Wellness Food for Seniors Need some advice

Friday has lost some weight in the past six months. He's still a healthy weight it was just a noticeable change so I had his blood work done this week just to make sure he's healthy. His vet called and said everything looked good but the levels for his kidneys were up slightly from six months ago. He's still at a very healthy rage so there's no real panic but he's 11 this summer and she suggested putting him on a good senior diet just to maintain his kidneys a bit better.

I feed him a mix of Wellness indoor and Wellness core. Both are dry foods and he gets 1/2 cup of food a day total. I'm lucky to get him to eat all of it. Wellness doesn't make a senior food. What are your thoughts on this? Should I switch him to a different food? He's a fickle eater so I'm a bit reluctant to change things around too much since we've finally found a system that works for him. I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have to offer.

If your interested I have had a lot of friends use the Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Senior. They have had good results. I use the Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Weight Management for my 11 year old Chester Cheetah because he is a lazy boy. Otherwise he would be on the Senior formula.

In my experience, as long as you mix the change in diet with any food he should be ok. Of course there are always exceptions to that. The typical mixing ratio is below in case you need it.

Days 1-2 - 25% New Food, 75% Old Food
Days 2-4 - 50% New Food, 50% Old Food
Days 4-6 - 75% New Food, 25% Old Food
Day 7 - 100% New Food

Good luck to you and your guy Friday.

Originally Posted by howtoholdacat

Friday has lost some weight in the past six months. He's still a healthy weight it was just a noticeable change so I had his blood work done this week just to make sure he's healthy. His vet called and said everything looked good but the levels for his kidneys were up slightly from six months ago. He's still at a very healthy rage so there's no real panic but he's 11 this summer and she suggested putting him on a good senior diet just to maintain his kidneys a bit better.

I feed him a mix of Wellness indoor and Wellness core. Both are dry foods and he gets 1/2 cup of food a day total. I'm lucky to get him to eat all of it. Wellness doesn't make a senior food. What are your thoughts on this? Should I switch him to a different food? He's a fickle eater so I'm a bit reluctant to change things around too much since we've finally found a system that works for him. I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice you might have to offer.

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Wellness Core is not one IMHO for a senior( wet yes dry no) due to high levels of mineral s and the dry matter protein

How large is your cat ?

IMHO wet food is the best choice for a senior ... though many indoor drys are similar to a senior in fat and protein they are not adjusted in the mineral area ...

What other options do you have?

Thanks for the tips guys. Sharky I was afraid that the Core might be a contributing factor. He was not eating it 6 months ago when he was tested and he is now. It occurred to me that it might be the reason for the change in his numbers but I'm not well educated enough in this area to even know what questions to ask.

He is 9 pounds now and has a medium sized frame. He's at a good weight for his size but in the past he tended to be heavier. Not overweight at all. He just carried it differently.

I'd prefer not to go to a canned food for various reasons the main one being that if he gets canned that's all he'll eat and with 4 we're at all our budget can handle cat food wise. I'm afraid that canned only will cost too much. I think I mentioned he's a fickle eater and will walk away from his food so it's important to me that he eats all of his portions and not the canned part only. I'd like to stick with dry for as long as I can. If I can't make that work I'll switch over but in the meantime I'm going to see if I can get him to eat a dry senior diet that he's happy with the taste of.

P.S. Friday will be 11 this summer. That just seems too young to call a senior! (He asked me to add that.)

lol.. He is ... but a 7 year old cat is roughly 45-50 human years ... 11 is roughly 70 years

What do you NOT want in a dry food?