Affordable soft dry food for senior cat with tooth pain & digestion?

I would be concerned about possible dental issues causing the changing in Soleil's eating habits. We can see tooth root abscesses, gingival inflammation, as well as tooth fractures that will affect how well a cat will eat. If Soleil has not been examined by his veterinarian in the past six months or so I would recommend scheduling an exam. If his teeth are all normal then you can discuss with your veterinarian how to address this, such as adding water to his food to make it easier to chew. There are prescription dental diets however they tend to be more for keeping the teeth clean versus easy to chew.

Hello! Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! So sorry that Maca is having this issue. It sounds painful for her :( Honestly, she probably does have a bad tooth (or teeth). You should get her to your vet for an exam so they can get a better look inside her mouth. It is also very common for cats to ulcers/tumors in their mouth so that is another option. Your vet can check for this as well. In the meantime you can feed her soft foods like canned food or human baby food. The other option is to put warm water on the dry food and let it soak for a few minutes to soften it before feeding it to her. Just realize that this is only helping her chew easier, it is not fixing the underlying problem. Hope this helps. Please feel free to post again if you have more questions! Best wishes!

Great question! Royal Canin has a dry food that is for cats with sensitive teeth, and I will put a link below for it. As for differences between brands, yes there are ones. Cheaper foods will not have as good quality ingredients as the most expensive brands of food, making the price lower. In addition, certain brands of food like Royal Canin and Hill's Science Diet have veterinary nutritionists on staff to ensure the food is formulated to meet the needs of the cat; not all cat food brands have this. Friskies is not one of the supermarket brands I recommend, I personally prefer Purina. Higher quality brands I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. Best of luck, I hope this all helps! https://www.chewy.com/royal-canin-oral-care-dry-cat-food/dp/29863

If your cat has problems eating his dry food, then he likely has bad teeth, excess tartar and/or severe gingivitis. He does not need his fangs for chewing. So I strongly suggest you have Bud's teeth checked by your veterinarian. He may need a dental cleaning and removal of any bad teeth. You can give him the baby food provided there is no xylitol in it (checck the label) as an interim feed. Unfortunately baby food does not fit the nutritional profile of a senior cat, so is not suitable as permanent food. You may want to try other canned kidney diets for your kitty.

You may want to look at his teeth, especially his molars (cheek teeth). Mikkel may have a lot of tartar on his teeth and severe inflammation of his gums which then hurt when he eats dry food. If you see brown concrements on his teeth, then he should be seen by a veterinarian and get his teeth cleaned under anesthesia. There is no need to have a tooth ache, and the bacteria in tartar can actually cause heart and kidney problems.

You can soften the dry food by soaking it lightly with just plain warm water or low sodium chicken broth. Don't completely soak it, just use enough liquid to lightly soften the kibble. If you make it too mushy he probably won't eat it. Hope this helps. Best wishes!

Hello, and thank you for your question. The most important thing to look for in a pet food is an AAFCO label, which tells you that the diet went through either a clinical trial or met a certain minimum standard when formulating the diet. This will ensure that the diet is complete and balanced. As far as specific brands, I like Royal Canin and Science Diet as reliable, high quality pet store brands. They do have specific wet diets for senior cats. I hope this helps, and that Lilly is happy and healthy!