Complete Care For Your Aging Cat

by Amy Shojai

In this unique guide to aging pet care, Amy Shojai explains: how to entice your older pet into getting more exercise • what changes to expect as your pet ages • which pet-specific over-the-counter medications every owner should keep on hand • and tips on everything from choosing the right products and food for your aging pet to performing nursing care at home. These are the definitive guides to turning back the clock-and keeping senior dogs and cats vital, happy, and active throughout their golden years.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats, Animals

279 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2003

About the author

Amy Shojai has been reinventing herself for years. She writes THRILLERS WITH BITE! in her debut thriller LOST AND FOUND that features a service dog, hero cat, an animal behaviorist named September Day, and assorted mayhem. The sequel HIDE AND SEEK continues the story with terror from the past revisiting the heroine. The next book in the series, SHOW AND TELL brings the story full circle. The 4th title FIGHT OR FLIGHT introduces some new characters and challenges. And book #5 HIT AND RUN answers many questions about September's past.

Amy's a certified animal behavior consultant, and the award-winning author of 35+ best-selling pet books that cover furry babies to old-fogies, first aid to natural healing, and behavior/training to Chicken Soup-icity. She created the puppies.about.com site and was the cat behavior expert at cats.About.com. Amy has been featured as an expert in hundreds of print venues including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reader's Digest, and Family Circle, as well as national radio and television networks such as CNN, Animal Planet's DOGS 101 and CATS 101. She brings her unique pet-centric viewpoint to her Bling, Bitches & Blood Blog, public appearances.

Reviews

[Elaine Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(it looks like most of the books I read in 2012 I left as "currently reading" - so I'm going to be writing a series of very thin reviews.)

Got this from the library right after we found out that Sasha had kidney failure. And it really helped me cope in those first few weeks when I was freaking out and didn't know what to do. Good tips about handling subcutaneous injections, IIRC.

(Sasha died at the end of September, after a mostly good spring and summer, aged approx 15 years.)

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

very well-written, nice and informative, but all medical terminology was broken down into simple everyday terms for the cat owner without a medical degree. also for each possible problem, detailed lists of symptoms to watch out for were included. thanks to this book, i know what to keep an eye out for in the future, and also have determined that my older kitty might be having a little hearing loss. i highly recommend this book to all cat owners.

[Lew Stanisława · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I don't love the American style of this, the content is great. Super informative, really up to date, covers a lot of ground in detail, and is so, so loving towards the old kitties! What to look out for, what are the treatment options currently (really touching on the newest, advanced treatment!), where to seek help, how much can that cost. A must read for caretakers of 8+ cats.

I was terrified to read this, as it reached me some days after my 17 year old passed away (affraid the book was going to make me realise it was all easy peasy to cure and I simply suck), but it only made me understand the background better, accept what happened and realise that he did in fact have a healthy and amazing life.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good advice; my cat passed away in April of this year at almost 20 years old

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, so I was interviewed for the book. (See chapter on Tweety)
Amy was a mentor of mine when I first started getting published...and her many books (21-ish) on pet care are highly recommended. http://www.shojai.com
She has the chops to back it up, too - was Purina spokesperson, is a registered animal behaviour specialist, etc. And a nice person.
Having had 3 cats for 9 years, I had plenty of occasions to refer to the book...highly recommended if you have aging felines!

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book to decide what to do for my sweet little friend. He's not eating- not even tuna! He's hardly drinking any water and it's obvious that he feels crummy, but he still purrs whenever I pet him.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a helpful book for anyone who owns an aging cat - now that our cat Harry is 14, it's giving us much useful info that's helping us understand what's going on with her and take good care of her needs.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written, deeply knowledgeable and supportive - any owner of a cat needs this book, because (God willing) all cats who are loved will age.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough and a welcome addition to my cat resource books.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really helped me as my sweet Shadow aged.