Ageing shows up in small things. A dog takes the back steps one at a time instead of three at a time. A cat stops landing on the kitchen bench and starts taking the chair as a staging post. Owners often only notice once someone else points it out, or once a booking forces them to write the routine down.
This guide covers what changes as dogs and cats get older, what those changes mean for the care they need while you are away and how to set a house up so an older pet is safe in it without you.
Caring for an older or special-needs pet, and after someone who will move at their pace?
When a Dog or Cat Counts as Senior
There is no single birthday, and size and species matter more than the number. Giant breeds are often treated as senior from around six years, medium and large dogs from around seven, small dogs and cats from around ten or eleven. A ten-year-old great dane and a ten-year-old miniature dachshund are at different stages.
In practice, most owners find out from their vet rather than from a calendar. Senior blood panels, blood pressure checks and more frequent weigh-ins tend to get suggested before anything looks obviously wrong. That is a good time to review how your pet is cared for when you travel, rather than waiting for a crisis.
Common Physical Changes
- Reduced mobility, joint stiffness, slower movement
- Hearing or vision loss
- Reduced heat and cold tolerance, especially relevant in Brisbane's humidity
- Digestive changes or lower appetite
- More sleep, and deeper sleep, so they startle when woken
Each of these looks minor on its own. Together they change how safe a pet feels with an unfamiliar person in the house. A dog who cannot hear someone approach, and who takes a moment to stand, needs that person to move slowly and speak before they touch. Put that in your handover notes.
Arthritis and Mobility
Arthritis is easy to miss, because dogs and cats compensate quietly. The early signs are rarely limping: more often a reluctance to jump into the car, a slower start on the first walk of the day, sitting down halfway through a walk, hesitating at the top of a set of stairs or a cat that has stopped using a favourite high spot.
Two things help. The first is traction: hard floors are a problem for a stiff dog, and a series of runners or non-slip mats along the routes they actually use (bed to door, bed to bowl) does more good than one expensive mat in the wrong place. The second is exercise that is shorter and more frequent rather than long and occasional. Stiff joints do worse with a rest day followed by a big Sunday walk than with twenty gentle minutes twice a day.
If your pet is on pain relief, do not let it lapse while you are away, and do not let a well-meaning sitter skip a dose because the dog "seemed fine". Pain relief for arthritis works best given consistently.
Cognitive Change: What to Watch For
Some older dogs develop canine cognitive dysfunction, which is roughly the dog equivalent of dementia. It is gradual, and it is easy to read as stubbornness or as ordinary ageing. The signs vets tend to ask about are:
- Disorientation: standing in a corner, going to the hinge side of a door, seeming lost in a familiar room
- Changed interactions: less greeting, less seeking contact or unusual clinginess
- Sleep reversal: restless at night, sleeping heavily through the day
- House soiling in a dog who was reliable for years
- Anxiety, pacing or vocalising in the evening
None of these is a diagnosis on its own, and several of them overlap with pain, vision loss or medical problems worth ruling out first. If you are seeing them, write down what happens and when, and take that to your vet. There are management options, and they work better started early.
For care while you are away, a dog with cognitive change copes badly with a new environment and reasonably well with a new person in a familiar one. Night-time is usually the hard part, so a sitter who stays in the house overnight rather than dropping in matters more than it would for a younger dog.
Senior Cats Are Different
Cats mask illness well, so the signals are quieter and easier to miss.
- Less jumping, or using furniture as a staircase to reach places they used to reach in one go
- Changes in litter tray habits, including going beside the tray rather than in it (often a mobility problem, not a behavioural one)
- Drinking noticeably more, or standing at the tap
- Weight loss despite a normal or increased appetite
- A coat that looks less kempt, because grooming has become uncomfortable
Several of those are worth a vet visit rather than a note in a handover. Kidney disease, hyperthyroidism and arthritis are all common in older cats and all treatable to varying degrees. They also tend to be picked up on a routine senior check rather than by an owner.
Day to day, a senior cat needs a low-sided litter tray, water in more than one spot, a warm and draught-free bed at a height they can still reach and a sitter who understands that a cat who hides for the first day is not necessarily a cat in distress. Someone should be checking the tray, the bowls and the cat itself every day, and reporting honestly on all three.
Day-to-Day Adjustments
Movement and Exercise
- Shorter, more frequent walks on flat routes
- Avoid steep inclines, common in suburbs like Paddington, Bardon and Red Hill
- Watch for slippery floors, especially in renovated Queenslanders
- Walk early or late in summer, and check the footpath temperature with your hand before you go
Comfort and Rest
Supportive, low-profile bedding in a temperature-stable room. Soft lighting helps pets with vision loss, and a night light near the water bowl saves a lot of confusion. If your pet has lost sight, do not rearrange the furniture before you travel. They are navigating from memory.
Toileting and Grooming
More frequent toilet breaks, especially in hot weather and especially for pets on diuretics or steroids. Extra grooming help if joints are stiff, with attention to nails, since a dog who walks less wears them down less and long nails make slipping worse.
Vet Checks and Cadence
Most vets move senior pets from annual to six-monthly checks, because a lot can change in a year at that age. Six-monthly is a reasonable default to plan around, more often if your pet has a diagnosed condition being managed.
If you travel regularly, book the check before the trip rather than after it. It gives you an up-to-date medication list, a current weight to compare against and a clinic that knows a booking is coming and that someone else may be bringing your pet in.
In-Home Care vs Boarding
For most senior pets, in-home care is the better option. An older animal navigates the house by memory as much as by sight and smell, and a new floor plan costs them more than it costs a younger pet. Staying home also removes the two riskiest parts of boarding for a senior: the transport and the settling-in.
Boarding can still suit a calm senior who already knows the carer and the house, or a pet living in a building where lift and stairwell access makes in-home care impractical. If you are weighing this up in detail, our guide to in-home sitting versus boarding in Brisbane sets out the trade-offs. Tell us what your pet needs and we will quote the option that suits.
Preparing a Senior Pet for Care
Vet Check and Medication Review
Book a vet check before you travel rather than after. Confirm doses, pain management and what your sitter should be watching (respiration rate, appetite, mobility). If your pet uses compounded or refrigerated medicine, set out labelled doses with clear timing and note the red flags that should trigger a vet visit.
Daily Routine Notes
Your sitter should know: mobility limits, preferred resting spots, typical appetite, treat patterns and any tells that signal pain or discomfort. Tells are the thing owners most often leave off, because they feel too small to write down. Panting at rest, a tucked tail on the walk home, turning away from a bowl they usually finish: put them in writing.
Setting Up Your Home
Flooring, Beds and Safety
Non-slip mats and supportive bedding help in older homes. Block access to steep stairs or slick decks to reduce fall risk, including a baby gate at the top of a Queenslander staircase.
Temperature
Brisbane's afternoon heat affects seniors quickly, and humidity makes it worse, because panting is a less efficient way to shed heat in humid air. Have fans, cool mats, shade or air-conditioning available, and tell your sitter which room stays coolest. For storm-sensitive seniors, prepare a calm interior room away from windows, with the curtains drawn and music or a fan running.
Working With a Sitter
Look for experience with giving medication, using mobility aids and recognising cognitive decline. For a senior pet we would rather over-brief than under-brief. Ask for daily updates, twice daily if you are travelling internationally, and ask that they cover mobility, appetite, toileting and mood rather than just a photo.
Vet Contact Guidelines
Provide your regular clinic details, after-hours options and a clear spending limit for emergency care. Agree in advance on when a sitter should watch and report, and when they should go straight to the vet without waiting to reach you. This is an uncomfortable conversation to have before a holiday and a much worse one to have at 2am from another time zone.
Quality-of-Life Conversations
There is a point at which the question stops being how to manage a senior pet and becomes whether they are still enjoying their days. That is not ours to answer.
We can give you an honest account of what we saw. If a dog who was steady in March is struggling in August, we will tell you, with specifics: how far they walked, how much they ate, how they were at night. Owners often ask us to compare against the last stay, and that comparison is often more useful than a single week in isolation. Vets are the right people for the decision itself, and many will do a quality-of-life assessment with you.
If you are booking care during a period like this, tell us. It changes how we brief the sitter and what we watch for.
Service Areas
We care for senior dogs and cats across inner Brisbane, roughly 7 km of the CBD on both sides of the river, including New Farm, Teneriffe, Newstead, Bulimba, Hawthorne, Norman Park, Kangaroo Point, Hamilton, Ascot, Clayfield, Albion, Wilston, Windsor, Paddington, Red Hill, Ashgrove and Bardon.
Tell us about your pet, including the parts that worry you, and we will talk through what care would actually look like.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is a dog or cat considered senior?
It depends on size and species more than on a birthday. Giant breeds are often treated as senior from around six years, medium and large dogs from around seven, small dogs and cats from around ten or eleven. Your vet will usually start suggesting senior blood panels before you notice anything yourself.
Is in-home care better for senior pets?
For most senior pets, yes. An older animal navigates a house it already knows by memory as much as by sight, so staying put reduces confusion and the risk of a fall. It is not automatic, though. A settled senior who already knows a particular sitter and their house can board perfectly well.
How should I set up my home before a sitter stays with my senior pet?
Non-slip mats on hard floors, supportive bedding in a room that holds its temperature, food and water within easy reach and steep stairs blocked off. This matters most in multi-level homes and renovated Queenslanders.
What if my senior pet needs medication?
Depending on the sitter and what is involved, we can give medication, keep track of doses and watch for changes. Provide written instructions, show your sitter each medication before you leave and tell your clinic that someone else may be bringing your pet in.
Does senior care apply to cats as well as dogs?
Yes. Cats hide illness well, so the signals are quieter: less jumping, changes in litter tray habits, more drinking, weight loss despite a normal appetite. A senior cat generally needs a sitter who watches closely rather than one who plays hard.