Low-carb food for senior Norwegian Forest Cat

A 12-year-old Norwegian Forest Cat with a vet recommendation to keep carbohydrates low — that's a very sensible directive. Cats are obligate carnivores, and carbs in commercial food are essentially filler their bodies aren't designed to process efficiently; over time, excess carbs contribute to weight gain and can strain organ function, which matters a lot at this age. Wet food is almost always the right call for senior cats — it supports kidney health through better hydration, and most high-quality wet foods are naturally low in carbs. To point you to the best option: is your cat male or female, roughly what weight, and what are you currently feeding them?

5.5kg is on the heavier side for a female Norwegian Forest Cat — they're naturally larger than most breeds, but your vet is right to flag it. The dry Royal Canin will be contributing a meaningful amount of carbohydrate, and the random pouches may be inconsistent in quality. The priority here is moving to a consistently low-carb wet food with high named-meat protein. Before I give you my recommendation — does she have any other health issues, kidney function concerns, or is it purely the weight and carb management?

Good — catching it before kidney issues develop is exactly the right time to act. Here's what I'd recommend: Applaws Tuna Fillet in Broth, available in multipacks on Amazon UK. It's made with a single named protein source — skipjack tuna — and contains around 1% carbohydrate or less. The ingredient list is essentially tuna, broth, and nothing else. No cereals, no potato starch, no hidden fillers. For a 12-year-old cat where you're trying to maintain lean body condition and reduce carb load, it's one of the cleanest options on the mainstream market. The broth also adds passive hydration, which protects kidney function even when nothing's currently wrong. I'd phase out the dry food gradually over two to three weeks to avoid digestive upset.

It's a fair concern, and worth understanding properly. The 'tuna addiction' issue mainly applies to tuna fed as plain human tinned tuna in large quantities — the salt and mercury content are the real risks there. Applaws uses skipjack tuna, which is lower in mercury than larger species like albacore, and it's formulated as a complete or complementary cat food rather than a human food product. That said, I wouldn't make it the only protein she ever eats — rotating with a chicken or salmon variety from the same Applaws range every few days keeps her palate broad and reduces any over-reliance on one flavour. The Applaws multipack format makes that easy to do.

For a 5.5kg cat aiming to maintain or very gently reduce weight, you're looking at roughly 200–240 calories per day. Applaws pouches are around 30–35 calories each depending on the variant, so somewhere between 6 and 8 pouches daily split across two or three meals is a reasonable starting point. Because you're trying to keep her lean rather than actively slim her down fast, I'd start at the lower end and check her waist definition — you should be able to feel her ribs without pressing hard. Adjust up or down over a few weeks based on what you see. Your vet can do a body condition score at her next check to confirm you're on track.