Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. My name is Charlotte, and I have the pleasure of presenting today's webinar, seeing your Cats, Age to perfection.
I'd like to firstly say a big thank you to Everclean for sponsoring today's session and for making this webinar possible. We also have Ricardo from Everclean with us today who is going to say a few words shortly about the company, products and marketing marketing strategy. So, firstly though, a bit about our speaker today.
Cat is a graduate of Bristol Veterinary School and has spent her entire career in first opinion veterinary practise. Her clinical interests are the care of senior pets, chronic pain management and dentistry, but her passion is and has always been communicating and collaborating with pet owners to help them fully understand and engage in their pet's care. This is why she started a blog, which then led to social media pages, and she is now well-known in the vet and public space as an advocate for both animals and her profession.
So she, she is a perfect speaker for today's topic. I wish to let you all know that today's session will be recorded and available on playback, and you will all receive a certificate for today's attendance for your CPD. Please use the Q&A box for any questions you may have for our speakers throughout the presentation, and at the end of the session, we'll see if we can answer any of these questions you may have.
If we run out of time with the questions submitted, we will email out any responses to you in the next few days. So with no further ado, I'd now like to hand over to Ricardo from Everclean to start today's session. Thank you, Ricardo.
Thank you so much. Hi, everyone. Hope everyone is, is well.
Before we, before I hand over to our partner CAT, I just wanted to introduce this innovation to everyone, explain a bit about obviously, the strategy behind this product, what it is, and also some elements of the, of the proposition, benefits for parents and for cats as well. So let's jump into that and I'm happy to take any questions after the, the presentations. I'm here I, I work as a senior brand manager for Ale.
I look and I look after innovations for Europe. Yeah. So let's get started.
OK. So what is Ecle senior cat? Basically, this is a short description of this proposition.
senior cat is a super premium cat litter, specially designed to meet the unique needs of ageing cats as they face specific restrictions, limitations, behaviours, and preferences associated with ageing. So, we know that cats, after, after, Certain ages, they start to present some specific limitations and these are just some examples of the things I'm, I'm talking about. Obviously a frequent urination, they pee more often, they visit the tray, multiple times, and also, they also might present lower mobility, yeah, as a consequence of their senior age.
And another interesting point is also about sensitivity of the pulse. This is something that they might present as well after a certain ages, which obviously cause, might cause some discomfort when using the tray. So these are the three main.
Let's say, issues that we've identified for the, for this proposition and based on that, we've developed this tailored, product for, for senior cats, and also cat parents. So let's go to the next slide, . So this is just in terms of the market background, the elements that we've studied, we've reviewed to be able to design this specific product for, for senior cats.
So first of all, when we look at the pet food market, what we noticed is that, most, most of the brands, if not all brands, they organise their products, according to life stages. So that Is already happening with this specific category and we thought, you know, foreverly why not have a cat litter as well organised by life stages because this is a great way to help consumers navigate in the shelf and decide, and choose the best product for their senior cats, yeah. Obviously the consumer is the same.
The consumer that buys, pet food, products is the same that goes to the, the, the stores and buy a cat litters. So this is was, this was a key element of our strategy and we wanted to be aligned with the pet food market. Another thing that is important to mention is that the fact that Elem is a premium cat litter brand and we, we try to prioritise, the well-being and the health and the happiness of the cat.
So when we would look at this market, and you know this very well. Most of the brands, communicate very functional benefits, so benefits that are mostly relevant for cat parents, but not necessarily for, for cats, and that's something that we are trying to shift, we're trying to shift this perception in the market and not only deliver benefits that are relevant for, for, pet parents, but also look at the cat, as if. They were members of the family, more from a health and well-being perspective.
Yeah, so that's also something that we took into consideration before we develop our strategy before we design our products with our technical experts. Not only, R&D teams, but also, we had the support from, from, cat behaviours and also vets as well, yeah. So important question, why senior cats has a, a, a big potential, a huge potential in the market.
So first we've done several researches to understand this consumer and this shopper, yeah. One thing we've noticed as well was that these senior cat pet parents they consider themselves as experts in the fields. They know their cats very well.
However, they also acknowledge the fact that they can do more. They can go the extra mile to please their, their senior cats. So that's also something, an insight that is important for us because obviously it's not our role to fully educate parents but more to.
Complement the knowledge that they have, today, with, specific, insights and tensions that, cat parents, struggle, with. Yeah. Another important, data is the fact that this is a big market, so, we know, from past research that 25% of the total cat population is, is senior, which is, a lot, so it's a big opportunity for us as a business, yeah.
And we also tested this product before launching the market, yeah, and, more than 50% of, of the senior care parents were happy to buy this product, yeah, which is a good indication for us to go to the market and present this innovation to, to everyone, yeah. Another important insight that we've, considered, when, designed this product when, when we reviewed the strategy for, senior cat was the fact that, senior, senior pet parents, they are, they, they prefer. They consider actually, older neutralisation benefits or anything related to older neutralisation as key benefits for, for senior cats.
Again, linked to my point earlier because they acknowledge the fact that senior cats pee more often, they use the tray multiple times. So, this is a key indication that the unix selling proposition that we have for senior cats, which is primarily about other neutralisation is in the right direction, so that's an, an important indication for us. This was a, a claim test we've, implemented in the UK with senior cat owners and it's a clear, green light for us to say OK.
A product specific for in your cat delivering superior order control is, is a good idea for this this shopper, yeah. So now in terms of products, how does this, magic happen? More from a technical point of view, the ingredients that we added, in this formulation.
So, first of all, we've increased or boosted the amount of what we call activated carbon. In this formulation and this is a specific ingredient responsible for all neutralisation again because the amount of urine, is, is greater, is, is, is higher. We, we had to compensate that through a performing product, a product that can successfully deliver, especially urine order neutralisation.
So that's an important fact that we've considered. Another thing is also the fact this is linked to the point I mentioned earlier, the fact that senior cats are demanding, and they need to feel comfortable when going to the trays and they they also they might present a a sensitive pa. So that's why we designed this product with microgranulas that are gentle and senior pos, yeah.
Most of the cat litters we see in the markets, they have harsh granulas that are not necessarily ideal for senior cats, but because we, we are concerned with the cats well-being, with the senior cat well-being, with his comfort. We designed this product with micro brands as well. Again, as, as a way to differentiate this proposition from everything we have in the market at the moment and, and, and have a true, tailored, product, for this, target audience.
So that's pretty much the introduction I, I wanted to share with everyone. Happy to take any questions at the end of the, the presentation as well. But now let me hand over to our vet expert, a cat, so over to you.
Thank you very much. So thank you ever so much, Ricardo for that introduction, all about the Everclean senior cat litter, which is actually a, a really good product, and thank you ever so much, the webinar for hosting us. So yes, welcome to my talk, Senior Cats Aid to perfection, because of course that's what they are, isn't it?
They are perfect. They're just older. And so this talk is aimed at every member of the veterinary team in the clinic because, obviously as a vet profession we're very focused on health and.
Well-being of mainly health about animals, but actually wellbeing and welfare is welfare is a huge part of our role and our support for pet owners. We really do need to be actively involved in every aspect of life, really. And so every member of the team can do that.
You don't have to be clinical, you don't necessarily have to be qualified. You can be a student or just starting out, you can be part of the support staff. And so this talk is for everybody, and I hope you, I hope you enjoy it.
Why? Oh, I am not advancing. Oh, no, I am, right, my apologies.
So who am I? Obviously you have that introduction, so I'll quickly whiz through this. I graduated from Bristol University in 2003, and I've been in small animal practise ever since.
But alongside my clinical work, I do have social media pages, and that's because I do genuinely have this passion for. Pets for communicating and if we can empower and educate our owners to understand their pets healthcare and understand why we're suggesting what we do and centre ourselves as part of their world when it comes to their pets, we can do so much more than just make them better. And so that's why I do what I do.
So here's a plan for the talk today of how we can support our senior citizens. We're gonna talk about how old they are, what their needs are, their common health concerns, but like I say, this talk really isn't particularly focused on clinical things. I am no specialist in the feline, medicine field.
I, I do work in clinical practise, but my skill set is slightly different, but then we're gonna talk about all those lifestyle. Impacts that we can make changes for our older pets while still respecting who they are and you know their species and their instinctual needs, but with the, with the acknowledgement of their age as well. Because in veterinary care we are in this unique position to support our pet owners and ensure their senior cats are living their best lives.
And like I say, it's about far more than medicine. Medicine and health is fundamental to everything we do obviously as clinicians, and it's a huge, obviously part of our role, but we have a wider role in educating and animal welfare, and that's what this talk is all about. So how Although they really this chart is amazing, and I really encourage you to go and find it.
It's from the ISFM and ICA Care, it's on the website, you can find it really easily online, and it is a fantastic thing to share on your social media pages and your websites, because it allows us to relate the age of cats to human age, and therefore we can really help owners to understand and it's relevant to them when we're talking about their cat and they love it, going, oh my cats. 5 is the same as a 36 year old person, gosh, that seems very adult. Oh gosh, my cat is 13, they're nearly 70 in human ages.
And so when I say to them, yeah, he's 13 now, so, you know, he's nearly 70, there's a lot of 70 year olds that are still fit and enjoying their life and having the best time, but most 70-year old people are carrying some sort of mild health conditions that do need to be managed. They're not as young as they were, but they're still having a fantastic life. Being able to make.
Particularly ageing and the age of a cat relevant to a human age is a huge step in helping our pet owners understand their pet's needs and and really be able to be actively involved in in delivering their care. So this chart, find it, share it, it's fantastic and goes down so so well. Now these, the five pillars of what cats need for their environment and their welfare, is not quite so well known, but this is based on some really good research from great feline clinicians.
And this is essentially what this talk is based around, but this is of course relevant for cats of any age, and these are the five pillars that they need to be able to be living in an ideal feline environment. The first and the primary one is to provide a safe space. Cats need to feel secure.
In addition to being a predator species, they are also a prey species, they're a territorial species, so feeling confident, secure and comfortable in their space, whether that's a flat, whether it's a home, whether it's a garden, whether it's a larger territory. Doesn't really matter as long as it feels safe and secure to them. And again, that's a real concept sometimes to get across.
They might be a predator, but they're also prey, but once that is understood, a lot of things fall into place and make a lot more sense. And then we've got Pillar 2 which is providing multiple and separated key environmental resources. They need all the things, they all need all the things, you know, we all need ideally in our homes, a kitchen and a toilet.
And a sofa to rest on and the door to come in and out and that kind of thing, and this is, this is what this is, you know, they need all the things in a way that they need them. We need to provide our cats with those resources in a way that they can access them, in a way that they like to access them, in a way that they want to access them, and that is one of the things that will change as they get older, and it is a real talking point I find with, senior cat owners. Pillar 3, they need to be able to play and display that predatory behaviour that is such an instinctual activity for them.
And it doesn't matter how old you are, you need to play. We need to keep our older pets, our older cats, we need to keep them both physically and mentally active because it is such a fundamental, it's one of these pillars, it's a fundamental part of their existence. And again, supporting pet owners to do that is, you know, it is part of our role.
At Pillar 4, positive, consistent and predictable human social, human cat social interactions. Again, it with cats it's all about predictability, it's all about constant and consistentness because that's what they really value above all things. And so, you know, they love you and they, and we want to love them and it's about loving them in a way that they love.
And again for our older cats who we see an awful lot. When you have dementia and forgetfulness and brain ageing, these social interactions can go into decline, and it can really worry owners on lots of different levels. And so it's really important to just actively say, you know, you can still spoil them, you can still stroke them, he might be a bit bony but don't be afraid, and keeping that combat relationship that they've built up with their cat over such a long period of time, treasuring and nurturing that, because that is, you know, the fundamental heart of pet ownership.
And then pillar 5 is res an environment that respects the importance of the cat's sense of smell, and that's not so much that we're not allowed to use scented candles or plug in air fresheners or whatever it is. It's more about the fact of that pheromone communication with cats and respecting the fact that they're scenting around. Home as well and that they want, they use that again to make themselves feel secure and to mark their territory and all of that and just understanding that part of their behaviour, what they're actually doing and why it's important for us actually to indulge and respect that.
Just the same when they're old as when they're young. And these are the common health conditions, I think we all know these if we work in clinical practise, but they also, they have, they all have these impacts on the cat's lifestyle, on their welfare, and there's so many things we can do despite medicinal interventions, which are really important, of course, the base of the pyramid of anything that we do, but there's so much else we can do to make their lives comfortable and easier, longer, better quality, more successful, more enjoyable and make. Maintain that relationship that they have with their pet owners, which is what it's all about.
So that's arthritis, renal disease, hyperthyroidism, dental disease, of course, hypertension, cognitive decline is one which I don't think we talk about enough. I think some owners don't. We could educate our owners a bit better because then they would appreciate why their cat's personality maybe seems to be changing or they're waking up in the middle of the night and annoying them.
Muscle loss, you know, we really want to try to combat that, catch it early and stop it happening, because once we've lost muscle, it's very difficult to get it back in, in more senior years. And Constipation, again, quite underappreciated, but it's really good to be regular for humans and for cats. I'm coming to you today from my cattery of my own clinic, which we've only just very recently opened, and I have already seen and treated two elderly constipated cats in the last couple of months.
So it's, I think it's quite, it is quite a common condition and one which, is underappreciated. And so keeping an eye on what's coming out in the literature and picking up on the fact that maybe we are starting to get a little bit less regular earlier is gonna be really helpful. This is the cat friendly clinic guidelines, I'm mentioning these throughout ISFM and ICA Care has been my friend in preparing for this talk and is your friends in learning more about this kind of thing.
And this is what they suggest for those recommended examinations, because we do need more touch points with these older cats as they get older. Not only for their health, but also to be able to have conversations like this. And my hope is that you'll take some little nuggets, some little gems, a few things that maybe you didn't know or hadn't thought about from this talk that you can take back into clinical practise and when you see a patient come in an owner with a more senior cat, and the vet's done their thing and taken some bloods and bamboozled the owner with.
A discussion, detailed discussion of renal disease, then support staff and extra people in the building can pick that conversation up and run with it and talk about that wider lifestyle that maybe the clinical staff and the vets don't always have the time to do, but we can all get involved here and you can see that they suggest that we see our senior and our super senior, which is really the kind of age of cat that we're talking about. Yeah, at least a couple of times a year, potentially more frequently as and when we do diagnose a health issue, because at some point or other we're going to, but it's about reframing that conversation as, oh no, it's not bad, he's got kidney disease. It's great that we know.
He would have had it anyway, but now we know about it, we can do something about it. So again, there's a lot on that, but it's a, it's a really good resource because age is not a disease. But ageing is inevitable, and they may be elderly because their instincts are the same, so it's just about how can we provide for them and support their owners to provide for them in a way that is respectful and accommodates that ageing process.
So a safe space, it's absolutely vital for our cats to feel safe. They value that consistency and security in their environment amongst above almost all things. And it's particularly older for when, particularly important when they're older because they know they're getting older, they know they're not as fast as they used to be or as strong as they used to be.
They know it's not as easy on their joints. And they can't, you know, it kind of hurts if they're gonna swipe a neighbourhood cats. So they feel vulnerable.
They understand they're getting weaker and so it's really important that we make sure they feel safe, because we don't want them to struggle in their environment. And of course if they've got dementia or brain ageing, cognitive decline again. They're going to be forgetful, they're not going to be quite as sparky as they once were, and so keeping things the same is, is, is so, so important.
And having all those resources that they need easily accessible and always in the same place. I don't think many of us like move the cat ball around very often, . But it's even more important in elderly cats to really make an effort to make sure that what they are, all the things they use are in a er are easily accessible and easy for them to use, so they're getting everything that they need, which then has that hugely positive feedback on their health and their welfare.
Cats like to be hidden and they like to be high, you know, they may be predators, but they are also prey, but what they can do that a lot of other species can't do is they can climb. But climbing can become quite hard when you're elderly and you've lost some muscles, so you don't have the same levels of strength, and your joints are hurting because you've got arthritis. So we need to help them if they love to sit on the window sill and watch the world go by, then make it.
And they used to leap up there effort effortlessly, make it easier for them, and you can buy steps like these, you can make steps like these if you want, but you don't have to. Our clients don't have to spend hundreds of pounds or these are super available on Amazon, they're not actually that expensive, but you know, just moving a stool to the bottom of the sofa, so they can get on the back of the sofa, so they can get on the window sill. It doesn't, it it's.
Teeny little changes like that that you say to them, oh, have you ever thought about that, she's looking a bit arthritic, helping her getting around the house like that can make the most enormous difference. And I think if we didn't mention it, I think a lot of clients probably wouldn't think about it or think, oh well, she does get up on the window sill, but actually if they stop and think about it, she really thinks about leaping now. She climbs and claws her way up onto the bed to come and sleep with me at night.
She doesn't leap on. Like she used to. And when we open those conversations, they tell us things like that, or we ask those questions and, and, and get that information out of them.
Then we can say, Have you thought about buying some steps so she can still do that. And then not only does the cat, is the cat able to do what they want to do, like they've done their whole lives and that they still have that instinct for, but also they're not going to hurt themselves when they're doing it. And I think a lot of time we think about going up, but we also need to think about coming down.
And making sure that landing is, is non-slip because it's, you know, so many laminate, they hop up onto the sofa, but then they come back down, even if it's quite a small step down, if there is a step or they're just coming off the sofa, if they're gonna come onto the slippy laminate floor, maybe the nails there for a little bit longer, there's a real potential for them to hurt themselves, and a cat only has to hurt itself once, and it'll it'll remember and it'll just not do it again. And she wants to be on the window sill, but she can't, and that can really impact their enjoyment of life. And then if they can't get up, you know, provide covered beds and doughnut beds, provide those safe spaces elsewhere so they don't have to clamber to the highest point of the room to feel safe.
We give them other options. We accept that maybe not quite so mobile, we've got something else for them. And then safety and security is also found in routines, and cats are good at routines.
You get bopped on the nose at 6:30 in the morning for breakfast, whether it's a Sunday and you're trying to lie in or not. They know what time you're coming home. And again, as they go into that ageing decline and their brain's gone quite as sparky, keeping things consistent can be really helpful.
And one time of day actually it can be really helpful is at night time if we have a lot, don't we, of, of older cats that are up and yowling in the night. I think that's one of those things that owners will tell you about because it's really negatively impacting on their quality of life. Often these conversations about problems with pets don't come up.
Until it's, you know, until it's a problem for the owner. It's maybe been a problem for the pet for ages. They may have been wandering about the house at night for ages, but until they start howling and waking the owner up and it becomes a problem for the owner, that's when the owner reaches out and asks for our assistance or asks for.
Advice, but if we can start those conversations earlier, it's, it's so much better. And nighttime helping settle them down at night, you know, popping them in bed, giving them a treat, almost like you would a dog or a child, can be very helpful to just give them the cue. It's nighttime now.
It's time to go to sleep. It's gonna be dark. It's gonna take a while, and we'll see you in the morning, you know, just simple things like that.
And I've included this table, which I found in today's veterinary practise in a really recent article, because you may be aware of the dishes for the dogs, so the dementia scoring tool that we've got for dogs. And for a long time I've really wanted one for cats because we've only had the dish year and it's not awfully relevant. And then I found this one and I thought, oh, so maybe I'm a bit behind the times and this has been out for a while, but I wanted to include it here because again, being able to use scoring tools, being able to say to owners, ask them these questions when they come in for checkups, getting them to, to actively think about these questions, do they vocalise?
Are they house soiling, litter trade changes are so, so, so, common. You know, and, and actually opening that conversation, it's fantastic, so that's a new thing for you guys. So let's talk about toilets now.
Obviously Elean is sponsoring this talk, and as a professional in the public space, I'm very fussy about who I will work with and who I will partner with to do things and, you know, I'm very happy to be associated with Everclean. They have a very science and evidence-based approach to their products, and but obviously we're going to talk about litera shows, and I could genuinely probably. Talk about litter trays all day, very neglected parts of, cat hair.
Everyone just puts a litre tray in the corner and, you know, gets on with their day. But actually it's really important to get them right. Everybody loves a good toilets, you know, you go anyway, talk about the toilets.
And our cats are no different, it's even more important, and it's particularly important when they get older. But, you know, the, the information I'm about to give you about toilets is that. Relevant to all cats of of all ages.
And so all all the cats should have a litter tray. They may have previously completely toileted outside. Having one inside is absolutely vital.
You know, it's hard to get outside on sore joints, they've got to make quite an effort to get there. Sometimes it can be harder to navigate cat flaps and things like that. And also there's that vulnerability when you go to the toilets.
You are quite vulnerable. You can't walk away when you're in the middle of something so important or run away, or you can, but it'll be messy and it'll be difficult. So they need to feel really safe and secure when they go.
And so if they are feeling more vulnerable outside, that's going to make that more challenging. So having that safe space inside, even if they've previously always toileted outside, you know it's different in parts of the world, but you know, here in In the UK, our, vast majority of them do have outdoor access, it's really important, and these litter tray accidents are common, you know, when you chat to people and they're like, oh, because he goes next to the tray now, not into the tray, or, oh, I think he's punishing me because I went away at the weekend and there was a wee on the floor when I came back. But if the cat.
Isn't using a litter tray that they previously have always used naturally so instinctively use a litter tray, and if they stop that, there's something wrong. They're communicating with us. It's a cry for help, and we need to be on that, and I think as probably as vet professionals we know that, but I don't think owners do.
I think they often will. I think it's anything else but a cry for help until we point it out to them and then I think you know once it's explained they totally miss it like, oh no, I, I totally understand that now. So it's, it's really important that we have those active conversations and talk to them about it.
So what is the perfect senior cat litter tray? And this is for anybody. This is any tray.
I have a picture of a tray here, so I'm sorry about that. I've got some more in the next, in the next slide, so there's plenty of little tray in this all. It needs to be at least 1.5 times the size of the cat.
It needs they need to be able to get really comfortable. We don't want them standing with like all their four paws, like, like an elephant on a, on a circus ball. We need them to be able to be able to sit in there and get really comfortable.
It needs to be high sided, but it needs to have a view. So again, because of that, they need to feel hidden, they need to feel secure, so they need to be surrounded. Also they need to be able to look out, you know, I think everybody wants to feel safe and make sure and, and at peace where they go to the toilet, very different, but, but unlike but they also need to be able to see around them to make sure that they're not being snuck up on by another cat or a predator.
There needs to be a low entry to get in and out. That is such a basic thing for our elderly cats, and if they haven't got that, then that is potentially a big issue. Or they're getting, you know, for why they are doing by the little tray, the joints aren't so great.
If there's a big step in that they've got to make a real effort to, they're just not going to. So we're really low say no liner. I mean, I know, I understand, I just want to use tray liners, but really at any age it's no good.
The clo gets caught in it, you know what it's all, don't they? They're getting caught in the carpet and blankets, you get so caught in a liner in a litter tray. The whole lot's coming out with the cat, which nobody wants, so no liners in a quiet space, but ideally not in a dead end area.
So we don't want that. We don't want that, . It it's hard, isn't it, because we don't want the the tray someone where the cat can't get out of Again, it's about security and often if we are in a multi-cat household, they are, you know, there can be a lot of push points around bullying and things on litter trays, so they need to be able to feel like they can get out.
But equally, you know, most litter trays are put in things like utility room back through. But we certainly don't want it, you know, next to the patio doors or in the hallways the house or to a noisy plastic washing machine. We need to get to, you know, again, one of the issues with constipation is that, if they're joint at all, they're not gonna get up they need to go.
Don't go as often as they should, then the faeces is gonna stay in the colon longer dry out and then when they get out. And that contributes to, you know, chronic constipation. But we need it so predictable today.
We need it so they don't have to make much of an effort to get up and go, but not like if they have to make an effort to do anything, they're probably not going to do it and they just plays are particularly important, and you need one for cats, plus one more pay for every resource that they give our cats. You know, this trade, waterfalls, everything, you know, we, we're dealing with someone with a multi-cat household, unfortunately it's not something that they often want to hear that they need one of everything per cat and then one more, so there is no conflict over them using, using all the resources that that pier on those pillows. But it's particularly important because the other thing they really found with tray and we all value this but they're being clean and if they're not cleaned out super regularly, most cat owners do.
If they've got the option to go in a clean tray, they will leave them to go and a lot of cats will, defecate in one place and urinate in it. Yeah, you asking like. It's really ideal.
And here are all those litter trays, so I googled for this sort of senior cat litter tray, just to see what was out there. And there's loads. I was absolutely amazed.
So, and these are all the different options that you can talk through with your clients, and it's I'm absolutely delighted to see them there. So a plastic box is actually a brilliant way of of using a litter tray for any age because it's wide, they're generally really big, so they're big. They've got those sides, so the cat feels secure, but they can still see out cos it's clear.
And you can cut a hole that works for you so it can go in, it can go in the short side, it can go in the long side. You can make it as low as you like. And I actually did make one of these for another for another project about strays.
Like I said, I've been talking about litre trays for ages, and it wasn't awfully easy to cut through the plastic, and it was quite, spiky on the sides. Like it there was actually some ed edges, but then I picked up a tip very recently that you iron it but then iron and some grease through paper and it smooths out the edges. So, you know, top tip.
This purple one at the bottom is from Tu. You can get these things anywhere. Again, look at that low entry, the clear sides, perfect.
The one with the 3 is from Amazon, again, ideal. And then the one in the middle is a seed tray. It's a gardening seed tray and I'm no gardener myself, but I have said to clients in the past, you know, wide flat tray.
Seed trays, very inexpensive, absolutely perfect. We'll make a mess because there's no high sides around, but you know, for accounts who are very restricted in their movement, they can be ideal. And then Google's not found this one, and I really, I think they need to slap a different label on it and sell it for 3 times the price because how perfect is it with that low side with the high back.
And the other thing that's great about this is because the entry level is, you know, effectively like 3/4 or half of the tray. If you have got a multi-cat household, well, maybe there is a bit of bullying or a bit of a pinch point, the cat doesn't have a narrow entrance and exit. It's got a wide entrance and exits that can sneak past somebody if they're, if they're being it's being a bit to it.
So yeah, there's loads of them out there, endless amount of. But what about the perfect senior cat litter? How can, you know, what is it?
It's, this is Stan, he's owned by one of the nurses that I work with in our new team. He's fantastic. He's 17 years old, he's riddled with arthritis.
We've done about 4 or 5 dentals on him over the years, . He also has FIV. He is, you know, he doesn't have a lot going for him, but he is still enjoying his senior life and he is having the best time.
So he's the ideal candidate for this. And this is, obviously you've heard from Ricardo about the, about the Ele system. And, but this is, so this is it again, but this is what we should be looking for in cat litter at any age.
It needs to be soft, it needs to be sand right. When they go outside or when they go naturally, they're going to choose that kind of substrate because although they use faecal and urine marking and territory marking, a lot of the time because they've got prey animals, what they really want to do is hide where they are, you know, from predators, a lot of the time they actually want to be quite secretive about, you know, where they are and what they're doing and where they're going, so it needs to be variable. But it needs to be comfortable, so we really do want to avoid pellets.
Imagine if you are arthletic, a bit stiff, your joints are sore. And in order to go to the toilet, no matter whether it's 1 or 2, we're having to squat, and if it's a number 2 and we're a bit dry and mildly constipated, we're having to use a lot of muscular effort. We're really pushing our way through all those joints and down through our feet and onto the floor.
And if the floor is all bumpy and hard and Uncomfortable, it's no wonder these cats don't use their trays and go next to it. And then, and then, you know, go through all that natural behaviour of burying. We've all seen a cat sort of burying stuff on a on a floor the way there is nothing.
It's such an instinctual thing, so definitely no pellets and, and certainly there are older cats only other is their arthritis in hips and and ti for, there's arthritis in toes. You know, and toe arthritis is really under, under, underappreciated. So even if they're just staying on the pellets, it's going to hurt.
So we want that so on the foot, you know, it's like the microgranules in the ever clean are even smaller than the usual one, but being able to have a substrate that's light. So again, there's little elbows which probably aren't as mobile, huge and vary because they still want to do it. They're just older.
At least 7 centimetres so we've got that supportive depth strongly clumping, you know, if they're gonna go more frequently from a human perspective, the more it clumps the better, the easier it is to clean hands, the more that cats can keep an eye on things, you know, if, if we've got cats with, you know, poly. My colleague here and we are monitoring, you know, there, there's, you can keep half an eye on the size of the clumps, and, you know, if we tell our owners, get a clumping litter and keep an eye on the clumps, and if those clumps get bigger, maybe we should do something about it. It's a way that they can be actively involved in their cats, care at home and obviously then odour control.
And actually I was, I met the tech team at Everclean. And they showed me the the senior cat litter, and they used garlic oil, and they put garlic oil in a different litter in their standard litter, and their senior litter, and in the other two, you know, in the other litter, you could smell it quite a lot in their normal litter, you couldn't smell it very much. And in the senior, you actually could barely smell this incredibly pungent garlic oil at all.
It was, it really was quite remarkable. Now that's for the humans, more for the animals, but we have to balance those two sets of needs, particularly as pets get older. And then you've heard all about senior litter, the senior ele Ricardo earlier.
So let's talk about sleep. Let's move away from litterrey is my favourite subject. I'm on to sleep, which is another one of my favourite subjects.
For me, so adult cats can sleep 12 to 6. We all know how much cats sleep, but senior cats can, you know, sometimes they're barely ever awake, and that's what owners are expecting, you know, older cats, they move around less, they sleep more, sleeps all the time. I was watching him the other day, I thought he might have even passed away, you know, we've all had those conversations.
But I, one thing that I think is really important to always bear in our clinical minds and maybe occasionally bring up to the owners, but in a very gentle way, is is that sleep learned helplessness. If when you're awake, your joints always hurt and you're always a bit confused and a bit anxious and you're not entirely sure what's going on, then the easiest way to turn off and shut down and just not struggle for a little bit is to sleep. And so sometimes a lot of sleep isn't actually a good thing and we want them to be able to be awake and enjoying their life.
And of course good quality sleep is far better than lots of sleep for humans and for animals. So how can we make sure that that happens? So again, these are the tips that we can be giving our own clinic, that wraparound care that we can all talk about.
Peter beds amazing, loads of those on Amazon and pads that you can put under the beds and all sorts of things, you know, cats. Heat is wonderful for old joints, you know this is part of that holistic, that gent holistic in the true sense of the word care. We've got cats with sore joints and keeping them warm makes such a difference to their mobility and their pain levels.
Supportive beds, a nice deep, soft beds, they're not as heavy as dogs, so they don't necessarily, I don't think need orthopaedic beds like some of the dogs do, but you know, just making sure it's really supportive, it's really deep. It's covered, you know, providing what they need so they can properly get comfortable. Again making sure those beds are accessible so they can reach them, getting the steps up to their favourite place.
And I think actively having those conversations that, nighttime waking isn't normal. Like I think that is the one thing that owners will actively discuss with us, but also I'd like you to consider using activity monitors. I recommend them all the time for senior dogs in my care, because it's so interesting to see the effects of pain relief medication on their step count, but also their sleep, you know, what is your pet doing in the middle of the night?
Are they genuinely having a good night's sleep, or are they restless and moving? Are they waking and pacing? And although the some of the tracker monitors.
All the step counters are quite large in comparison to cats, not quite as cats as they are for dogs. It's definitely, definitely something to consider, you know, so we get that idea of what our pets are doing when we're not there because a lot of the time when we know what they're doing or what they're not doing, we can figure out that there might be a problem. So what a diet, if you followed me at all online, you know that food is something that, and nutrition is something that I'm really keen on.
Cats don't have, we have no specific senior nutrition profile for cats. We have one for growing animals, we have one for older animals, but we don't have one for the seniors, and the reason we don't have one for the seniors is because they're all different when they get to that age and stage. They've all picked up different things along the way, but moving to a gym.
General senior diet that is respectful of their changing health needs that has maybe supplemented with things like omega throat oils which are great for cognitive decline, arthritis, kidney function that have those highly digestible proteins because their guts age along with the rest of those reasons we see sarcopenia is because they're not able to extract the protein from the food quite so much, so they lose their own muscle bulk. So moving on to, you know, most proteins that are actually extremely digestible, but even more digestible proteins while being respectful of renal function and keeping the phosphorus levels low, is really, really important. Palatability is important, we want our cats to enjoy their food and very individual, and I think if you speak to owners about what their individual preferences are for their pets, they really.
That as well. We're not seeing your cat as an old cat to be dealt with, you know, tick a box. Have we talked about nutrition tick, have we talked about mobility tick?
Welling about them as an individual, they have loved this cat all its life, they know it really well. So making sure that we individualise our recommendations on all of these different levels is just so important. Having some wet food really is quite a good idea because they are very vulnerable to dehydration because of the health diseases they carry like renal failure, because they are, you know, not big water drinkers anyway, they're not into making an effort, and if it's an effort to drink, they just won't bother.
So helping them to get some hydration in through food is is a great idea. Changes, texture changes, you know, huge red flag for dental disease, we know that, but maybe owners don't. And so having that conversation, and what about supplements, you know, I don't know about you, my Facebook is full, constantly full of.
Supplements telling me they'll do amazing things. Again, it very much depends on the animal, you know, do they need a brain supplement? What about a joint supplement?
And of course the challenge with cats is can we even get it into them, you know, if we're gonna spend all this money on supplements and then they refuse to take capsules or won't eat the powder that's sprinkled on the food, it's gonna do no good at all if it's not in the animal. And that's again where those senior cat diets from those science-based brands with all those added extras in them with some evidence behind them is, is, is so important. And then, you know, we can tick a huge box by just feeding them a senior diet, but again.
The owners might not appreciate that until we bring it up. And then the next thing of course is water. No, no, sorry.
The next thing is how do we feed them? Because we want to make eating easy. We want to make sure they're maintaining their calorie intake and that they're eating properly and well, particularly if we put them on a therapeutic diet.
So raise food bowls, so they're not having to make an effort on sore shoulders and sore necks to go right down to the floor. Wide, flat food bowls, so they're not irritating their whiskers and they eat, they can reach in and eat, especially if they, you know, teeth aren't so great anymore. Obviously, food, as you probably know, needs to be a Away from their water.
Cats don't like to drink and eat together, but not too far away. When they're younger, you can probably keep them in different sizes of the room or different rooms, but now they're older, they need to be more together, close to where they rest. You know, they need to be able to reach these things easily on all levels of the home.
Little and often is the key to cats so many things, and, and considering warming up to stimulate those appetites like we do with those poorly hospitalised cats. And, but they're not too old to still work for their meals, to still indulge that predatory behaviour which is so important, so licky mats and simple puzzle feeders can really get them interested in food, get them eating if their appetites aren't so great, but you know, the, when the food's in the bowl, it's kind of boring if we put it in a way that makes eating a bit interesting and. And indulges those instincts of predatory behaviour or or working for your food, you know, that hopefully they will eat more because keeping that calorie intake going in the older patients is just so important.
And water, of course, an absolutely vital nutrient for our older patients. That water needs to be accessible. There needs to be a bowl in every room, you know, there needs to be, they need to be everywhere to the point where visitors might come and think, well, what's going on?
Is there some sort of random leak somewhere. Hydration impacts so hugely on the health of our elderly patients and our elderly cats, and we need to be making sure that they are drinking. Again, those wide flat bowls fall to the brim so they're not upsetting their whiskers away from their food, and water fountains, I've got a water fountain for my cats and they love it.
There are some studies done on water fountains that show that they are a bit Marmitey. So some cats love them and some cats hate them, and they might hate one kind, but they might love another kind. But moving water is often very attractive to cats, and so being able to manipulate that and again encouraging them, keeping up their hydration is so important, and flavouring it, we can do that.
One of my top tips is often to take the spring water from tuna, so not the brine, not the oil, but the spring water, freeze it. Into ice cubes, and then put an ice cube or a couple of ice cubes in the water bowls, doesn't need to be much, and it just adds that extra layer of interest because cats sometimes do have to be really persuaded to drink when they're older, you know, they're even less likely to drink because of all the other things they've got going on and all the reasons why they won't do it. So the more we can encourage them and make it easy, the better.
And scratching, scratching behaviour is really normal for cats, and it, it feeds in really to that, you know, final one about respecting their scent because they have scent glands in their paws. And so what they're doing when they're scratching is not only nail maintenance, they're spreading pheromone scents from their feet. And so again it's that normal natural behaviour that is so important for our older cats to still be able to do, but they struggle because of their joints.
And obviously. We've all seen them with their nails in their pads, so you know, nail maintenance and scratching behaviour is something we should be speaking to owners about. If they can't reach up to get the scratching posts that they normally would stand and stretch, then the ones on the ground are great.
There's loads now that are made out of cardboard which make a right old mess, let me tell you, because I got some for my cat, but it's, you know, it's softer and easier for them to pull out. And again, we've got that. It's a mark because it's a marketing behaviour, it really helps to feed into that security of the environment.
And the more we can help cats feel secure and indulge these natural instincts, even if their brains are maybe going a bit on the wonk, it will really, really help. And something that owners often hugely underappreciate because all we see is them scratching at the sofa and them getting shot without maybe really appreciating what it is, what the motivation and the instinct is behind that for the cats. And the outside.
So this hopefully this video will play for you. This is Stan again, and he loves his garden and his owner knows, Sarah knows that he loves the garden. So she built him this little ladder to go up and down the fence, and I think it's just the most adorable video, so I had to share it with you.
But they often really enjoy. And value that outdoor access, but like I said before, they feel vulnerable because they know their weakness. So we need to make sure they can access it.
Can they get in and out of the cat flaps as much as previously because, you know, they're hard to get through cat flaps, aren't they? But to often leap up or leap down. Make sure they're safe from con conflicts, can they have some lovely resting places outside, and again, maybe have some water available for them outside, so it's there.
So if they are basking in the sunshine, enjoying the beautiful weather, but you know, maybe getting a bit hot, they're not gonna have to make the effort to come inside to drink. We want to make it easy. The key is we need to make everything easy.
And then play, little and often is the key, play within their physical limits, you know, they are not going to leap up and down for feathers anymore, and we don't want them to because we don't want them to hurt themselves. We don't want them to land badly, we don't want that kind of play. But I think because when they're old, owners are kind of like.
Well, she's an old lady now, of course she doesn't want to play. There's a kitten inside. The kitten that they once were is still there, and so to, to tell you to the owners let's bring out that joy is, is wonderful, but no laser pointers because we want them to be able to grab onto something and, and get like a.
Physical, physical teeth and nails into something at the end and and giving permission to play with them, they're worried when they're older, they don't want to hurt them, they know that they loved it, they love playing with them and say to them, it's so. OK if it's a couple of minutes a day, it's OK if it's just a soft toy, but play with them still, they still love it and so do you. And I think that we also have to recognise the owner interaction and the human animal bond that they have.
They've known these animals a long time. Their bond is deep, they know them well, but owning an older cat can be a challenge. Owning an older pet can be challenging.
They've got health needs that we have to think about. There's all these changes that you might have to make, they might becoming a bit annoying because they're awake in the night. And it's OK to acknowledge that that with owners and say, you know, sometimes this can be really hard, and often we're asking them to give them medications, and that can really damage the relationship sometimes.
So we have to talk to them about the challenge of owning the senior cats, about how to pick them up and look after them when they're skinny and old and not hurt them. That gentle grooming with massage brushes, this is a patient of mine enjoying a brush in the, in the clinic. That really helps their joints.
That. Lovely bonding, and cats do struggle often don't they, to groom themselves, so the owners can do the job for them. Cat friendly medicines, there's loads of them now, transdermal, liquid, tasty formulations.
And then I think the other thing that's really important when we've got patients, older patients and their owners, is to talk about end of life care and decision making, well before we think it's going to be a problem because. The owners are thinking about it, they know their pet's getting old. They know they don't have the same life ahead as they do behind, and they're worrying about it, but they don't want to bring it up because they think if they bring it up, then we will think that they want their animal life to end.
Of course we don't, but if we make those conversations active and bring it into the front and say, we know you're worrying about this, when you want to talk about it. Or you're worried about it, let us know. It, it takes a huge weight off their mind.
But how can we get them in to see us? Because if we don't see them, we're not going to be able to help them, and we all know the challenges of getting a cat into the vet. And so, again, actively advising how to get them here in a stress-free fashion is so important and this is where social media comes in and obviously, you know, that's my.
Area of expertise, so these are messages that can go on to social media platforms really easily. We can leave the basket out, at home as a bed, make it more normal in the space. Make sure they can hide in the baskets.
So these baskets that are, you know, completely wire, so you can see the cats, you know, that's sometimes it's easy to get them in and out because it's a top opening, but then they must come covered in a blanket or something so they feel secure. We want them, how many elderly cats do you see with elderly baskets like this? I see loads of them and you know that the cat, the basket is 1718 years old, and the same age as the cats, but they're a nightmare to get them in and out of.
So actually advising what baskets we want them to bring them in, you know, when you go to Pets at Home or shop on the internet, look for this kind of basket because it makes it so much easier to get them in. You know, to get them examined in that safe space, feely waste spray, familiar bedding, make that basket a safe space, secure them in the car, but rattling around in the back of the car is no fun for anybody. And then the cat yowls and gets out and it really dress and it's awful, and the whole thing is a and then in the back.
We need them to bring them and can we get them to wait away from the dogs or something like that. And we need to, but we need to be reframing the health conversations, you know, let's bring it back to health. That's what we're good at, that's what our skill.
The owners are worried, they're worried that we're gonna find something, and they see that as a bad thing, and what we need to do is reframe that conversation to make sure that they understand that it's a good. Thing, it's a good thing to find a problem because the problem was always gonna be there and the sooner we find it, the sooner we can do something about it. So making it a routine in your practise, discussing senior healthcare on your social media, and then using cat friendly technique and maybe a bit of gab.
And this picture here is from the Liverpool and Healthy ageing clinic where I really encourage you to go and follow on Instagram. They share some beautiful videos of taking bloods and examining cats in their, in their research clinic in a way that is so great for the cats. This cat, that's the arrow out of the strain that cat is having for a blood test.
It's eating the Liylicks with its neck up. They have Ed that, they're using an orange needle if you notice, because with good. Blood draw techniques that doesn't impact on the haematology results, and the cats are just so calm and relaxed in their clinic and, you know, go and follow them.
But how can we, what we really need to do is make owners an active partner in their cat's health and care, because they love them, they want to do something, they want to feel involved, but we need to give them the permission and some tips and some pointers of how to do that. And it's really hard if you live with an animal every day, objectively monitoring them is, is almost impossible. So how can they do that?
You know, and, and it will make them feel in control as well. When you've got an older pet and you can see they're in decline, your heart is sort of breaking every day watching them and you feel kind of helpless, and then you you don't take this to the vet cos you're worried what the vet might say, so again. Talking to owners and being active in their care is so important.
What you have cheap scale, you know, you can start on Amazon which lists after this talk, and one of those things should be a set of 20 pound scales, on Amazon. They are advertised as scales. You I know because that's what we bought for our clinic because you couldn't, you couldn't stretch to the poshho poshho cat ones, and actually I think they're pretty much identical, and they weigh them beautifully, very easy for owners to do.
There's loads of smart pet products. This is this is my drinking out his smart water bottle that tells me how much he's drunk. It tells me when he needs it needs to be refilled, and it tracks his water intake.
So, so it's fantastic for older cats to monitor that and the ones that do. Weigh the food. I don't know if there's a litter tray that weighs what comes out, but I bet there is.
So all this smart products track it is we can manipulate the technology to to monitor our senior pets. And then of course we've got the scoring tools, body condition scoring, dementia scoring, arthritis scoring, nobody scoring. There's so many now, so the scoring tools.
There's loads of them out there, manipulate them, get your owners involved, get them sending them back to you because they're brilliant. Here's resources for you. So the one, but the one I would like to point out is the vet professionals, Sarah Kaney's, company.
She's a doctor in the field of feline it's amazing. There's some phenomenal resources on her website for pet cat owner, including books about chronic care in cats, and how. Look after them and I recommend them all the time because it's got a great YouTube channel with some lovely owner facing talks about chronic disease and and elderly care.
It's fantastic. And then of course there's loads on here again with Sarah Danielle, the other fantastic evening like loads on this platform, to get that dive into into. But thank you very much for listening.
I'm sorry I've slightly run out of time there and had to speed up at the end. Hopefully we do get time for some questions and that's OK. Lovely, thank you so much and thank you Ricardo as well from Everlean for presenting today's webinar.
So we have had a few questions submitted, so we'll see, I think we've probably got one minute to spare, so we'll see what we can get through. Let's have a look. .
So with . Stress of vet vet visits, sometimes this escalates the underlying conditions of senior cats. How often do you suggest the owners to make appointments for rechecks?
So we've got the ISFM and the IA care guidelines of how often we should see our elderly cats and you know they're saying twice a year at the very least. And then, you know, as and when we diagnose them with an illness like renal disease or thyroid problems, they're on a different treatment pathway then. And what we need to do then is, you know, you know, how often do they need to be checked for those conditions.
But it is hard, it is hard, we have to acknowledge how difficult it is for clients to get cats into the practise and support them in getting them to us, and then practise cat friendly handling technique. When they're here. So when they are here, they can appreciate that it's not so traumatic as maybe they're assuming.
But yes, it's it is a real barrier. We know it's a barrier from, you know, the the proportion of cats that get lost to regular veterinary care, is enormous compared to dogs, you know, they don't come for their annual vaccines, they don't come for anything until they're elderly, which is why that proactive messaging of their health and of their travel is so important. Yeah, no, perfect.
Another one we had is, just wanting to have a bit of an overview again of the scoring tools, if possible. I can send you a list of some of my favourites. There's loads, there's lots out there, but interestingly for cats, you do have to dig.
I think the dog ones are much more easy to get hold of. But yes, I can, I can ping a list over to you. Lovely.
Well, I think that pretty much brings us right up now. Obviously any questions that we've got through, we can, Email them over, but thank you so much again, to you both, for today's webinar and obviously at the clean for sponsoring today. We hope that everyone enjoyed, the webinar this afternoon.
And, we've all learned lots about our senior kits. Absolutely loved the tuna Spring Water Ice Ice Cube trick. That is a really good one, especially with this hot weather at the moment.
So, yeah, everyone put that on board. And, yeah, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone for joining us at the webinar vet, and we, look forward to seeing you all again soon. Take care, everyone.
