It’s Senior Month! It’s that time of year when we discuss all things senior for our older patients. A huge part of having senior pets is recognizing different things that they are trying to tell us like when they are in pain. Let’s talk about senior cats and how we can recognize pain in them.
It all starts at home with you, the pet parent! You’re the best to judge how your pet is doing and how we maybe need to adjust what’s going on at home to help your senior cats age gracefully. Cats reach senior age at around 11-14 years old, anything over 14 is considered geriatric, since they are living older and older more issues arise. It is estimated that about 60-80% of cats over 10 already have arthritis and in some cases is already advanced. Other issues can cause pain like kidney disease, dental disease and gastrointestinal disease. So, ruling out what is causing pain and then treating them to relieve the pain is important. So, let’s begin at home, it can be the smallest behavior change that we see for example maybe your senior cat is just sleeping more. Another one is lack of socialization, vocalizing can be a sign of pain, behavior change like not interested in food, not jumping up on their cat tree or your counters, pacing around certain areas of the house, and finally facial expressions are one of the best ways to tell if your cat is in pain.
In the clinic we use the grimace scale to read our cats and know what pain level they are in. The grimace scale has us look at their ear position, their eyes and their whisker position. By looking at all three of those factors we can tell how much pain they are in and then we can give them the appropriate level of medication to treat them. Having this tool in clinic is helpful but its also great for you the pet parent to have at home to monitor your senior cat for any signs of pain.
Ruling out where the pain is coming from and treating it quickly is key in the health of our senior kitties. Chronic pain especially can affect all aspects of our cats’ lives to the point of them not wanting to socialize, not eat, not be active and can impair their cognitive function. So, once we identify pain we need to treat it right away so it doesn’t have negative affects on other aspects of their lives. So, by you, the pet parent recognizing early signs of pain at home we can help rule out issues and treat those painful conditions to keep your senior cat happy and healthy.
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