Time really flies for both ourselves and our cat companions. Look up one day and your feline friend is not as spry as a kitten and spending more time in her cat bed. Around eight or nine years, cats become prone to the ills of old age. They can develop chronic kidney or liver disease and maybe even diabetes or tumors. Their senses of site, smell, hearing and taste may begin to diminish. As their metabolism changes, a dietary adjustment may be necessary. The later years in humans and cats  is no time to carry around too much weight. My older cat Mollie is ten years old and is a bit over weight. I am giving her food for indoor cats only and trying lesser amounts and hope this does the trick. Cats don’t get Alzheimer’ s but they get forgetful as they get older. Through it all, with modern veterinary medicine and your loving care, your cats nine lives can extend into the teens and even early twenties.