Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,I was wondering what you would suggest for feeding an elderly cat. I read where you had replied to another saying that feeding raw beef and adding yogurt would be sufficient. I have been doing that keeping the protein of high quality and limiting the amount of protein given. Although there doesn't seem to be any indication of kidney or liver problems I'm wondering if a diet that consists purely of meat is a good idea. I read where kidney infections can come from a pet eating too much meat.

Following that diet for awhile my cat seems quite thin although I'm giving the equivalent of one chicken thigh a day. I really don't know how much protein to give an elderly cat. I read, too, somewhere where people, when they feed their cats several times a day end up giving them the equivalent of ten mice- way too much protein. I'm really looking for a diet that will take the load off the kidneys, is nutritious, and will put weight on my cat because he is quite thin on the diet of either pureed raw beef and yogurt(sometimes I switch to pureed raw or cooked chicken and yogurt).

I read where cats can't process starch yet it's always added to pet food and seems to give a cat energy and puts on weight.

I really don't know what to do, diet-wise, or how much or what to feed at this point or even how often to feed. Do you feed a cat that sometimes doesn't want to eat or do you go with the wisdom of their body and wait and if you wait, how long do you wait? I am assist-feeding my cat because otherwise he won't eat anything but canned cat food which contains less than zero percent nutrition but it's highly scented. I don't know if I'm feeding too much protein or too little. Your help would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

First of all, trust the cat's instincts; let him choose what and how much to eat. If he ate mice, he would eat the whole animal. If you are feeding a cat, you would be giving him meat, bone, but he also needs omega 3 fatty acids, and intestinal bacteria. The intestinal bacteria can be replaced with yogurt, and omega 3 fatty acids, found in the brain and nerve tissue, with fish oil or cod liver oil. If you give more fatty meat, you are reducing the amount of protein. If the cat is looking for more food after eating, he is not getting enough. If he leaves food over, you are giving him too much. If you are giving him enough food but he is still losing weight, then he is not utilizing all the nutrients. Check his urine to see if he is losing protein in the urine, a sign of kidney disease. If the stool is well formed, with no undigested pieces and no diarrhea, then he is digesting and absorbing what he is taking in. If all that looks good, have a blood chemistry run to see where the problem lies.

Thank you for your reply. Would you have any ideas as to what to offer? Cooked or raw lean beef? Cooked or raw chicken. Sardines sometimes? Salmon? How often? Adding yogurt tends to take away the scent of the meat and makes at less attractive. What about adding additional vitamins and ensuring there's taurine in the diet? If I fed him what he liked to eat it would be commercial cat food without one shred of nutrition. Any ideas as to healthy alternatives to offer would be appreciated. Once again, thank you for your reply.

Any animal product is always good for a cat. Give him the amount he wants to eat. I prefer raw for a cat, but many cats prefer cooked. Fish is fine. Definitely avoid dry. Taurine is found in meat.

There are alot of "animal products" out there. I'm ruling out all commercial pet food because it either has by-products or preservatives in it. Too hard on the kidneys to filter that out. As for other animal products could you possibly clarify? I find myself having to switch over from what was just feeding what he was willing to eat, then started to cut back on the protein so that it wouldn't overload the kidneys, now I'm back to offering him raw beef, cooked beef, cooked and raw chicken, a little fish and he's drinking water more than he has before. Don't know about that. Should there not be a differentiation between feeding a young cat and feeding an elderly one? I'm wondering too if with just beef, chicken and occasionally fish, yogurt, and now omega 3/6/9 which I've just added, if the diet is balanced. I'm still trying. too, to grasp that pets know what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat because give them cat food with absolutely no nutritional that's full of corn and by-products and they don't want to eat raw beef, it's not highly flavoured enough. Don't cats, in the wild, eat the stomach contents of mice,etc, and what provides that in the dosmeticated cat's diet. In the wild a cat could forage for what it needs but domesticated and now, more and more, confined to houses they can't and if it's missing from the diet they can't go out and get it. It becomes a matter of the person trying to make up for it by providing as much as possible what they would get in the wild, but can they? BTW, you mentioned giving "bone" how does one provide that? Would bonemeal do?Thanks again, in advance for any clarification you may give.

I like cats to eat chicken; raw if they will accept it, cooked if necessary. Give them the bones as well. By chewing the bones, they keep their teeth clean. Animal products means meat poultry, fish, dairy, or eggs, not processed, commercial food. If you are trying to reduce the protein content, increase the fat levels. Cats sometimes chew plants or grass, so you can grow some wheat grass that the cat may chew, if he wants. Let the cat determine what he wants to eat, and how much.

Thank you for your reply. A question or two. If I am only to provide him with what he wants to eat, how do I know what he wants to eat except by making everything I may think he wants to eat available. How do I know he wanted pizza? When I provided a bit of the cheese and sauce he acted as though he had a sore stomach and didn't want to eat for the rest of the day. He wanted olive oil, of all things a couple of days later, he ate it and then today he doesn't want to eat when, following your suggestion I stopped deciding the healthy things he should be eating and when, and just some meat choices in front of him, and he started eating on his own.I followed it up with yogurt and the fatty acids. He ate different times during the day a little raw liver, some cooked beef roast, some cooked chicken. Following that I gave him what he wanted to eat. He smelled the pizza and was ravenous for some, I gave him only the easily digestible portions, no onion ,etc, and after that,he acted as though he had a sore stomach and didn't want to eat. After the olive oil, the same thing. Yet I gave him what he wanted. Is olive oil hard on any of the organs? If one is to increase the fat if decreasing the protein is that hard on aged organs, ie, the kidneys,etc? Leaving it up to the wisdom of the body, if a pet doesn't eat how long does one leave it at that before there's the risk of fatty liver disease? As for fish, is that not to be regulated too. If allowed, he would eat nothing but that because of the scent. I read somewhere where too much fish leads to an imbalance in the B vitamins because fish has too much, I think it's Vitamin B2. By allowing my cat to eat what(from what I'm able to provide thinking he may want to eat it, who knows if there's others things I don't know of) he wants and when he wants he seems to be eating more meat than his system can handle and some things that may be hard to digest. So, at this point, do I step in and limit the choices? I'm kind of in the middle of changing from one system of feeding to another so there are alot of unknowns and I'm seeing results from the change in the way I'm feeding that I don't know exactly how to proceed with. You input would be appreciated. Thank you.

Cravings and aversions are the ways our bodies tell us what we need or should avoid. Anything "experts" tell us is either theoretical or generalized, but cravings and aversions show what should be done in a particular case.