This is a specific conversation about Senior cat care — what changes and what helps — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
A 10-year-old Savannah is an interesting one — these cats carry a strong wild-cat heritage and tend to stay lean and muscular, so when one starts slowing down it can feel more dramatic than it would with a more sedentary breed. Cats in general age more gracefully than dogs, but they're prone to a specific cluster of conditions as they get older: kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, dental disease, and arthritis. Any of those can quietly sap energy before you notice other signs. How old is your Savannah exactly, have you spotted anything beyond the slowing down — weight changes, drinking more, stiffness getting up — and what prompted you to look at food now rather than a vet visit first?
She's just turned 10. No obvious health issues yet, last vet check was fine. She's always been incredibly energetic but over the past few months she's just... less so. The vet said she's healthy but to keep an eye on things. I want to make sure her food is doing the right job — she's been on a standard adult dry food and I feel like she could do better.
inparticular.ai
That's actually a really good position to be in — healthy cat, proactive owner, no crisis to manage. Savannahs are high-metabolism cats with a lot of lean muscle mass, and standard adult dry food is often too carbohydrate-heavy and too low in protein to support that body type as they age. At 10, she doesn't need a massive calorie cut the way a sedentary domestic shorthair might — she needs quality protein to maintain muscle, moderate fat, and minimal fillers. What does her current food look like — do you know the brand, or roughly what the protein percentage is on the label?
It's a supermarket brand, I honestly don't know the protein percentage. Probably not great. She's always been a good weight, around 5kg, eats well, no digestive issues.
inparticular.ai
Right, so you've got a healthy, well-maintained cat who just needs an upgrade rather than a fix. For a Savannah at 10, I'd go with Applaws Senior Dry Cat Food — the chicken variety. It's around 75% chicken content, very high named-meat protein, low carbohydrate, and no fillers like corn or wheat. It's formulated specifically for cats over 7 but it suits an active, muscular breed like a Savannah particularly well because it doesn't try to dramatically reduce calories the way some senior foods do — it just improves protein quality and supports kidney function with controlled phosphorus levels. The pieces are also small and easy on ageing teeth. It's widely available on Amazon UK and reasonably priced for the quality. I'd transition her over about 10 days mixing it with the old food — Savannahs can be opinionated about change.
That sounds good. Should I be doing anything else — supplements, wet food alongside it?
inparticular.ai
Adding some wet food is worth it purely for hydration — dry-food-only cats often drink less than they should, and kidney disease in older cats is partly a hydration story. A good-quality wet food two or three times a week as a complement rather than a full switch works well. On supplements, if her joints are the concern behind the slowing down, a small amount of omega-3 from a fish oil designed for cats can help — but I wouldn't layer too much in at once. Get her settled on the Applaws, see if her energy picks up over six to eight weeks, then reassess. If the slowdown continues despite good food, it's worth asking the vet to check thyroid levels specifically — hyperthyroidism in Savannahs can be subtle at first.
Really helpful, thank you. I'll try the Applaws and keep an eye on her.
inparticular.ai
Good plan. You're catching this at exactly the right moment — before there's a problem rather than after. Applaws Senior Chicken is the move, transition slowly, add a wet complement if you can, and if the energy doesn't come back in a couple of months it's worth a thyroid check just to rule it out. She sounds like she's in good hands.
