Young Again Cat Food: Good or Bad?

[botolo]

While searching for the perfect food for my cat in early CKD stage, I found this brand and specific food that seems to be quite interesting. It has one of the lowest phosphorus content on the market (low as prescription diets), and it has a good amount of protein (it seems that the old idea of keeping protein low for early stage CKD cats is not considered good anymore).

LID Zero Mature Health - Young Again Pet Food

I never heard about this brand and I wanted to see what you guys think. It also has an 8.3/10 score from allaboutcats:

Unbiased Young Again Cat Food Review In 2022 - All About Cats

 

[maggie101]

While searching for the perfect food for my cat in early CKD stage, I found this brand and specific food that seems to be quite interesting. It has one of the lowest phosphorus content on the market (low as prescription diets), and it has a good amount of protein (it seems that the old idea of keeping protein low for early stage CKD cats is not considered good anymore).

LID Zero Mature Health - Young Again Pet Food

I never heard about this brand and I wanted to see what you guys think. It also has an 8.3/10 score from allaboutcats:

Unbiased Young Again Cat Food Review In 2022 - All About Cats

I assume it's dry food because it does not have moisture. Instead weuva trulex steak frites is so far the lowest in phosphorus for commercial food

 

[botolo]

They have an interesting approach to the debate west vs. dry food.

Hydration - Young Again Pet Food

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi
I considered Young Again food for Poppycat and had just started using it before his hyper-T diagnosis.

I also considered Weruva and its other brands B.F.F. , Soulistic through Petco and also Weruva WX (doesn't need a prescription) which is extremely low in phosphorus to the point it has a disclaimer that it's not aafco compliant although every other nutrient in the WX varieties meets their requirements. The iodine content is also lower than many other brands at 0.6 mg/kg.

Additionally Evengers has a low phos variety and so does Dave's, so your options are growing .

 

[maggie101]

Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat
This will help explain ckd.

 

[jclark]

While searching for the perfect food for my cat in early CKD stage, I found this brand and specific food that seems to be quite interesting. It has one of the lowest phosphorus content on the market (low as prescription diets), and it has a good amount of protein (it seems that the old idea of keeping protein low for early stage CKD cats is not considered good anymore).

LID Zero Mature Health - Young Again Pet Food

I never heard about this brand and I wanted to see what you guys think. It also has an 8.3/10 score from allaboutcats:

Unbiased Young Again Cat Food Review In 2022 - All About Cats

I just wanted to share my experience with this food.

First and foremost the owners of Young Again need to be applauded for offering a high protein product which is essentially devoid of carbohydrates and low in phosphorus. The specifications of their mature line appears to good to be true. It's nutrient dense and cost effective due to the decreased serving size. They've also provided some compelling research on the whole "Wet with dry food" recommendation. Hint: It's predicated on cats consuming dry food which contains a substantial amount of carbs.

Okay so my cats enjoyed this food and immediately took to it. Unfortunately their stools were incredibly smelly and they were unable to control their bowels. It simply did not matter how much I fed them. I was feeding them an amount which was less than recommended and they still developed loose stools sometimes uncontrolled. The company site offers advice on free feeding vs restricted diet but neither worked for me. Once I transitioned them back to their old diet their bowls cleared up in 12 hours and would become loose again if I even added just a tablespoon/day to their old food.

I was really disappointed with this result because I'm dealing with a cat which has FULTD at the recommendation of my vet we're trying to reduce the phosphorus of my now middle-aged cats w/out going the prescription route. I don't want to feed my cats prescription food!

Personally I think the issue is the Guar Gum binder. Guar Gum can act as a laxative (CITATION) and I suspect the amount they use is too much for some cats because there are no carbs/starch to counteract the laxative effect. They just need to tweak the formula either use a different binder. If they did I would feed it to my cats rather than the opossum which arrived at my back door.

Good luck

 

[botolo]

This has been unfortunately my same experience. I agree that the owner of the company is amazing, he replied to my many emails always with a lot of interesting info.
George the Cat loved this food but one day he woke up with terrible diarrhea and vomiting for the entire day. I had to bring him to the ER.
The owner of the food suggested that he was overeating the food and suggested measured amount of food, which I did. All good for one or two weeks and then the vomiting started again, yellowish fluid.
At that point I had to go back to the prescription food.

this is just my personal experience. George the cat is stage I CKD and cats in this condition might have all different problems like acid overproduction, imbalance caused by too many protein, etc.

I don’t have the expertise to judge the food and I really wanted this to work, but unfortunately I can’t keep managing vomiting and diarrhea in a cat that already has some issues with his normal appetite.

 

[kommunity kats]

Okay so my cats enjoyed this food and immediately took to it. Unfortunately their stools were incredibly smelly and they were unable to control their bowels. It simply did not matter how much I fed them. I was feeding them an amount which was less than recommended and they still developed loose stools sometimes uncontrolled. . . .

I was really disappointed with this result because I'm dealing with a cat which has FULTD at the recommendation of my vet we're trying to reduce the phosphorus of my now middle-aged cats w/out going the prescription route. . . .

Personally I think the issue is the Guar Gum binder. Guar Gum can act as a laxative (CITATION) and I suspect the amount they use is too much for some cats because there are no carbs/starch to counteract the laxative effect. They just need to tweak the formula either use a different binder. If they did I would feed it to my cats . . .

My cats (5, from 8.6 to 9.8 lbs) also get loose + stinky BMs from eatiing Young Again cat food served straight.
Eventually I tried adding a tiny bit of Coconut Flour to each of their meals (1/32 tsp per 1/2 the daily fare).
This firmed up their BMs nicely (I'm not sure why), but they still seemed too hungry...too unsatisfied & ready to quibble.
One cat tore into a very ripe Papaya we were given, for its enzymes I presume, & they ALL demanded some!

So I recently began adding Young Again's probiotic + enzyme supplement to each meal, & immediately stopped adding Coconut Flour, with NO problems! Nice firm non-smelly stool resulted from this switch! Apparently before that, they had some UNdigested protein in their intestines (which IS reportedly very stinky) and causes irritation & resulting diarrhea.

So ... you might want to try adding Young Again's "Immune & Digestive Support Supplement" to your cat's meals
before feeding the rest of that cat-food to the Opossum! LOL

PS . . . I had also made the mistake of trusting my home scale to weigh my cats on. I eventually realised that the vet's scale said my cats are lighter than mine said . . . so, I was earlier offering them more food than I should have, which just contributed to the problem since they ate it ALL & still wanted MORE.

 

[jclark]

My cats (5, from 8.6 to 9.8 lbs) also get loose + stinky BMs from eatiing Young Again cat food served straight.
Eventually I tried adding a tiny bit of Coconut Flour to each of their meals (1/32 tsp per 1/2 the daily fare).
This firmed up their BMs nicely (I'm not sure why), but they still seemed too hungry...too unsatisfied & ready to quibble.
One cat tore into a very ripe Papaya we were given, for its enzymes I presume, & they ALL demanded some!

So I recently began adding Young Again's probiotic + enzyme supplement to each meal, & immediately stopped adding Coconut Flour, with NO problems! Nice firm non-smelly stool resulted from this switch! Apparently before that, they had some UNdigested protein in their intestines (which IS reportedly very stinky) and causes irritation & resulting diarrhea.

So ... you might want to try adding Young Again's "Immune & Digestive Support Supplement" to your cat's meals
before feeding the rest of that cat-food to the Opossum! LOL

PS . . . I had also made the mistake of trusting my home scale to weigh my cats on. I eventually realised that the vet's scale said my cats are lighter than mine said . . . so, I was earlier offering them more food than I should have, which just contributed to the problem since they ate it ALL & still wanted MORE.

Thanks. I may look into that. I was feeding them the LID which is 100 percent hydrolyzed pork. Mine are 15 and 22 lbs Main Coons and I was feeding them a level 1/3 and 1/2 cup/day respectively Their site says to add 1/4 cup extra for large breeds which I didn't do.

I tried their free feeding suggestions and it was a brutal mess. I think Main Coons are prone to overindulging.

 

[kommunity kats]

I think Main Coon Cats is what the Young Again owner had when I began buying YA Catfood and he was free-feeding them . . . but suggested having their bowls far apart in different parts of the house! I've had trouble free-feeding my (reg) cats, too, but I think they're doing somewhat better since getting help to digest their food better.

I've been feeding LID for some time because of one young cat that constantly had putrid smelling breath & bright red gingivitis. He's also a Siamese hybrid, & those are more likely to suffer with Stomatitis, which symptoms he was exibiting some of. Karen Becker DVM discovered it can be triggered by consumption of chicken protein, & LID only has chicken fat. His symptoms disappeared when I switched to that recipe. (: (I've read a comment by one owner whose cat is also triggered by chicken fat, tho, so he couldn't use it for his cat.) ):

 

[jclark]

I think Main Coon Cats is what the Young Again owner had when I began buying YA Catfood and he was free-feeding them . . . but suggested having their bowls far apart in different parts of the house! I've had trouble free-feeding my (reg) cats, too, but I think they're doing somewhat better since getting help to digest their food better.

I've been feeding LID for some time because of one young cat that constantly had putrid smelling breath & bright red gingivitis. He's also a Siamese hybrid, & those are more likely to suffer with Stomatitis, which symptoms he was exibiting some of. Karen Becker DVM discovered it can be triggered by consumption of chicken protein, & LID only has chicken fat. His symptoms disappeared when I switched to that recipe. (: (I've read a comment by one owner whose cat is also triggered by chicken fat, tho, so he couldn't use it for his cat.) ):

We're making a second go of it via free feeding w/probiotics and we literally just finished bathing one of them because he was so filthy from runny stools due to overeating. Both of them have had runny stools. Stepping in it while they're in the litter box and tracking it around the house. I've been cleaning them and their litter box area every time they use the box day or night. 1 am cleanings have been a joy!

Starting on this past Monday we tried restricted feeding and after 4 days could not get semi-normal stools. They were always hungry and I was underfeeding them by 1/4 cup* each.

*Under restricted feeding it states add 1/4 cup for large breeds over 12 lbs. My guys are 15 and 20 lbs. They were getting about 1 cup/day split.

Hopefully their bodies will adjust and they'll calm down. Today I also began feeding the Mature line away from LID. Hopefully the small amount of starch in the Mature line will firm things up.

 

[jclark]

Update:. Conversion failed. They wouldn't touch the Mature. Both cats are now on Hills CKD Stress (dry) mixed with Dave's Low Phosphorus (wet).

 

[FriendofFerals]

Young Again (Mature Zero and LID Zero Mature) have been a god-send for my dry kibble-addicted Type II diabetic/CKD stage 2 cat and my other cat with severe food allergies and asthma. I read all the literature and saw how it recommends only 1/3 cup daily to maintain weight for a 12 lb cat. There is also a recommendation on there to not give them more than 20 pieces at a time at first to see how they do with it since it is very nutrient dense and should not be fed in a big bowl like regular dry food. I use 75% Daves low phosphorous wet with 25% Weyruva low phosphorous chicken in broth and then I sprinkle the Young Again on top like croutons on a salad because neither cat will touch a bowl with only wet food in it. They are dry food addicts from their youth and it's hard to kick the craving.

That said, using that method I have had NO problems with the loose/smelly stool I keep hearing about. The CKD cat needs miralax to combat constipation, so he would have problems for sure. The other one has IBS controlled by steroids so it would affect him too, to some degree.

I'm beginning to think that Young Again is more of a nutrient-dense, digestible carb free supplement for cats who demand kibble. Fed as a topping to the low carb/phosphorous wet food, I've had no problems with it after 1 year of using on 2 cats who are incredibly sensitive to everything.