The 8-Point Senior Cat Home Check: How to Spot the Early Signs of Ageing

Cats are experts at hiding illness. A few quiet minutes and eight simple things to notice will help you learn your cat's normal — so you catch the small changes that matter.

Your cat won't tell you when something's wrong. As natural prey animals, cats are wired to mask weakness, and they carry that instinct into our living rooms. It's part of what we love about them — that quiet self-possession — but it's also why the early signs of ageing are so easy to miss.

Those signs rarely arrive as one dramatic symptom. They show up quietly, in the everyday: a slightly bonier back under your hand, a water bowl that empties a little faster, a favourite windowsill that no longer gets jumped to. On their own, each is easy to explain away. Together, they're often the very thing a vet later wishes they'd seen sooner.

The reassuring part is that you don't need to be an expert to notice them. You just need to know your cat's normal — and a few quiet minutes, now and then, to check.

When is a cat a “senior”?

Under the 2021 AAHA/AAFP feline life-stage guidelines, cats are considered mature adults from 7 to 10 years, and senior beyond 10. Individual cats vary, and many vets start paying closer attention from around age seven. Whatever the label, the principle is the same: the older your cat, the more those quiet minutes of observation are worth.

Older cats also benefit from seeing the vet more often. Veterinary guidance stresses that a single annual visit isn't really enough for an ageing cat — more frequent check-ups, often around every six months, make it far more likely that a slow change is caught early.

Why the early signs are so easy to miss

Four conditions account for a large share of health problems in older cats: chronic kidney disease, an overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism), dental disease, and arthritis. What they share is that they develop slowly and quietly. A cat can lose weight while still eating well. It can grow stiff without ever limping. So the early signs get filed under “just getting older” — and sometimes that's all it is. But the pattern vets see again and again is that several small changes appear before any single obvious symptom.

Arthritis is the clearest example of something hiding in plain sight. Because cats rarely limp, owners seldom report joint pain — yet radiographic studies find degenerative joint disease in the majority of cats over six, rising to the great majority of the oldest cats. It's far more common than most owners realise, and, importantly, it's treatable.

The 8-point home check

None of these points is a diagnosis on its own. The aim is simply to notice what has changed for your cat. Run through them now and then — a calm evening on the sofa is perfect.

1. Weight & body shape

Gently run your hands along your cat's back and sides. Can you feel more spine or rib than you used to? Older cats can lose muscle over the back and hindquarters even when the scales barely move. Weight loss while still eating well is always worth a vet chat.

2. Appetite & thirst

Watch for eating noticeably more or less than usual, and for drinking more than before — draining the bowl faster, or hanging around taps. Increased thirst is easy to overlook and can be significant, so it helps to know roughly how much your cat normally drinks.

3. Litter tray habits

The litter tray is one of the most useful health monitors you have. Larger or more frequent urine clumps, straining, or suddenly going outside the tray are all worth noticing. Scooping daily isn't just tidy — it's how you catch a change early.

4. Grooming & coat

A cat's coat mirrors how it feels. A once-immaculate cat that stops grooming — or a coat that turns matted, greasy or flaky — may be finding it harder to reach, or simply feeling off. Over-grooming one patch counts too. Coat changes rarely happen for no reason.

5. Mouth & teeth

Dental disease is common in older cats and genuinely painful, but because cats rarely stop eating, it hides well. Watch for bad breath, dropping food, drooling, chewing on one side, or a new preference for soft food over biscuits. If eating looks different, the mouth is the first place to check.

6. Jumping & movement

This is where arthritis shows up: not in limping, but in what your cat stops doing. The windowsill it no longer jumps to. Taking the stairs instead of the leap. A pause before hopping down. It's easy to read as “just slowing down,” but stiffness is treatable and worth raising with your vet.

7. Sleep & behaviour

Changes in behaviour are easy to explain away, but they're real signals. Hiding more, less interested in laps or play — or the opposite: restless, disoriented, or yowling at night. In older cats these shifts can point to discomfort or an underlying change, and they're worth a check rather than a shrug.

8. Breathing & energy

When your cat is fully relaxed or asleep, watch its breathing. Faster or more laboured breathing at rest always warrants a prompt call to your vet. So does a clear, lasting drop in energy or play. Of all eight points, this is the one to act on soonest.

What to do if you notice a change

First, don't panic. Remember the key principle: no single sign is a diagnosis. It's the pattern that matters — two or three small changes together are what's worth acting on.

If you've noticed a couple of changes, book a check-up and go prepared. Vets find it genuinely helpful if you can say what changed and roughly when. A short phone video of the behaviour — stiff movement, fast breathing, a change at the litter tray — can be worth more than a long description. If you weigh your cat at home, bring the numbers. The more you can describe your cat's normal, the faster your vet can tell what's shifted.

The bottom line

You don't need to be a vet, and you don't need to worry over every yawn and nap. You just need to know your cat's normal well enough to notice when it changes. A few quiet minutes, eight simple things to look at, and a willingness to ring your vet when two or three of them shift — that's what catches the conditions of old age early, while they're most manageable.

Your older cat won't ask for the check-up. That part is up to you.

Know your cat's normal — and keep it handy.

Download our free 8-point senior cat checklist for the fridge, and if you've spotted a couple of changes, book a senior check with your vet.