Thinking about switching Nutro Complete Care to Senior formula

slave2_ragdolls

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I have been feeding my 5 cats Nutro Natural Choice dry now for 6 years. The youngest cat is 6 1/2 and the oldest is a rescue named Mr SOCKoooo who is thought to be about 14 years old now. I am thinking of just switching over to Nutro Senior dry food in a few days. My cats all split 1 can of Friskies wet also in the evenings. I did a search for Nutro Senior dry food and came up with very old threads at least 4 years old. Any advice would be appreciated
 
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kittylover23

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Personally, I have no experience with Nutro, but there is a user here on TCS named NutroMike who works for the company! I'm sure he will reply to this post, if not, give him a PM :D.
 

Willowy

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Usually, "senior" foods are higher in carbs and plant mattter than the regular foods. Which can contribute to obesity and/or poor muscle tone. If it ain't broke don't fix it!
 
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slave2_ragdolls

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Guess that I need more opinions on this matter
  Thank you for other thoughts!
 
 

Willowy

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But is that true with the Nutro brands?
Well, now, let's see. Here's the info for the regular Nutro Natural Choice adult food (not sure what formula they're on so I guessed!) (Sorry I can't post it here. . .my phone won't let me cut and paste the ingredient list for some reason): http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-fo...adult-cat-food-chicken-meal-rice-formula.aspx 42% protein, 17% fat, 4% fiber, 10% moisture, (and I guessed 3% ash), which makes it about 24% carbs.

Here's the info for the Natural Choice Senior: http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-fo...enior-cat-food-chicken-meal-rice-formula.aspx 40% protein, 14% fat, 4% fiber, 10% moisture, (guessing 3% ash again), which makes it about 29% carbs.

The "indoor" formulas are even carbier.

I used this carb calculator: http://www.scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html
 
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minka

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Yea, Willowy is correct. Senior foods tend to have more carbs than regular adult foods do because the (incorrect) thinking is that since seniors move around less, they need less calories and so use less protein and more filler. The way to lesson calories however, should be by limiting the food amount instead.
Senior foods sometimes have additional vitamins and such in them, such and glucosamine, but if your goal is more vitamins, it would be better to just add them in yourself.
 

just mike

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I have been feeding my 5 cats Nutro Natural Choice dry now for 6 years. The youngest cat is 6 1/2 and the oldest is a rescue named Mr SOCKoooo who is thought to be about 14 years old now. I am thinking of just switching over to Nutro Senior dry food in a few days. My cats all split 1 can of Friskies wet also in the evenings. I did a search for Nutro Senior dry food and came up with very old threads at least 4 years old. Any advice would be appreciated
Hi Slave2
The oldest cat being 14 is certainly in the senior years!   I'm assuming you feed all of the cats the same diet.  I'm not sold on senior formulas for any brand of food.  My 15 year old gets the same as the younger cats which is Nutro Natual Choice.  Senior foods tend to be a little higher in the carb area which I don't want because of weight gain.   I would continue feeding the Nutro Natural Choice adult formula.  You might want to switch out the Friskies with different brands of wet food and again, it does not necessarily have to be senior.  If you have a senior cat that is overweight and you are looking to switch to senior I would always advise to find a good weight control formula over the senior formula.  Just my
 

just mike

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Yea, Willowy is correct. Senior foods tend to have more carbs than regular adult foods do because the (incorrect) thinking is that since seniors move around less, they need less calories and so use less protein and more filler. The way to lesson calories however, should be by limiting the food amount instead.
Senior foods sometimes have additional vitamins and such in them, such and glucosamine, but if your goal is more vitamins, it would be better to just add them in yourself.
Yeah, that is my thought too Minka.  I've never been a big advocate of senior foods of any of the brands of cat food.  My suggestion to her is to stay put.  My senior gets adult formula and is right where she needs to be.  I give Hoot a supplement from the vet for her hips and joints.  She gets enough vitamins from the Nutro products she eats so I don't worry so much about that.  Her back legs were damaged as a kitten and I give her the bone and joint supplement to give her better mobility. 
 
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