How to care for an older cat? Part 1/3

When our cats get older, they will suffer from many things and they lose their activity over time. So how to care for an older cat?

In this article, we will talk about two important things bedding and foot tools, as an important way to care for an older cat and every cat owner must know about them.

Bedding :

As cats get older arthritis is quite common and they typically lose a little bit of mobility. It gets a little harder for them to get up to places they used to jump to before and they can experience some discomfort when lying on the hard surfaces.

One way we can help them with that is by making sure they have lots of very soft well padded cat beds around at the levels that they can reach. Which usually means ground level.

So, we really encourage owners who live with a geriatric cat to have at least a couple of different cat beds. They’re very well padded and available at the ground level at all times.
Because quite often our cats might have been used to sleeping on the couch or sleeping on the bed or somewhere nice and cushiony.

Because they become older, they lose the ability to go up there and have weakness in their legs.
It may hurt them jumping down from places. That’s why it’s really good to provide lots of soft places for them to sleep and it also helps them with their joints or view.

For certain joint pain, one little trick that many cat specialists recommend is getting an electric heating blanket and putting it underneath the cat beds. The cat lays on there it’s nice and warm, they will love you for it and again it helps keep their joints a little bit more comfortable as they get a little older. A really simple small thing that makes a huge difference to their comfort in their later years.

footstool:

In the same vein, another thing you can do around the house gets little stepping stools like a footstool or something along those lines that will help.

If your cat likes to hang out on the couch, hang out on the bed and if you like them to hang out there with you, you can purchase foot tools that help your cat go up high places. Because they may not be able to jump as high as they used to, they may still be able to jump and want to hang out with you on an elevated surface.

As many of you probably know that cats love being up high and being able to look down on us or get up to view. They can look out the window and again creating a little stepping stool really helps them get up there and enjoy life even when they’re a little bit older.

So, providing a comfortable bed for your older cat is a simple thing but will make a big difference and make him happy.