How To Keep Aging Cats Happy & Healthy #ShebaCat #shop #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This SHEBA cat food shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study about happy and healthy cats for Collective Bias and their client.

Two of our three cats are getting on in years.  They are moving more slowly and are no longer jumping up high.  Overall, they are less active than they were during their younger days.  One of them is also starting to not chew his food very much and sometimes it comes back up.  We had been feeding our cats quality dry cat food formulated for improving digestive health, but recently we became open to giving moist cat food a test run.  SHEBA cat food contains no grains or corn, so we decided to see how well our beloved cats would do with quality moist food.

One of the main reasons we did not serve moist cat food to our cats in the past was because we thought it would be too costly.  Then I discovered that, if I stocked up on cans of cat food when there is a coupon available or when they are on sale, then cost is not really an issue.  I found the single SHEBA cat food cans at Walmart for just $.50 each (love when I find rollback prices) plus there is a SHEBA cat food coupon available for a free can when you buy six.  Some stores even carry value packs.

Many pet owners say that cats need variety and others say their cats do not care for change.  Personally, I think it varies from one cat to another.  We decided to buy several different varieties of SHEBA to see which ones our cats liked the most.  The pâté is ground food, while the 'cuts' are whole pieces and chunks.  We knew the pâté would be easier to eat, but we decided to try the Tuna Entrée cuts first.  Needless to say, taste was not an issue.  So far, all 3 cats seem to have taken to the food well, without any stomach issues.  The results were the same when we tried the Salmon Entrée pâté.  With each serving, our cats licked the dish clean.  It was wonderful to see all 3 so happy, but we were also relieved that this food seems easier to keep down for our male cat.  Another plus is that it is easier to control his portions this way, rather than leaving dry food out all the time.  (He is a little on the robust side.)

In addition to giving our cats quality food, we do our best to keep them active.  Even when they do not want to move, they simply cannot resist a laser pointer or their favorite feathers-on-a-stick toy.  When they have had enough, they sit or lay down to let us know, while still keeping one eye on the toy.

Something else I've noticed about our aging cats is that they cannot groom themselves like they used to.  This could be because they are less flexible or because they are rounder than they once were.  Even though they may protest at first, they will always allow us to brush them or use the grooming mitt on them.

Not all our cats like to play with cat toys beyond the laser pointer, but our male cat does.  He loves to hug and rub his face on crinkly pillow toys, especially if there is catnip in them.

One last thing we do to make sure our aging cats are happy is to give them multiple places to retreat to when they want quiet.  This is usually our bedroom. I often find them sleeping on or under our bed.  We also make sure there are several windows around the house, where they can climb up to sit and look outside.  Two of our three cats are a little on the large side, so we make sure there is furniture in front of the windows, since the two larger ones cannot fit on the windowsills comfortably.  Whenever possible, we try to at least crack the windows because our cats seem to enjoy the fresh air.

What do you do to keep your cats happy and healthy?

Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Mature Adult Cat Food is Easily Digestible

We have three large cats, two of them seniors. Any cat owner can tell you finding the right cat food is a challenge for one cat, let alone three cats. And to complicate things, one of our cats is not considered a senior and typically would get a different diet than the other two. Cat owners also know that trying to feed their cats different types of food is basically impossible. The challenge for us is to find a senior food that all three enjoy and works for the younger adult cat as well as the two seniors. Not an easy feat and we have had some successes and failures during our search.

When we had the opportunity to try Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Mature Adult Chicken and Brown Rice Dinner, I was very interested. Any animal owner knows the Hill's brands and I was curious to see how it rated against what we have tried in the past.

Although the food we were coming off was a high end premium brand and very good for the cats, it initially loosened their stools and produced some very smelly litter box messes. I know changing diets can do this, but some of those symptoms remained well into our use of the product. I was DYING to get past it!

The Ideal Balance Mature arrived and was an instant curiosity for the cats, they all lined up to try it right away so I immediately knew it had some appeal. The kibble is small and easily chewed by my senior cats (always a concern).

Changing the food again worried me and I was expecting more disruption in their digestion and kept a close eye on the litter box. To my surprise not only did the Ideal Balance Mature not cause any new disruption, it seemingly cleared up the existing symptoms from the prior diet. I can say I was utterly shocked and was not expecting such quick and dramatic positive change...from any food. I should mention the food it replaced is nearly twice the price per pound and considered ultra premium.

So far the cats have been eating the Ideal Balance Mature for about four weeks and we could not have been more pleased. I cannot say enough how quickly the Ideal Balance Mature cleaned up their digestive issues and we have yet to have loose or unusually smelly stools.

I HIGHLY recommend Hill's Science Diet Ideal Balance Mature for cats, as it has worked very well for our complex variety of cats needs.  For more information on both cat and dog products by Hill's, visit www.hillspet.com.


Thank you to Hill's Pet Nutrition for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Orijen Cat Food is Both Owner and Cat-Approved

We have a mix of senior and adolescent cats at home (2 seniors, 1 adolescent) and finding the right food is always a challenge. In the end we mix it up a bit and choose between 2-3 mid level or semi-premium foods of various flavors.

Although the brands we choose are decent (Nutro, Purina One, Iams), we have yet to try a truly premium food. I also do my best to stay away from gimmicks like holistic foods (sorry Wellness!). What I am truly interested in trying is an ultra premium food made and prepared with the same attention that human food is and from the same quality ingredients. Recently we had the chance to try such a cat food.

Mr. Chewy provided us with a 15.4 pound bag of Orijen 6 Fish cat food to try out. In my prior professional life I was a general manager of a well known big box pet store and consider myself knowledgeable in animal foods. I know what a quality food is and I must say I was pretty impressed when I opened the Orijen cat food when it arrived.

The first thing you notice is the smell, it hits you like a brick. It smells like bag of fish! And this is good! What do you smell when you open the food you are using now? I used to smell something like fish, but it also smelled like wheat or an unidentifiable sour odor. The reason why Origin has such a strong scent is because it is 80% fish! Most mid level foods contain maybe 20-25% actual meat, and much of that is from a dry meal. The remaining 20% in the bag is vegetation. There aren't any grains, gluten, or fillers of any kind in Orijen. And that brings me to my next observation.

The next most prominent aspect of this food is how dense and rich each kibble is. Why is this important? Well, ultra high quality ingredients and no fillers equals a food that is solid yet digestible. And highly digestible food means fewer trips to the litter box. The food gets turned into energy, muscle, and bones, not poops. I didn't even need to feed Orijen to my cats to know we received a quality food, but how did the cats like it?

The cats came running as the smell was quite obvious to them. At first they were cautious, if you know cats you know you don't just change their food. I can't imagine what I would have found in my bed that night if it didn't go over well. Well, I can say that I found no surprises on my pillow that night and the cats seem happy as clams. Their stool is smaller and more firm, no more surprise loose and unusually smelly poops.

Although we aren't through the big bag yet, the cats are loving Orijen and so am I. My eldest cat has been quite frisky and playful recently, it can't be a coincidence...

To learn more about this and other Orijen pet foods, visit MrChewy.com.


Thank you to Mr. Chewy for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.