As we all know, transitions are not always easy. Take your feline friend, for instance—growing and changing from kitten to adult to mature adult, and now to senior adult. The arrival of each new life stage has required a change in your cat’s food in order to maintain proper health and nutrition.

Not only is it important at this stage to transition your older cat to a specially designed senior cat food – such as Hill's® Science Diet® Senior 11+ Age Defying Cat Food– but it’s extremely important to correctly transition from your older cat’s current food to any new food.

Go slow. A gradual transition from the current cat food to the new food is important for the comfort of your older cat as well as her acceptance of the new food. Transitioning too quickly to a new cat food may result in vomiting or diarrhea.

Be patient. Exercising patience may be easier said than done, but it’s needed to help ensure your older cat accepts the new food. Also, if the new cat food has a different shape than your cat’s current food, it may take longer for your cat to accept the new shape. And that’s when ample portions of patience will come in handy!

Don’t forget water. If you’re switching from a canned cat food to a dry food, it’s important for your cat to drink an adequate quantity of water in order to prevent constipation. In this case, it may take seven days for the transition to be complete.