Complete Care for Your Aging Cat Read online

  keep her emotional y healthy. Accommodations vary from pet to pet. Think

  of what’s most important to your cat, and make changes that help her

  continue to enjoy life in as normal a fashion as possible.

  If she loses her sight, any change to the surroundings could throw her off

  balance—literal y. Cats mental y map the house and navigate by memory,

  and rearranging the furniture leaves her without a compass. “Make the

  house safer for the cat,” says Melisa Bain, DVM, a lecturer at University of

  California-Davis. “If the cat’s blind, block off the stairs.” Blindness may put

  her at risk for missing a leap from chair to table, becoming trapped in out-

  of-the-way rooms, burning in the fireplace or drowning in the hot tub.

  People are often distressed at their pet’s loss of hearing or sight, says Dr.

  Strain, but that doesn’t mean the pet suffers. “You just have to protect them

  from dangers they no longer detect,” he says.

  Cats with creaky joints or weakened muscles need help to continue their

  normal routine, because they aren’t as flexible or able to manage leaps.

  “Add extra litter boxes so the cat doesn’t have to walk too far,” says Dr.

  Bain. “My cat wants to jump up on the sink, so I put the toilet seat down so

  she can reach.”

  Getting on and off favorite perches and resting places is a major issue.

  Cats used to sleeping on your bed become disconsolate when they are no

  longer able to manage the leap. “Some people have the cat food bowl up

  on the washer or dryer, especial y to keep it away from the dog. So you

  may need to sequester that on a lower level,” says Dr. Cook.

  A wide range of products can make pets more comfortable and

  maintain their quality of life. For example, you can buy ramps and stairs for

  easy sofa access; elevated feeding stations so a stiff neck has less

  distance to bend down; even kitty beds with warming elements to keep old

  bones and stiff joints limber. “Certainly the temperature can be important

  with pain associated with arthritis if they’re in the garage or outside,” says

  Dr. Cook. “Give them a blanket or move them to a more heated area.”

  Positive changes in the environment that help your aging cat don’t have

  to cost much. Move the footstool closer to the sofa so she has an extra

  step to get up and down. “One’s only limited by your own ideas,” says Dr.

  Hoskins.

  _______________________________________________________________________

  Comfort Zone

  Try a game of chase-the-bubble to entice your aging cat to get off her tail.

  Worldwise’s Crazy Catnip Bubbles offer a nontoxic, biodegradable bubble

  solution infused with a special blend of catnip.

  Exercising the Mind

  Probably the most important quality of life issue is helping your cat

  to keep her mind active. The old saying, Use it or lose it! applies for both

  physical and mental activity. Feline minds become just as creaky with

  disuse as arthritic joints, so keep the brain and body limber. Engaged your

  cat’s interest in the world around her and, of course, in you!

  A number of feline brain-teasing toys have been developed that

  keep the mind active and also encourage physical activity. Try puzzle toys

  that dispense food as the cat manipulates them. Cats love games of chase

  and capture, and you can use a fishing-pole-style toy to entice her to “hunt.”

  Stimulating your cat’s mind helps delay the aging process of the brain.

  Keeping her mind healthy keeps you connected, and strengthens the bond

  you already share.

  Keeping your cat healthy and happy requires addressing all aspects of

  your cat’s life. “It’s cal ed a holistic modality because you’re looking at the

  physical, mental and emotional aspects of the animal,” says Dr. Beebe.

  Let L.O.V.E. be the answer.

  Golden Moments: Putting L.O.V.E. to Work

  Yasmine Galenorn, an author living near Seattle, currently shares her life

  with four senior citizen cats. Luna and Meercleer are both eight years old;

  Tara is “probably” 10 to 11; and the queen cat, Pakhit (“Keeter”) is 11.

  Each cat, though, has aged at a different rate. Although al share the same

  environment, level of health care, and owner attention, some cats show

  their age more than others.

  For instance, you’d never know that the 8-year-old black-panther look-

  alike, Meercleer, is a senior. But at the same age, Luna the calico is

  obviously slowing down. Yasmine says Luna wants to be queen cat, and

  she thinks the added stress of wrangling over being boss has made her

  age more quickly.

  Luna also has physical problems with a knee injury, and as a

  consequence has some joint pain that likely wil develop into arthritis as

  time goes on. Yasmine noticed her limping and holding up the leg, and a

  vet check confirmed that Luna had torn the cruciate ligament, a very

  common problem in dogs, but rare in cats. Yasmine had to choose

  between expensive surgery to repair the injury, or forced rest to see if the

  knee would heal on its own. Confining Luna was a nightmare, says

  Yasmine. “Every time she cried in the room, I’d feel so guilty I had to go sit

  with her.

  She wouldn’t sleep unless someone was with her.” A fol ow-up X-ray in a

  month wil tel if rest did the trick, or surgery is required. “I’l probably have

  to do ramps before long for Luna, because she has problems jumping

  sometimes,” says Yasmine.

  When Tara joined the family, her teeth were already so bad that

  even with regular dental care, they continued to decay. “We had to have

  them al taken out, so Tara can’t eat hard food.” Tara now drools al the

  time, probably due to al her missing teeth. “She’l get drool al over my

  keyboard, and she’l shake her head and it’l go al over the monitor.”

  Dealing with four cats, it was easiest to offer al of them the same food

  rather than argue about who got what. “When Tara got soft food, everybody

  wanted soft food,” says Yasmine. “There was going to be a riot if that didn’t

  happen.”

  Living with four aging cats is al about making compromises, says

  Yasmine. It’s also about staying alert to changes. “I thought that Tara had

  developed a tumor. I felt this lump on her side, and thought oh my god

  she’s going to die on me!” After checking with the vet, the lump turned out

  to be Tara’s normal kidney. “I never felt so stupid,” says Yasmine—but she

  was even more relieved and grateful. A false alarm is much preferred to

  the alternative.

  Eleven-year-old Pakhit, a longhaired brown classic tabby, stil rules the

  house with an iron paw. Age has just made her personality even more

  distinctive. “She’s very overbearing, and getting grumpier. She’s just

  easier to aggravate and irritate,” says Yasmine. “She’s more impatient the

  older she gets, in terms of I want it now, or move over, I want my food now,

  I want to sit on you,” she says.

  Despite her maturity, Pakhit also sometimes forgets she’s not a kitten

  any more. “She’l run laps, then try to jump and can’t quite hold with her

  claws, and she�
�l slide down the wal ,” says Yasmine. Part of that has to do

  with her weight. “She’s a butterbal . With her long hair she looks like this

  big tribble on legs,” says Yasmine. She predicts that ramps and booster

  stairs—and maybe a diet—are in Pakhit’s future.

  Today, al four of Yasmine’s cats are in relatively good health, and

  she does her best to keep them happy and healthy by observing for

  changes, getting prompt vet care, and providing environmental

  accommodations when necessary. “It helps to listen to your cats,” she

  says. “My cats are my kids,” she says. That makes listening with your heart

  only natural. “If you are tuned in to your pets, you can tel what they need.”

  CHAPTER 4—NURSING CARE

  The most important part of your cat’s world is you, and as long as you

  remain a constant in his life, he can live with il ness and infirmity and stil be

  happy. Cats aren’t concerned about having al their diseased teeth

  removed or losing their sight to glaucoma—they’re just glad the pain went

  away.

  Old cats don’t have much time to waste feeling bad—every minute,

  every day counts when your feline friend is sixteen. “You hate for them to

  spend the time they have left in the hospital,” says Nicole Ehrhart, VMD, a

  cancer specialist and surgeon at the University of Il inois (now at Colorado

  State University). “Pets wake up every day and say, this is how I feel today.

  If we’re making their treatment worse than their disease, even for long-term

  gain, the pet doesn’t understand that.”

  Based on these considerations, owners can choose 1) curative intent

  therapy—in which you hit the problem with treatment as hard as humanly

  possible; 2) pal iative care; or 3) hospice. For instance, curative intent

  therapy includes a kidney transplant that replaces the failing organ;

  radioactive iodine treatment for hyperthyroid disease, which selectively

  destroys the abnormal tissue causing the problem; and therapies

  designed to remove, destroy, and stop tumor growth and cure the cancer.

  “With the pal iative realm you accept that [the condition] wil progress,

  that quality of life is now reasonable, and so we’l prevent symptoms as

  long as we possibly can,” says Dr. Ehrhart. That might be the best possible

  choice for an aged feline at high risk for a radical surgery, for example, or

  for an animal whose cancer is too advanced for other options. It might also

  be an economical or ethical choice for owners who aren’t interested in

  aggressive treatment and just want the cat to feel good during the time he

  has left. “Pal iative options are minimal hospitalization, and minimal cost in

  many cases, with nursing care at home,” says Dr. Ehrhart.

  Hospice is essential y end-of-life care, when medical treatment wil no

  longer help, and the veterinarian explains the end of the cat’s life is near. In

  these instances, the owner—or sometimes veterinary staff—provides

  nursing support at home, keeping him comfortable in a place he knows

  and loves and with beloved people nearby.

  Angel’s Gate

  In most cases, hospice for pets means the cat is made comfortable

  in the owner’s home. Owners unable to care for their animals’ end-of-life

  needs have few other options but the hospice movement for pets is slowly

  gaining recognition. In early 2002, the American Veterinary Medical

  Association approved guidelines for animal hospice care, and today there

  are a handful of model pet hospices set up similarly to their human

  counterparts. Angel’s Gate, founded nearly a decade ago by registered

  nurse Susan Marino and partner Victor LaBruna, was one of the first and is

  stil the largest of its kind.

  Angel's Gate is a non-profit animal care facility where animals who are

  terminal y il , elderly or physical y chal enged come to live out their days in

  peace, dignity and love. Marino cares for cats, dogs, rabbits, horses, and

  critters of al kinds in her Long Island sanctuary. “Our focus is on wel ness

  and quality of life,” says Marino. “We provide for the physical, emotional

  and spiritual needs of each animal with a holistic approach to caring.”

  Marino hopes that Angel’s Gate wil become a model for animal hospice

  al over the country. Currently she charges no fee for hospice care and

  relies on private donations to fund the cost of pet food, veterinary visits,

  acupuncture, massage, swim therapy and other care options offered to

  maintain quality of life.

  Pain Management

  Everybody has experienced pain at some point in their life, and pet

  lovers strongly empathize with their cats and do not want them to suffer. But

  it’s very difficult to objectively evaluate pain in animals—they can’t tel us

  that hurts the way people do, says Dr. Marks.

  Instead, cats hide their pain and discomfort. This evolutionary trait is

  designed to protect them from predators that would take advantage of an

  infirmity. Rather than hold up an injured leg, or whine and cry, cats more

  likely wil hide under the bed. Consequently, owners and veterinarians have

  to become pain detectives to figure out if the cat is uncomfortable, and to

  what degree.

  Historical y, veterinarians have been taught only about disease and how

  to cure it. “We have never real y trained veterinarians to think about pain

  associated with disease,” says Dr. Tranquil i. “We need to incorporate

  these principles and get the culture changed so new veterinarians learn

  more about pain and the role it plays in disease processes.”

  Depending on the type of pain and length of treatment, different

  medications are available for cats, says Dr. Little. To control post-

  operative pain for elective procedures such as spays, neuters or dentistry,

  drugs like oxymorphone and butorphanol work wel . Ketoprofen, an anti-

  inflammatory drug helpful for arthritis relief, is used often in combination

  with other pain relievers. More severe pain benefits from fentanyl

  (Duragesic) that’s administered in a pain patch, and Dr. Little says the

  smal est size used for human babies, can be used for al but the smal est

  cats. The fentanyl patch often is prescribed for use at home because once

  applied to the shaved skin, it dispenses pain relief through the skin for

  three to five days.

  Not al pain is severe or sudden. Chronic pain is more typical in older

  cats, and may be al eviated with something as simple as a heat lamp or

  warming pad the cat can sleep on. Arthritis is the most common chronic

  pain syndrome in aging cats.

  Post-operative pain may be more severe and require medical

  intervention. “The majority of the patients I work with are elderly dogs and

  cats,” says Dr. Ehrhart. “Many of them go through what we would consider

  very radical surgery, and come out with good quality of existence. We’re

  able to manage discomfort very effectively.”

  She says owners are often very surprised at how quickly cats bounce

  back. Pets typical y walk out of the hospital the day after surgery, feeling

  good, when a similar procedure would put a person out of commission for

  six weeks. “Th
e degree to which we experience pain has a lot to do with

  fear,” she says. “They don’t worry about how long it’s going to last, or how

  much worse it might get. They don’t wake up and say, oh no I have

  cancer—they just say hey, this is how I feel,” she says. “We can make

  them feel decent every day, and they’re happy.”

  Owner Attention

  Il ness, whether it involves hospitalization or home care, causes anxiety

  and stress. “If nobody visited you in the hospital for two weeks, you’d be

  depressed,” says Sheila McCul ough, DVM, an internist at the University of

  Il inois, and so is your cat. Stress makes the immune system less efficient,

  and depression can cause loss of appetite and refusal to eat or move

  around. “I strongly believe that owners need to participate in the care of a

  sick pet.”

  You should talk to other cat owners, says Dr. Garrett. Owners often feel

  isolated and don’t always have the support or understanding of friends or

  family members. Talking with people who have had similar experiences

  validates your feelings. “They understand, because they’ve been through it

  too,” says Dr. Garrett. Other cat lovers may offer advice and support for

  dealing with the situation.

  Your veterinarian may dispense medication for you to administer to your

  cat at home. During your lifetime together, probably you’ve had experience

  already giving a pil now and then, or putting drops in his eyes. Care for

  chronic problems, though, may demand more from you than what the

  average pet owner is accustomed to.

  Cats recuperating from surgery with mobility problems may need your

  help being kept clean or getting in and out of the litter box. Diseases such

  as diabetes or kidney failure may require insulin injections or

  subcutaneous (SubQ) fluid therapy that can be administered much more

  economical y at home, and with less stress to the cat.

  Restraint

  Cats that feel bad may become short-tempered even with a

  beloved owner. It’s impossible to explain that you’re giving him pil s for his

  own good. Struggling to get necessary medicine down the cat’s throat

  increases his stress level and may make him even more il . Safely