Caring for your senior pets

As your cat approaches the senior years, some simple changes in care can make all the difference in quality of life. Let your feline senior citizen feel your love by following these tips.

There comes a time when it becomes clear that your kitty is no longer a young cat. Caring for your feline senior citizen takes a little more consideration for aging bones and fading senses.

Feeding
Take a look in the catfood section of any pet store and you’ll see foods intended for all stages of a cat’s life, from kittenhood through young adulthood through to old age. Generally speaking, food for cats over seven years old is labeled as “mature,” for cats over eleven or twelve is labeled as “senior,” and speciality food for cats over fifteen or so is labeled as “geriatric.”

According to a study in 2010 (Hutchinson and Freeman, 2010), there hasn’t been any real scientific proof behind the differences in these foods. That said, there’s no harm in using them, particularly if your vet recommends one for some reason. There are a number of health issues which can crop up in an elderly cat for which a change in diet is indicated. Diabetes and kidney diseases are the most obvious.

Also, be aware that weight-loss can creep up on an older cat, around the age of twelve or thirteen. It might also show up as a combination of loss of muscle-tone with a gain in fat. If this happens in your cat, a trip to the vet is important to rule out some health problems.

Because cats use smell to determine what is good to eat, it can be trickier to convince a cat to eat enough when their sense of smell starts to fade. That alone can lead to weight-loss. Encourage the cat to eat by adding strong-smelling meat gravy or low-salt broth. Many cats also like miso, the Japanese soup base made from fermented soybeans. Try a low-salt miso. Heating canned cat food to body temperature will also encourage a cat to eat.

Grooming
Some elderly cats have trouble grooming themselves properly. Arthritis interferes with their flexibility, and they don’t process furballs as easily as when they were younger.

Gentle brushing will help your cat stay healthier and maintain a good self-image. Be on guard against mats in the fur. Mats are painful because they pull on the skin, and they tend to turn up on parts of the body that move around, such as the armpits and the hips. If you catch a mat early enough, it can be teased out with a comb. Otherwise, slide a comb under the mat and snip it off. Sliding the comb under the mat first helps prevent accidentally cutting the cat.

Long-haired cats often benefit from some fur trimming around their hind ends, to keep their droppings from becoming stuck. In fact, some long-haired cats benefit from being trimmed all over, a couple times a year.