As cats grow older, their dietary needs change. Older pets are often more finicky about what they’ll eat and may prefer to eat smaller portions at a sitting. Some have fewer and more sensitive teeth than in their younger days and find it harder to eat food that requires a lot of chewing.

Digestion takes longer for older pets, and their metabolism slows down. “In general, the older the animal becomes, the less active it’s going to be,” says Dottie LaFlamme, D.V.M., Ph.D., a veterinary nutritionist with Ralston Purina.

“With less activity comes a reduction in lean muscle mass and lean body mass, so the energy requirements of the older animal tend to be reduced.” A common mistake made by owners is to feed their elderly pets the same amount of calories as was needed when the animal was younger and more active, resulting in an overweight pet; though some older animals do remain active, and require the same caloric intake to maintain their weight.

“Excess weight is especially hard on a senior cat”, cautions Dr. Lawrence Fox, a Chicago area veterinarian and a Diplomate with the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners. “It overloads the muscles and the joints, it increases the demands on the heart and lungs, and it is associated with such conditions as diabetes and kidney disease.”

For some pets, old age can bring with it the opposite trend – the tendency to be underweight. “A lot of senior pets have a hard time absorbing and digesting their food, and those pets need increased nutrition and a higher caloric diet in order to keep their weight up,” Dr. Fox says.

How and what you feed your pet in its later years can make a significant impact on the animal’s well-being. “The diet isn’t going to cure or prevent a disease, but it might help the animal deal with the illness or feel better while it has the disease,” Dr. LaFlamme says. Dietary management plays an important role in the control of many ailments common to older cats such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, kidney failure, dental problems and cancer.

Talk to your veterinarian about your pet’s particular health needs and together discuss the variety of pet foods on the market and what type is best for your geriatric cat. If your pet has a chronic illness, your veterinarian may recommend a special diet to help with that problem in particular. For example, a cat with a heart condition may do well with a low sodium senior diet.

Rather than leave food out for your pet all the time, LaFlamme says you should feed your pet at specific times during the day, preferably in the morning and again in the evening. “Meal-feeding is better for older animals because it helps you monitor their food intake, to make sure they’re not eating too much or too little, and to know if they’re having trouble getting food down,” she says. Be sure to measure the amount of food you give your pet so that you know how much you should increase or decrease the portions should your pet start losing or gaining weight.

For many pet owners, an aging pet is an old friend in need of a little special care. Taking time to re-evaluate your senior pet’s changing nutritional needs is a small kindness you can do for him that can have a big impact on his quality of life.