My little buddy is getting "up their" in age, around 11 or so.
Took him for his first ever doc visit today as he has been a bit "off" for the last several months.

Doc said she didn't see anything wrong overall, seems to be a generally healthy kitty, but going off the various symptoms as being why I brought him in, and general age and whatnot, she recommended to start switching over to a different/better brand of wet food. Mostly revolving around hairball and possible backing up of things on the.... tail end.... lol Adding a small amount of Miralax to the wet food was recommended

Purina pro plan was one of the recommendations, leaning twords the senior cat stuff. Science Diet was also mentioned, but I did actually try some years ago and he wanted nothing to do with it.

I can get the pro plan stuff locally but looking online, I don't see a lot of variety or options for the "senior" stuff and wanted to see what else was out there for a better quality food. He is a sort of picky eater, right now he mostly only eats the Friskies brand for wet, and Purina Indoor for the dry, but he does seem to like some of the Fancy Feast and Sheba stuff.

I don't have any food suggestions but many cats have kidney issues as they get older. If you don't already have one I would suggest a water fountain to encourage him to drink plenty of clean water. Cats instinctively prefer running water over still water so they tend to drink more water if a fountain is present.

I've got 4 cats and keep two fountains going on opposite ends of the house.

I use science diet for our cats - Adult 7+ version is what we were using.

That is until one of them getting backed up multiple times in the past few months which required the vet to get a roto-rooter treatment each time. Now it is on meds and a prescription hard food (science diet as well).

Funny thing was that the initial treatment was to only feed it wet foot (which it hates).. and trying to feed it with the other cat who loves wet food (or food in general) was a chore. Now they both eat the prescription food (doesn't harm the other cat - the food just has more fiber in it. it is however more expensive than the regular bit)

Look up member Jeff Yarchin here on Sigforum, he has a pet store. You can email him.

You'll find him pleasant, honest and forthright to work with for your pets needs.
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Thanks, I do have a fountain for him, he does seem to drink a lot of water. I did just pick up a different one tho as the current on is getting hard to keep clean.

LOL cyanide He has only had a "issue" with that once so far, that was a couple weeks ago which was one of the reasons I decided to take him in for a once over.
I will take another look at the Science diet stuff as well. maybe he might change his mind on it.

OKC thanks, I will look him up

quote:

he does seem to drink a lot of water

You might want to have him checked for diabetes. Our cat had it for many years.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

he does seem to drink a lot of water

You might want to have him checked for diabetes. Our cat had it for many years.

Thanks. Hopefully that won't be a issue. It was not mentioned as a possible problem. By "a lot" I ment more so that he just does actually drink water and don't seem to avoid it.

Royal canin 7+ has been working for us recently.

++++ On lots of water. Especially for male cats.

quote:

Originally posted by Audioholic:
I don't have any food suggestions but many cats have kidney issues as they get older. If you don't already have one I would suggest a water fountain to encourage him to drink plenty of clean water. Cats instinctively prefer running water over still water so they tend to drink more water if a fountain is present.

I've got 4 cats and keep two fountains going on opposite ends of the house.

We also have four cats. Well, five but one just comes in, eats a little, looks around and wants back outside. Three of the four like the fountains. One still prefers to drink from a bowl. Don’t know what that says about any of them.

Thanks, Royal Canin was another that was mentioned. I will look more into that as well.

Mine really does seem to prefer the fountain. I have tried just a bowl a few times while I was cleaning or replacing the fountain but he wanted nothing to do with it

My little beast is an oddball, he drinks from a coffee mug that sits on my bathroom sink. I always keep the mug clean and fresh water filled to the brim daily. In the 8yrs I raised him, he's tried many foods, both dry and wet, prescription diets like Science diet and other brands. He actually eats both dry Blue Wilderness grain-free chicken, and a variety of the wet Fancy Feast Medley's.

The wife isn't happy I spoil him with variety, but he's extremely healthy and happy and thats what counts for me. Personally, I think the wife's a bit jealous of the attention for the cat

I have an 18 y/o cat that I used to feed Purina one then Blue Buffalo Wilderness and when he got around 15 he started drinking a lot of water and had mild kidney problems. Vet suggested we put him on a lower protein food and we switched to a basic Meow Mix. He stopped drinking so much water and his blood work is now normal. He also gets wet food every other day and treats.
He is an outdoor cat and has always been well taken care of (de-worming, shots, and Frontline) He was a 6 month barn cat when we got him and he cannot stand to be indoors.

I've had excellent results feeding Purina Pro Plan canned food and Purina Beyond dry food(chicken and egg, and a whitefish version). Pro Plan has some senior canned food. My cats really like the Prime (+7 years) variety.
I've found the single most important health care you can do for your cat, especially as they get older, is having an annual teeth cleaning. They can have broken or abcessed teeth and you won't even know it.

In older gatos, we tend to think kidneys first, as was stated already by Audioholic. You cannot always tell if you have a kidney issue by observation. If you can get a copy of your kitteh's blood panel results from your recent visit, look for a result called SDMA. It is an earlier predictor of renal (kidney) insufficiency/disease and, while not perfect, in my hands has helped identify cats with early issues well before the traditional markers (BUN and Creatinine, later the HCT).

If your vet didn't get bloodwork, get it, along with a blood pressure (hypertension is common with kidney cats). Examining a sick pet without proper tests including bloodwork and getting accurate results is possible but very unlikely, and is roughly equivocal to a mechanic walking up and listening to your car run then telling you what the exact issue is. If he/she did bloodwork but didn't get that specific test (it's proprietary, owned by IDEXX labs), inquire about having it run. Many labs unaffiliated with IDEXX can still pay a fee to get their samples run. I believe it has saved dozens of my feline sr. patients lives by early intervention and monitoring.

Besides the kidneys, I'd be looking at thyroid function since some older cats develop hyperthyroid disease. As an aside, vets often have agreements with certain outside (send out) labs to run certain "packages" at a better price, so you could send out a senior panel and get a better price while getting the T4 (thyroid screen) and SDMA along with the usual results you'll want.

Good luck!!

ETA: On foods, find out what your cat's issue is before deciding on food. Then you can customize the food to the needs of your mini panther.

Thanks all.
The doc only did a basic health check for the first visit. The reason for the visit was seemingly random vomiting mainly, followed with a "oops" on the floor a couple weeks ago. It was the one and only time he did that and seemed to be struggling with it at that.

She felt it was most likely hairball related and recommended to start with a diet change due to his age and adding the Miralax for a bit and see how things go.

She did give me the breakdown for a second visit if things don't seem to change, and that would include blood work and a couple other tests, basically the more in depth screening.

Hopefully it won't be needed I'm thinking I will end up giving the Purina stuff a try for the wet food. He already eats the Purina Indoor dry food so might as well stay with that brand to start

purina one/sensitive stomach/skin.

This is what we feed our cat who is around 14-15 years old now.

https://nowfresh.com/en-us/recipes-for-senior-cats

High protein dry ¾ of the day, half a 3oz can 2x a day.

We rotate the dry back into sealed containers, 3-4 types, for freshness and variety.