Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was feeding Pookey his treats, happy I found some with low protein he likes, and was thinking, many of the folks on the board have cats that are entering Senior-Hood (age 10ish and up). There are those of us on here with established seniors that can post tips we have learned thru the years...

The main thing that my vet and I firmly believe helped Stanley live to 16 and Pookey to 18 (?) is that I closely watched their protein levels after they became young Seniors (9-11). Young cats need the protein, but as they hit senior years, they need less for their kidneys, protein is harsh on the kidneys (Kidney Disease is a top killer in older cats).

So, here are some thoughts, I hope others with Seniors will help out with tips to help those with Freshman Seniors...

1. At around age 8-10, start taking your cat to the vet every 6 months vice once a year. Every six months, run a blood panel to see how things are. This is how we found Stanley in early Kidney failure at age 14 and he did remarkably well until age 16 with a simple switch to a special diet. You can get a jump on many treatable things if you take your senior in twice a year. (Every time or every other time, have them run the urnine panels, as well).

2. Around Age 8-10, you will likely need to switch to a Senior diet for your cat. In my cats, they both gained weight at age 9 and the vet said it was time -- weight gain is a common sign. Don't just run out and buy a commercial Senior food off the grocery store shelf. Many I found had very high protein counts. Higher than food for adult non-senior cats! I switched to a premium Senior that had lower protein than most (Nutro Natural Choice Complete Senior). That doesn't mean you need to switch to premium, just read the lables. I found Purina Indoor to be one that was better on the grocery shelf. Conversely, Purina Senior was awful with high protein levels.

3. I understand vaccinations are very tough on the kidneys, too. I stopped vaccinating Pookey and Stanley after Pookey lost his leg to a tumor caused by the Rabies injection at age 11.5. I had taken them down to just rabies every 3 years (by law) a few years before, to go easier on their kidneys.

Those are the biggies I can think to help thwart problems off in advance. Check them out w/a vet every 6 months and switch to a lower protein food when they are seniors.

If it were me, if I adopt more cats after I lose Pookey, I will probably switch to Science Diet KD (for kidney) dry food somewhere between 10-12 yrs old, if the vet approves it. Pookey is 18 and going strong on SD KD after being switched when his brother was at 14 years old. My vet attributes it to a main reason Pookey's kidneys have done well and are still pretty much in the normal range all these years.

I also recently realized there is a good treat out there that is about half the protein of most. Pounce Moist. The moist in the tall clear plastic shaker bottles. It has only 15% protein vs. all the other brands I've seen with upper 20's to 30 % protein. He loves them. Thankfully.

Food for thought (pun intended).

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(Off topic: No bloody nose since the one incident on 30 Dec)
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Good post, Tammy, with some very interesting advice for senior cats. I'll have to see what my vet says before putting my seniors on a low protein diet though. I'm still getting the rabies vac, every three years. I'm not happy about that but since it's required by law, I just do not know what else to do.

How did your game turn out?

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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

Hi Rose!

Was't it great the Hawks won the Orange Bowl! Too long until next season.

Working on Algebra homework. Can't wait to get thru the Algebras and Statistic and on to more discussion oriented classwork vice memorizing formulas. (Working on my Bachelor's Degree, just finishing my second week of school in 23 years, LOL).

I didn't arbitrarily switch the boys to Senior at a certain age. Around 8-10, my vet said most cats switch. They usually gain weight. And, like clock-work, the boys put on weight at age 9 and the vet had me switch. I am a firm believer in lower protein for Seniors and didn't buy them special food at that point, just compared lables and found Senior foods with lower protein in them. Didn't go to the special low protein diet (Science Diet KD) until Stanley had signs of early kidney failure in his bloodwork at age 14. The vet and I firmly believe starting Pookey up on it at age 14 with Stanley and keeping him on it is why his kidneys are so good at age 18.

The irony of the mandatory Rabies vaccination... I told my vet I wanted to stop when the boys were 11. They were indoor only. The vet forced it because it is the law. Pookey developed an injection site sarcomoa (cancerous tumor due to the Rabies shot). The vet immediately put "NO RABIES SHOT" on both of their records without my saying anything. Too late for Pookey, but Stanley didn't have to risk it. It is very slim there will be a cancerous reaction, but not impossible, just ask Pookey... I'll fight it with future cats, but probably don't have to with my current vet due to history.

Back to homework.
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Dear Lord, I called you Rose. How many years has it been since you and Rose were confused, LOL! It happened all the time on the "old" boards and I can't believe I did it!!! I am so ashamed. I was frustrated because I had typed out a long chatty reponse to you and it disappeared and rushed thru a second one...

I realized it the minute I hit send, LOL.
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Hi Tammy, yes, you did call me Rose! No problem though. David, my grandson, is into sports, like you. He is a big Iowa Hawks fan and does not like the Cyclones. On TV, he watches mostly Mexican soccer games. Remember when he loved watching wrestling a few years ago? He'd get out his little wrestling action figures (I don't dare call them dolls), and make them wrestle while he watched it on TV. I would chuckle to myself when I saw him.

All four of my cats eat canned cat food, mostly FF and Friskies. They like the kind with a lot of gravy. The three oldest lick the gravy off and don't eat much of the food. However, KatyKatt likes the food and doesn't like gravy. When they've finished with theirs, then they play musical food bowls and Samantha goes around and laps up any gravy remaining from the two who walked away (Katrina and Simba), and KatyKatt goes around and finishes up all of the food that the others left. All of this from one can of food, twice a day (2 FF & 1 Friskies). I don't even offer dry because I do not want Simba eating it at all. He has a tendency to block and doesn't have that problem if he doesn't eat dry. I don't think that they even miss it. They do like baked chicken breast and steak which I give them off of my plate. That must surely be all protein since it's meat but I wonder what do cats in the wild eat if they can't have protein? I would really like to just get them off of the processed products and feed them cooked meat. There is a holistic vet in the Des Moines area and I might look into working with him for my kitty cats.

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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

I do remember David loved wrestling. In the post that disappeared, I let you know to let David know "The Rock" is in a new movie called the "Tooth Fairy".

How your they play musical bowls and have routine with the wet food! Both Stanley and Pookey would never touch wet food. The best I can do is soft treats. They did like Tender Vittles as a treat -- remember when they sold those? They were semi-moist. They stopped selling it several years ago...

"I wonder what do cats in the wild eat if they can't have protein?" I suspect wild cats don't live into their late teens like house cats do. Cats of all ages need protein, but older cats need less as it is harder on their kidneys to process. But, Seniors, even cats on special Kidney Diets, still get some protein...

I'd be interested in what your Holistic vet says. I suppose off of commercial food, natural food would add a whole new mix. They might be just fine on certain types of protein without any worries of high amounts.
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)

Tammy, you are so lucky that you're not in Iowa this winter. This has been the worst that I can remember. It was halfway warm, in the 40s, till about Christmas, then it got cold and snowy with no relief in sight. The streets are covered with ice, the schools and businesses closed down, about 2 or 3 days every week. Blizzards, white-outs, and treacherous driving condition are the norm. I'm glad that I do not have to drive to work in this. To top it off, many homes are losing power for days at a time, mostly in the rural areas. Right after Christmas, the temperatures dropped below zero and stayed there for almost 2 weeks. I had a drain pipe freeze and had to call a plummer to clean it out. After paying the plummer $100, the temperature went up into the 40s and everything thawed. It was a good four or five days, now it's all turned around again. Paul called me a couple of days ago and said that he injured his shoulder when he got out of his truck and slipped on the ice. So now he is laid up. I am so looking forward to winter.

Yes, the silly cats play musical food bowls and musical cat beds...they are so silly. While lying in a cat bed on her side, with the top edge of the bed for a pillow for her head and the top of the other end, a pillow for her feet, Samantha snoozes peacefully. Of course, seeing how comfy she is, they all want that bed and wait in line for it. However, she does it to all of the beds so they always want the bed that Samantha is in, no matter which one it is. And the more they want it, the longer she stays in it. She has a special knack to taunt Simba especially with her laid back attitude. He just paces back and forth waiting for her to get out so that he can have it. This has gone on with the two of them since I first got Simba when Samantha was just a kitten of 4 or 5 months. She knows how to taunt him and he falls right into it. Then when she finally leaves the bed or box or whatever she is taunting him with, he'll get in for about 5 minutes, only to discover that it's not as comfy as she made it out to be and leave it. Haha. She's so smart and Simba always has been a sucker.

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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

>>
>> I am so looking forward to winter.

CORRECTION::::::::::>>
>>

Correction: I am so looking forward to the end of winter or the beginning of Spring.
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

With the exception of a URI when I first got them (came from the SPCA 18 years ago with colds), Stanley never sneezed. Pookey has always been an infrequent sneezer. He'll sneeze once out-of-the-blue, and then go weeks without sneezing again.

If she is sneezing often and that is not her nature, or if she shows any other signes of a cold (sneezing mucus/boogers, diarrhea, decreased appetite, etc.), you'll want to get her in to a vet for some antibiotics to clear the cold up...

I had to laugh at your cat bed story. It is such a joy to watch their routines and antics. Pookey is very locked down in routines. He doesn't like to deviate much at all, LOL...
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Tammy and Pookey
(Stanley 8/91 - 8/07)