The Senior Cat Checklist:
What Changes After Age 10

A ten-year-old cat can be perfectly healthy, and most are. What changes at this age isn't necessarily the cat, it's how closely worth it is to pay attention, because the things that go wrong in older cats tend to start quietly.

Weight becomes a far more important number

Both directions matter. Slow weight gain can point to reduced activity or a metabolic change, and unexplained weight loss, even a small amount, is one of the more reliable early signs that something needs a proper look. Neither shows up in a single weigh-in, only in the trend.

Appetite and thirst shifts are worth writing down

A cat drinking noticeably more than usual can point to kidney or thyroid changes that are far easier to manage caught early. A cat eating less, or suddenly pickier, is often dental rather than anything more serious, but either way it's a pattern worth having evidence of, not just a vague impression.

Mobility changes are easy to dismiss as "just getting old"

Hesitating before a jump, taking stairs more slowly, general stiffness after resting, these get written off constantly. Often it's manageable arthritis, and often it's very treatable, but only if it gets mentioned rather than quietly accepted as ageing.

Vet visits should get more frequent, not less

Dental health quietly affects everything else

Dental disease is extremely common in older cats, and it doesn't stay contained to the mouth, it affects eating, weight, and general comfort. A dental check is a standard, easy part of any senior vet visit and is worth actually asking about rather than assuming it's covered.

What's actually worth tracking

None of this needs a spreadsheet, it needs somewhere consistent. Halo's Vitals tab logs weight and daily notes over time and charts them automatically, so a slow change is obvious at a glance instead of buried in memory, the same way it already helps with things like tracking resting breathing rate.