Senior-cat home: adapt resources to actual routes

Map routes the cat can actually use

Mark sleeping places, food, water, litter and doorways on a home sketch. AAHA/AAFP senior guidance supports reducing travel to resources. Provide usable floor-level choices if high jumping has declined; do not force jumps to test ability.

Keep familiar locations and add choices gradually

ASPCA senior guidance emphasizes predictable surroundings and routines. Keep familiar litter boxes and add easy-to-find, low-entry choices where needed. Record actual use instead of moving all resources at once.

Identify the step causing difficulty at night

Record whether the nighttime difficulty involves direction, movement, entering the box or changes in calling, intake or elimination. Lighting alone is not a universal solution. Discuss sensory, pain and other physical causes before choosing adaptations.

Follow willingness and track use

Offer comfortable, quiet and accessible resting choices with free exit from interaction. Adapt brief gentle activity to previous preferences and stop for pain, fatigue or avoidance. Track changes without promising that play, toys or home changes treat CDS or slow decline.

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