Cats don't age the same way humans do. In case you haven't noticed, cats become sexually mature before they even reach one year of age. Do you think you can project the same way that 7x the onset of adolescence at roughly 13 years would be the reasonable beginning of "old age" in humans? That would be saying we're not old until we hit 91. It's generally believed that cats mature quickly because they need to as predators, then their aging slows in later years, so they spend most of their lives in what is technically old age. Just because you don't see any outward signs doesn't mean their bodies aren't aging inside. If you think you know more than vets, then why bother going to them at all?

I had heard that cats as young as 7 years are sometimes considered seniors too from other people/vets. I believe the actual "cut off" for senior isn't well defined and there is a bit of disagreement in the vet field about when seniority starts. It probably also depends on the individual cat. I don't think "senior" means the same thing for cats as it does for humans though. When people hear the word "senior" they picture someone in a rocker living in a senior's home. But many "senior" cats can still jump, run, play, and are quite active. It's a completely different species so they are also going to age much differently.

This being said, I also don't take everything a vet says at face value. Veterinarians, like any other professional practitioners, are still humans and the field of medicine and science isn't black and white. There's nothing wrong with asking questions, doing further research, and sometimes asking for 2nd or 3rd opinions.