Expert Q&A

Our older cat has chronic renal failure and is now more sensitive to sounds. It jumps and twitches at the slightest percussive noise, such as the sound of a door closing. How can we help our pet?

BY: Janice Borzendowski

You’ve already taken an important first step by noticing what bothers your particular cat. Continue to pay attention to its needs and respond to them as you can. Obviously you cannot prevent your door from slamming from time to time, but you can otherwise make your cat’s life more comfortable by minimizing its overall levels of stress.

Janice Borzendowski, author of Caring for Your Aging Cat: A Quality-of-Life Guide for Your Cat’s Senior Years, suggests that if you own older cats, you should “senior sensitize” your home by:

• Placing food and water dishes close to where your cat likes to rest
• Placing your cat’s regular rest area in a quiet part of your house, away from the everyday percussive noises
• Purchasing pet steps or a ramp that will make it easier for your cat to climb up to and down from favorite elevated places, like your bed or a comfy couch
• Switching to thermal bedding -- which is available at most pet stores and can help your feline retain its natural body heat -- since cats with chronic renal failure and other conditions often become very sensitive to cold temperatures
• Feeding your cat from a pan with lower sides to make it easier for your cat to reach its food
• Making sure your cat can easily get in and out of its litter box