Innova Senior Food Good for Weight Management and Healthy Stool?

Hello!  I have an 11.5 year old cat and am currently feed him Felidae Platinum for seniors, and he likes it very much.  However, he has had diarrhea for months now.  I have taken him to two different vets for testing and they have both said that he is perfectly healthy.  I would like to switch him to a different food to see if it will help with the diarrhea and was considering Innova Senior.  I currently free feed him dry food and feed him 1/3 can of Innova Senior wet food in the evening.  He has had weight issues in the past so I have usually kept him on a weight management diet, but he needs to be on senior food now and I haven't found much that covers both.

Has anyone ever experienced long-term diarrhea like this?  Does anyone have problems with stool on Innova Senior?  Does anyone have any problems with weight management on Innova Senior?

Hi Tarjida, and welcome to TCS!

I'm so sorry your kitty is having these problems. Neither of the vets suggested food allergies, IBD, or IBS? What diagnostic tests were done?

Whatever the cause, your kitty's gut flora is out of balance. The first thing I would do is start sprinkling a probiotic on his food daily. I buy one at the health food store for humans (my husband and I each take one daily), or you can use one like Proviable-DC. (Please do not use Fortiflora, sold by most vets!). What you are looking for is an acidolphilus supplement with 10 billion active cultures. :nod: This will help while you decide next steps.

Does your kitty like wet food? Because removing the kibble altogether, and putting your kitty on timed meals with wet food is the best for his health, and is also the best way to help him lose weight. :nod:

You may find that eliminating the dry food resolves the diarrhea. But if it is allergies or food sensitivities, a high-protein, limited ingredient diet (canned foods with short ingredient lists (apart from the supplements)) will help you identify the problem. Nature's Variety is very good canned food to use for this. The peas and carrots in it are easy to pick out, it's mostly meat, and has no carageenan (which is often a source of tummy trouble and is in a lot of canned foods).

As a senior, he needs a high protein diet anyway. You can also help him by providing digestive enzymes, which will help him utilize the nutrition he needs. :nod:

You may find reading through these sites and threads helpful:

This is a very informative article, with a section devoted to properly feeding senior cats: http://endocrinevet.blogspot.com/2011/11/optimal-protein-requirements-for-older.html

This is about weight management in cats: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity

As is this one: http://healthypets.mercola.com/site.../02/fiber-rich-diets-for-overweight-cats.aspx

And these threads might be helpful:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244840/how-do-i-diet-my-cat

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/244959/is-all-canned-food-better-than-dry

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245056/the-best-cat-food


Basically, you can combine his need for weight loss with his needs as a senior kitty by switching him to a high-protein (grain free, low carbohydrate) wet food diet. :nod: This will likely help resolve his diarrhea if you use high quality canned food with limited ingredients. You can support his nutritional needs as a senior by using digestive enzymes, and a good acidophilus probiotic will help keep his GI system healthy.

Hi Tarjida I'm Jenny.

I just wanted to add: I like the Innova Senior dry food. If you were to feed dry food, I think this is one of the best brands to go with. I had my thirteen year old cat Candy on this food in her last months, and it cleared up her soft stool problems. Unfortunately, Candy passed away from lymphoma of the kidney but was very healthy otherwise.

I currently have my one year old cat and my kitten on an all canned diet. Cookie, the one year old, has a soft stool issue and switching to canned food only cleared that up. I feed her Weruva and Wellness, and she seems to like them both now.

Dry food typically isn't very good for kitties because it is low in moisture, but if you are going to feed dry food, Innova is a very good choice.

PS, the Innova canned food is very good too so if you were to switch to all canned and continue feeding that it may clear up the diarrhea issue.