If your cat’s a youngster, you may not need to read this. But time passes quickly, and before you know it, your feline friend is approaching seniority. And as older readers will know, with advanced age comes all manner of physical ailments that require a shift in diet to help maintain optimum health and wellbeing.
Technically, any cat older than 11 is classed as a senior cat (see our article on ‘Understanding the lifecycle of cats‘), although each cat is different and some can hit older age around eight. From that point on their diet is likely to need some refining to ensure they are getting an adequate, well-rounded diet to suit their life stage.
If you’re worried about how much to feed your older cat, or what food you should be feeding them if they have health conditions, it’s always best to start by asking your veterinarian for advice or tests. Following tests and examination, your vet will be able to determine if there are any underlying factors affecting your cat, and will recommend dietary changes accordingly.
Following that, we have some general tips for feeding senior cats.
Some cat food manufacturers produce food specifically aimed at senior cats or even geriatric cats (those aged 12 upwards), although as with all cats, this is only designed as a rough guide, as each cat’s individual nutritional needs are different.
High-quality protein and fat
As cats age, they lose muscle mass and weight, so increasing the amount of protein in their diet can help mitigate the effects. They also begin to struggle to digest fat as effectively, so the fats they consume need to be high-quality so that they can digest them easily and extract calories with ease — and thereby get energy — from them.
Omega 3
The fatty acids contained within omega 3 are key to helping older cats’ joints stay healthy, as well as boosting skin health.
Reduced phosphorus
As senior cats are prone to kidney problems, and the kidneys are responsible for removing excess phosphorus from the bloodstream, reducing the amount of phosphorus in their food can help, especially cats suffering from kidney disease.
Reduced sodium
Like phosphorous, excessive sodium in your senior cat’s diet could potentially cause issues linked to the kidneys or hypertension.
Extra vitamins, minerals and nutrients
To help boost your senior cat’s overall health. Specific vitamins and minerals to look for include vitamins E and omega 6, which boost the immune system, and vitamin C & E, riboflavin and thiamin for cognitive function
Other foods to feed your older cat
To ensure they are adequately hydrated, fresh or frozen vegetables make good, low-calorie snacks for your older cat, plus they contain extra moisture, which helps boost hydration. This also applies to small helpings of fruit such as apple, banana or berries.
Hydration is key, so ensure your older cat always has a plentiful supply of water.
The other important factor to consider for older cats is controlling their daily calorie intake. This is something to keep an eye on, as older cats’ metabolism slows and they become less active, preferring to sun themselves in a warm spot all day they can be prone to easily gaining weight, leading to obesity, which then leads to further health problems.
Studies have shown that reducing a cat’s calorie intake as they age by 20%-25% can have a big effect on the onset of ill-health, reducing the risk of cancer, arthritis, and kidney disease. Feed them smaller portions but more often, as they may leave bigger portions if they can’t manage to eat it all due to their appetitie reducing.
Article reviewed by
Pet Nutritionist
Laura studied BSc (Hons) Animal Science with an accreditation in Nutrition at the University of Nottingham, before working for eight years in the pet food and nutrition industry.
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