Nutritional needs change significantly as cats age, and appropriate dietary management in senior and geriatric cats is a fundamental welfare intervention that affects quality of life across multiple body systems.
Nutritional welfare in senior cats requires moving beyond the idea of "senior food" as a single category. A cat with hyperthyroidism needs more calories; a cat with CKD needs phosphorus restriction; a cat with poor dentition needs soft, palatable food; a cat with intact kidney function and good body weight needs high-quality protein. Getting this right requires regular veterinary assessment and willingness to adjust diet as conditions develop. The most common welfare failures are allowing undetected muscle loss (sarcopenia) and managing CKD dietary needs without addressing palatability — cats that will not eat a therapeutic diet gain nothing from it. Senior nutritional welfare is individualised, evidence-based, and revisited regularly.