The other day, I was hunting online for new canned foods to try out on my unbelievably picky cat, and I couldn\u2019t help noticing all the options for \u201csenior cats.\u201d There didn\u2019t seem to be anything at all for \u201cold cats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior <\/em>cats? Surely, I thought, that\u2019s taking the American abhorrence for anything that smacks of old age to ridiculous lengths.<\/p>\n But of course, as a friend pointed out, it\u2019s also smart marketing. The companies that make pet food know full well that customers will shy away from a product labelled \u201cfor old cats.\u201d They don\u2019t want to be reminded that their furry friends are growing old\u2014and therefore are closer to death\u2014any more than they like to contemplate their own aging and eventual demise.<\/p>\n Would I <\/em>buy a product if it said on the can that it was for old cats? I hope I would, despite the fact that it would be an unavoidable reminder that the lives of cats and dogs are way too short.<\/p>\n Do euphemisms like \u201csenior\u201d really matter, especially if we\u2019re just talking about cat food? I think that, to a degree, they do. Everybody knows \u201csenior\u201d is code for \u201cold.\u201d The fact that manufacturers use that code (and so does practically everyone else) subtly reinforces the idea that old is a condition too unpleasant to mention and an adjective too upsetting or insulting to apply to anybody, even a cat.<\/p>\n You can waste a lot of energy denying the undeniable fact that you\u2014or your pet\u2014are getting on in years. Old age isn\u2019t nearly as bad as most people think it is, and in fact some of it is a definite improvement over your younger years. For one thing, according to lots of research, older people tend to be happier than those who are merely middle-aged.<\/p>\n In a more rational world, people wouldn\u2019t spin their wheels trying to prove they\u2019re still young. And nobody would think twice about buying pet food formulated for old cats.<\/p>\n Velvet, my rescue cat, is (best guess) about five years old and behaves like a madcap kitten. I know that four years from now, I\u2019ll have to start buying her those senior foods because, according to veterinarians, that\u2019s when cats begin to develop different nutritional needs. And 10 years from now, if I\u2019m still around (I\u2019m 82), my vet\u2014who doesn\u2019t mince words\u2014will tell me that Velvet has crossed an invisible line and is now considered \u201cgeriatric,\u201d which is vet-speak for \u201cvery old.\u201d<\/p>\n Because I don\u2019t want to lose her, I\u2019ll hate hearing that. But it\u2019s OK. Not to mince words, by that time I\u2019ll be geriatric myself. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The other day, I was hunting online for new canned foods to try out on my unbelievably picky cat, and I couldn\u2019t help noticing all the options for \u201csenior cats.\u201d There didn\u2019t seem to be anything at all for \u201cold…<\/span><\/p>\n