Switching an older cat to wet food

Making the switch from dry to wet at age 11 is genuinely one of the best things you can do for a senior cat — kidneys take the longest slow hit from chronic low-level dehydration, and dry food makes that worse over time. Cats are obligate carnivores with tight nutritional requirements, and many commercial foods cut corners on protein quality or load up on carbs that cats simply don't need. To point you toward the right wet food, it would help to know: is your cat a male or female, and have there been any health issues flagged — kidney values, dental problems, weight changes, anything like that? And what dry food have you been feeding so far?

That's useful context. Creeping kidney values plus carrying extra weight is exactly the combination you want to get ahead of, and the timing on switching to wet is right. The main things you need in a wet food for her: high named-meat protein, low phosphorus, minimal carbohydrates, and no fillers like cereals or sugar. With early kidney concerns, keeping phosphorus on the lower end matters — it directly affects how hard the kidneys have to work. What's her appetite like — is she a good eater, or does she turn her nose up at new things?

Good — that makes the transition straightforward. My recommendation is Animonda Carny Adult, specifically the poultry varieties. It's a German brand, widely available on Amazon UK, and it's one of the cleaner wet foods you'll find at a sensible price point. The ingredient list leads with real meat, the phosphorus content is low enough to be appropriate for cats with early kidney concerns, and it's grain-free with no added sugar. For a cat her size with a weight issue, you're looking at roughly 3 pouches or equivalent per day split across two meals — weigh it rather than eyeball it, because wet food portion sizes are easy to over-estimate. Transition her over 7–10 days by mixing it into the Royal Canin dry, gradually increasing the wet ratio. Her coat will likely improve too — Domestic Longhairs tend to show the hydration difference pretty quickly.

Start with the chicken or turkey varieties — poultry tends to have a lower phosphorus load than beef or pork, which is worth prioritising given her kidney picture. Once she's settled on wet food and you've got a recheck on her bloodwork, you can rotate flavours if you want variety. Animonda does a multipack on Amazon UK so you're not committing to a large quantity of one flavour before you know she likes it. Keep the dry food available in very small amounts during the transition period so she doesn't feel it's been taken away — then phase it out entirely once she's reliably eating the wet.

Good move. Book a kidney recheck in about three months — it gives enough time on the new diet to see whether hydration is making a difference to her values, and it'll reassure you that the switch is doing what it should. If her weight isn't shifting in two or three months despite portion control, that's worth a separate conversation with your vet about thyroid function, which is common in cats her age. But for now, the diet change is the right first step.