There is a specific health danger for ageing cats allowed outside: maggots. Skin disorders are more common in elderly cats. The skin is thinner and more easily damaged. From my personal experience – and the circumstances must vary – my then very elderly and sick tuxedo cat used to spend a lot of time in …
A scientific study confirms that ageing cats, over seven-years-of-age, prefer warmed up wet food and particularly wet food at 37°C (98.6°F). Like many people, I know that warming wet cat food makes it more palatable to all cats and particularly ageing cats who may lose their appetite as it brings out new flavours and aromas. …
Domestic cats over 7-years-of-age prefer wet food at 37°C Read More »
Introduction: this is quite technical. It is essentially saying that a domestic cat’s diet should be altered to take into account the cat’s bodyweight and body composition in terms of lean tissue and fat as reflected in the cat’s ability to digest fat and protein which varies throughout their life. We know that commercially prepared …
3 life stages of the domestic cat in terms of body weight and nutrient requirements Read More »
Lately it seems that it’s been getting a lot more difficult for me to grasp the fact that it’s been almost fourteen years since we welcomed Dr. Hush Puppy and Sir Hubble Pinkerton, our two amazing, beautiful four month-old Oriental Shorthair kittens into our family. It often feels that it was just yesterday that we …
Do senior cats have special needs? Living with elderly cats. Read More »
Thomas is a 26-year-old cat adopted by a 27-year-old woman, Laura, from a shelter. Good on Laura. It is very unusual for a cat to live this long and also rare for a young person to want to adopt such an elderly cat. But elderly cats bring a lot of pleasure to the owner. Just be ready for difficult health decisions including possible euthanasia.
When it comes to senior pets, November is chock full of many “holidays” featuring the needs of our senior pets. This month we celebrate National Senior Pet Month, Adopt a Senior Pet Month, National Pet Awareness Month, Pet Cancer Awareness Month and Pet Diabetes Month. Since PoC is mainly focused on issues pertaining to felines, …
November is National Senior Pet Month: At What Age are Cats Considered Seniors? Read More »
By Ruth Young I have been trying a new supplement that can actually be given to pets. Since being harmed by a fluoroquinolone antibiotic in February of 2014, I have added many supplements to my own health regimen with great results. A lot of these supplements are anti-aging products that surprisingly seem to work. So …
I had always thought that domestic cats go through a phase in life when they become older and more sedentary, burn up less calories and therefore put on weight unless you fed them less or modify the diet. This is not entirely true. When domestic cats become older still to an age where they could …
This is an interesting example of what can happen to elderly cats. In this instance an 18-year-old male cat who was always affectionate become almost totally deaf and as a consequence he became even more affectionate; excessively so, according to his caretaker. He would constantly rub his mouth against his human companion’s hands and face …
My Elderly Cat Has Become Obsessively Affectionate Read More »
A lot has happened to Zeb this past week. This senior beauty has gone from the shelter to foster care with Sarah Trainor to a forever home with a lady named Beth Flor and her children. This story on PoC on December 17 told of Zeb’s rescue by City of Elderly Love (COEL): Save A …
A Christmas miracle: one week after rescue senior cat finds forever home Read More »
For me, it’s a balancing act between assessing how comfortable a cat is and will be, the benefits and risks of surgery or treatment, the quality of the remainder of the cat’s life and lastly the cost of treatment. Decisions, decisions, decisions…. For all cat caretakers, there comes a time when veterinary bills are liable …
Decision making over veterinary bills in treating old cats Read More »
This page is about cat osteoarthritis. This is degenerative joint disease – the wearing out of the cartilage that covers the surface of the joint resulting in bone to bone contact. The bone becomes rough which damages the joint. The process may begin during the first half of a cat’s life, becoming apparent later on. …
There is not much on the subject of cognitive dysfunction in cats. We have to rely on common sense. Humans live much longer than they used to. This brings some problems to humankind, usually of the financial kind. The domestic cat lives much longer than the feral cat and substantially longer than most wild cats. …
Ahhh…gotta have a little snooze…Photo by Ted Abbott (Flickr) We are living longer and so are our cats. This is due to improvements in the control of infectious diseases and diet. In the USA this is also due to the gradual increase in the number of full-time indoor cats, which seems to be the accepted …
21 year old bookstore cat. Cat dementia? Perhaps. Photo by terriem under a creative commons – Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Introduction It has been decided that there is such a thing as cat dementia. This doesn’t surprise me. Why shouldn’t there be? Cats have brains. They have bodies with organs that are similar if not, on occasion, …
