Senior Cat Care
We are here to help your cat live well and grow old gracefully!
At the Animal Medical Center of Fort Sheridan, we take pride in offering the best veterinary care and support to our senior citizen patients. As your pet ages, normal changes take place and diseases can follow that affect their overall health, well being and comfort. We have the experience, knowledge and access to diagnostics that allows us to detect some of those changes early, when treatment is most effective. Many conditions, when detected early and treated properly, can be prevented from progressing into more serious and sometimes life-threatening illnesses. Our goal is for you and your pet to enjoy the longest, healthiest life together.
For senior cats, we recommend twice annual senior wellness exams with us to monitor your senior cat’s health. Older cats benefit greatly from a senior panel blood profile (blood count and blood chemistry panel), which checks thyroid hormone levels (T4), for abnormalities in the kidneys and liver, screens for various ailments and infections, and more. They also benefit from urine and fecal analysis, parasite testing, and blood pressure testing. Senior cats also should be current on vaccinations and parasite prevention.
We encourage you to take an active role in your aging cat’s health and wellness by monitoring at-home changes in your cat and discussing them with our veterinarians during your cat’s senior wellness exam. These age-related changes include:
- Weight loss or weight gain
- Loss of appetite
- Your cat seems “depressed”
- Your cat is less active, more sedentary, has weakness or difficulty moving about
- Your cat is unable to jump on and off objects
- Change in your cat’s bowel function—constipation or diarrhea
- You notice a change in your cat’s energy level, awareness and/or family interaction
- Unexplained change in behavior
- Your cat seeks out warm spots and is sleeping longer
- Increase in temperature, pulse or breathing rate
- New lumps and bumps appear on your cat
- You notice occasional cough or periods of rapid or difficult breathing
- You believe your cat’s eyesight or hearing has changed
- Increased water consumption, urination, or accidents in the house outside of the litter box
- Your cat’s breath makes you hold yours!
You may not know that osteoarthritis is a common condition that occurs as cats age. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative condition of the joints in which the normal cartilage cushion in the joint breaks down. Eventually, adjacent bones rub against each other, causing pain, decreased joint movement, and sometimes the formation of bone spurs and other changes in and around the joint.
Osteoarthritis can be managed. We will help you determine the severity of this uncomfortable condition and make recommendations to help ease the discomfort and pain that is associated with it
If you have a “senior” cat, please give us a call. We are here to help. Contact us to schedule a senior wellness exam for your senior cat.
