Aging and the senior cat

Aging and the senior cat

Aging and the senior cat

Aging and the Older Cat: What is Senior? There is no specific age at which a cat "becomes senior." Individual animals and body systems age at different rates, but one convenient way to view older cats is to classify them as "mature or middle aged" (7-10 years), "senior" (11-14 years), and "geriatric" (15+ years). (FAB) This helps to focus on the varying disease risks of the different groups (e.g. obesity in the mature group; cachexia in the geriatric group). In this document, as elsewhere, the word "senior" is used as a broad category for all older cats, unless otherwise noted.

With good care, many cats live into their late teens and some into their twenties; the percentage of older cats is increasing. (Broussard et al 1995, Wolf 1995) The inevitable biological changes associated with aging result in a progressive reduction in the ability to cope with physiologic, immunologic, and environmental stresses. Along with "normal" aging, the incidence of certain diseases gradually increases.

Typical changes associated with aging are shown in Figure 1. There is no clear line between "typical" changes and disease. For example, many older cats have radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis, and it is difficult to determine when normal aging of the joints actually becomes a pathological process; cats with radiographic evidence of OA may or may not have a clinically-evident problem. (Hardie et al 2002; Clarke and Benett 2006) For the purposes of this document, we have included in the "typical changes" diagram those changes which are not surprising or that one might even expect to find as common aging changes that would not necessarily result in clinical intervention.

Reduced stress tolerance Altered social standing Altered sleep/wake cycle

Decreased skin elasticity

Decreased digestion/ absorption of fat

Increased cardiac/sternal contact on films Redundant aorta Decreased ventricular compliance Decreased lung reserve

Decreased hearing

Non-neoplastic iris Pigment changes Lenticular sclerosis Iris atrophy

Decreased sense of smell Brittle nails

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