I recently lost one of my best friends, a beloved feline companion of 17 years. This experience reinforced for me the special challenges faced by practitioners and clients caring for an aging cat, especially at the last stages of life. The American Association of Feline Practitioners Panel Report on Feline Senior Care addresses these special needs and recommends a set of guidelines to aid in the prevention and treatment of older cat diseases. The importance of these recommendations is that they can have a powerful impact on the welfare of older feline patients.
These guidelines, along with tremendous advances in feline medicine, provide veterinarians with the tools to maintain health and maximize longevity for senior cats, as well as to enhance the bond between our patients and our clients. As with people, aging pets are the most rapidly growing age group. In addition, many of our pet cats now spend 50% or more of their life as seniors. Numerous articles document the health benefits to people who live with pets and surveys indicate that length of ownership influences the strength of people's attachment to their cats. In many cases, the extensive home care needed by feline seniors further touches our clients and enhances the bond. In our wonderful profession, we have the opportunity to beneficially impact both pet and human life. The AAFP Panel Report on Feline Senior Care assists veterinarians in developing senior programs that can raise the overall standard of preventative health care for older cats.
To summarize the powerful points of this report, preventative heath care programs customized for cats 7 years of age and older, allow for a practical approach to early disease detection and management. The AAFP report recommends semi-annual, or more frequent, examinations for seniors and regular comprehensive diagnostic testing selected to identify the more common diseases of older cats. By recognizing that behavioral changes may increase with age secondary to underlying medical conditions or cognitive decline, we are able to identify and treat the underlying problems. Diagnostic and therapeutic plans should never be based on age, because older cats can live comfortably with one or multiple chronic conditions. We can help our clients accept their loss more easily without guilt or regret by assisting in the prevention of pain, provision of nutritional support, and offering emotional support to our clients during the final days of their beloved pet's life. These steps help prolong the human–pet bond, and also enhance the bond between client and veterinary professionals.
My cat (IR), Mittens, died of disseminated liver cancer. However, she enjoyed a great quality of life, despite having multiple other conditions over the last 2–4 years of her life, including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, chronic renal failure, inflammatory bowel disease, hypertension, and osteoarthritis, all of which were well managed. My family was grateful that the advances in veterinary care allowed her to live 6 more weeks, with prevention of pain and nutritional support, so that we could share more time with her, as well as prepare for her loss.
Mittens was not unlike many of our patients, nor is my family different from many others who would do whatever they could to extend their time together with their beloved pets by even a few more days. The AAFP Panel Report on Feline Senior Care helps veterinarians reinforce to clients the benefits of a feline preventative health care program for maximizing the quality of life for their aging cats. Clients need to know that age in itself is not a disease. By educating our clients about normal aging changes, early warning signs of disease, and behavior changes, we can partner with them to facilitate early disease detection and management in their senior pets. It is our responsibility as veterinarians to inform clients about the best means of prevention and treatment of senior diseases so that they can make educated decisions about the care of their cat.
Every day, we as veterinarians have the opportunity to enhance the lives of our feline patients, and – in doing so – also the lives of their human families. When life is no longer comfortable or dignified, we can prepare our clients, be with them during euthanasia and comfort them through their loss. How we support our clients during this time will affect their decision to move on and hopefully add another feline friend to their lives.
In memory of all the feline seniors who have enriched our lives and in honor and celebration of those who continue to do so.