Complete Care for Your Aging Cat - Amy Shojai [19]
Glaucoma is another eye problem more typical of older cats. It is extremely painful and, similarly to cataracts, can result in blindness.
Loss of sight doesn’t stop her from being a good pet, though. Vision-impaired and blind cats tend to rely more on their other senses, such as hearing, as well as memory of certain landmarks to get around safely. “You can still give them a pretty good quality of life,” says Dr. Myers. “Don’t go moving the furniture, simple as that.”
Aging Ears
The normal feline ear can hear up to three times the range of sounds as that of people. But with age, the delicate structures within the ear begin to lose sensitivity to vibrations. This decline can be accelerated by damage from very loud noises. Chronic ear infections or parasite infestations, such as ear mites, may also damage the cat’s hearing.
Age-related hearing loss, termed presbycusis, shows up in any animal if it lives long enough, says George Strain, DVM, a professor of neuroscience at Louisiana State University. “There’s a certain loss of nerve cells with time in the body,” he says. Hearing loss can’t be reliably predicted, but once it starts, it continues to get worse with time.
Cats can’t tell us they’re hard of hearing. “They compensate by paying more attention to their other senses,” says Dr. Strain. “They may become more visually attentive, pay attention to vibration cues, air currents and things like that.” Many times owners don’t recognize the cat has lost hearing because it happens so gradually, until suddenly they notice the cat startles when touched or stops running to greet the doorbell.
Aging Taste
Changes in flavor perception are thought to reflect those experienced by aging humans, says Nancy E. Rawson, Ph.D., of the Monel Chemical Senses Center, a nonprofit research institute in Philadelphia dedicated to research in the fields of taste, smell, chemical irritation and nutrition. “But as a carnivore, the feline’s senses of taste and smell are quite distinct from those of the human, and responses to age-associated changes may differ,” says Dr. Rawson.
Cats aren’t able to detect carbohydrate sweeteners, but can taste and seem to prefer meaty flavors described by people as “sweet.” Detection of meaty, salty and sour flavors doesn’t seem to be affected by age. Bitter tastes are more sensitive to aging changes.
Chemical irritations and “mouth feel” influence how well the cat likes or dislikes a flavor. These can be influenced by changes in saliva content, for example, caused by dehydration that commonly develops in aged cats. Disease or medication can reduce or increase the sensitivity of the mouth and tongue, and alterations in taste (and smell) can remain even after the disease is cured and the medicine is stopped. Dental disease creates a hypersensitive mouth, interferes with chewing ability, and produces unpleasant tastes and odors that prompt the cat to refuse certain foods.
Warming foods increases the volatility of tastes and scents to make them more intense and appealing to the aging cat’s palate. Antioxidants hold promise for prevention of age-related scent and taste loss, says Dr. Rawson.
Aging Nose
Scent is very important for cats, but few studies have documented exactly what happens to its acuity in relation to age. Cats do lose smelling sense the older they get, but nobody knows the amount due to changes of aging compared to lifetime damage, says Dr. Myers. “We’re just starting to get a handle on how much the vomeronasal organ contributes to the total scent picture for dogs and cats,” he says. The vomeronasal, or Jacobson’s, organ is in the roof of the mouth between the soft palate and nasal passages and is thought to be important in the detection of pheromones, chemicals primarily involved in prompting sexual behaviors.
Snuffling foreign objects into the nose can cause damage. Upper respiratory infections as well as endocrine diseases such as diabetes and hyperthyroidism