Senior food vs Adult food

Re: Senior food vs Adult food

Lisa Goodship — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 01:42:26 GMT

I must admit when my pets get to 7, if they are not showing any physical signs and nothing has shown up on bloods and urine, I will probably keep my dog on adult food. He too is very active and senior foods do tend to be less in calories to compensate for the older slower dog and you may end up with muscle wastage and weight loss on senior foods. I use Hills Vet essentials and have found the diet to be great on his teeth.

Definitely get a food rep in for advice though, agree with the other comment on protein and phosphorus levels and the kidneys, you may find some have a lower sodium level due to increased risk of heart disease, both of these factors resulting in foods being less palatable. some Senior foods may have the added benefit of increased levels or the addition of chondroitin and glucosamine to help with joint mobility and disease.

I feel with food it's something that needs to be monitored closely and changed to meet each individual nutritional requirements as they occur.

Re: Senior food vs Adult food

Julie-Anne Wilson — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 19:57:22 GMT

My dog is stressy and neurotic as well, hence the higher calorie diet. I read somewhere ages ago that nervous/stressed dogs use more calories. Which I can well believe as my dog is constantly on edge.

Re: Senior food vs Adult food

Wendy73 — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:51:16 GMT

Hi,

One of my dogs will turn 7 next month and I've been wondering for a while whether I will change her onto Senior food. She's been on Royal Canin Vetcare Neutered Adult for years, and this range suggests moving to Senior at 7 years old. My concern is that she still acts like a puppy - which is great, but means I don't know what to do for best. She's very active and hyper, fit and well physically but mentally very stressy - Collie/Spaniel cross... Would be interested to hear others' opinions/experiences with this. I always seem to miss our rep when she comes to give a talk.

Re: Senior food vs Adult food

Helen Tottey — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 11:57:52 GMT

From my knowledge, senior food is about reducing the levels of nutrients that are not required in as high an amount as adult - protein being the main one. This is because excess has to be broken down and gotten rid of by the work of liver & kidneys so if they are already showing age old changes (remember 75% of kidney function lost by time will see changes on blood profile) the less work you can give them the better.

Obviously all dogs are individual and some probably will be ok on adult food but why not arrange for your food rep to come in and give the whole practice a talk on this as if you have questions you can bet others do too.