Everyone Said My Old Cat Was "Just Getting Old." A 10-Second Slow-Motion Video Showed the Vet It Was Pain.
If your senior cat sleeps on the same cushion all day and the toys have gone quiet, film him jumping onto the couch before you put it down to age. Here's what to look for.
With a note from Kayla Brooks, RVN, Registered Veterinary Nurse
For eleven years, our house had a nine o'clock madness.
You could set your watch by it. My wife would turn the telly down for the news, and somewhere at the back of the house Smudge would go off like a firecracker. Down the hallway at full tilt. A skid on the kitchen lino. Back up the hallway. Then he'd sit in the doorway, puffed up like a toilet brush, looking at us as if we'd started it.
Then one year the nine o'clock madness just stopped.
I couldn't tell you the date. That's the thing about it. Nothing happened. There was no limp, no crying, no trip to the emergency vet. Smudge just got quieter, a little at a time, until one night I realised I hadn't seen him run in months.
The feather wand went into the drawer with the takeaway menus.
"He's Fourteen, Ron. He's Earned a Rest."
That's what my wife said. That's what my daughter said. That's what the bloke at the pet shop said when I asked about a new toy.
And I believed it, because it sounded fair. I'm 68. I've slowed down too. I'm not running up and down any hallways either.
So I let him be. He slept on the same cushion on the couch, most of the day and most of the night. I'd scratch his head on the way past. He'd purr. I told myself he was happy.
But there were other things I'd stopped noticing, and I'm a bit ashamed of how long it took me to add them up.
- He'd stopped sleeping on our bed. He slept on the rug beside it instead.
- He used the dining chair as a step to get up to the windowsill. He used to fly up there in one go.
- He'd started going to the toilet just outside his litter tray, right by the edge.
- The fur over his back end had gone scruffy and spiky, and he'd twitch when I stroked it.
- If I picked him up from under his back legs, he'd turn round and give me a look.
Each one on its own, you'd shrug off. Old cat. Fussy cat. Getting set in his ways.
It took my grandson, and a bit of ham, to make me look at them together.
The Video
Lachie is twelve and he films everything. One Sunday he decided he was going to make a slow-motion video of "Grandpa's lazy cat" for his friends. He crouched by the couch with his phone and tempted Smudge up with a bit of ham.
Smudge did what he always does now. He looked at the couch for a good while, the way you'd look at a ladder. Then he went up.
Lachie played it back in slow motion and laughed. I didn't.
Because in slow motion you could see exactly what he was doing. His back legs weren't pushing. He was hooking his front paws over the cushion and hauling himself up with his shoulders, with the back legs just sort of trailing behind.
So much for lazy. He was climbing up the way I climb out of the pool.
I booked him in with our vet the next morning and I took the video with me.
"Cats Don't Limp. They Just Stop."
Our vet watched the clip three times. Then she put the phone down and said she'd put money on it being arthritis in his hips and lower back.
I said he'd never limped. Not once.
"They almost never do," she said. "A dog with sore hips limps and cries and makes sure you know about it. A cat just quietly stops doing the things that hurt. He stops jumping. He stops playing. He sleeps more. And everyone tells you he's getting old."
Then she told me something I still think about.
When researchers have X-rayed older cats, more than nine out of ten cats over the age of twelve show signs of arthritis in their joints. Nine out of ten. It's one of the most common things in elderly cats, and one of the most missed, because the signs look exactly like ordinary ageing.
I'd ticked every single one, and I'd called it old age.
"Sleeping more is what a sore cat does."
That's what she said. And I realised Smudge had given up the nine o'clock madness for one reason. It hurt.
The Options, and the Bit Nobody Likes
She was straight with me about what was available, which I appreciated.
There are anti-inflammatory tablets, but in an older cat she wanted bloodwork first, because they have to be used carefully if the kidneys aren't perfect, and at fourteen there's a fair chance they aren't. There's a newer monthly injection for arthritis pain that works well for a lot of cats, but it means a trip to the clinic every month for the rest of his life, and it isn't cheap. There's a pain medicine called gabapentin, which can make some cats a bit dopey.
None of those are bad options. I want to be clear about that. If your vet recommends one, listen to them.
But then she said something I didn't expect.
"Whatever we decide on, start him on a proper fish oil today. It's the base. It's the thing I'd want every arthritic cat on, whether they end up on medication or not."
I asked her why fish oil, because to be honest I thought it was the sort of thing you buy for your own heart and forget to take.
Why the Fish Oil Made Sense Once She Explained It
She drew it on the back of an appointment card for me. I've tried to do it justice here.
The part of arthritis that hurts is inflammation in the joint, the body sending out chemical "alarm" messengers that make the joint swollen, hot and sore.
Those alarm messengers are made out of the fats in your cat's body. When most of those fats are what are called omega-6 fats, the kind in chicken fat and most cat food, the alarm messengers come out loud.
The two omega-3 fats found in fish oil, called EPA and DHA, take the place of some of those omega-6 fats in the body's cells. The messengers made from them are much quieter. Same joint. Same wear and tear. Less alarm.
- Swollen, sore joint lining
- Jumping and play quietly stop
- More sleep, in the same low spot
- Less alarm from the same wear
- Moving hurts less, so he moves more
- Builds up over 6 to 8 weeks
Same sore hips. A quieter alarm.
The bit that convinced me was the research. A study published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine followed 40 cats with painful arthritis. Half were put on a joint diet high in EPA and DHA, half on a regular diet. The researchers didn't rely on owners' impressions. They put activity monitors on the cats' collars.
The cats on the regular diet became less active over the study. The cats on the omega-3 diet became more active. They moved more because moving hurt less.
There's a catch, and she was honest about it. It isn't a painkiller. It doesn't work in an afternoon. The omega-3 has to build up in the body's cells, and that takes weeks, usually six to eight before you see much. But it works on the reason the joint hurts, every day, quietly, and it doesn't need a clinic visit every month.
That sounded like exactly what Smudge needed. So I went home and did what any bloke would do. I went to the chemist.
The Chemist Capsule Disaster
I bought a big tub of fish oil capsules. Human ones. I pierced one with a pin and squeezed it over Smudge's dinner, feeling quite pleased with myself.
Smudge walked up to the bowl, sniffed it, and walked away. He didn't come back. He'd rather go hungry.
I tried it the next night. Same thing. On the third night I sniffed the tub myself, and it smelled like a bait shop on a hot day.
When I mentioned it to the vet nurse on the phone, she laughed and told me I'd made the classic mistake.
Fish oil goes off. Once a bottle or tub is opened and air gets in, the oil starts to oxidise, which is a fancy word for going rancid. Cats have far better noses than us and they can smell it straight away. And here's the bit that floored me: oxidised oil can actually add to inflammation in the body, the exact thing I was trying to calm down.
So she gave me a short list of what to look for. I wrote it on the fridge.
Then she said a lot of her clinic's owners were using a snap-pack from a company called Fureeze. It's an Australian company (they also ship to the UK and US, and it only takes about 5 days).
What Fureeze Is
It's a box of little single-serve snap-packs. Each one is a day's dose of fish and krill oil, sealed until you open it. You snap the top off and squeeze it over the food. That's it. Nothing to measure, nothing to keep in the fridge, no tub going off on the bench.
- Fresh every single day. Each dose is sealed until you snap it, so the oil never sits open going rancid
- EPA and DHA from anchovy and krill oil, the two omega-3s cats actually use, guarded by vitamin E and astaxanthin
- Mixes straight in. Emulsified, so it blends into wet or dry food instead of floating on top
- Chicken flavoured, so cats that sniff at capsules eat it
- No fridge, no pump bottle, no measuring. One snap-pack a day from the cupboard
The oil inside is anchovy fish oil and krill oil, protected by natural vitamin E and astaxanthin, which is the red antioxidant that gives krill its colour and helps stop the oil going off. It's emulsified, so it mixes into food instead of sitting on top in a greasy slick.
And it's chicken flavoured. That was the part I didn't believe until I saw it.
Smudge ate it the first night. He licked the bowl. A cat that wouldn't go near a chemist capsule licked the bowl.
The First Two Months
I'm going to tell you what happened as plainly as I can, because I'd want someone to do the same for me.
That last one got me. I'm not a crier, but I'll admit I had to go and stand in the kitchen for a minute.
Lachie made another slow-motion video, the same couch, the same bit of ham. This time you could see Smudge's back legs bunch up and push. He went up in one go.
The Honest Part
Fish oil didn't cure his arthritis. Nothing does. He's still fourteen. He still sleeps a lot, and he's still a bit stiff on cold mornings. The vet still checks his hips at every visit and we've talked about the injection if he gets worse. That's the right way to do it.
Here's the part that matters. For more than a year I watched my cat give up on things he loved and called it old age, because that's what everyone told me. What I called old age was pain. And there was something simple I could do about it, every day, at home, that nobody had told me about.
If I'd known, I'd have started a year earlier.
The Questions People Ask Me
"Isn't he just old, though?" Maybe. But more than nine out of ten cats over twelve show arthritis changes on X-ray. If your old cat has stopped jumping and playing, the odds are it's not just age. Take a slow-motion video of him jumping onto something and show your vet. It's the best ten seconds you'll spend.
"My cat won't eat fish oil." Neither would mine. Smudge refused the chemist capsules three nights running. The snap-pack is chicken flavoured, and now he sits by his bowl at dinner time waiting for it.
"He's on other things from the vet. Is it OK?" Fish oil is one of the most commonly used supplements in cats, and it's routinely used alongside other treatments, but tell your vet what you're giving him. Ours was the one who told me to start it.
"How long before I see anything?" Be patient. Our vet said six to eight weeks for the omega-3 to build up properly. Smudge was quicker than that, but I wouldn't judge it before two months.
What Other Owners Have Said
These are real reviews from people using the same snap-pack.
My Tom Cat is 15 years old and he has been on it for 6 weeks... He played for the first time in months. He had the zoomies for the first time in ages.
Our cat Oscar is 17 years old. He is absolutely thriving on Fureeze krill oil supplement. He's livelier, glossier and rejuvenated. I can absolutely recommend Fureeze.
My 17 year old cat seems to be enjoying the addition to her dried senior diet. Hopefully it is helping to keep her well and healthy. Her fur certainly seems softer.
My cat loves the supplement, asks for it every night. It's his bed time snack. His coat feels so silky and shiny. Feels good giving him something that I know is good for him.
If This Sounds Like Your Cat
If your cat has gone quiet, sleeps all day and has stopped jumping on things, please don't do what I did and wait a year.
Get a slow-motion video of him jumping and show it to your vet. And start him on a fish oil he'll actually eat, today, because every week you wait is another week of him quietly giving up on the things he loves. Whatever else your vet recommends, it's the base.
Fureeze has an offer on at the moment for new customers.
It comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee. If you don't see a difference, send back the empty box and they'll refund you in full.
I'd love to hear if it brings back your cat's nine o'clock madness. Smudge says hello.
Ron
P.S. If you do one thing tonight, film your cat jumping onto the couch in slow motion. If his back legs aren't pushing, you'll see it. Then check the Fureeze offer here. It's covered for 90 days, so the only risk is waiting.