Food for an aging female cat?

[flycaster]

My Luna is about 9 years old (about 13 pounds) and apparently quite active, healthy and in great shape. For her whole life she has had a strong preference for dry food (BlueWilderness Adult Cat Chicken Indoor) over wet food. I've tried to get her to eat wet food and she does eat a little Sheba Trout every night. She is unbelievably fussy...she won't even eat meat or chicken or fish bits from the table. I know most here will disagree with her diet, but it is what it is. So, given the above, any suggestions as to what to feed her as she ages?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Feeby (18+ yo) ate dry food only for a little over half her life, when I started adding some canned food - shortly thereafter she stopped eating the dry altogether, all on her own. You can keep your fingers crossed that this happens with your girl (LOL)! Feeby is not into much canned food if it isn't pate, and the older she gets the pickier she becomes. It has gotten to the point that I have at least a week-to-two-weeks' worth of different foods to try to keep her eating any of them. I alternate between Fancy Feast, Purina Pro, Blue Wilderness, Wellness Core, Merrick, Tiki Cat, to name most of them. I select from local pet stores, so I can buy individual cans, as I don't trust Feeby to eat enough of any one type to order cases from online sources.

So, I guess what I am saying is that you will just have to experiment with any and all kinds of foods/flavors/textures to see what she will eat. Since she likes the Sheba brand, you might start there with other flavors and textures and see what happens.

You could also try seeing what she would do if you mixed water with her dry food, so that is becomes 'mushy' - more like canned food. Just take a small amount and add water as a test. Maybe it would open the door to her being more amenable to canned food. If nothing else, she would be getting more moisture in her diet.

 

[Alldara]

My Luna is about 9 years old (about 13 pounds) and apparently quite active, healthy and in great shape. For her whole life she has had a strong preference for dry food (BlueWilderness Adult Cat Chicken Indoor) over wet food. I've tried to get her to eat wet food and she does eat a little Sheba Trout every night. She is unbelievably fussy...she won't even eat meat or chicken or fish bits from the table. I know most here will disagree with her diet, but it is what it is. So, given the above, any suggestions as to what to feed her as she ages?

I would slowly add in the Blue Buffalo Senior formula dry food to her adult food. That's what I feed all my cats, and they do quite well on it.

If you can get her to eat even just 1/2 can of wet food with extra water once per day then that would be beneficial as she ages and needs more water. It doesn't have to be a fancy formula, even just Fancy feast or the like.
My late cat liked liked these Fresh Pet "kibbles". They are a wet food, but the shape is familiar. It was $6/bag at Walmart before. She would also eat 6 or so rehydrated Stella and Chewys kibbles per day. Freshpet® Vital Cat Food - Grain Free, Chicken & Ocean Whitefish | cat Frozen Food | PetSmart

Another member recently suggested making some "kibble water" for her cat. She puts 3 or 4 kibbles in a container and makes flavoured water and then let's her cat drink what she likes. Don't leave it out for more than a few hours.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

My extremely picky senior (almost 14 year old) is currently only eating Sheba trout too. What I do is put about 2 tablespoons of water in his bowl, then I dump the Sheba on top of the water and give it to him. I don't mix it up or anything, just have it sitting in the water. He never fails to at least lick up all the liquid and gravy and maybe half the chunks. Sometimes I put toppers on this, and for toppers I use freeze dried chicken or freeze dried salmon. Too bad they don't make freeze dried trout.

But many, many cats live their entire lives eating dry food and live long and healthy lives. There are absolutely no guarantees one way or another. If your old girl is really set in her ways and wants her kibble and not much else, just make sure she is well hydrated and try not to worry. At least she is eating. In my book, that a win!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi, until/ unless you see her behaviors change including the litterbox, or she starts to lose weight you'll likely be ok (unless the manufacturer changes the recipe and she decides she doesn't like it).

You might start weighing her every couple weeks or so