For Steve Crane

This is for Steve Crane. The e-mails I send you keep bouncing, so I hope
you see this note here.

First off, I hope this note finds you well. About three years ago, you
gave me some very detailed and good advice regarding food for my two cats
(indoor-only, neutered males). Since then, I've been feeding them
Science Diet Senior Original dry food and Science Diet Senior Turkey wet
food.

Without boring you with all the details, I'm thinking that they may need
another change in their food. When the cats were about five, they must
have gone through some change because they started barfing up the SD
Adult Light they had been on. There were no medical problems, and a
change of food solved the problem. Now that they are almost 10 years
old, something similar may be happening (and, again, there don't seem to
be any medical problems). And I don't think it's because I got a bad bag
of food or it has spoiled.

So I'd appreciate your thoughts on what dry food to try. (I'm going to
continue with the SD Senior Turkey canned food). My first thought is to
try something with protein and/or carbohydrate sources that are different
from the SD Senior. I see that SD has dry foods with ocean fish and lamb
-- but they are adult, not senior, foods. And they have a lot more
calories (my cats are a bit overweight). The only senior foods I can
find with different protein sources have way too much calcium,
phosphorus, and calories -- i.e., Purina Pro Plan Senior Turkey and Rice,
and Natural Balance Venison (supposedly for all ages).

My next thought is that the problem may not relate to the proteins and/or
carbohydrates; maybe they're reacting to something else in the SD Senior.
If so, maybe I should try something similar to, but not exactly the same
as, the SD Senior Original. Except for the SD Senior Hairball (which has
more fiber than I want for them), the other SD senior foods look too
similar to me, though. Am I wrong about that?

I'm pleasantly surprised that some -- though not all -- of the other
brands seem to have reduced their calcium and phosphorus levels since I
last looked three years ago. Maybe they're listening to you. They're
still higher than SD, but the Nature's Recipe Senior Chicken Meal and
Rice is not too far off, and its nutrients and ingredients look fairly
similar to the SD Senior Original. The Iams Active Maturity is also not
too far out of whack.

As I've said before, I respect your knowledge and trust your advice. So
any thoughts you have are much appreciated. Should I try a SD adult food
with a different protein source? One of the other SD senior foods? Or a
senior food from a different brand (if so, I'm leaning towards the
Nature's Recipe).

Thanks.

Jerold

As I've said before, I respect your knowledge and trust your advice. So
any thoughts you have are much appreciated. Should I try a SD adult food
with a different protein source? One of the other SD senior foods? Or a
senior food from a different brand (if so, I'm leaning towards the
Nature's Recipe).

I know this is for Steve Crane but thought I'd let you know that Royal Canin
Indoor Mature 27 seems pretty close to Science Diet Senior according to this
chart:

http://webpages.charter.net/katkarma/dry.htm

It says (if the chart is correct - I am just assuming the person who does it
has correct numbers written there but who knows) that RC Indoor Mature 27 has
..69 phosphorus, .89 calcium and .34 sodium. SD Senior has .69 phosphorus, .
90 calcium and .32 sodium. The RC Indoor Mature 27 has 282 calories while
the SD Original Senior has 386. RC says the mature kibble is made softer as
older cats need softer kibble (?) while SD doesn't (don't know who is
correct). I also use SD Senior but RC Mature 27 is tempting (there's Mature
28 too but it's higher in calories) . I've had such good luck though with
SD that I'm a bit hesistant to change as my 14 yr old has eaten SD all her
life and is healthy, although I'm sure RC would probably be just as good (?).
RC is more expensive though - the sticker price is the same as Hill's but the
RC bag is 2.5 lbs while Hill's is 3.5 lbs.

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...ealth/200604/1

"Anna via CatKB.com" u18214@uwe wrote in news:5ea352853d40a@uwe:

thought I'd let you know that Royal
Canin Indoor Mature 27 seems pretty close to Science Diet Senior

Anna,

You're right. I didn't mention Royal Canin because it's so expensive, and
there seem to be more reasonably priced products that are just as good. If
all else fails, however, it might be a good option. (I too have been very
happy with Science Diet products over the years.)

JP