best food for toothless cat

[Desley (booktigger)]

I have had quite a few toothless cats and all have managed perfectly fine - Ginger could even eat raw meat as long as it was cut up small enough for him - he always ate JWB, Sam is the current toothless cat and has a range of JWB, Applaws and RC Mature which he manages fine. I wouldnt put an 8yo on Senior food, unless they were a bit on the podgy side, Zooplus do some higher quality Senior foods, and some that are a pate style. The highest meat content availalbe in supermarkets seems to be Oh So - quite pricey, but not as pricey as NM.

[CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls]

I use Purina one, they seem to not be as hard as most biscuits and even Ollie with teeth only from his fangs in can eat them    Ive never changed his wet food-vet said not to as his gums would harden and then he can chew as normal 

I wouldnt say having his teeth out has made him eat any less, he never used to eat biscuits before his teeth out 

[Mark]

I started a post which was anti-go cat but saw others had already covered that one. Clapton has no teeth and will eat biscuits but he isn't that fond of them. When he is in the mood, he will hoover them up. Clapton swallows them whole so I avoid large kibble such as oral care ones as they as usually the biggest. I am torn between trying to minimise the amount of dry due to CRF but at the same time, there are very few good quality wet foods around. Clapton refuses to eat renal food so I give him Royal Canin intense beauty wet due to the added omaga 3 & 6 which is supposed to be good for CRF cats and hopefully helps his skin and fur which isn't that great thesedays. RC also do a senior wet. The selling point is that the chunks are extra-soft which I think is a gimmick as how soft does wet food need to be? - anyway, RC wet is small chunks in gravy which go down well as they are already separated - I also add water to it (as well as binders). It is expensive though - even on special offer, it is £4.99 a box from pet-supermarket (normal price varies between £7 and £11 a box  ) Sainsbury's also do an own-brand premium food which is similar - ie small separate chunks in gravy. It is also much higher meat content than felix or whiskas and costs about the same - it also has added prebiotics (which again are supposed to help CRF)

He also love tins of Whiskas chicken in gravy (not the others though) even though they are huge chunks, he doesn't have a problem. He also loves sheba pate trays although I chop them up for him.

I summary, if they like it, they will find a way to eat it 

I do think senior food is a good idea for cats 8+ as it has reduced phosphorus so is gentler on the kidneys - just my personal opinion.

PS - I too have heard a lot of good things about Purina one biscuits - also Proplan (also made by purina but a step up in quality from Purina one - Go-cat being Purina's McDonalds Equivilent)

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

Hiya! 

I have a toothless cat as well.  She loves her bickies even though she can't chew.... she does give them a serious gumming before swollowing though. Won't go to bed unless her bickie ration has been refreshed. 

My Tilly does prefer biscuits with small kibbles. As has been said, Purina One is good and great that she likes them. There used to be a brilliant biscuits which she loved called Ollie but sadly they aren't available anymore.  I wouldn't offer Go-Cat because A - they are  and B - the kibbles are too big. I go around squeezing boxes and checking these things. 

Ask Mark our resident small print reader as he knows the nutritional values of anything available. He is bound to suggest some good bickies to try. 

[Janeyk]

  to Purrs Dilkara,

I have a cat with just 2 teeth and my late Schui had none.  My vet said dry food isn't a problem as cat's saliva will break down the food and their gums harden anyway.  I always have some dry food down for Byron - various types, usually Purina One but I know other people have different.  She is ancient at 25 but I don't buy all senior food for her and as others have said 8 isn't that old these days.  I do find though (she and Shui did prefer soft food and I tend to mash it up but that is just their preference.

[Dilkara]

Thanks for the replies.

[Millys Mum]

 
I would swap his biscuits to something better quality, if he can manage the royal canin then he would do better with those than go cat. RC do a wide range of biscuits in many different shapes and for different life stages.
Most senior wet foods seem to be of lesser quality (the ones iv seen anyway), if you want to try senior id stick with the current natures menu and try a quality senior dry.As Gill says tho he isnt old at 8 and if he hasnt had raised blood results i wouldnt worry yet  

[Gillian Harvey]

I wouldnt bother changing him onto senior diet either, if he's doing ok on NM and he likes it. All a bit of a con these 'lifestages' diets anyway! No real need to supplement with biscuits either, although as you say, biscuit boxes are good for rattling LOL! Go Cat ingredients arent all that, but again if he likes them and they arent the main part of his diet, then I stick with them and maybe ring the changes with the Royal Canin one if he liked those. Hi Life biscuits are quite good, ingredients wise, and the Applaws dry is pretty good too (high meat content, low carbs) if you wanted to try him with some others.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

  to Purrs 

I wouldnt change your cat on to senior food, unless you have a real reason for doing this cos 8 is very young for a cat now days.

I suspect your cat may prefer smaller biscuits and it may be worth while searching the internet for Technical biscuits, my old cat Kocka used to manage them with no teeth.

[Christine (Blip)]

  to Purrs, Dilkara: glad you found us and decided to join in. We have a number of members with toothless cats, so I'm sure you'll get some ideas to try...

[Dilkara]

Hi everyone, my first post.

I've recently readopted my cat from my ex, so am a sort of new/old owner. He's around 8 years old (rescue). He was in a car accident before we got him and had a broken jaw, so he came to us with not many teeth. They kept getting infected and needing cleaned as he can't close his mouth all the way so our vet recommended removing the last and he now has only one canine tooth.

He's been on Natures Menu since getting his teeth out since it's easy for him to eat, not chunks and has a high meat content. He also has Go-cat biscuits to supplement as he came to us on them and they're great for rattling the box to get him in from the garden.

I was thinking of changing him onto a senior food though but Nature's menu don't do it. Can anyone suggest something that is easily digestible but comes in senior. He struggles with a lot of biscuits, I've tried him on JWB which he can't seem to eat. I got a trial pack of Royal Canin Oral mature and he liked that. Although there seems not much point in having an oral food when he has no teeth.
lol.

Sorry for the long topic!