The Senior Cat Care Guide: What Actually Changes After 10

According to the AAFP, a cat officially becomes a senior at 10 (with ages 7 through 10 counting as “mature,” the cat equivalent of middle age). I don’t know about you but just reading that makes me sad! Our Thelma and Louis are only three-years-old, but the idea of them getting older just pulls on my heart strings. But that’s life, right? We are all (hopefully) aging, and the key is to make sure we’re doing it well, including our beloved cats! That’s why we wanted to help make a roadmap for our sweet cats’ senior years, whether your cat is already there or a kitten.

If you take anything away from this guide, it’s this: when an older cat starts doing something new, don’t file it under “just getting old.” Slowing down, drinking more, losing weight, missing the litter box, yowling at night. Every one of those is how a common, treatable disease first shows up. So don’t just write it off as “aging.” The vets at VCA say early kidney disease signs get dismissed this way all the time. So just use this as your North Star: If you see something off, say something to your vet. It could mean the difference between early, manageable treatment and something that gets further along than it needs to.

When do cats reach certain life stages?

The official bands, per the AAFP and AAHA life-stage guidelines are this: kitten (birth to 1), young adult (1 to 6), mature adult (7 to 10), and senior (over 10). In human terms, a 10-year-old cat is around 56, and from there cats age the equivalnet of four human years per cat year:

Cat age	Human years (approx.)	Life stage
7	44	Mature adult
10	56	Senior begins
12	64	Senior
15	76	Senior
18	88	Senior
20	96	Senior

Those numbers are approximate (they come from PetMD’s age formula), but they reset expectations in a useful way. A 15-year-old cat is a 76-year-old, and you’d notice if your 76-year-old relative suddenly started drinking twice as much water.

The big four of the senior years

Most of what changes in an older cat comes down to four conditions, and your job as best cat owner ever is learning to spot them early so they can be helped/treated before they get to the next level.

Arthritis: Cats almost never limp, so what you might notice in a cat with arthritis instead is that they stop making the leap to the counter, or maybe they hesitate at the bottom of the stairs, and start napping in lower spots on the cat tree. And it turns out that arthritis in cats is much more common than once believed.

Kidney disease: Chronic kidney disease affects up to 40 percent of cats over 10 and roughly 80 percent of cats over 15, per Cornell’s Feline Health Center. The sad reality is that age is the biggest reason why: “The only known risk factor for the development of CKD in cats is age.”

The early signs are weight loss, a duller coat, a pickier appetite, and more drinking and peeing. In other words, exactly the things people expect from an old cat, which is why it goes unnoticed until bloodwork catches it.

Hyperthyroidism: It’s the most common hormone disorder in cats. It effects middle-aged and older cats, and thankfully the vast majority of cases are benign and treatable. Cornell describes the signature as “weight loss, increased appetite, and increased thirst and urination.”

Be aware if your senior cat is suddenly ravenous yet is still losing weight. Our veterinary reviewer, Dr. Lindsey Mortlock, adds two other signs she commonly sees with hyperthyroidism: a cat who’s suddenly a lot more vocal, and one who starts peeing outside the litter box. Both are easy to write off as old-age crankiness or a behavior problem, and neither one should be. Talk to your vet about the symptoms, and ask if a thyroid panel might be needed.

Cognitive dysfunction: Roughly a quarter of cats between 11 and 14 show signs of cognitive decline, and by 15-plus it’s around half. Symptoms include disorientation, staring at walls, going to the bathroom outside their litter-box, changed sleep cycles, and sometimes loud yowling. It’s not “just what old cats do,” so it definitely warrants a vet visit or call.

If the vet gives the all-clear but your cat is yowling in the middle of the night, the fix might be simpler than you’d think.

My cat also liked to do some night yowling…but I think it was because she was restless and under stimulated. Our evening routine already had a lot of cuddling, but I added an intense play session right before I go to bed. Since I started doing that she sleeps through the night and doesn’t yowl anymore.

— via Reddit.com

How to make your home comfortable for a senior cat

There are a lot of product lists out there for senior cats, but it helps to know why some of those products are important to have.

A low-entry litter box, on every floor. If your cat has arthritis, you might want to add this to the list. Dr. Jamie Lovejoy of PetMD has noted that “high-sided and covered litter boxes may be difficult for your cat to get into,” which is something to consider as our cats age.

A roomy, open box with low sides on each level of the house takes away both hard parts, the climb and the long walk. That change alone might be enough to help your aging cat’s litter box problems.

Ramps or steps to the good vantage points. Either of these help a cat keep their usual spots without having to jump up to reach them. So consider a set of carpeted stairs up to the sofa or bed to make sure your arthritic cat can keep her cozy territory without putting extra pressure on their joints.

Of course we know that as cat owners, the saying “best laid plans” always applies:

I had a little set of stairs so my old lady cat could climb onto the couch or bed. She never used them. She preferred to yell for the elevator (me) for a lift. I donated them to my senior cat rescue and most of them use the stairs just fine.

— via Reddit.com

A heated bed, or at least a warm, draft-free spot. Older cats don’t hold their body temperature the way they used to, and the warmth feels good on arthritic joints. Consider a soft bed in a toasty corner with lots of sun, or a self-heated one.

Night lights. Aging eyes can lose their night vision, and a dim hallway light is all it takes to help a disoriented or dim-sighted cat find the litter box at 2 a.m. It’s a three-dollar fix for two different senior problems.

More than one set of dishes, and maybe a raised bowl. If there’s food and water on every level, a senior never has to take the stairs just for a drink. The experts are divided on raised bowls, but some like them for taking some load off the joints, so if your cat seems to have trouble crouching, it’s could be an inexpensive experiment worth doing.

The new vet cadence

As your cat gets older, you may need to take your cat to the vet more often than you think. AAFP’s senior care guidelines say from 10 to 15, a healthy senior should be examined at least every six months. Past 15, every four months.

The way your appointment works might change, too. These visits could include bloodwork, a urinalysis, and a blood pressure check. Kidney, thyroid, and diabetic problems often show up in the numbers while they’re still easy and affordable to treat. And while twice-yearly bloodwork may seem like a lot for a cat who appears fine, it could be how you catch a problem a year before you would have noticed anything at home.

The decoder: what you notice, and what it might mean

What you notice	What it might mean	What to do
Drinking and peeing noticeably more	Kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, or diabetes	Vet visit with senior bloodwork and urinalysis
Losing weight while eating well	Hyperthyroidism; also kidney disease or diabetes	Vet visit with a thyroid panel
Not jumping to old perches, hesitating at stairs	Arthritis (90% of cats over 12)	Pain assessment at the vet; add ramps and a low-entry box
Missing the litter box or going nearby	Painful box entry, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, or cognitive change	Low-sided box on each floor, plus a vet workup
Yowling at night, pacing, confusion	Cognitive dysfunction; also pain or thyroid trouble	Vet visit first; then night lights and a steady routine
Bad breath, drooling, dropping food	Dental disease	Dental exam (and see our health checklist for the guilt-free version)
Coat suddenly matted or greasy	Grooming hurts (arthritis) or hyperthyroidism	Gentle grooming help, and a vet check
Bumping into things, sudden vision trouble, dilated pupils	Often high blood pressure from kidney or thyroid disease	Same-day vet visit; this one is urgent

The good news? Most senior cat problems are treatable

While the table above seems scary, thankfully most of the conditions on it are treatable, and can be relatively affordable. For instance there are good options for arthritis pain these days, and hyperthyroidism is one of the more treatable things a cat can get. Kidney disease caught early can be slowed down for years with diet and monitoring.

The cats with the best outcomes aren’t the ones with the priciest supplements in the cabinet. They’re the ones whose owners acted on the first signs instead of two years later, and who made their house a little easier to live in. It works the same way for us humans!

One of the hardest parts of having a pet is knowing that you’ll likely outlive them and having to endure that loss. But I think it’s all about appreciating (or trying to) every day we have with them and never taking them for granted. We are here to make their lives great, and they do the same for us!

Cats can live long, healthy lives. And they are often with us through so many different phases of their lives and our lives. I see it every day on Reddit.

I got my cat for my 17th birthday. She passed last March, 2 months shy of her 20th birthday. She was with me throughout my entire adult life. Through many ups and downs, moves, broken relationships, the one that worked out, new jobs, etc. She was my one rock in life, the one constant. It hurts like hell now that she’s gone, but I wouldn’t trade those 20 years for anything.

— via Reddit.com

No matter what age your cat is, now is a great time to start making sure they’re set up for later in life. Book the regular checkups, watch the water bowl, and when the day comes that they’d rather take the stairs than the leap, meet them there with a ramp and a butt rub.