When Cats Age, Everything Connects — And Vets Are Rethinking How to Help

Kidney Disease: The New Therapeutic Frontier

Chronic kidney disease remains the single most common serious diagnosis in cats over ten years old. For decades, management centred on diet modification and fluid support — slowing decline but rarely reversing it.

That landscape is shifting. The congress programme includes a dedicated session asking how the newest treatments for chronic kidney disease are being applied in practice, signalling that the conversation among specialists has moved well beyond prescription diets alone.

Understanding which interventions now carry the strongest evidence — and how they interact with medications for co-existing thyroid or blood-pressure problems — is a practical gap many general-practice vets face daily. Sessions will present case discussions designed to bridge that gap, walking through real clinical scenarios where multiple conditions collide in a single patient. For owners of senior cats, the takeaway is clear: if your cat has been diagnosed with kidney disease, asking your vet about current treatment options beyond dietary change is a reasonable and timely conversation to start.

Pain You Might Never See

Cats are notorious for hiding discomfort. A stiff gait, reluctance to jump, or withdrawal from play can easily be misread as personality change or mere ageing.

Dr Sheilah Robertson, a keynote speaker at the Sitges congress, has spent years studying how feline pain presents — and how often it goes unrecognised. Her work underscores that older cats living with arthritis, dental disease, or post-surgical soreness may suffer in plain sight without a single obvious limp.

The 2027 programme will cover both pain recognition techniques and the specific challenge of sedating and anaesthetising senior cats safely, a topic that matters whenever an older cat needs a dental procedure or diagnostic scan. Advances in anaesthetic protocols now allow safer short-acting sedation options that reduce recovery stress on fragile kidneys and hearts.

Owners can act on this today: if a cat over age ten shows reluctance to climb, a change in grooming habits, or unexplained irritability, raising pain as a possibility with the vet — rather than dismissing it as "just getting old" — opens a door to meaningful relief.

Behaviour Changes as Early Health Signals

A cat who suddenly stops using the litter tray, vocalises more at night, or seems to forget familiar routines is not being difficult. These shifts are often the first outward sign of cognitive dysfunction syndrome — a condition now recognised in cats well into their senior years, though still under-diagnosed in general practice.

Rebecca Geddes, one of the congress's keynote speakers, will address how behaviour changes in older cats can point toward underlying medical problems and how owners and vets can support a better quality of life. The programme explicitly links behaviour with the broader medical themes: a cat crying at night may have hypertension; one that soils outside the box may have kidney-related increased urgency.

This integrated view reframes behaviour not as training failure but as diagnostic information. Owners who log changes — even subtle ones like altered sleep patterns or a new reluctance to interact — give their vet material that can redirect an entire diagnostic workup. Bringing notes to a senior-cat wellness visit is one of the simplest, most effective steps an owner can take.

What a Dedicated Congress Means for Every Cat Owner

International Cat Care, the charity behind the 2027 congress, has long advocated for cat-friendly handling standards in veterinary clinics worldwide. A three-day event dedicated entirely to feline medicine — with senior care as its central thread — reflects how far the field has moved from treating cats as small dogs.

The Sitges programme is built to serve vets at every stage of their career, mixing keynote lectures with practical case workshops. Speakers from multiple countries will share protocols that are already working in their clinics, giving attendees tools they can apply the following Monday morning.

For cat owners, the ripple effect is direct. When a vet attends training that covers the newest kidney-disease therapies, recognises hidden pain, or learns to untangle overlapping conditions in a single geriatric patient, every senior cat that vet sees afterwards benefits. Early-bird sign-ups via the iCatCare email list will be the first to receive registration details and pricing. If your cat is entering her senior years, this is the kind of professional education you want your clinic investing in.