What are y'all feeding your senior cats?

[Djones]

I have a 12 year old Siamese mix female. She was dumped as a kitten in our pasture. She’s always been on the lean side/small, but I’m feeling her little spine bumps over her shoulder blades. She’s a good eater and probably walks a mile or more every day- wherever my retired husband goes, she goes. She just trails him all day. From my home office I have watched her make her daily rounds from sunny nap spot to the next. She’s spry, but I want to boost her food intake if that would help. Everyone gets Purina ONE Natural, High Protein, Grain Free Dry Cat Food and is doing great on it. She eats at her own station, so I can do something different for her. She also gets Sheba Cuts from time to time.

What would you feed her?

[JB]

Right now mine get a mix of several foods, all of which are grain-free (which doesn’t mean low carb unfortunately)
Dave’s: Turkey & Giblets, Chicken
Wellness: Turkey & Salmon, Chicken
Nulo: Salmon & Mackerel, Turkey & chicken

Their ages are 12, 12, 11-12, 17, and 19

I also have in the past, and will likely start up again, made raw food, from a formula from a vet.
Making Cat Food (catinfo.org)

I fed that for several years, and stopped because I got tired of 4 hours to make it LOL BUT, that 4 hours was using around 50lb of chicken (bone-in thighs) and lasted 7 (at the time) cats about 3 months. I have a spreadsheet that calculates the amount of all the other ingredients based on the pounds of chicken used, if you decide to try that

[Marla_100]

Mine…
15 yr. old, 5 lb. picky eater. Losing weight.
Just had vet workup. Vet said she appears much younger and is in great condition.

Previously picked at Fancy Feast canned and always wanted Purina One Hairball dry.

Just switched to FF Medleys Primavera and she loves it. Eats a whole can per day plus some dry.
Just ordered Purina Pro Plan to try.
When they get older I give them choices to find whatever they like.

[OzarksRider]

Has she been checked for diseases that can cause weight loss (hyperthyroidism, kidney disease, diabetes)? She’s at an age when this is more likely.

[Live_Wire]

We had an elderly Turkish Angora who did really well on the shredded Pro Plan Kitten. I also used the Beyond mixers and girlfriend loved her Gravy Sensations. She was a relatively unhealthy cat, but I believe we were able to get a few more happy and comfortable years with her from maintaining her weight.

[beowulf]

I am not ready to call my 12 y/o a senior ( ) but she has been getting “Senior panel” bloodwork done every check up at the vet’s recommendation for the last two years, so I guess in the vets’ eyes she’s a senior.

She gets 4 oz Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken split AM + PM. She also gets a little less than 1/4c of soaked Purina Sensitive Stomach in the AM before I leave for work. I don’t know what it is about this food but it is the only food of the hundreds of foods we’ve tried (including Hydrolized, prescription, medicated, etc) that keeps her “idiopathic dermatitis” (per vet) at bay. At our last allergen testing they said she might be allergic to human dander.

It may sound like a lot of food, but the Weruva isn’t a good source of calories - I just feed it to her because it’s guaranteed only chicken, and it’s a way to get wet food into her. Fair warning about the Purina Sensitive Stomach: it makes cats FAT. I was feeding the whole crew (6 cats) this food for a bit while I figured out a way to keep their feed separate from Miss Sensitives’, and they all got round as ticks.

The rest of my cats aren’t diet sensitive, so they get dry food in the AM topped with a spoonful of Weruva canned, and then whatever canned food was on sale that I bought for PM. Usually the brands are Wellness or Vet-Diet, since those tend to go on sale the most often. I don’t keep to a specific brand of food for my cats that don’t have allergy/diet sensitivities. My main priorities with them are just that it’s a high quality, high protein dry food, and that they get wet food at night when I get home.

If your girl is losing weight or having trouble keeping weight on, the Purina Sensitive Stomach might be a good jump off from your current Purina feed, while you talk to your vet about whether or not you think running any tests is appropriate. My vet[s] think that cats should at minimum have a senior panel done every year, but this isn’t in the cards for all people. Talk to your vet and see what they think.

[Simkie]

If she’s been fine on her food, and is now thin, it’s time for a vet check. Dental issues, renal disease or hyperthyroidism are the big ones, but there are a lot of reasons why they might lose at this age.

Wet food is much better for cats, so if I were to make a single change once cleared by the vet, I’d add daily wet for her.