Senior cats face age-related challenges including chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, arthritis, and cognitive decline that require proactive veterinary management. Early detection through regular screening significantly improves welfare outcomes in ageing cats.
Senior cat welfare is an area where veterinary science has advanced dramatically in recent decades but where owner awareness still lags behind what is achievable. The most common welfare failure is the assumption that signs of ageing — reduced activity, weight loss, behaviour change — are inevitable and untreatable rather than symptoms of specific, diagnosable, and manageable conditions. An older cat that has become quieter and thinner may have hyperthyroidism that is curable with medication or radioactive iodine, chronic kidney disease that can be slowed with dietary management, or hypertension that is causing progressive retinal and brain damage that blood pressure medication can prevent. Routine biannual health screening including blood pressure measurement, blood testing, and urinalysis from age 10-11 catches these conditions before they cause irreversible damage and significantly extends comfortable, good-quality senior years.