Senior diets

Is there any point to feeding an older cat a food that is age specific?

IMO they're just a gimmick and not relevant to the cat's actual health. I have a senior (13) and I don't feed him any "senior" foods. 

Okay, I was just curious because my vet suggested that I feed my 15 year old cat a senior diet. I think that I'll just stick with what I'm doing right now, which is feeding a large variety of low carbohydrate canned foods of varying qualities, anywhere from Friskies on up to NVI and Tiki Cat and lots of stuff in between.

I agree with @missmimz and don't feed my seniors "senior diets" either.

Many of the commercial "senior diets" I've seen are lower in calories and fat because they assume the cat is not as active and potentially overweight. I have the opposite problem with my seniors. I've learned to read labels - ingredients, calorie/fat information, certain minerals/nutrients, etc. - and calculate on a dry matter basis to determine what my cats need regardless of what they label the food.

I was feeding a senior diet, but I have mainly younger cats now (it feels so weird to say that). The only real difference I saw between the senior and adult formulas in the brand I use was that the calories were higher for the senior formula, by almost 200 calories per cup! The adult formula is only slightly higher in protein, a couple percentage points. Phosphorus is exactly the same.

I am curious on people's takes on protein in senior diets. I know most things I've read say don't give seniors a lower protein diet, and based on what I read that makes sense. But, is there such a thing as too much protein for seniors? I think the ideal was 50%.

Donutte said:

I was feeding a senior diet, but I have mainly younger cats now (it feels so weird to say that). The only real difference I saw between the senior and adult formulas in the brand I use was that the calories were higher for the senior formula, by almost 200 calories per cup! The adult formula is only slightly higher in protein, a couple percentage points. Phosphorus is exactly the same.

I am curious on people's takes on protein in senior diets. I know most things I've read say don't give seniors a lower protein diet, and based on what I read that makes sense. But, is there such a thing as too much protein for seniors? I think the ideal was 50%.

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I feel my senior mostly raw and my vet supports that. I'm not really sure there's much to the "too much" protein debate unless you have a senior with underling medical conditions where too much protein might be an issue. 

missmimz said:

I feel my senior mostly raw and my vet supports that. I'm not really sure there's much to the "too much" protein debate unless you have a senior with underling medical conditions where too much protein might be an issue. 

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I'm not sure if there is such a thing as "too much" either. I have the one CKD kitty who gets about 2/3 prescription diet, and the rest comes from the "community" food. Maple is my other senior kitty, we haven't done blood work on her yet, will do that in a few weeks. I've been having her on a higher-protein diet mainly because she needs to lose weight, but have been kinda nervous that she might be getting too much protein for her age (she's almost 14).

My 15 year old cat is fairly sedentary but is not overweight.

His prior owner filled up a giant feeder with dry food and just left it out 24/7. When I first got him, my cat had a giant belly and was not at a healthy weight and not doing well at all, also having the issues of dehydration and constipation. I'm guessing that he was probably overeating out of boredom or something.

As soon as I got him, I cut the dry food out and got him on an all canned diet, which he has thrived on and is now at a healthy normal weight and doing great.

I guess I'm going to follow the mantra, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" LOL! My cat has regained his health and gradually come down to his ideal weight on my current regimen, so no need to change what I'm doing, since it's working. I never bought any kitten food for my foster kittens. I just fed them more of the regular canned food.

Donutte said:

I'm not sure if there is such a thing as "too much" either. I have the one CKD kitty who gets about 2/3 prescription diet, and the rest comes from the "community" food. Maple is my other senior kitty, we haven't done blood work on her yet, will do that in a few weeks. I've been having her on a higher-protein diet mainly because she needs to lose weight, but have been kinda nervous that she might be getting too much protein for her age (she's almost 14).

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My senior just went to the vet today for updated blood work. My vet didn't say anything about too much protein being an issue for older cats. 

Older cats are still obligate carnivores, so it makes sense that unless there's a medical issue that necessitates lower protein, things shouldn't be radically different.

I was reading yesterday that when they did the studies with actual animals, the average diet came out to about 50% protein, 35-40% fat and 10-15% carbs. Which is what makes me ask about "too much protein" if the normal would be more around 50%.

I have stacks and stacks of cat food so regardless, she'll be getting high protein for at least awhile. But, trying to think long-term. I guess once I get Maple's blood work I'll be better position to make decisions about that.

A lot of vets arent knowledgeable about kitty dietary needs. :/