Shelter says: "The only cat left on our adoption floor is Bell" -video

This is a TikTok video of an eight-year-old shelter cat named Bell. She is female which is unusual for a ginger tabby and she is the only cat at the shelter as you can see when the video camera roams down the aisle of shelter cages with not a cat in sight. By implication, Bell is the only cat left because she is middle-aged in cat years. She looks very cautious when the person making the video enters her cage. This is understandable.

Bell emerges from hiding in her shelter enclosure. Screenshot.

On the outside of her enclosure there is a sign saying "free roaming". I am not sure what that means in this instance. I don't think Bell was free-roaming but she might have been. Perhaps it means that she is able to roam freely in a larger than usual enclosure or area at the cat shelter.

@gcace_rescue The only cat left on our adoption floor is Bell💔 #adoptaseniorcat #foster #rescue #animalshelter #fyp #catsoftiktok ♬ original sound - m.a.r.y s.h.a.n.t.i

Once again, it looks like a very nicely set up cat shelter with great facilities. It is a sad video and it provides an insight into how shelter cats feel.

I wonder if they could have provided a better hiding place for Bell? She hides under what appears to be a plastic stool. A customised hiding place might be better. She needs to hide because she is timid or understandably anxious. That is very clear judging by the video. She is out of her normal environment and in a very strange and rather sterile place.

This shelter cat she needs a nice home where she is loved. It is, of course, sad that she has been rejected by potential adopters. Elderly cats are not infrequently left on the shelf so to speak. This is not only unfair but inadvisable.

RELATED: Video: POV-what a senior cat at a shelter sees and hears as adopters walk by.

Elderly cats make really good companion animals. They know the ropes. They settle into a new home more easily and more quickly. They are more accepting because they have more life experience. They don't chase around the place like kittens do causing a certain amount of mayhem. All-in-all they are an excellent cat to adopt. 

RELATED: Florida veterinarian said senior cat was ‘suffering’ and euthanizes her on the day of intake at SPCA.

The only downside is that they are likely to die before the adopter. In which case you have to be prepared emotionally for that very difficult time in a caregiver's duty when you have to decide if and when you need to euthanise your cat. 

It is the toughest time for a concerned cat caregiver. The moment might be protracted because of chronic illness. Not easy to deal with. But the benefits, in my view, of adopting a senior cat far outweigh the negatives.

Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Cat health Tip: give this supplement to your old, senile cat

Due partly to improved nutrition, domestic cats are living longer. Some people argue that humans live too long! I am one of those people but this is about cats and as they live longer there is a greater possibility that they will become senile. Feline senility appears to be increasingly common. In many cases this is just a manifestation of old age and not the result of an illness of some sort such as a brain tumour.

Pops an elderly rescue cat. Photo: in public domain. Pops is also partially-sighted.

Incidence of senility

A study found that more than 25% of cats in the age bracket 11-14 had signs of true senility. In cats older than 15, senility affected around half. It's caused by reduced blood flow to the brain and damage caused by free radicals. Arteriosclerosis and other health conditions causing high blood pressure, blood clotting, anaemia or reduced blood flow can contribute to senility.

Aktivait

Aktivait for cats.

A health tip from the esteemed veterinarian and author Dr. Bruce Fogle is to provide your elderly cat with a supplement called Aktivait. He is enthusiastic about it. He said that when it was given to older dogs for two months it resulted in a "significant improvement in signs of disorientation, social interaction and house soiling".

It contains omega-3 fish oils, vitamin E, vitamin C, L-carnitine, alpha lipoic acid, coenzyme Q, phosphotidylserine, and selenium. You can buy Altivait for cats although at the time that he wrote his book Complete Cat Care there were no similar studies on the product for cats. He recommends it nonetheless and he warns cat owners to not give canine Aktivait to your cat as alpha lipoic acid is toxic to cats.

It gets a five star rating from 32 reviews on petdrugsonline.com. I am not being paid to promote this supplement. The information is provided to try and improve the lives of elderly cats.

Signs of senility

Signs of senility can be subtle but when combined they are pretty clear. You might see a combination of the following: a blank expression, repetitive or stereotyped pacing continuously, poor grooming, disorientation, a delay in recognising people they know or places objects they know, becoming lost in familiar surroundings, "going to the wrong side of a closed door when asked to go through" (Bruce Fogle), increased sleeping during the day, decreased night-time sleeping, disturbed sleep, decreased enthusiasm when greeting you, slow responses when you request they come to you for example, decreased interest in playing, increased irritability and incomplete social interactions.

Please tell me in a comment if you are giving your cat Aktivait. I'd be interested in hearing from you.

My elderly cat has dementia and I feel that he is better since taking these. - Lesley Harston Wednesday, 1 September 2021

Senior Cat Care

Senior cat care - Old cat - photograph copyright junku-newcleus under creative commons license kindly granted by the photographer. The name is his Flickr name.

My cat is a fighting fit but slightly fat 15-16 year female Tuxedo Moggie of great distinction. She is built like a brick and sh*t* (excuse the language) like a trooper, a sure sign that she is healthy. You can learn quite a lot about the health of your cat companion cleaning the litter. Senior Cat Care is something I know a bit about from first hand experience.

But seriously for a minute it can be quite worrying living with an older cat. We know that their average life span is around the late teens. Mind you some breeders of purebred cats think the late teens is unattainable. If fed and cared for properly it is certainly attainable. As a cat nears the end of their lives it gets hard for human and cat alike. Mentally I am (or indeed have) prepared for my cats death and I feel sad when a think of it, very sad as I will miss her terribly.

It is good to know that generally cats like humans are living longer. That means a need for greater awareness of the needs of the older cat to allow for proper Senior Cat Care.


Senior Cat Care - Old Cat - photograph copyright emdot and reproduced under creative commons license.

So what are the special needs of the older cat? The needs stem from the changes that take place in a cat as she gets older. An older cat will be less flexible, and if she is overweight that is an obstacle to flexibility too. As a result, her grooming is less effective and parts of her body may not be groomed. These parts are the difficult areas to get too such as the lower back and hind quarters. The best way around this is to give your senior cat daily grooming sessions. Maybe even twice or three times a day for shortish sessions.

This is great for several reasons. Your cat will like it, usually, and if she doesn't there may be something wrong physically. A vet's check up could be in order. So, she'll like it. You'll like it. It will slow you down for a bit. It will allow you to get closer to your cat. And it will allow you to inspect her while grooming to check for symptoms that give an indication of an illness. As cats get older their immune systems become less effective (I can vouch for that in terms of my health!) so it is wise to watch out for signs of illness.

You don't have to be a veterinarian to recognize if something looks wrong as it is usually common sense. The hard part is deciding what is wrong. We leave that to the vet of course. So senior cat care can have a silver lining.

Older senior cats have less elastic skin and stiff or arthritic joints. The skin's blood circulation is less effective leaving the cat more open to infection. The arthritic or stiff joints might mean a change to some of the practices that you have in place for the placement of the litter and the food. My cat has difficulty climbing onto my bed so I am about to build some steps. She also has greater difficulty using the cat flap so I have to open the door for her. I think that these little things should be observed and acted upon especially if you are not around a lot to deal with them on an ad hoc basis.


Old cat photograph copyright Terry Bain and reproduced under a creative commons license.

Senior cat care should extend to a routine inspection of her teeth. Dental disease is fairly common in senior cats in part due to the food we give them. Dry cat food is not the answer. Not only are diseases of the gums and teeth bad per se they also make eating less enjoyable and sometimes difficult. This may lead to a loss of appetite and weight loss. A sore mouth due to gum disease needs treatment obviously.

Loss of appetite may also be due to a partial loss of smell as we all know that cats decide what to eat by the smell of the food. Good cat food is, I think, hard to come by. I would argue, on the basis of having read Elizabeth Hodgkins book, "Your Cat", that dry cat food is not as good as wet. I cover these aspects at the cat food section of the cat facts page of the main website..

The things that affect us in old age affect cats to such as loss of memory ("senior moments") and personality change (grumpy - I can empathise).

I think it important for all cats but particularly senior cats that stress levels are reduced as much as possible. Cats like routine so allowing a well run-in routine to continue wherever possible is a big plus for a older cat.

One obviously important part of Senior Cat Care is exercise (and that applies to us both). Older cats sleep more and sometimes eat more. Obese cats are on the increase. This is our responsibility although sometimes it can be difficult to deal with. I make an effort (but it is relatively easy for me as I am retired) to play with my girl on the lawn perhaps a couple of times a day for say 10 mins at least. She loves it. She asks me to do it and I can check up on her condition such as breathing and general muscle tone and joints when playing with her. She passes on all fronts at present thankfully.

This post does not cover all the "angles". See your vet for the truly medical stuff.

Sources:

• Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
• Myself

Senior Cat Care to Home Page