Our pet cats are growing older!  More of our cats are reaching senior citizen status, normally about 11 years of age.  This is wonderful and largely due to newer discoveries about cat nutrition and diseases, resulting in improved products and procedures to keep them healthier longer.

We know that you are devoted to learning how to keep your cat companions by your side longer.  As a veterinarian and partner in keeping cats healthier longer, I am attending more seminars on feline aging, the nutritional needs of geriatric cats, osteoarthritis, and skin and coat problems in aging cats.

Aging is not a disease!  The notion that a cat is “too old” can hurt your cat by getting in the way of proper diagnosis or treatment.  While it is still impossible to tell how long a cat will live, we can make constructive generalizations about a cat’s normal life stages.

A cat’s last and longest life stage begins at approximately 11 years of age.  This is the time to be aware of significant laboratory and clinical changes in our cats.  For example, the continuous loss in body weight in our older cats is almost always the result of a decrease in both fat and lean tissue.

The idea that older cats need less food is just not true for cats.  New research shows that your cat’s energy requirements remain constant throughout the geriatric years.  Weight loss in cats younger than 15 years should be considered a clinical sign of illness and a search for treatable disease is needed.  Accelerated weight loss typically begins only two or three years prior to death, regardless of the cause of death.

At least once a year routine laboratory blood tests are needed to detect diseases early in mature and geriatric cats.  Owners should consider an older cat’s kidney function and dental health as well as their endocrine, neurological, muscle, bone and gastrointestinal functions.  These are generally readily apparent when a blood sample is tested.

Older cats often do not digest their food efficiently.  Therefore, they need to be fed diets that are higher in energy and have easier digestibility.   Some older cats lose both body fat and lean muscle mass.  Consequently, these cats may need to increase their energy intake by as much as 25 percent.  They need to eat more food and drink more fluids to obtain the same calories as when they were young.  Many feline chronic diseases can be controlled with medication and diet.

Once a cat passes the 11-year mark, it is critical to maintain its appropriate body weight and physical condition by increasing calorie consumption.  Providing a highly palatable, highly digestible, energy dense food does this.  A simple diet change may mean that your cat companion will be there for you many years longer, returning your love, just as you have been there for them.

In cats older than 11 there is very little room for error.  A few days of not eating and low water intake can rapidly lead to internal organ failure.  I cannot emphasize enough that if your cat stops eating, do not wait until you think it will be hungry and resume eating.  It probably will not!  You need to take it to your veterinarian for an exam and testing.  Something is not functioning correctly.

If you have any questions about your older cat or other pet issues, please call us at Dr. Doolittle’s Animal Hospital at 972-317-9310.