Is your senior cat living their best life? We’re now offering special senior cat health and wellness clinics at our interconnecting West Midlands Cat Clinic to help your feline friend make the most of their nine lives!
Conditions like diabetes, thyroid trouble and heart and kidney disease are more common in older cats but can be difficult to spot early-on. At our senior cat clinic, we’ll chat to you about your senior superstar’s lifestyle, habits and behaviours and run blood profiling, blood pressure monitoring and urine analysis to screen for common age-related illness indicators. When you collect your feline friend a bit later in the day, you’ll have a 30-minute discharge appointment with a vet, where your feline friend will have a full vet health check and our vet will chat to you about any findings and recommendations from your’s cat’s visit. You’ll get a copy of your cat’s health assessment to take home.
Just like an MOT, we recommend annual attendance at senior cat clinics for cats over 10 years old to help keep your feline friend in the best of health. This is 10 year old Willow, our first attendee, enjoying treats in the consult room! As a ISFM gold cat friendly clinic, we believe all of our feline visitors deserve special treatment!
To find out more about our Senior Cat Health and Wellness Clinics, give us a call on 01922 411755.
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
Cats have a reputation for being inscrutable and It’s well known that it’s hard to spot when a cat is in pain, so the Feline Grimace Scale is an important breakthrough to help veterinarians recognize the signs in their feline patients. New research shows that cat guardians can use the scale too.
This is great news for cats because it means people can more easily assess when their cat needs to go to the vet due to acute pain.
Dr. Beatriz Monteiro of the City University of Hong Kong, the first author of the paper, told me,
“This is the first study showing that cat caregivers are able to assess acute pain (e.g. pain after surgery, abdominal pain) in cats. It is a great advance for feline welfare as cat caregivers become empowered to detect and quantify pain in their cats using the Feline Grimace Scale, and to look for veterinary care if needed.”
The Feline Grimace Scale involves looking at five aspects of the cat’s face, called action units: the cat’s ear position, orbital tightening (around the eye), muzzle tension, the position of the whiskers, and the position of the head. Looking at an awake cat who is not busy doing things like grooming, each action unit is assessed as 0 (absent), 1 (moderately present, or uncertain), or 2 (obviously present). A score of 4 or above is taken to mean that the cat is in pain.
Veterinarians can use the scale alongside their exam, the cat’s history, and clinical situation to decide if pain relief is needed.
The current study was conducted in both English and Spanish and advertised for participants on various cat, pet, and vet websites and social media accounts. The survey got a total of 1262 complete responses from cat guardians, who were asked to read the training manual and then score 10 photos of cats for each of the 5 action units. People’s responses were compared to those of 8 veterinarians.
The results showed no difference between cat guardians and veterinarians on 4 of the 5 action units. The exception was muzzle tension, which seemed to be harder for cat guardians to assess.
People’s success in using the scale was evident across the board, showing that everyone found it easy to use, regardless of gender, age, or other demographic characteristics.
This broad level of agreement is good news for cats as it means that cat guardians can look at the information on the Feline Grimace Scale website and use it to evaluate whether their cat is currently in pain. The scale is also available via an app for Android and Apple.
In case you are wondering about the photos of the cats used in the study, they had been used in previous studies too and were taken of cats before and after surgery, or before and after pain relief, for cats who had a painful condition or happened to need surgery.
It’s important to note that the scale was developed for acute pain only, such as pain after surgery, after suffering from trauma, from a wound, or because of pancreatitis. This scale cannot be used to assess chronic pain such as from osteoarthritis.
If you’d like to use the scale, you can read the training manual and practice your skills on the Feline Grimace Scale website. And if you’d like to read more about this research, the paper is open access and the link is below.
If you liked this post, check out my book Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy. “Enjoyable, approachable, easy to read, Purr is a must for anyone who shares their life with a cat.”—Kate LaSala, Rescued by Training.
Monteiro, B. P., Lee, N. H., & Steagall, P. V. (2023). Can cat caregivers reliably assess acute pain in cats using the Feline Grimace Scale? A large bilingual global survey. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 25(1), 1098612X221145499. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X221145499
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Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
Pets are an important part of the family, and while everyone wishes they would live forever, unfortunately this isn’t what happens. If your cat is showing a little grey around their whiskers and starting to prefer sleeping over playing, it may have you thinking “How long will my cat live?”
No one knows for sure how much precious time they will have with their cat, but you can look at the average life span of cat breeds to give you an idea. There are also things you can do to try to extend your time together.
How Long Will Your Cat Live?
The average life span of a house cat is about 15 years. But, of course, every cat is different, so an individual cat’s life may be longer or shorter. Some of the factors that can influence your cat’s life expectancy are their lifestyle and how they are cared for (their nutrition and health care). Your cat’s weight has a huge impact on their life span, as cats of a healthy weight can live up to 2.5 years longer than an overweight cat. That’s a lot of extra time with your favorite kitty.
Breed and genetics also play a part in a cat’s life expectancy. For example, Persian cats can easily live for 15 years, with some living past 20 years, according to the Cat Fanciers Association. PetMD tells us that Maine coon cats only live for around 13 years on average. Your cat could definitely live for years past their breed average, though. If they’ve already beaten the odds, maybe they can snatch the oldest cat record away from a tabby called Creme Puff who lived for 38 years!
One of the main factors that affects your cat’s life expectancy is whether they live inside or outside. Outdoor cats only tend to live about 4.5 years on average. The increased risk of injury and disease for outdoor cats contributes to their lower life expectancy. Some of the situations that are potentially hazardous for outdoor cats include cars, loose dogs, wild animals, animal cruelty, toxins and poisons. Outdoor cats are also at greater risk of being exposed to infectious diseases and parasites.
Life Stages Help Determine Your Cat’s Care
A kitten’s health care needs are very different compared to a mature or senior cat’s needs. To help veterinarians ensure cats receive the proper care for their life stage, the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) developed guidelines that define the life stages of cats. The 2021 AAHA/AAFP Feline Life Stage Guidelines categorizes cats into four age-related stages as well as an end-of-life stage that covers all ages. The four age-related life stages are:
According to these guidelines, if your cat is older than 10, they are considered a senior. However, if your cat is 12 and has no health issues (for example), your veterinarian may also use the mature adult guidelines while caring for them. The guidelines are just a starting point to help your veterinarian develop individualized care recommendations for your cat.
When the End Is Near
No matter how well you care for your cat, unfortunately their time with you must come to an end eventually. Hopefully it’s after a long, happy and healthy life, but sometimes it’s due to a terminal disease. A terminal diagnosis doesn’t always mean that compassionate euthanasia is the only way to prevent your cat from suffering, though. You may be able to provide palliative care to control their pain and other symptoms, with the goal of providing them with greatest comfort and quality of life possible. Keep in mind that palliative care requires regular veterinary visits and medications, so this could be costly for you.
Cats are experts at hiding pain so it’s important that veterinary professionals regularly evaluate them to see if their palliative care medication needs adjusting. You will also need to monitor their quality of life. To help with this, Dr. Alice Villalobos developed a Quality of Life Scale that you can use to assess your cat’s welfare.
If your cat is in their end-of-life stage, you can help make them more comfortable by adjusting some things around your home. You can add steps up to their favorite resting place, raise their food and water dishes and use a pet gate to stop them stumbling down stairs. Also, make sure their litter box has low sides and is in an easily accessible and private place. A warm, padded bed can also be comforting for them, and don’t forget lots of cuddles.
Wellcare World specializes in providing the latest advancements in wellness technology, supplementation, and lifestyle changes that improve health and increase the quality of people's lives.To learn more, visit WellcareWorld.com and begin living a better life today.
