Old Cats and The Needs of the Geriatric Patient

In my feline specialty practice, I have seen patterns occur within the lifespan of cats. An odd one is that you can weigh a kitten and tell it's age by it's weight. A one pound kitten is a month old. A three pound kitten is three months old. Kitten's gain a pound of weight each month as they grow. I have even checked the kitten's weight with their tooth eruptions to confirm their ages. Yes, they do match. This is not a scientific discovery, just the observation of a pattern.

I also noticed the old cats died in the spring. By a factor of ten times as much as they died during other times of the year. It must be nature's way of making room for the new mouths to feed as the new year of mating approaches. Again, not a hard and fast rule, just a pattern in the lives of our feline friends.

Old cats have specific needs. For them to live beyond twenty, they must be on a special diet that is low in protein but very nutritious. I commonly recommended the Science Diet K/D or the Purina CNM Diet, NF. Both are purrfect, did I just say "Purrfect," for the elderly cat. The other thing old cats need to live longer is warmth. A heating pad under a towel, and set on LOW HEAT is just right to provide the added warmth an old cat needs so it doesn't have to use metabolic heat to keep it self warm. There are commercial cat beds available too that plug in and bring just the right warmth, in a round and sided cat bed, to keep any old kitty very happy. My favorite cat ever, "Mama", who appears with me on the cover of my book "Life Extension", loved his heated cat bed and would sleep in it every night. Yes, Mama was a male cat whose real name was Joey, but his nickname stuck, and he was quite famous for it.

If your elderly cat can make it past the ravages of kidney failure or cancer, it can live well past twenty years old and maybe into it's thirties. In my own career, I saw several cats at 22 years of age. One at 26, and even one poor old bugger who made it to 29. That's 145 in people years! Loving care, good grooming, clean bedding and fresh food and water every day are also the standards for keeping your feline friend happy for many years to come.

Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.drdougikeler.com/