Hi Everyone!  Glad I found this site.  Found loads of info already, which has been a big help.

I need your tips/suggestions/help in figuring out what I should start feeding my now senior cat.

After a recent vet check-up, the vet suggested that I make the switch to senior food.  She'd not over weight... but she could stand to lose a pound or 2.  Of course, my vet suggested the food they sell in office, but decided to hold off until I did a bit more research on other foods.  Boy, talk about opening pandora's box! 

Right now, my cat is getting Iam's dry food, the weight and hairball control formula - I used to leave a bowl of this out for her to free-feed.  She is also getting canned Fancy Feast once a day, about half a can.

I now know that this isn't exactly the best food I could be feeding her.  But thankfully she's been healthy and happy for the years I've been feeding her this combo.  Although now I would like to try and start feeding her better, in the hopes of increasing her quality of health as she gets older.

I was looking at switching her to a premium dry food, like Acana or something of similar quality.  My concern is, none of the premium dry foods seems to have a hairball and/or weight control formula, or even a senior formula?  In the past, whenever she wasn't on a hairball control dry food, she would start having hairball issues.  If she's on a hairball control dry food (like the Iams she's on now), zero hairballs.

If I put her on a premium dry food, is she going to get all the same 'good stuff' she would be getting in a senior food, made by a lesser quality brand? (Like Iams, etc).  What about the hairball issue?  Her issue with those, is puking them up, not getting constipation.  I would hate to spend all that money on a food that contributes to her having hairballs.  Also, it seems I should really be getting her off any food with grains, correct?

BUT the more reading I do, the more it seems like I should be feeding her an almost all wet food diet, with little to no dry food?  Should I start 'phasing out' dry food, and put her on just a wet/canned food diet?  Thankfully, she drinks plenty of water from her bowl, so her staying hydrated isn't an issue.

Suggestions on the dry food dilemma?  Any brands you would suggest that fit my needs?

Same with canned food.  Any mainstream (and by this I mean easy to find), premium food you can suggest would be great!!!

Hopefully this all made sense, and thanks for helping me out.  Sites like this are so valuable!!

Tessar said:

BUT the more reading I do, the more it seems like I should be feeding her an almost all wet food diet, with little to no dry food?  Should I start 'phasing out' dry food, and put her on just a wet/canned food diet?  

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I would phase out the kibble. There really isn't any good reason to feed dry food, and lots of reasons that wet food is a better choice, especially for a senior (how old is she?). Also don't pay attention to a vet that tells you a cat needs less protein as they age, that's hooey. If you can find something like Wellness grain-free canned foods, those are widely available and have good quality ingredients. If she continues to have problems with hairballs (and in my experience, cats have fewer hairball issues on wet food than dry), you could try mixing a bit of slippery elm bark powder into her food, or giving her a 1/4 tsp of butter a couple times a day.

The Nutrient Your Pet Needs More Of As They Age

Thanks for the suggestion.  I suppose giving her age would help lol.  She's about 11 yrs old.  I'm not 100% positive, as she is a shelter rescue.  When we adpoted her, both the shelter and the vet figured she was no older than 3 at that time.  So we just went with that.

The main reason the vet wanted to switch her to a senior food, is one being her weight.  It would help with keeping her weight in check.  But also, the vet said that senior foods are higher in things like Omega3 and important stuff to help keep joints healthy, etc.
 

my 8yr and 15yr old cat has been doing great on Nature Variety instinct wet and Nature variety instinct dry solid gold dry and before grain dry <all the dry mixed together

I even herd California Naturel dry is pretty good i'm going to try that with my cats next month

try to avoid pet foods with wheat glutan red 40 <any food dyes >corn, tomatos , Garlic onions ,guar gum,carageenan ,wheat,grapes etc theres more but I can't cant remember the names

You can manage her weight much better on canned food than kibble, and you can give her salmon oil or krill oil for extra omega 3.  For hairball control, I give my cats egg yolk lecithin.  One of my babies loves it, so I just squeeze it out of the capsule and put it on her plate as an appetizer before one of her meals .  The others' aren't as fond of it, so I mix it into their food.   One cat gets a 1/2 capsule every day, the other two get 1/2 capsule every other day.  Here is what I give them:  .  I get my krill oil from Amazon too.  

mrsgreenjeans pretty much said what I was going to--

--Wet preferable over dry, for more reasons than just weight control (healthy urinary tract being one of the big ones)

--Omegas can be obtained through addition of fish oil

--Egg yolk lecithin for hairball control. Have just started this myself after reading many posts on the forum regarding successful elimination of hairballs this way

I would add that senior and weight control formulas tend to have lower calories because they are higher in carbs and fillers. Personally, I do not believe in using them. My kitty was fat at one point. I did use the weight control formulas, but ultimately she lost weight eating regular food, just less of it. Have your kitty weighed and make an estimate as to how many calories she needs to sustain that weight, then very slowly cut back (double-check with the vet, but I believe it's recommended no more than 10% cutback per month). Make sure you find out how many calories are in the food you've selected. It can vary widely.

Thank you all for your tips and suggestions!  Greatly appreciated!!

I may switch her to a premium dry food, but just cut back on the amount I give her, allowing me to feed her more wet food. 

Keep the food suggestions coming!

Keep the food suggestions coming!

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Hi and welcome to TCS, Tessar!

In your first post, you said "BUT the more reading I do, the more it seems like I should be feeding her an almost all wet food diet..."

I admire those TCS members who are willing and committed to educating themselves about their cats' nutritional needs. There is a superb free Feline Nutrition 101 available online...it's extensive and comprehensive.....and it does take reading and comprehension skills for proper digestion....I usually suggest that people bite off a little at a time, let that sink in, then go back for more. If that's enough of an appetizer for you, take a look here: http://www.catinfo.org

The Vet who owns that site has become renowned as something of an oracle in field of cat nutrition - and has become a thorn-in-the-side to many of her colleagues who still rely on the pet food industry's curriculum which they were and are still being "fed" at the Vet colleges. Dr. Pierson spends countless hours volunteering her time on The Feline Diabetes Message Board (link), an online forum like TCS, but dedicated to helping people manage their cats' diabetes (brought on courtesy of the pet food industry's toxic "menus").

(There's a wealth of other learning to be had on that site and throughout her articles...it should almost be required reading for kitty guardians IMO)

I would also second checking out www.catinfo.org. That site plus http://www.naturalcatcareblog.com/2010/12/the-7-best-natural-commercial-cat-foods-so-far/  are the sites I used to help me pick better canned food options (I was looking for high protein, low carbs, no grains, no carrageenan). I've since started transiting to raw feeding and hope to stay on raw for the rest of her life. The amount of food she eats may change as she grows older but barring any health conditions, not the type hopefully.

Once-you-learn,about-proper-cat-nutrition,and-it-doesn't-happen-overnight,lol,its-alot-of-reading,then-one-day,the-light-bulb-goes-on,lol,then-you-can-learn-how-to-read-and-understand-the-cat-food-labels.

You-will-also-realize,there-is-no-magic-formula,such-as-the-specific-diets-push,hairball,weight-control,urinary,dental,its-all-just-a-marketing-ploy,you-will-learn-how-to-read-the-ingredients,and-disect-the-marketing-pitch,take-it-apart,per-say.

Will-teach-you-one-thing-at-a-time,the-weight-control-one-first.

How-much-you-feed-per-day,depends-on-the-weight-of-the-cat-first,is-kitty-normal-weight,underweight-or-overweight.Then-you-look-at-what-they-are-being-used-for,show-kitty,agility-kitty,or-just-pet.Then-you-look-at-their-level-of-activity.

A-show-kitty-or-agility-kitty-would-need-a-higher-fat-and-higher-protein,due-to-what-they-do.Kinda-like-a-football-player-would-need-to-take-in-higher-protein-and-higher-fat,than-the-average-joe-smith.Mine-are-show-kitties,they-are-fed-a-high-fat,high-protein-diet,and-they-have-a-high-level-of-play/activity-at-home.

A-pet-quality-kitty-would-not-need-high-protein,high-fat,unless,they-are-underweight.A-pet-quality-kitty-that-is-overweight,would-need-a-food,lower-in-fat.

Once-you-determine,if-you-need-high/low-protein,high/low-fat,then-you-start-reading-the-analist,on-the-bag,the-%-breakdowns.

Then-you-look-at-the-kcal,the-calorie-count,believe-its-per-cup,but-it-would-say-so-on-the-bag.

That,information,tells-you-how-much-to-feed-per-day.That-is-also-only-a-guide,a-place-to-start.You-adjust-up-or-down,as-needed.Each-kitty-is-an-individual,just-as-humans-are.

So,there-is-no-such-thing,as-a-weight-control-formula,you-just-have-to-feed-a-food,that-is-lower-in-fat/kcals.

I-have-2-brothers,same-litter,both-show-kittens,fed-the-same-exact-food.One-gets-more-than-the-other,because-he-has-a-higher-metabilism,and-higher-play/activity-level

You-also-have-to-know-what-the-nutritional-requirements-are-of-a-senior-kitty,from-memory,and-would-have-to-look-it-up,think-it-is-higher-protein.Kittens-are-fed-a-higher-protien,higher-fat-food,for-their-growing-bodies.Queens-are-also-fed-a-food-high-in-fat-and-high-in-protein,while-they-are-pregnant,and-nursing,as-nursing-kittens-take-alot-from-them.

What-your-looking-for,is-a-grain-free,by-product-free,gluten-free-food.Grains-are-corn,wheat,corn-flour,wheat-flour,maize,maize-is-corn,lol,pet-food-companies,-trying-to-slide-that-past-us,lol,any-flour.

If-you-look-at-Iams,it-is-full-of-corn-and-by-products.

Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Corn Grits, Dried Beet Pulp, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Natural Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Sodium Bisulfate, Potassium Chloride, Fructooligosaccharides, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Taurine, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Calcium Carbonate, Rosemary Extract

I-feed-blue-wilderness,its-by-blue-buffalo,I-feed-wet-and-dry.Wet-is-better,mixed-with-water,it-keeps-them-flushed-out,but-I-can't-afford-to-feed-wet-all-the-time.They-get-wet-in-the-morn,mixed-with-water,so-its-real-soupy,and-dry-at-night.It-has-omega-3-and-omega-6,you-want-that,just-as-you-take-fish-oil,its-an-antioxidant.It-makes-their-fur-soft-and-shiney.

http://www.bluebuffalo.com/cat-food/wilderness-chicken

Read-the-catinfo-site,and-this-will-make-more-sense,lol.

A word of caution with lower fat cat food formulas: many are higher carb. This is very unhealthy for a cat of any age.

Definitely check out www.catinfo.org. There is a list of suitable canned foods and a raw diet recipe if you're interested in that route. The feline diabetes resource is a great one too.

mrsgreenjeens said:

You can manage her weight much better on canned food than kibble, and you can give her salmon oil or krill oil for extra omega 3.  For hairball control, I give my cats egg yolk lecithin.  One of my babies loves it, so I just squeeze it out of the capsule and put it on her plate as an appetizer before one of her meals .  The others' aren't as fond of it, so I mix it into their food.   One cat gets a 1/2 capsule every day, the other two get 1/2 capsule every other day.  Here is what I give them:  http://www.amazon.com/Egg-Yolk-Lecithin-600mg-VegCap/dp/B0001VU8Y6/ref=sr_1_1?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1361738876&sr=1-1&keywords=egg+yolk+lecithin. 

I get my krill oil from Amazon too.  

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Hoot is 15 now and I've never put her on a senior forumula. Even AAFCO does not have guidelines for senior formulas so I'm just not sold on the "senior formula" diet so many say is good for the cat. Hoot is basically on an all wet, premium adult formula (Nutro Natural Choice and Nutro Max and others) and has done very well except for problems unrelated to food. She is not overweight and does not have diabetes. She does have access to a small amount of kibble daily but does not even eat it anymore.

The all wet is the way to go if possible.