September is Animal Pain Awareness Month—an annual initiative from the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM) designed to do something deceptively simple: help us notice what our animals cannot tell us.
According to research by the North American Veterinary Community, more than 45 million household pets suffer from chronic or acute pain, but unlike their human counterparts, they are unable to tell us where it hurts. And of all companion animals, cats are perhaps the most skilled at keeping that pain secret.
Chronic pain can be subtle, and masked as "getting old" or "slowing down." As the IVAPM recognizes, age is not a disease, but pain is.
If your cat is seven years of age or older, this month is the right time to go through this checklist. Not because something is necessarily wrong, but because catching something early is almost always the difference between manageable and serious.
✅ 1. Schedule Regular Veterinary Exams (With Bloodwork)
The single highest-leverage thing you can do for a senior cat's health is not a supplement or a diet change. It's regular vet visits.
Cats hide illness extremely well. By the time symptoms are visible to you, the underlying disease is often advanced. Twice-yearly bloodwork after age 10 can catch issues 6–18 months before symptoms appear.
The most common senior cat health conditions, in order of frequency, include chronic kidney disease (affecting roughly 33% of cats over 12), arthritis (most cats over 10, often hidden), hyperthyroidism (around 10% of cats over 10), and dental disease (approximately 80% by age 10). These are all conditions that progress silently—often without any obvious distress—and all are far more treatable when caught early.
A senior wellness panel typically includes a complete blood count, chemistry panel covering kidney values, liver enzymes, glucose, and electrolytes, plus thyroid testing. Your vet can advise on additional screening based on your cat's individual history.
What to do: If your senior cat hasn't had a comprehensive exam in the last year, book one today. Bring a list of any behavioral changes you've noticed, however small they may seem at the time.
✅ 2. Monitor Weight Monthly—and Take It Seriously
Weight loss is the single highest-yield early sign of disease in senior cats—and the easiest to track at home. Weigh your senior cat monthly. A 5% or greater loss over two to three months in a previously stable cat is a red flag.
Even small weight changes can signal underlying health issues. A loss of just 0.5–1 pound in a cat can represent a significant percentage of their body weight and might indicate problems like hyperthyroidism, diabetes, or dental disease.
Weight gain is equally worth monitoring. Obesity in senior cats significantly accelerates joint degeneration, strains the kidneys, and increases the risk of diabetes. Veterinary experts recommend weighing your cat on the same scale at least every two months.
What to do: Weigh your cat today. The easiest method: Weigh yourself, then weigh yourself while holding your cat, and subtract. Flag any change greater than half a pound for your vet's attention.
✅ 3. Open Up and Say Aah—Dental Disease Is a Silent Systemic Threat
Dental disease is one of the most undertreated conditions in senior cats, and one of the most consequential. Approximately 80% of cats show signs of dental disease by age 10. Left unaddressed, it causes far more than bad breath.
Periodontal disease is common in senior cats and can cause organ dysfunction from chronic bacterial-induced inflammation. Bacteria from infected gum tissue can enter the bloodstream and affect the kidneys, heart, and liver over time—making dental care a whole-body health issue, not just an oral one.
The signs to watch for at home: pawing at the mouth, drooling, dropping food, reduced appetite, or avoiding hard food. A cat that used to beg for treats and suddenly seems disinterested may be experiencing mouth pain. A formerly meticulous cat may stop grooming thoroughly when bending and twisting becomes painful, but dental pain can also reduce grooming near the face and neck.
What to do: Work with your veterinarian to determine the best oral care routine, which may include brushing, water additives, dental treats, and professional cleaning with full oral assessment under anesthesia. Ask your vet to assess your cat's teeth at every visit.
✅ 4. Trim Claws Regularly — and Watch What They Tell You
Senior nails can grow thicker and may not wear down as well when activity decreases. Check them every few weeks. If a nail curls toward the paw pad, seems painful, or you're not comfortable trimming it, a veterinary clinic or experienced groomer can help.
Overgrown claws that curve into the paw pad cause pain with every step—and that pain compounds. A cat who is already managing joint discomfort doesn't need the additional load of painful paws. Claw length is also a proxy for activity level: if your cat's claws are growing unusually fast or unusually long, it may signal they're moving less than they used to. That reduction in activity is worth paying attention to in its own right.
The nail trim is also a built-in opportunity to examine the paws for swelling, sensitivity, or changes in texture—information that's easy to gather and easy to overlook.
What to do: Check and trim claws every two to three weeks. Make it a calm, low-stress routine from early adulthood so it doesn't become a battle in senior years. If nails seem unusually thick or brittle, mention it to your vet.
✅ 5. Groom Regularly—and Treat It as a Health Assessment
A formerly fastidious cat may stop grooming thoroughly when bending and twisting becomes painful. You might see dandruff, greasy fur, mats along the back or hips, or staining around the rear. Gentle daily brushing can prevent mats, reduce hairballs, and give you a calm chance to check for any bumps, sore spots, or skin changes.
This is one of the most important and underappreciated diagnostic tools available to cat parents. Grooming puts your hands on the entire body: the spine, hips, flanks, neck, and limbs. Changes in coat quality, lumps, areas of sensitivity or flinching, and even the smell of the skin can surface during a gentle brushing session that would never emerge from across the room.
Changes in grooming behavior—increased grooming or licking of a specific area on the body may indicate pain in that area or referred pain. Decreased grooming, especially in cats, may indicate it is too painful to twist around. In other words, both too much grooming and too little are worth noting.
What to do: Brush your senior cat gently two to three times per week. Use each session as a hands-on check: Palpate lightly along the spine and hips, note any flinching or vocalizing, and flag anything unusual for your vet.
✅ 6. Evaluate Their Sleep Surface—Joints Don't Rest on Comfort, They Heal on It
Cats sleep between 12 and 16 hours a day. That means the surface they sleep on isn't passive. It's doing something to their body, for better or worse, during the majority of every day.
For senior cats, a low-quality sleep surface isn't just uncomfortable. It's a missed opportunity for one of the most accessible forms of joint support available. Polyfill beds compress within weeks, eventually offering little more than thin padding over a hard floor. Memory foam—particularly high-density, slow-rebound memory foam—distributes a cat's body weight evenly, reducing concentrated pressure on inflamed joints, and maintains that support day after day.
This is the principle behind the Knead Orthopedic Bed: human-grade memory foam and an ergonomically contoured shape that guides natural spinal alignment, cushions the hips and knees, and supports the kind of deep, settled sleep that actually allows the body to recover. In an independent six-week Citruslabs evaluation, 80% of participating cats showed improved sleep quality and 78% became more active overall.
For cats already experiencing arthritis or significant joint stiffness, the Knead Therapeutic Bed adds InfraTherm nano-heating to the orthopedic foundation—warming to a precise 103–104°F that penetrates deep into stiff joints, improves circulation, and eases the inflammation that makes movement difficult after rest. Animal Pain Awareness Month specifically highlights orthopedic beds as products that support comfortable daily living for aging pets. In the Citruslabs study, 82% of senior and arthritic cats showed reduced pain after six weeks of regular use.
Both beds include a low-entry design that lets arthritic cats step in and out without the effort or pain of climbing.
What to do: Assess where your senior cat currently sleeps. If it's a flat cushion, a towel, or bare floor, it's time to upgrade. Look for human-grade memory foam with meaningful depth (at least 4"), ergonomic contouring, and a washable cover.
✅ 7. Support Hydration—Kidneys Are the Ticking Clock of Feline Aging
Chronic kidney disease is the most common cause of death in senior cats. It affects approximately 30% of cats over 15. And it's almost always silent until significant function has already been lost.
Hydration is one of the most accessible tools for protecting kidney health over time. Cats evolved as desert animals with a low thirst drive—they're biologically designed to get most of their moisture from prey, not a water bowl. Dry-food-only diets leave many cats in a state of chronic mild dehydration that taxes the kidneys over years.
Aging cats may not feel as much thirst, creating an increased risk of dehydration, especially when combined with concurrent renal insufficiency.
Wet food, cat water fountains, and multiple water sources placed around the home can all meaningfully increase daily water intake. Some cats respond well to slightly warmed water or to broths made for pets. The goal is reducing the kidney's workload, every day, before signs of disease appear.
What to do: If your senior cat is eating exclusively dry food, talk to your vet about incorporating healthy wet food options. Place water bowls or a fountain in multiple locations. Monitor urine output—increased urination or very concentrated urine can both signal kidney concerns worth investigating.
✅ 8. Protect Muscle Mass—Sarcopenia Is Real, and It's Preventable
In healthy cats, approximately one third of lean body mass is lost between 10 and 15 years of age—a process known as sarcopenia. Muscle loss isn't just an aesthetic concern. Muscle is what stabilizes joints, assists with balance, and allows cats to move without compensating in ways that create new pain.
A cat who is losing muscle mass is also losing the scaffolding that protects their skeleton. This makes joint pain more likely, falls more dangerous, and recovery from illness slower.
The interventions are straightforward: high-quality protein (senior cats often need more protein per pound than adults, not less), gentle daily movement, and play sessions scaled appropriately to their current mobility. A senior cat who can no longer leap to the top of a cat tree can still engage with a wand toy held low, or a puzzle feeder on the floor.
What to do: Look at your cat's spine and hip bones from above and the side. If you can see or easily feel the vertebrae and hip points, muscle loss may already be occurring. Discuss protein levels and muscle condition scoring with your vet at your next visit.
✅ 9. Keep the Mind Active—Cognitive Decline Is a Real and Growing Concern
Feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome (FCDS) — the cat equivalent of dementia — is more common and more underdiagnosed than most cat parents realize. Approximately 28% of cats more than 12 years old are affected, increasing to 50% of cats more than 15 years old.
Signs are subtle and easy to attribute to "just getting old": disorientation, staring at walls, increased vocalization at night, forgetting where the litter box is, reduced interaction with family members, or changes in the sleep-wake cycle. There is increasing evidence that stimulation from an enriched environment may delay or even prevent the onset of feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome.
The prescription isn't complicated. Puzzle feeders. Gentle wand toy play. New scents. A window perch with a bird feeder view. Consistent routine. Social interaction—both with you and, for cats who are receptive, with other animals for meaningful neurological maintenance.
What to do: Introduce or maintain at least one form of active mental engagement daily. Talk to your vet if you notice disorientation, altered sleep cycles, or changes in social behavior. There are medications and dietary supplements that may help manage FCDS when caught early.
✅ 10. Become Fluent in Your Cat's Pain Language
This may be the most important item on the list, because it underlies every other one. A cat who is in pain will almost never tell you directly. The signal is behavioral and generally subtle.
The most common signs of pain in cats recognized by IVAPM include: slowdown in activity; not going up or down stairs, or difficulty standing after lying down; not playing as much, less jumping, reluctance to jump onto surfaces; decreased eating and drinking; changes in grooming behavior; and changes in urine or bowel movements.
To that list, experienced feline veterinarians add: hiding more than usual, becoming less social or more irritable, a hunched posture when sitting, avoiding being touched in areas they previously accepted, and eyes that seem slightly squinted or tense at rest (a subtle indicator of chronic discomfort called orbital tightening).
The cats who receive pain intervention earliest are the ones whose owners noticed the small things. IVAPM proclaimed September Animal Pain Awareness Month to help raise awareness about the prevalence of pain in animals and to educate pet owners on how to identify and manage it, because recognizing and addressing pain in animals is crucial for their overall health and quality of life.
What to do: Keep a simple behavioral log of how your cat moves, eats, grooms, and interacts week to week. Take a short video of any gait changes or behavioral shifts to show your vet. The camera on your phone is one of the most useful diagnostic tools you own.
A Note on What This Checklist Is—and What It Isn't
This is a starting point, not a finish line. None of these items replaces a veterinarian's assessment, and if something on this list prompts concern, the right next step is always a call to your vet.
What this checklist can do is help you walk into that appointment with better information. The cat parent who says "I've noticed she's been grooming less along her spine for about three weeks, and she hesitated before jumping onto the couch twice last week" gives a veterinarian enormously more to work with than the one who says "she just seems a little off."
Your observation is clinical data. Use it to your—and your cat’s—best advantage for a happy, healthy lifetime.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Animal Pain Awareness Month?
Animal Pain Awareness Month is an annual initiative in September led by the International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management (IVAPM). Founded in 2015, it was created to raise awareness about the prevalence of pain in companion animals, and to educate pet owners on how to recognize and address it. Because animals cannot communicate pain directly, chronic pain is frequently misread as normal aging, and Animal Pain Awareness Month exists to change that.
How do I know if my senior cat is in pain?
The signs are almost always behavioral rather than physical. Key indicators include reduced activity, reluctance or inability to jump to previously used surfaces, changes in grooming (either more or less than usual), reduced appetite, hiding more than normal, altered litter box habits, changes in sleeping position or location, a hunched posture, and increased irritability or withdrawal. Because cats mask pain instinctively, any behavioral change—even a subtle one—that persists for more than a few days is worth a veterinary conversation.
When should a cat be considered "senior?"
Most veterinary guidelines classify cats as "mature" around age 7, "senior" around age 11, and "geriatric" at 15 and beyond. However, individual health varies significantly, and some cats show age-related health changes earlier than others. From age 7 onward, annual bloodwork becomes valuable; from 10 onward, biannual wellness exams with bloodwork are broadly recommended.
How often should a senior cat see the vet?
Veterinary guidelines recommend wellness exams every six months for cats over age 10, with a comprehensive bloodwork panel at least annually. This frequency allows early detection of conditions like chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and arthritis—all of which are far more manageable when identified before symptoms become obvious. Cats with known chronic conditions may need more frequent monitoring.
Can an orthopedic or heated bed make a clinical difference for a senior cat?
The clear evidence suggests yes. Sleep surface quality affects how effectively joints recover during rest; a surface that concentrates pressure on inflamed joints interrupts the restorative benefits of sleep. High-density memory foam reduces that concentrated load. Adding therapeutic heat (as in the Knead Therapeutic Bed) further supports recovery by improving circulation to joint tissue, relaxing surrounding muscles, and easing morning stiffness. In an independent Citruslabs clinical study, 82% of senior and arthritic cats showed reduced pain after six weeks on the Knead Therapeutic Bed, and 78% became more active overall. These outcomes reflect the compounding benefit of consistently better rest.
What is feline sarcopenia, and should I be worried about it?
Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of muscle mass. Research published in The Veterinary Nurse found that healthy cats lose approximately one third of their lean body mass between ages 10 and 15. This matters because muscle stabilizes joints, assists with balance, and supports recovery from illness. A cat losing muscle is losing the protective scaffolding around their skeleton. It can be slowed—but not reversed after significant loss—through high-quality protein intake and continued, appropriately scaled physical activity. Any visible wasting along the spine or hip bones warrants a vet visit.
Is feline cognitive dysfunction treatable?
Feline cognitive dysfunction syndrome (FCDS) is managed rather than cured, but meaningful quality-of-life improvements are possible. Environmental enrichment—puzzle feeders, gentle play, consistent routines, social interaction—has the strongest evidence for slowing decline. Some medications and dietary supplements have shown benefit in clinical settings. Early identification is key: The sooner cognitive changes are recognized and addressed, the broader the range of management options. Talk to your vet if you notice disorientation, increased nighttime vocalization, litter box changes unrelated to physical ability, or changes in social behavior.
What should I feed my senior cat?
Senior cats generally benefit from high-quality, highly digestible protein to offset sarcopenia, controlled phosphorus levels to support kidney health, and moisture-rich food to support hydration. However, the ideal diet depends significantly on your individual cat's bloodwork and health status. A cat with early kidney disease has different protein needs than a healthy cat of the same age. Work with your veterinarian to choose a diet tailored to your cat's specific panel results. Avoid one-size-fits-all "senior" marketing and focus on nutrient profile.
