Senior Cat Food

[JIMMYL]

I am having problems with my 12yr old called Millie. I have already been to the vets and we have just bought a litter tray so we can keep her in the kitchen tonight so we can have a stool sample because she has had diarrhoea a few times in the last couple of months. I think they will say the food we give her is to rich because we have not changed her onto a senior food( I hope this is what they are going to say)
What i want t ask is, in your opinions what is the best senior food for my cat. We feed her Nature:Menu wet food and Burns dry, its the wet food we want to change. Thanks

[angieh]

I can only say that my old love Merlin who was finally pts in March this year aged 23.5 years did very well on Felix senior food. I found that what I (or my vet!) considered "good" cat food, was not necessarily the one that Merlin would eat or that didn't cause him any digestive problems. Good luck with Millie.

[dandysmom]

I can't be helpful here, as I never changed my cats to senior food as they aged. My girls couldn't match Merlin's age, but died at 19 1/2 and 20 respectively. They were on Fancy Feast wet with occasional dry. Hopefully some of the members with more experience with this will be along soon with advice.

[calismum]

Have to say I had the same probs as angieh. My elderly cats decided what they would and would not eat.

I have used whiskas, felix, and hills with three different cats. I think once they get to an age it is good to ensure they eat regular meals, little and often. So, not so much what you think they should eat but what they will eat.

Let us know how you get on.

[Elaine]

Hiya, the reason people say cats should go onto senior foods at the ages of between 8 and 10 is because the research says they need less protein and phosphorus in their diet, that said all the research tests were done on dogs and rats who have a completely different of processing proteins. Less phospherous in her diet may be beneficial to her aging kidneys but cats do need a good quality of protein in their diets.
All that said, my old fella, Winston, was fed on adult cat foods until he was 18 and a half years old, this is when he was diagnosed with CRF. It's debateable as to whether the adult cat foods contributed to his condition or if it was merely old age that brought the condition about. By the age of between 12 and 15 around 33% of cats have CRF.
Now I'll get off my soap box
Zooplus does quite a good range of wet cat foods you may want to have a look at.
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/c...t_food_pouches

[JIMMYL]

Thanks for the advice, is there any cat food you would strongly advise to stay clear of. I know its a mine field when it comes to pet foods.

[Elaine]

Originally Posted by JIMMYL

Thanks for the advice, is there any cat food you would strongly advise to stay clear of. I know its a mine field when it comes to pet foods.

I think thats really personal prefference. There are many arguements about felix and whiskas etc being bad foods and whilst they are maybe not great and have poor ingredients, many cats will eat nothing else and many cats do well on them and live to a ripe old age.
It's not for me to tell people what they should and should not feed their pets.
I have tried the Yarrah cat foods and mine seemed to like it, they didnt like the portia 21 but they do love the applaws, I only give that on occassion though.
Royal canine have recently brought out a variety of wet foods, I have only tried the light and the cats liked that too, for a while....
I beleive, in my own experience, that I have made my cats fussy eaters by trying many different varieties in the name of trying to find them what i considered a good diet. The result being that currently all they will eat is felix

[yola]

My old(?) persian who's just over 12 years old is losing weight and I have moved him from dry Royal Canin which he's eaten pretty well all his life onto a mix of RC oral wet and Whiskas senior. 9 times out of 10 the RC is left and the Whiskas is polished off.

I'm not purist about feeding the cats - if they enjoy it and seem to thrive on it then I go with it.

[dandysmom]

Originally Posted by yola

My old(?) persian who's just over 12 years old is losing weight and I have moved him from dry Royal Canin which he's eaten pretty well all his life onto a mix of RC oral wet and Whiskas senior. 9 times out of 10 the RC is left and the Whiskas is polished off.

I'm not purist about feeding the cats - if they enjoy it and seem to thrive on it then I go with it.

I do the same, Yola; they may not know what's good for them, but they certainly know what they don't like!

[angieh]

I've found that's true too. The most important thing after all is that they eat regularly, especially as they get older.