Distinguishing Aging

All aspects of design change with time. Brain cells die and are not replaced; the delicate balance of biofeedback becomes a little clumsy, the senses become less acute.

Physically, bones become brittle and elasticity diminishes, muscles shrink, and the lungs are less efficient picking up oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide.

Nutritional needs change: the intestines do not absorb nutrients as well as they did, the kidneys become wasteful, allowing nutrients to be lost from the system. These are all natural changes, encoded in the genes, as are the alterations in behavior, appearance, and abilities that result.

Illness occurs when a pathological change occurs to some part of feline design: infection, a growth, or an unnatural change, such as crystals developing in bladder, fat depositing in the liver, or the muscular heart wall thickening.

It is important, but not always easy without proper investigation, to distinguish aging from illness.