Elderly cats & eating - how much??

Hi,

I'd be interested to know how much your older cat is eating. My cat will be 13 soon, and although of late she's been ill I've noticed in general a whole 'slowing down' process. Maybe it's because I only have the one cat now I notice everything she does!

I think as well, the competition has gone - whereas before, if she didn't eat another cat would try to pinch her food, now it's just there for her and she has no threats. Therefore she seems to eat less.

I now buy the pouches as there's slightly less in than the foil trays I used to buy. I read on the box that an average cat may have 4 of these pouches, but there's no way Cassie would eat that much.

Just curious to see what other older felines appetites are like!

 

In my experience the older cats that Ive had have slowed down a little although not too much and there has always been competition as I dont recall a time when I only had one cat in the house, you say your cats been ill, with what? Have you had blood tests done recently, had the teeth checked? There are some very good "senior cat" diets on the market, maybe your vet could suggest a good diet.

 

Hi

My cat's been ill with sickness. She has had bloods today, and the results were ok .. the confusing thing is she's basically a pretty healthy girl. Ever since I've had her she's only ever been to the vets for removal of teeth and boosters.

After christmas she played with a mouse, and then became really sick. She was ill for about a week, but then after that picked up. (She was checked out by the vet.) Then, about a week later she began to refuse food .. then had diarrhoea and vomited once. After a few days I got her a new cat food and she ate a bit, and was fine. So since then she's been on the new food but also started to vomit periodically .. but it got more frequent. So much so, that this weekend I'd been away and returned to quite a bit of sick around the place so I took her straight in to my vet today.

My vet is fantastic - she said that she can't feel anything obvious like a tumour, and luckily the bloods were ok. I have however put Cassie back on her old cat food which she's eaten - not huge amounts but so far so good - at least I haven't seen it again. Most of the time since christmas Cassie has been herself, no other symptoms. My vet and I discussed the situation today, and agreed that I'll keep Cass on her old food, see how she goes and if she continues to vomit then it'll be xrays next.

None of my previous cats have lived to the age Cassie has, so I'm just very interested to see how much other cats of this age eat. Just so I have something to compare to. I know all animals are different, but I guess guidelines are good!

 

Sounds like your doing everything you can for her, you could keep aclose eye on her weight, maybe weigh her twice a week and keep a record so you can show your vet next time you go in, just as a general guide and then have blood tests every 6 months or sooner if your vet reccomends. Any sudden change in diet can cause vomiting and diarrhea though. I think from what you said she eats wet food not dry, have you tried warming it slightly in the microwave (make sure its not too hot for her to eat it) but when you warm it the smell is more appealing to cats, cats wont eat something if they cant smell it and at 13 maybe her senses arent as good as they used to be. If it is dry food you could add a little warm water to it.

 

Hi

Thanks for that. I haven't tried warming the food. I did call my vet today as I noticed Cassie going to the toilet outside, and when I went and looked afterwards I noticed a bit of blood in her stool. My vet has said to just give Cassie the tuna she loves and wants for the next couple of days and see if her sickness/diarrhoea gets any better. She said that after the results of the bloods there's no reason why the tuna will be a problem as a temporary thing - she said she'd rather Cassie have that than nothing.

When I got up this morning Cassie refused to eat, yet was hungry. So I'm glad I've been advised to let her have the tuna for now. It's not a solution but it will give me a chance to see if her stomach improves at all - at least I guess that'll determine whether it's the food change that's been the problem.