The Feline Mobility Check

Six questions about how your cat moves. Two minutes. Built on the checklist vets use to spot joint pain in cats.

Cats don’t limp the way dogs do. They just quietly stop doing things.

⚠ Before you start — one emergency to rule out

If your cat has suddenly lost the use of their back legs, is dragging them, is crying out in pain, or their back paws feel cold — stop and go to a vet now. That is not arthritis, and it cannot wait. This check is for gradual changes, not sudden ones.

Arthritis in cats is common, painful and easy to miss. Studies of cats over twelve find joint changes on X-ray in around nine out of ten — yet only a small fraction are ever mentioned to a vet. Not because pet parents aren’t paying attention, but because cats hide pain by editing their behaviour. They stop jumping onto the counter. They pick a lower spot to sleep. It reads as ageing. It’s often pain.

These six questions come from a screening checklist developed and validated by veterinary researchers. When it was used in practice, it lifted detection of mobility problems roughly forty-fold compared with simply asking families whether anything was wrong.

Your cat’s name (optional)

Only used to personalise your result and the summary you save.

Roughly how old is your cat?

Needed to set how often this check is worth repeating, and how likely joint change is at their stage.

Choose an age range above to begin.

View your past checks

Always Friday does not replace in-person veterinary diagnosis or treatment. When in doubt, consult your vet.

About these questions. The six items are based on a validated feline mobility screening checklist developed by veterinary researchers at North Carolina State University and published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery(Enomoto, Lascelles & Gruen, 2020). The wording here has been rewritten for pet parents; the screening logic — that a single “no” is worth a veterinary conversation — follows the published instrument. Reproduced for non-commercial educational use with attribution.

Your privacy. Your answers and your result are saved so you can find them again later — that is the only reason. Adding your email links past checks together; leave it out and the result stays reachable only from its own link. Your cat’s name is used to personalise the wording, nothing more. How we handle your data.

About The Feline Mobility Check

The Feline Mobility Check is a free two-minute screening check for joint pain in cats. It asks about six everyday movements — the ones cats quietly give up first when a joint hurts — and turns your answers into a summary you can hand your vet. The six items are a plain-language rewording of a checklist developed and validated by veterinary researchers at North Carolina State University and published in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery (Enomoto, Lascelles & Gruen, 2020). Joint changes show on X-ray in around nine out of ten cats over twelve, yet very few are ever raised with a vet, because cats do not limp the way dogs do — they edit their behaviour instead.

What it looks at

Jumping up — onto the sofa, bed, windowsill or worktop they have always used
Jumping down — landing loads the joints harder than taking off, so this often changes first
Climbing up stairs or steps
Coming down stairs or steps — often slow, or one step at a time, with sore elbows or shoulders
Running — a proper burst of speed, the mad half-hour or a dash to the bowl
Chasing moving things — toys, string, an insect on the wall
Separately and unscored, after the result: coat condition, over-grooming one spot, litter tray changes, hiding, new objection to being handled, and choosing lower resting places
Your cat's age band, which sets how often the check is worth repeating

What your result means

Nothing flagged: All six movements were reported as normal. That is genuinely good news, but it is not a clear bill of health — checklists of this kind, completed at home, miss roughly half of affected cats. The useful thing now is to repeat the check every few months and watch for drift.
Worth raising with your vet: One or two movements have changed. A single “no” is enough to be worth a veterinary conversation — that is how the published instrument is designed. It does not mean something is badly wrong; it means there is a specific, checkable question to put to your vet.
Several movements flagged: Three or more everyday movements have changed. That pattern is worth a routine appointment rather than a wait-and-see. Bring the summary — “she stopped jumping onto the bed around spring” is far more useful to a vet than “she seems slower”.

What this tool cannot tell you

This is a screening aid, not a diagnosis, and it is deliberately built to catch concerns rather than to clear them. A result with nothing flagged does not rule out joint pain. Only a vet can feel the joints, watch your cat move, and rule out the other conditions that look like stiffness. The “other signs” section is not part of the validated six and is not scored — a cat can show none of those signs and still be sore. This check is also for gradual change only: sudden loss of use of the back legs, dragging, crying out, or cold back paws is an emergency and needs a vet immediately.

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