Q of the day: Senior Dog food

[Leslie]

Who feeds senior dog food?  What brand and why?  Wellness makes a senior mix, and as a certain litle fuzzy dawg is getting to be a chunky monkey, I am thinkin' of switching over, but MAYBE mom should just not be givin' out so many cookies and stick with the baby carrots.

Anyhoo, any input, ideas or suggestions?  I like the Wellness and they are in fine health, so if it ain't broke, why fix it, right?

[Marcia from MI]

Hi Les,

When I had the boys, both very senior, I fed them Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, the Senior variety.  They had been eating the regular CS food for years and since they loved it I figured I'd stick with the brand.  There aren't any fillers and real meat is the first ingredient.  Now with the puppy I put her on the puppy version of it and she really goes for it - we tried a sample of another brand and it was two paws down.  Only trouble with Danni is that the cats have taught her to savor her food so she nibbles a little at a time and then naps or plays, the vet said for her that is best for now.

[Leslie]

Only trouble with Danni is that the cats have taught her to savor her food so she nibbles a little at a time and then naps or plays, the vet said for her that is best for now.

ahhhh, that's the life: nibble, nap, tinkle, play, cuddle....
she is so friggin' cute 

But, why did you end up switching to senior food, anyway?

[Marcia from MI]

But, why did you end up switching to senior food, anyway?

The boys were slowing down, couch potatoes and they didn't need all the added calories and the vet suggested I switch.

[Delia and girls]

Gretchen gets Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's soul also. Since she's ten years old, she's on the senior version. I like it because of the ingredients and the low calories. There are a lot of good dog foods out there, including Wellness, but I chose Chik Soup for the calories. If I remember correctly, the ingredients are comparable. It's so hard figuring out what to feed them!

Just to make things a little more complicated, I feed Elli the puppy version of Avoderm. I know they have a senior version too. I like the ingredients and the calories aren't as important for her - so far, she tends to be on the thin side. I don't feed Gretch Avoderm because it's too high in calories (even the senior), and I don't feed Elli Chik Soup because, well ... it's kinda a long story. When I picked her up, I totally forgot about getting puppy food. She had been on a raw diet. As we're driving back in town (we went out of state to get her), I see a Petsmart so we stopped. I had been feeding her Gretchie's senior food on the trip. My intention was to get a little bag of puppy food and put her on Chik Soup when it ran out. I never switched her.

[lunakat78]

I feed my old man Innova, he enjoys both wet and dry. Before I switched to this food he was on beneful and had the worst gas (singe your eyebrows),  he would even out stink his brother from under the blankies. Gas is no longer an issue on this food, worth it for me to drive 30 min away just to get. I saw on a website it was a good rated buy with little fillers....

[Kathleen]

I like Solid Gold's Holistique for older/chubbier dogs.  It's extremely low calorie (336 calories/cup) compared to other premium dog foods and I have had very good luck with it for my chubbier fosters, too.  Murphy's going to get switched to it pretty soon for winter-he's gained weight this summer and needs to lose the pounds.  Solid Gold Just a Wee Bit is also lower calorie for a premium food (389 cal/cup) and that's my choice for all my dogs for winter-they get to eat the same amount of food in volume, but with  fewer calories per cup (Acana at 420 versus Solid Gold JAWB) since they exercise less.

I highly recommend looking at the calories/cup on each package.  Some of the "light" foods barely have less calories.  However, that Chicken Soup for the Pet Lovers Soul adult light food others mentioned is very good-nice and low in calories/cup at 289 (in fact, all of their foods are fairly low calorie).

[Teresa]

I use Wellness Senior. With Molly's skin problem, it is the only food so far that she hasn't reacted to. Even though Schatzi is only 5, she is on it along with Molly. I like that it has the glucosamine for the joints and the Omega 3's. They both love it and the calorie count is low. When Molly started on it, she was a bit chunky. Within a couple of months, she had slimmed down to her normal size. Schatzi has stayed a pretty good size on it.
The last time I went to get food, they were out of the senior and I thought I would try the White Fish and Sweet Potato. It was like I could see them putting on the weight overnight. They also acted as if they were STARVING. I was glad to go back to the senior food.
I have wanted to try the Holistique but the only size they have at Petco is the huge one. I haven't been willing to pay that price for something I'm not sure they will like. I may look around for the smaller size and try it and then be willing to buy the other, but right now, I'm pretty happy with Wellness.

[Roberta]

Well as Oliver gave me the reality check of the vet saying "Arthritis,its  to be expected in a senior" Food wise we have changed over to Hill's Joint formula and I have my attention defict disorder boy back, be it a bit stiff occassionaly . Amy we will be changed over to it once she has eaten her way thought the remaing Hill's reduction food. Some on the board don't like Hill's, but after all the years on it my lot do not seem to have suffered, their coats are good and most of them have had good health, bar accidents. They do get a little fresh with it but less than before and a great reduction in treats ( very little as Albert says CUT IT OUT" )
Roberta

[Dee Dee and Hallie]

I used to feed chicken soup senior too for the same reasons that have been said. Hallie has a touchy tummy that got worse so I started to feed her prescription low fat diet. Now I am adding in a little regular canned food to that. I switched her to Senior at age 7 though. And like Oliver she is getting stiffer so I'm guessing some arthritic changes going on...sigh.

[papbouv]

Did you know Beneful has sugar in it good thing you switched.papbouv