Pets are living longer than ever before. Supporting good quality of life in senior companion animals requires understanding age-related conditions and welfare assessment tools.
Senior pet welfare is shaped by our ability to recognise pain and cognitive decline in animals that cannot tell us directly. Osteoarthritis is endemic in older pets - but the stoic nature of cats particularly means pain often goes unrecognised and untreated for months or years. Cognitive dysfunction syndrome in dogs causes disorientation, sleep disruption, and loss of learned behaviours - a welfare concern that responds to environmental modification and, in some cases, medication. Quality of life assessment tools like the HHHHHMM scale provide structured frameworks for making end-of-life decisions. Euthanasia, when welfare is clearly poor and untreatable, is itself a welfare intervention.