Question. Elder statescats. Poll as well

When, in your opinion do our owners achieve elder statescat status. Tanada
will be 16 in two weeks. TED has been calling her an old girl for about
four years now. If you go by TED, QC will soon be an elder as she is about
ten now, as is Merlin. Both were adopted in 1999/2000 at about two years of
age or so. Some elders are obvious, like Snoopy, Yoda, Stinky, and their
fearless leader Kitty Farm Cat.

So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have any in
that age range?

Pam S.

tanadashoes wrote:
When, in your opinion do our owners achieve elder statescat status. Tanada
will be 16 in two weeks. TED has been calling her an old girl
for about four years now. If you go by TED, QC will soon be an elder
as she is about ten now, as is Merlin. Both were adopted in
1999/2000 at about two years of age or so. Some elders are obvious,
like Snoopy, Yoda, Stinky, and their fearless leader Kitty Farm Cat.

So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have
any in that age range?

Pam S.

According to the boxes of kibble in the supermarket, a 'senior cat' is 8 or
older!

Bah! I say. A senior cat is one that no longer shows the wild kittenish
actics they did when they were two. Shmogg stopped acting like a two year
old cat when he was about 14. And *that* is when he got to be a senior cat,
and not before.

Yowie

Yowie wrote:
According to the boxes of kibble in the supermarket, a 'senior cat' is 8 or
older!

Bah! I say. A senior cat is one that no longer shows the wild kittenish
actics they did when they were two. Shmogg stopped acting like a two year
old cat when he was about 14. And *that* is when he got to be a senior cat,
and not before.

I don't know, Frank was still playing like this at the age of 16:

http://s120.photobucket.com/albums/o...ankplaying.jpg

Don't know if I'd have called him an elder statescat at that point.

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

"tanadashoes" wrote in message
m...
When, in your opinion do our owners achieve elder statescat status.
Tanada will be 16 in two weeks. TED has been calling her an old
girl for about four years now. If you go by TED, QC will soon be an
elder as she is about ten now, as is Merlin. Both were adopted in
1999/2000 at about two years of age or so. Some elders are obvious,
like Snoopy, Yoda, Stinky, and their fearless leader Kitty Farm Cat.

So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have
any in that age range?

I've noticed aging changes in mine, usually soon after their twelfth
birthday.

But not something I would consider 'old age' until after they are
fifteen.

Jo

On Aug 19, 9:48�pm, "tanadashoes" wrote:
When, in your opinion do our owners achieve elder statescat status. �Tanada
will be 16 in two weeks. �TED has been calling her an old girl for about
four years now. �If you go by TED, QC will soon be an elder as she is about
ten now, as is Merlin. �Both were adopted in 1999/2000 at about two years of
age or so. �Some elders are obvious, like Snoopy, Yoda, Stinky, and their
fearless leader Kitty Farm Cat.

So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have any in
that age range?

Pam S.

Good question, Pammy. The vet told me once that cats are considered
"senior" at age 7.
That sounds way young to me. Maybe back in the day, when vet care &
nutrition wasn't so
good cats didn't live much past ten. But they do now. I'd think at
*least* ten to twelve should
be senior status. I look
at pictures of Yoda at age 10, and he looks visibly younger than he
does now.
Poor Y-Man isn't in as good shape as Snoopy, I don't think. He looks
old, and walks old. He's thinner
than he was and has an odd "sway" to his back legs. But he
had a pretty rough illness a while back and just never was the same.
The oldest cat I ever had was 17.
Yoda will be, I think, 15 next month. You know, I'm crazy about all of
them, but Yoda is special. I really
love that old cat. He's my buddy-cat and I have really come to depend
on him for companionship.
Sherry

Sherry wrote:

The vet told me once that cats are considered "senior" at age 7.

Yeah, I remember when a vet suggested I get Smudge a "senior workup"
when she was 6. I was like, "Senior?? She's still a kitten!" They said
that the usual age for a cat to be considered senior was 7, but they
thought they'd get a jump on it and do hers early. This was a $165
blood workup, btw. Money-grubbers!

Poor Y-Man isn't in as good shape as Snoopy, I don't think. He looks
old, and walks old. He's thinner than he was and has an odd "sway" to
his back legs.

I know what you mean. Smudge doesn't have a sway, but she definitely
has more stiffness in her walk these days. Doesn't stop her from galloping
home when I call her, though.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

tanadashoes wrote:
So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have any in
that age range?

Hmmm. We do have a couple that are definitely "elder cat status" but I'm
not sure it depends on age, so much as....mmmmm...wisdom? frail-i-tude?
some level of diminished faculties? I dunno.

Fearless is definitely an elder statescat. He is 17 (*and* 4 months, he
would like me to add), and he achieved eldercat status sometime in the
past 3 years, when he started to have more problems with his hips and
control of his back end...and started to FEEL like an eldercat when we
petted him.

Others (Smokey at 14 and Jezebel at 13) are definitely in the right age
range but don't FEEL like eldercats, quite yet. Well, Smokey definitely
not. Jezebel is beginning to, and she's always been a bit curmudgeonly
with the other beasts. And Cinder acts like an eldercat and she's only 12.

Now Belle. Belle was the belle of the eldercats. She began to feel and
look quite aged about the age of 15. At 17, we decided it was in her
best interest to keep her in our "suite" (bedroom & bathroom we could
close off from the other cats & dogs), as her hearing was declining and
she was getting somewhat unsteady on her feet. The old dear lived until
22 and one half there in a heated soft bed in our bathroom, with her own
catbox and gooshy food every morning. She was deaf, blind, toothless and
practically furless ('cause I loved it off her, probably) and still a
perky old lady until the day she had to be helped to RB. I still miss her.

Deborah
slave to The Magnificent Seven

tanadashoes wrote:

So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have any in
that age range?

I just realised I never even thought of Nikki as elderly, even though
she was nearly 17 when she passed. She just kept her kittenish looks and
feisty, healthy, playful behaviour right to the end (which made her
death even more of a shock).

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban. In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

tanadashoes wrote:
When, in your opinion do our owners achieve elder statescat status. Tanada
will be 16 in two weeks. TED has been calling her an old girl
for about four years now. If you go by TED, QC will soon be an elder
as she is about ten now, as is Merlin. Both were adopted in
1999/2000 at about two years of age or so. Some elders are obvious,
like Snoopy, Yoda, Stinky, and their fearless leader Kitty Farm Cat.

So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have
any in that age range?

Pam S.

Interesting question. I don't know how old Persia is... probably 10. I'm
not quite ready to call her an elder cat. Maybe at age 14

Jill

tanadashoes wrote:
So I ask you when do they join the elder status quo and do you have any in
that age range?

Well, according to our TED, cats need their "annual senior wellness
examination" when they turn 8. By his measure, our 3 oldest are indeed
seniors. We think the girls are way too young to be called that, so only
Xoxo, at an estimated 10 years old, gets the senior exam.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
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