Do cats go grey as they get older?

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Ever wondered if the colouring of your cats’ fur will change as they get older? Here’s our advice about whether cats go grey as they get older.

Yes, cats can go grey as they age but usually not until they are very old.

White hairs will slowly accumulate in their fur. Dogs go grey earlier, more noticeably around their nose and paws. There is no research about this, but cat hair may grey more slowly because cats have more pigment cells in their fur (called melanocytes), than dogs do. Another possibility is that the pigment cells in feline fur decline more slowly than their equivalent in dogs.

Where some older cats do sometimes show grey is in their eyes. Lenticular schlerosis, as it is called, is a bluish grey haze seen in the lens of the eye. This doesn’t affect a cat’s eyesight and doesn’t require treatment, but may be a sign that cataracts will develop later.

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