Ideal cat diet

Well, our two kids are getting older, seven years old this month, and I am now wondering what the optimal diet would be.  When we first adopted them, when they were two months old, we had them on pretty much a wet food diet, with a little dry food for grazing.  However, sometime in the last three or so years, we have gone to a fairly all dry food diet.  I know that's not necessarily bad, but I am now wondering what kind of diet they should be on at this age.

Granted, they are both in good health, but as they get older, we ant them to live as long and heathfully as possible.

Juat looking for some thoughts.  Thanks.

Who told you switching to mostly dry food is not bad? You should have kept them on the wet food unless they refused to keep eating it. No matter how old a cat is, wet food > dry food any day.

Some posters will try to convince you raw food is the best, but it is OK if you are not comfortable doing that because some good wet food brands exist.

I didn't say it was "not bad."  And I can't recall if we were told or we just fell into that habit.  But your reply, other than moderately berating me, adds nothing to my question.  Thanks.

Cats are obligate carnivores. So you want to see a lot of meat and not a lot of grains or veggies. This is easier to find in a canned food, since kibble needs to have a fair amount of starch to hold it in a kibble shape. They're also desert animals and have developed to get their moisture from the flesh of the animals they eat, not from drinking water. So when they eat only dry food, they're usually mildly dehydrated all the time, and this is one of the major causes of urinary and kidney problems, the more so the older they get. So I do recommend going back to feeding them mostly/all canned food. And then that depends on your budget. . .some of the higher-end canned foods are so pricey! But even the cheaper canned foods usually have fewer carbs than dry foods, and more meat. And of course more moisture!

Some cats who have been eating kibble for a long time get "addicted" and don't want to to canned. But since you had them on it when they were younger hopefully they won't give any trouble. Are they overweight at all?

Yup, a high protein, low carb, wet food diet is ideal.

Willowy said:

Cats are obligate carnivores. So you want to see a lot of meat and not a lot of grains or veggies. This is easier to find in a canned food, since kibble needs to have a fair amount of starch to hold it in a kibble shape. They're also desert animals and have developed to get their moisture from the flesh of the animals they eat, not from drinking water. So when they eat only dry food, they're usually mildly dehydrated all the time, and this is one of the major causes of urinary and kidney problems, the more so the older they get. So I do recommend going back to feeding them mostly/all canned food. And then that depends on your budget. . .some of the higher-end canned foods are so pricey! But even the cheaper canned foods usually have fewer carbs than dry foods, and more meat. And of course more moisture!
Some cats who have been eating kibble for a long time get "addicted" and don't want to to canned. But since you had them on it when they were younger hopefully they won't give any trouble. Are they overweight at all?

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Now.... if you ask me what "ideal" is, as in your title, IMHO, it is a raw diet.... Then after that., and all wet grain free, or with the least amount of grains as possible.....

ChgoJCS said:

Well, our two kids are getting older, seven years old this month, and I am now wondering what the optimal diet would be.  When we first adopted them, when they were two months old, we had them on pretty much a wet food diet, with a little dry food for grazing.  However, sometime in the last three or so years, we have gone to a fairly all dry food diet.  I know that's not necessarily bad, but I am now wondering what kind of diet they should be on at this age.

Granted, they are both in good health, but as they get older, we ant them to live as long and heathfully as possible.

Juat looking for some thoughts.  Thanks.

Click to expand...

I work in the pet food industry so I'm letting you know that up front   I understand your question and will give you the best answer I can based upon my own experiences and as a fellow cat owner, not a food industry employee.  I guessing you are wondering what to feed as they age.  I have a 15 year old cat that has traumatic injuries when she was about 6 weeks old.  I will not go into the lengthy details but suffice it to say she has survived quite well in spite of it all.  Because of her medical history I too worried about Hoot as she aged.  From everything I have read and everything I have learned from working in the pet food industry; I would not change her diet at all.  She and my 3 other cats have all been healthy and thrived on what they currently eat.  They get about 85% of their food from premium and super premium wet foods.  The also get about 15% kibble for grazing as you have indicated you do.   I don't buy all the marketing put into the "senior" diet thing.  To me it's just marketing and I have not been able to find anything out there to convince me otherwise.    My other 3 cats range in age from 3-5.  All 4 of the cats are on the same exact diet and none of them have had any problems.  Hoot (the senior girl) has been experiencing issues lately with vomiting.  It has been determined that a minor change in the number of times I feed her and the amounts may have to vary.  It is due to her injuries as a kitten, and not her actual diet.

I think if your cats are healthy and doing well maybe no changes are in order.  If you are not feeding premium foods with optimal ingredient ratio, you may want to investigate that area a bit.  My cats all eat Nutro products, Nutro Max and Nutro Natural Choice.  I also mix up their wet diet with other premium/super premium brands to give them a variety of flavors and textures. 

There is also a raw food forum on TCS that you can investigate if you are interested in that route.  I know very little about a raw diet so I can't be of any use to you on that one. 

Sounds like you love your kitties and take the best of care of them

Well, the great transition began last night after going to Krisers and picking up some grain free canned food.  Neither of them poo-pooed it at all.  Their reaction was more along the lines of "This?  This is awesome.  Nom nom nom nom."

This morning, the same thing.  

The only contention is we have to feed them in serperate rooms, with doors closed, since our girl finishes faster, while the boy takes his time to savor it, and the girl was trying to nose her way in.  Still, a small bit of adjustment if it means they're eating a better diet.

No it just occurred to my wife and I that, we will shop a TJ's and give ourselves a better diet, why don't aren't we doing the same for our cats?