University launches pioneering feline study

The Feline Healthy Ageing Clinic, located at the University’s Small Animal Practice in the heart of Liverpool, has launched a new feline study in conjunction with ROYAL CANIN.

The university will provide a base for the long-term study.

Established to improve understanding of the ageing process in cats, the team, directed by Professor Alex German, will undertake extensive and ‘best practice’ examinations of cats over seven years of age.

The clinic will research the many interweaving factors associated with ageing and take pro-active strides toward prolonging and improving quality of life.

Lead researcher; Nathalie Dowgray BVSc MRCVS MANZCVS, and Kelly Eyre RVN are recruiting mature cats in Liverpool and the surrounding area to offer not only the health screening expected in many senior pet services, but a deep dive assessment of musculoskeletal, cardiac and retinal health too.

Nathalie, said: “We are inviting 300 cats to take part in the Cat Prospective Ageing and Welfare Study (CatPAWS) a5-year study, which is the largest of its kind. Cats will visit the practice every six months and we’re recruiting as many cats aged seven to ten years of age as we can at this stage.

“We will carry out a number of diagnostics including retinal examination and photography, blood and urine sampling and orthopaedic – including gait analysis – and dental examinations. The valuable data we collect will enable us to analyse the effects of ageing in more detail than ever before, and on a far larger scale.

“We’re ultimately aiming to improve the quality of life for these patients and instead of simply accepting what some may consider an inevitable decline in function, but collectively take strides toward healthy ageing.”