Senior cat food

[Mistleto's-mum]

Is it really worth it or a waste of money?

[Elaine]

The idea behind senior cat foods is that as cat get older and less active, they need less protein. Nutritionists and vets make the connection that a high protein diet and illnesses like CRF are linked, there may be some truth in that but from what I have read, it's the high phospherous content that does more damage to the kidneys rather than the protein. Many senior foods have lower phos and protein. For me personally, as cats have a completely different metabolism from dogs, they need a high protein diet whatever their age and many of the tests done by nutritionists etc were on dogs and rats.
I'd personally feed a good quality food with the least phos content and if possible have them blood tested, perhaps on a yearly basis, to check kidney function.
I can give you links on how to calculate phos content etc if you would like.

[Mags]

Cassie has been on Whiskas Senior cat food for a couple of years now on the advice of the vet .....it took her a while to get used to it but she eats it ok with it now.......

[dandysmom]

Possibly I am a bad mom, as I've never changed to senior food. My cats have always been determined what they would or wouldn't eat, so they have continued on their regular adult food.

[Moli]

I never change foods either, mine all eat just the adult one...

[Mags]

Possibly I am a bad mom, as I've never changed to senior food. My cats have always been determined what they would or wouldn't eat, so they have continued on their regular adult food.
Cassie was changed to Senior as she was getting overweight, also she isn't a very active cat ......

[Mistleto's-mum]

The idea behind senior cat foods is that as cat get older and less active, they need less protein. Nutritionists and vets make the connection that a high protein diet and illnesses like CRF are linked, there may be some truth in that but from what I have read, it's the high phospherous content that does more damage to the kidneys rather than the protein. Many senior foods have lower phos and protein. For me personally, as cats have a completely different metabolism from dogs, they need a high protein diet whatever their age and many of the tests done by nutritionists etc were on dogs and rats.
I'd personally feed a good quality food with the least phos content and if possible have them blood tested, perhaps on a yearly basis, to check kidney function.
I can give you links on how to calculate phos content etc if you would like.


Yes please Elaine xx

[Mistleto's-mum]

Possibly I am a bad mom, as I've never changed to senior food. My cats have always been determined what they would or wouldn't eat, so they have continued on their regular adult food.

Your not a bad mum because you've never changed them over to senior food, our oldies are all very active and love the senior food but i just wondered if it would help them at all or if it was pointless xxxx

[Elaine]

http://www.felinecrf.org/nutritional_requirements.htm#calorie_needs

http://www.felinecrf.org/tinned_food.htm

These links are from the feline CRF site but I think that as many cats get older, more and more are losing kidney function not just because of diet but because of the aging process itself. I have other links and info and will look them out for you later.

[Elaine]

Whether you feed senior or not doesnt make you a bad mum to your cat. We all do what we feel is right whether under the guidance of a good vet or not. If you think it works for your cat then go for it. We can only ever do our best by them.;)

[farthing]

I've never fed senior diet, mine are now on Hi-life, which I guess is quite high in protein because it is 60% meat. I wonder if the source of protein makes a difference at all.

I wonder if you are worried about the phosphates in you older cat if you could add ipakitine power to the food, because it reduces phosphate uptake- might be worth asking the vet.

[RFM]

We recently switched to a senior formula as a number of our olds were putting on weight. It has helped slow the weight gain, I think mainly because they aren't eating as much of it...which isn't a bad thing, trust me!

[Kim]

I think senior food is a good idea, although I don't always feed it to mine. However, years ago there was so such thing and our cats lived to ripe old ages!