{"id":21287,"date":"2023-11-05T00:10:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T04:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=21287"},"modified":"2024-04-15T16:43:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T20:43:19","slug":"dear-senior-cat-a-poem-by-deborah-barnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/dear-senior-cat-a-poem-by-deborah-barnes\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Senior Cat – a Poem by Deborah Barnes"},"content":{"rendered":"

November is Adopt a Senior Pet month, and with five of our seven cats officially seniors, it\u2019s hard not to dwell on their age. International Cat Care states, \u201cFeline ages and life stages have been redefined. Cats are elderly once they reach 11 years, with senior cats defined as those aged between 11 and 14 and geriatric cats 15 years and upwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means my Zoey, who was just a tiny kitten a mere fraction of a minute ago in my mind, is now geriatric at 15 years of age. It\u2019s tough to wrap my head around the notion, as she looks and acts as young as ever. Age is but a number to her. Her most recent checkup came back with great results, and she’s as spry, alert, and overly vocal as ever. The only thing the vet recommended was some B-12 to help support her metabolic processes, and thankfully, she happily eats her Cobalequin chewable tablets with no fuss. Her eyes remain bright and clear, and her fur is as soft as silk, too, with no grooming issues.<\/p>\n

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Zoey<\/p><\/div>\n

Mia, Rolz, and Peanut, her \u201ckittens,\u201d are seniors at 14 years of age, again, something that boggles my mind. They nap much more than their younger days but still get into lots of mischief and are young at heart. Kizmet also hits the senior mark, as he turned 11 this year. To me, he’s barely changed at all. He is still sweet and loving, other than occasionally being annoyed with the others about sharing his napping space. Jazmine is still a youngster at ten, but it\u2019s hard to believe our beautiful girl will be considered a senior next year. The only one several years away from senior status is Shadow, who is currently four and still a baby.<\/p>\n

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Peanut, Rolz, and Mia<\/p><\/div>\n

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Kizmet, Jazmine, and Shadow<\/p><\/div>\n

All of this brings me down a bittersweet and nostalgic road. When I look at them now, it\u2019s with more of a conscious knowledge that my time with them is borrowed. I\u2019ve always loved them, and our connections have always been strong. But now the moments are cherished a bit more. A precious scrapbook of time shared etched deeply into my heart.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a slow process; often, age can creep up on us without warning. And I’m getting older too, which significantly changes one’s perspective on time. But the other day, I saw Rolz sunning in the window, and it hit me. He\u2019s getting old.<\/em> He just had that look in his eyes that I’ve seen with so many other cats that have graced my life. I instinctively grabbed my phone to snap a picture of him, which inspired a poem about my love for him and his beautiful senior ways.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

The poem also inspired more profound thoughts for senior cats in general. For most of my life, any cat that has been part of my household came to me as a kitten, eventually growing into a senior cat. But that doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the beauty and strength of a senior cat. I do, and I love them deeply. I’m glad the ASPCA and\u00a0<\/a>petfinder.com founded <\/span>a month dedicated to educating people on why senior pet adoptions can be so gratifying for both the pet and the person adopting him or her. When the time is right in my life for another cat, I would love to provide a home to an older shelter cat who deserves a new lease on life.<\/p>\n

\"hearts\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for letting me share a bit of my senior cat life with you. If you’re contemplating senior cat adoption, please consider reading Six Great Reasons to Adopt a Senior Cat and Ten Tips to Keep Them Happy and Healthy<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you already have a senior cat and want information on how to help ease him or her into their golden years, please read my post Stairs, Safety, and Senior Cats \u2013 10 Tips to Help Ease Your Cat Into His Golden Years<\/em> <\/a>which was the recipient of the Cat Writer\u2019s Association<\/a> 2018\u00a0Senior Well-Being Cat Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November is Adopt a Senior Pet month, and with five of our seven cats officially seniors, it\u2019s hard not to dwell on their age. International Cat Care states, \u201cFeline ages and life stages have been redefined. Cats are elderly once they reach 11 years, with senior cats defined as those aged between 11 and 14 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1124,1098,1378,1096,1097,1216,1099],"tags":[1520,1431,1519,1518],"class_list":["post-21287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cat-events","category-cat-behavior","category-feline-human-bond","category-general-cat-care-and-health","category-multi-cat-home","category-sunday-selfie","category-the-zee-zoey-cats-and-family","tag-cat-poem","tag-senior-cat-adoption","tag-senior-cat-care","tag-senior-pet-month"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21287"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21418,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21287\/revisions\/21418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}