Having pets on their old age requires a lot of attention and care. Old cats, for example, should be fed with nutritional food, not with any food. You need to be extra in choosing the best food for your aging cats.
Their body when they are old is not working as well as when they are young. Some nutrients might be needed more and some substances should be reduced or eliminated.
A cat is considered senior or entering an aging stage when it is around 11 years old. When a cat reaches this age, its body will get weaker and it needs more nutrients. Besides, the ability to taste, smell, digesting food will be reduced. Skin elasticity and stress tolerance will also be affected by aging.
The concern of most aging cat owners are how to feed their aging cats. What kind of nutrients are needed for their aging cats so that their cats will stay healthy and happy.
Surprisingly, aging cats tend to be picky on their food. If your cat refuses to eat certain type of food, you can see the reasons why cat refuses to eat dry food. So, here they are. Here are the 8 tips on kinds of food best for aging cats.
- Wet food
Wet food is considered as one of the best food for aging cats because consuming wet food will increase the aging cat’s water intake. Besides, wet food will also improve palatability and help to deal with periodontal diseases that are mostly experienced by senior or aging cats. Periodontal disease is one of the causes of bad breath in cats. Check the causes and the remedies of bad breath of cat.
- High protein food
Protein is very essential to maintain good physical health for aging cat. They should get most of their protein from the fish, meat and other animal products.
- Homemade broths or purees
Something homemade and handmade are always better than the canned ones, so do food for aging cats. Homemade broths are usually unseasoned that make them better for your cat.
Do you know that packed gravies and stocks are usually rich of cat toxins, such as onion powder, garlic, leeks and so on? They are, and they also contains preservatives. Those items are not good.
Instead cook your homemade broth, as you can use chicken or fish meat. Don’t forget that you may not season it with salt! If you would like to create homemade food for your cat, you can see how to make a homemade cat food.
- Dry dental kibble
Treats like dry dental kibble are really well-known as one of the types of food you can give to your aging cat. It will help you to prevent any presence of plaque on your cat’s teeth.
- Vitamin
Vitamin A, D, E, K, B1, B6, B12, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid and folid acid are suggested to be included in your cat’s food. They are very beneficial for enhancing the metabolic activities.
However, you need to be aware of the amount of vitamins fed to your cat, as large amounts of vitamins might be toxic as well. You can check the best vitamins you could give to your beloved cat and best vitamins to improve your cats skin.
- Minerals
12 minerals are required in aging cats’ diets. They are calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chlorine, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, selenium and iodine.
Some pet food manufacturers commonly add a vitamin-mineral mix into their formulas to ensure that their food contain sufficient vitamins for your cat.
- Fat and fatty acids
Reducing fats is a must for aging cats. The fats aging cats can have are mostly from animal fats and seed oils. They provide essential fatty acids that the cats need.
Fats are believed to be the carriers for fat-soluble vitamins and play a role in cell structure and function. They are also beneficial for maintaining your cats’ skin and coat to be healthy.
- Carbohydrates and fiber
Cereals, legumes and other plant foods are not really important for cat’s diet, but they provide essential energy for your cat. They need these sources of energy for doing the normal activities in their daily lives.
Most people think that carbohydrate will lead to overweight cats. However, with the right amount given, it won’t harm your cats. Carbohydrate shouldn’t be eliminated from your aging cats diet as carbohydrate is the main source of energy.
However, if your cat is overweight, you can see the ways to deal with cats obesity.
Those types of food are very essential the aging cats as they need to be taken care attentively. Much attention is needed to take care of the aging cats. Aging cats should be loved and cared more.