Value of repeated health screening in 259 apparently healthy mature adult and senior cats followed for 2 years
Value of repeated health screening in 259 apparently healthy mature adult and senior cats followed for 2 years
Open access
In our edition of: Oct 2024
In our categories of: small animals
our summary:
Mortier, F. et al. (2024) Value of repeated health screening in 259 apparently healthy mature adult and senior cats followed for 2 years. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 38 (4), pp. 2089-2098.
The aim of this prospective study was to determine the most common subclinical conditions through health screening of a large group of apparently healthy mature adult (7-10 years) and senior (>10 years) cats. The secondary aim was to monitor the subgroup of confirmed healthy cats over a two-year period to identify incidence and type of diseases they develop.
Client-owned cats, considered healthy by the owner and not on medication, were enrolled into the study, which was carried out at a university in Belgium, between August 2019 and December 2020. Follow-up data was collected from the confirmed healthy cats until December 2022. On inclusion a detailed history was taken, a complete physical examination was carried out and blood tests and urinalysis performed. Follow-up examinations were performed every six months in the confirmed healthy cats for two years.
A total of 259 cats were included in the initial study. Of these 55 cats were diagnosed with clinically relevant disease at baseline, including 20 cats with ≥ stage 2 chronic kidney disease and 12 cats with hyperthyroidism, these were excluded from the follow-up study. Senior cats were diagnosed with disease more frequently than mature adult cats. At baseline 102 cats were overweight, 91 cats had moderate or severe dental disease present, and 57 cats has abnormal cardiac auscultation findings.
The longitudinal study included 201 confirmed healthy cats, two of these were lost to follow-up after one evaluation leaving 199 cats for the complete two-year follow-up period. Clinically relevant disease developed in 37/132 mature adult and 36/67 senior cats. Most common diseases were IRIS ≥ stage 2 chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, chronic enteropathy, hepatopathy or pancreatitis, or neoplasia.
Limitations of the study include the study group may not be representative of the general client owned cat population as owners needed to be motivated to bring their cat into the clinic every six months. It cannot be excluded that some confirmed healthy cats had early renal disease at inclusion and that 10% of cats either died or were lost to follow-up which needs to be taken in to account when considering the cumulative incidence of diseases.
This study provides some evidence of the prevalence of disease in apparently healthy older cats and the value of repeated health screening cats to detect unnoticed or subclinical disease which will support veterinary practitioners in recommending these tests in discussions with clients.
The following may also be of interest:
inFOCUS: 2021 AAFP Feline senior care guidelines [RCVS Knowledge] [online] Available from: https://infocus.rcvsknowledge.org/2021-aafp-feline-senior-care-guidelines/ [Accessed 18 October 2024]
inFOCUS: 2021 AAHA/AAFP Feline life stage care guidelines [RCVS Knowledge] [online] Available from: https://infocus.rcvsknowledge.org/2021-aaha-aafp-feline-life-stage-guidelines/ [Accessed 18 October 2024]
2023 AAHA Senior care guidelines for dogs and cats [American Animal Hospital Association] [online] Available from: https://www.aaha.org/resources/2023-aaha-senior-care-guidelines-for-dogs-and-cats/ [Accessed 18 October 2024]
Dowgray, N. et al. (2022) Aging in cats: Owner observations and clinical finding in 206 mature cats at enrolment to the Cat Prospective Aging and Welfare Study. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9, no. 859041. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.859041
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