Senior Cats
What Changed When Pickles Turned 10
Pickles turned ten last year, which means she is now, technically, a senior cat.
I did not notice this straight away. She did not change overnight. But looking back over the past year, there have been a number of small shifts that I have had to learn to pay attention to and respond to.
She is not unwell. She is just older, and older cats need slightly different care than younger ones — not dramatically different, but different enough to matter.
She sleeps more. A lot more.
Pickles at three was an active, opinionated cat who had things to do. Pickles at ten has decided that what she has to do is sleep, primarily in the warmest spot available, and she would appreciate it if we kept the noise down.
This is normal. Senior cats sleep more, and their sleep tends to be more deliberate — they find a spot and commit to it rather than napping in short bursts.
I stopped worrying about the sleeping and started making sure her favourite spots were warm, accessible, and not something she had to jump awkwardly to reach.
She eats differently
Pickles' appetite is slightly less voracious than it used to be, and she is less enthusiastic about certain textures she used to enjoy.
Senior cats can develop dental sensitivity, which affects what textures they will eat comfortably. Softer food became a bigger part of her diet after she started leaving certain chunks.
Her calorie needs also dropped slightly — less activity means less energy required. I adjusted her portions downward gradually rather than all at once.
Understanding her life stage changed how I thought about all of it
Knowing that Pickles is in the senior life stage — and what that life stage typically involves — made all of these changes feel less alarming and more manageable.
Senior cats are generally from around ten or eleven years old depending on who you ask. Some cats reach this stage earlier. Understanding where yours sits helps you anticipate changes rather than being surprised by them.
The cat age calculator shows you the human-equivalent age and current life stage for your cat — which helps frame the changes you might start noticing and when to start thinking about them.
The things I adjusted around her
I moved her food bowl to a spot she did not have to navigate steps to reach. I added a small ramp to her favourite sofa spot because the jump down was clearly less comfortable than it used to be. I gave her slightly more predictable quiet time.
None of these are dramatic interventions. They are small accommodations that made her daily life more comfortable without changing anything fundamental.
She is still Pickles. She is still opinionated and particular and very clear about when she wants attention and when she does not. She is just a ten-year-old version of herself, which turns out to be a version I like a great deal.