can old cat eat kitten food?

Yes! Older cats actually need more protein than adult cats as their systems are no longer as efficient at processing nutrients. When I get back to my home computer, I will give you a link with more info on this.

You might be concerned about the calories ???

I tried to get on the Cornell website, but it must be down for maintenance?
http://www.vet.cornell.edu

The Special Needs of the Senior Cat
www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/brochures/seniorcat.html

Since I couldn't get on, I don't know if the above article would be of any help - maybe you could try it tomorrow.

When I did a Google on "Senior Cat Food", I got a lot of results from the pet food manufacturers - but, I take their info with a grain-of-salt attitude.

I don't know, maybe I'm just silly, but I don't think 10#'s is a lot - depending on how large the cat actually is.

I have a cat that I think has some Maine Coon in him - and he weighs out at 20.6#'s - I'm not happy with that weight, but he is a large cat - the vet isn't yelling at me about getting him to lose weight yet.



Until someone else, here, says otherwise, if it were me, I'd feed him what he enjoys if it's giving him good nutrition - and watch his weight. The calories that you talked about doesn't seem a lot more than the adult cans your mentioned.

If I get a chance tomorrow, I'll look for more info to link you to.

If the cat isn't eating, just give it what it enjoys IMO, unless of course kitty is a bit pudgy to begin with. I had read a while back though that kitten food may be high in some minerals for seniors.

We havea 21 yo cat and we feed him whatever he will eat. His system is getting more and more delicate and he will get sick very easily now and when he does, he starts dropping weight rapidly so whatever we can get in him we do. I like the kitten food when he has lost weight so that we can get a few ounces back on him rather quickly. I see no problem with it as long as you are managing his diet.

It's hard for me to tell about his food and water intake - he seems about average - although - if he's finished his portion of food and still hungry, then one of his family members will be moving out of his way as he decides to eat theirs too. This is one of the reasons I am having a difficult time getting his weight down and not starve the other 3.

Well--he's already twenty years old. That's the equivalent of a human 90-year-old or thereabouts. "Slightly overweight" at that age doesn't hurt them; I'm assuming that his ten pounds are on an average frame (my cat Tiny, for example, weighs 11 pounds and is at the low end of normal because he is just such a naturally long, lean cat, while Christy, who weighs seven and a half, is smack-dab average in weight).

A senior cat like that doesn't suffer from being a little overweight; it's when they're a lot overweight that you have to worry. When a cat his age gets sick, the big problem tends to be keeping up his appetite, so a little bit of extra padding doesn't hurt him, and gives him a little leeway too. (It's the same for humans, BTW. Past about seventy years old, the longest-lived people are actually the slightly overweight, not the normal-weight people. Go figure. And yeah, same principle--it gives you extra energy for when you get sick.)

So, yeah, give your senior cat the kitten food. It's not bad for him, and he's only ten pounds. If he were thirteen or more pounds, I'd say give him a high-protein food in controlled portions the way you would for any overweight cat, but he's really not that big.

This is a photo of Tiny taken from above:

It's a bit obscured by his thick fur, but you can see he has an obvious "waist"--he's narrower past the rib cage. When I pet him I can feel his backbone and ribs, but they do have a bit of padding on them. Tiny is just a little bit thinner than average, and is at his ideal weight. I couldn't find a photo of Christy from above; but she looks much the same, except that she's got a bit more padding on her. It's entirely possible for a lighter cat to be fatter than a heavier one.

If your cat is not too much bigger than that, I wouldn't worry about his weight.

No, we don't give him supplements. I wouldn't be opposed to it if the vet recommended it but he already takes meds for thyroid, arthritis and antacid so I don't want to add another pill to his daily intake.

Two points:
It doesn't matter if kitten food has more calories per can or not. You simply compensate by giving him a bit less than you did before.

Also, while it is true that a bit more weight can be helpful in senior cats, you have to also remember at 20 years old, his joints aren't as good as they used to be. And if he is supposed to weigh 9lbs but now you learned he weighs 11.5lbs, that means he is 27% overweight or the equivalent of a 125lb human being instead weighing 158lbs. So I would be concerned about his weight.

(and sorry about those links, I will get to them tonight)

So here they are:
Starting at "The dogma" - http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/201...-diet-for.html
A study here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21435625
And an article here: http://onlynaturalpetblog.com/2010/0...f-senior-cats/

One of my cats is old and one is a kitten. The rest are in between that. They all eat the same can style. None like kitten in that.
They have free range dry at my house. Science diet for sentitive stomachs, Iams kitten right now. Seems to be a hit with most around here. More so than any other kind. But that is just my guys. They are trying Evolve, Not so much of a hit. I am going for Netro Maxie cat next. I let the cat decide and try to provide the one they like the most all the time.

More protein and smaller portions will do him a world of good. And if he has no waist at all, do not feel scared to have him lose weight as I can almost guarantee it is what is causing his lack of energy. (Though if he hasn't been to the vet in a while, get him a senior panel as well to make sure his thyroid is functioning correctly.)

We're here if you need any other help. :-)

I wonder if his weight gain might be related to not being able to run around so much anymore--he's getting older, getting less exercise because his joints are stiffer; so he's not burning as much energy as he used to.

If his weight is stabilizing at this level--once again, I'd say it's safe for a senior cat. Minka says that it's like an ideally 125-pound human weighing 185 pounds--that's overweight, not obese. In that category, when you have a senior cat, you judge his health not by his weight but by his other signs--whether he's happy, active, alert, engaged with the world; what his vet says about his health. If his health is good, it won't hurt him to carry around an extra pound. If he were a lot bigger, yeah, it'd hurt his joints and put pressure on his heart and about a million other things--but this isn't the point where that becomes a real issue.

You can decrease the amount you feed him slightly. Kitten food is high-protein and that's good for any cat. If his weight levels off here, he'll probably be fine. The bigger problem I'd be looking at is the way he is becoming less active. That's normal for a senior cat, but it may indicate that he's getting arthritis, like many elderly cats do; and there are some minor painkillers that can help with the pain and stiffness. Ask your vet about that. If he can go back to playing a little, or just patrolling the house, it'll be good for him even if he never loses an ounce.

Tiger gets kitten food and also adult only because his poor sensiitve tummy can't handle canned food. No matter if it's high quality canned, he just can't tolerate it he throws it up right after he gets it down and he needs to be kept at a decent weight. There is also ocean whitefish or fish in a lot of canned food and he cannot tolerate that crap. He can eat salmon with no problems though that we have for dinner on occasion and tuna. He is skinnier than I like, but he is pretty healthy and getting up there in age, so he cannot afford to lose any weight. He is about 10-11 I know that's not old but I like to keep his weight up since he's lean by nature.

Actually with the general definition of 20-25% over ideal body weight equaling obesity, a doctor would define this person as being such.

Correction. Two and a half extra pounds. Which is almost a third of his original body weight.


Space1101, you are doing a good thing by being proactive about his weight. It will make him feel so much better and make it much easier to move around. Talk to your vet about his weight goal and remember no more than 1-2% weight loss per week. Cheers! :-)