Just how important is senior cat food?

white cat lover

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I'm curious of other's thoughts/opinions on this. As my population ages, more & more are hitting the senior years every year that goes by.

Indoors I have "the babies" Gumby (not quite 1 y/o) & Lola (1 year 4 months old). Then I have the "middle aged" Dory, Eden, Lily, Margo, & Molly who are around 4 - 6 years old. Then I have the "seniors" Twitch, Tabitha, & Ophelia Rose (about 8 - 11 years old).

Outdoors I have "the babies" Billy Bob & Tony Bob who are 4ish years. Nemo's a young-in, probably under 3 years old? Then they're all old, over 6 years of age - Goat-Head, Cow, Slinky. Then there's the two that are "older than dirt" - Fafeena & Squishy are 16 - 18 years old. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have them, as age is definitely showing hard on both of them.

Now - I don't feed any senior dry food, and occasionally give senior canned to the indoor kitties. I have them split as far as who gets what dry. Lola eats anything. Eden has food intolerances so gets a Natural Balance allergy diet mixed with Purina ONE hairball (works for her - no more barfing). That's what half the cats eat along with her (Tabitha, Gumby, Lola, Dory, & Ophelia). The other half eat Taste of the Wild mixed with Felidae & Purina ONE hairball (Twitch, Lily, Molly, Margo & Lola eats their food too). At least some of them get Taste, which is an all lifestages food. Some certain indoor kitties who shall remain nameless are starting to having "expanding waistlines" as they age. *cough cough* Margo & Twitch. Yet at the same time I cannot keep weight on Eden, Lola, & Molly - they snack non-stop.

Outside kitties, believe it or not are my more expensive ones. Cow had a urinary blockage & Squishy has had a history of UTIs, crystals, and peeing straight blood. So they get Science Diet C/D dry (supervised feedings so I'm not wasting it!). Everyone is free fed Purina ONE urinary dry & *knock on wood* I've had no further major UTI problems. But you'll notice there is no senior food being fed to them. They do get canned food (esp. those who've had urinary issues in the past) at least 1x/day - but it's not a senior food.

I've talked to my vet repeatedly about this - and he's on the fence. Obviously those with the urinary issues in the past need the C/D, however he thinks that senior food may prove beneficial to some. His suggestion is Science Diet.
With so many cats, there is no one food that will cater to them all, hence me mixing foods (some won't eat certain foods also). If I hadn't failed fostering Gumby & Lola, my entire population would all be seniors in 3 years!
 

catsallaround

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I keep all mine on an adult food no matter what age only exception is the one eating c/d(And whoever steals it at times
They eat MAINLY purina but good sales/coupons means Purina one and Science diet. Same goes with my kittens once they go into the main living area when fixed-no sense introing 2 times imo (usually fixed 3/4 months but I am getting these current ones done sooner) They eat whats there. So far no real issues the older cats who went were more related to arthritis. one in addition had organ failure but arthritis was the main reason to euth...and before that another had organ failure but he was on a senior diet the entire time we had him(est 8 yo when he found us)
 

sharky

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* jumps on fence with Vet* ...


Dry food IMHO senior is important due to the hardness of protein diegestion and dry food... also good for those kittys that do not do well with higher fat and protein... Jt care in the senior also a plus

Wet food awesome gimic for the most part as it usually is the same as the adult
 

laureen227

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personally, i think if the cat is doing well on whatever food you're using, you don't fix what ain't broken. Pixel & Cable are eating RC Special 33 - says adults 1-10 years, & Pixel's nearly 13. but her herpes flare-ups are fewer than ever since i've been feeding this, so i'm not changing [she's just getting over one, but then, we moved 2 weeks ago, plus i was cleaning an empty house they stayed in for about a week before that - she was due a flare-up]. she's not too heavy [biggest problem, i think, with seniors] according to the vet, so why change?
 

momofmany

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All of my cats are at least 7 years old now, which would qualify them for the 7+ years food. But honestly, in order for me to find foods that are accepted by all of them, I avoid the senior foods and give them what they like to eat. Every time I've tried one of those flavors, at least half of them won't eat it. I'll always side with getting them to eat over giving them something that's good for them that they won't eat.
 
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