What do you feed your elderly cat?

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Hi, just after some advice about my elderly cat. She's 18. She is a rescue cat and has always been small, we've had her since she was 1. She's recently started turning her nose up at her usual sachets of food, she has a mixture of supermarkets own brands, and whiskas or felix (the senior version) If I am cooking a roast she goes mad with the smell and always eats some of the meat, or if we have fish and chips she loves a bit of the cod.
So I am wondering if I have reached the stage where I should be cooking chicken or fish for her. She's an old girl and I don't mind the extra cooking, just not sure if its the right thing to do. What do you all think? Thanks.

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy has been playing the 'imminent demise' card since he was 14 so has mostly what he likes. He was on Felix AGAIL Doubly Delicious meat flavours - he's never had 'senior' food - but I've recently and very successfully transitioned him to Nature's Menu (Country Hunter) as his main nosh.

Plus titbits, his cold meat for lunch, and his 'pudding' every evening.

Which reminds me.........

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Your boy sounds very well treated! Is the nature's menu a wet food? Can I ask where you get it from?She stopped eating biscuits a while ago. Thank you!

[cozietoesie]

It's wet food in pouches. I'm afraid that it's not cheap though. (I get it from Pets at Home along with his benighted Lick E Lix.) The thing that seems to matter much to him is change of flavours - AGAIL had four which seemed to suit fine in rotation. He wouldn't eat the ordinary Felix by the way - it had to be that Doubly Delicious stuff.

[ffon]

My old boy went from Iams to various wet foods and eventually to puréed chicken. He loved ham but it was too salty for him.
I used to get a tray of chicken thighs, microwave them and put the lot into my food processor. Lasted 4/5 days. I knew what was in it and he enjoyed it.

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Thanks cozie I think a trip to pets at home is in order! Agree about rotating the flavours, she gets bored easily. ffon that is what I was wondering about, given how much she loves some of the roast meat chopped up small. I might try both your ideas and see how I get on.

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy does very much enjoy 'pan juices' from roasted meat. (With any fat removed if possible.) I hope you don't like your steaks well done?

[needanewjob]

My cat is 14 and now has Iams and Sheba pouches... Her teeth aren't great though so at some point I predict a switch to entirely wet food! I think at 18 go for whatever works!!

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy has been playing that card for years. He'd agree with you entirely!

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Pan juices indeed, I think seniorboy is possibly a little bit spoilt?
Yes you are right need she's never been a big eater, so anything to tempt her I guess! I shall take a leaf out of cozie's book and do some spoiling of my old girl!

[cozietoesie]

I recall reading a cookery book once which contained a recipe for roasting beef. The recipe gave only the timing for 'rare' meat although the author rather grudgingly conceded that doing it a smidgeon longer might give you 'medium rare'.

She then went on to say that there was no place in English cookery for any other sort of roast beef so she wouldn't discuss it. (Or words to that effect.)

Seniorboy's sort of cook!

[Penfold007]

18 is an amazing age!!! Pengirl isn't that old but is a mature cat, she is also a tiny girl and struggles to keep weight on. For convenience we use Natures Menu Country Hunter as wheat and grain free suits her tummy much better. We supplement it with plain cooked chicken and fish along with tinned oily fish and little bits of cheddar cheese which she loves.

[KittiesInsane]

Is she healthy apart from being old and picky? Ours is now 20 and limited by having to eat thyroid friendly and kidney friendly food with not too much protein. She still supplements it herself with the odd mouse though.

[cozietoesie]

I've been staggered by how much Seniorboy enjoys it. I thought we were on AGAIL till Doomsday.

(As a result, of course, I'd bought too much for the cupboard. Hey Ho.)

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Ha ha sounds like my good friend who likes her steak scorched on the outside and dripping blood in the middle!

[cozietoesie]

I would get the scorched bits though.

I know my place.

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Yes she's had a check up and all ok. She does have a heart murmur and missing some teeth, but doing amazingly well given her start in life! Will definitely look at the natures menu. Kittie I can't believe your 20 yr old still catches the odd mouse! Mine pretty much can't be bothered to do anything active now, she'll be out in the garden and the birds happily visit the feeder, she's obviously no threat!

[FairviewRosie]

My boy is 14, having spent the last 6 years refusing to eat anything other than fish based, he has wolfed down the chicken & duck pouches Pets at Home sent him. These were the 7+ recipes that he has been having the fish varieties of

[DramaAlpaca]

My 15 year old boy has Sheba pouches sprinkled with a dry food for elderly cats which I get from the vet. Can't remember the name, but he seems to like it. He's notoriously fussy so I'm just glad to find something he'll eat.

His absolute favourite thing to eat is chicken, cooked, raw, whatever. As soon as he smells chicken he comes running, yowls until he gets some, and gives us the evils if there isn't enough for him.

He still hunts despite his arthritis & proudly brought an almost dead mouse in through the cat flap last week.

I reckon elderly cats deserve to have whatever they like.

[chocolatespiders]

My old girl (22)died last year and in her last year we went through lots of different food as her teeth were bad try to find a good one.. after years of loving tesco pouches we went high market!!
The small tins of gourmet pate, James well beloved (pouches) and nature's menu pouches were all a big hit.. I addeda tiny bit of water and mashed them so she could lap them but they were quite soft anyway.

I think the gourmet may not have been a complete food it was complimentary.
Another hit was lilys kitchen trays.
She also loved grated cheese and scrambled egg, and tiny bit of chicken ( I used to get cooked breast pieces from tesco)

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Drama yes I agree, going to spoil her a bit more in her old age. Bless your boy hunting with his arthritis!
She's a bit dotty in her old age, sleeps in completely random places and mews a lot for no reason! Can't imagine not having her, seems like she's always been around. Makes me feel better knowing we've given her a good long life, after the awful start she had.
(Sorry slight tangent there!)

[PosiePootlePerkins]

Chocolate sorry you lost your old girl, 22 is a splendid age! Mine likes a bit of grated cheese sometimes, strange!

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Mine isn't elderly (11) but gets very picky! He likes Country Hunter and the normal Natures Menu pouches which, considering he went through a stage of only eating James Wellbeloved duck biscuits, is a miracle! At the moment he's on biscuits for breakfast and lunch with a pouch for dinner as we've discovered he sleeps all day if he has a pouch for breakfast!

[ffon]

Ah, yes Gourmet patê is what my boy was into for a while.
Spoil em with whatever they will have says I. Apart from ham maybe.

[Vinorosso74]

Our cat is nearly 14 so not as old and goes mad for turkey. I buy the stir fry turkey breast pieces and boil it for 10/15 mins. She can't have roast meat but loves this.

[cozietoesie]

Seniorboy just has to raise his head a little and I'm shovelling calories into him. His weight is going down but it's Oh-So-Gradual at the moment. (Mainly muscle loss.)