Cat Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation in Singapore

Do cats really need physiotherapy?

Yes. Cats develop the same joint disease, injuries, and post-surgical weakness that dogs do, but they mask it far better. Roughly 90% of cats over 12 show degenerative joint disease on X-ray, and most are never treated because the signs are so quiet. Physiotherapy rebuilds the strength and movement your cat loses along the way.

A cat won't limp to the door and whine. Pain hardwiring in cats runs the other way: stay still, stay hidden, give nothing away. That instinct kept their ancestors alive and it now keeps owners in the dark. By the time a cat is visibly struggling, the arthritis or muscle loss has usually been building for months.

The numbers are stark once someone looks. Studies putting cats through full-body radiographs find degenerative joint disease in about 90% of cats aged 12 and older, and in more than one in five cats past their first birthday. The hips, knees, hocks, and elbows take the brunt of it. Left alone, a stiff cat moves less, loses muscle over the hips, and slides into the flat, sleep-all-day life that owners mistake for "just getting older."

This is the gap AURA works in. Your vet diagnoses the problem; we run the recovery. Physiotherapy keeps joints moving through their range, holds onto muscle, and takes the edge off pain so an older cat stays mobile instead of shutting down.

How do I know if my cat is in pain?

Watch behaviour, not limping. Cats in pain groom less (or over-groom one sore spot), stop jumping to their favourite high perch, hesitate at the litter box, hide more, and turn grumpy when touched. A cat that used to land on the kitchen counter and now takes the chair as a halfway step is telling you something.

Reduced jumping is often the first thing to go, and it's easy to miss because cats improvise. In one study of cats with osteoarthritis, fewer than half actually limped, but almost three-quarters had stopped wanting to jump and two-thirds jumped a shorter distance than before. The cat looks fine. It just quietly edits its own life down to what doesn't hurt.

Signs worth booking a vet visit for:

• Grooming has slipped, so the coat looks unkempt or matted over the back and hips, where a stiff cat can no longer reach
• Fur is thin or damp over one joint from constant licking
• Your cat pauses, gathers itself, or picks a lower route to places it once jumped in one go
• Litter box accidents, or hovering rather than squatting, because crouching hurts
• Muscle wasting you can feel over the hind end and along the spine
• A shift in temper: hiding, flinching, or swatting when you touch a certain area

None of this is a diagnosis. It's a reason to see your vet, who can examine, image, and rule things in or out. Once you have that diagnosis, AURA turns it into a recovery plan.

Which cat conditions does AURA rehabilitate?

AURA rehabs cats after a vet diagnosis for arthritis, fractures, high-rise falls, diaphragmatic-hernia surgery, hip surgery (FHO), obesity, muscle loss, senior stiffness, and neurological conditions. We don't diagnose. Your vet does the medicine; we run the physical recovery that gets your cat moving, eating, and climbing again.

If your cat has just fallen or been in an accident, that's an emergency: go to your vet or an emergency clinic first. AURA takes over once your cat is stable and your vet says rehab can start.

How is cat rehab different from dog rehab?

Cats aren't small dogs, so we don't treat them like small dogs. Cat sessions are shorter and quieter, booked into slots with no dogs in the building, and paced to let a cat settle on its own terms. Most of the work is land-based physio, laser, and hands-on pain management, never a forced routine.

A dog will often work for a treat and a bit of encouragement. A cat that feels cornered simply shuts down, or worse, panics, and a panicked cat learns nothing except that this place is frightening. So the whole approach changes.

What that looks like at AURA:

• Quiet, dog-free slots. Cats come in when there are no dogs in sight or earshot. No barking, no other animals crowding the space.
• Carrier-to-table, on the cat's clock. We let a cat come out of its carrier when it's ready, sniff around, and choose to engage. Rushing it backfires every time.
• Shorter sessions. A cat's useful attention is short, so we do more in less time and stop before the cat has had enough, not after.
• Land-based physio first. Range-of-motion work, targeted strengthening, balance and slow controlled movement on the ground make up the bulk of feline rehab.
• Laser therapy for pain and healing. Cats tolerate laser well. It's quiet, warm, and needs no restraint, so it fits feline patients neatly. Laser and massage come bundled into the rehab or pain plan rather than billed on their own.

The home-like setting matters more for cats than for any other patient. A calm cat lets us actually work; a stressed one gives us nothing. Everything above exists to keep your cat in the first camp.

Can cats do hydrotherapy?

Some can, most won't, and we never push it. The old belief that cats and water never mix is softening, and feline-specific hydrotherapy studies show the rare water-tolerant cat can work on an underwater treadmill with measurable gains. But a distressed cat in water is a safety risk, so we assess temperament first and default to land-based physio.

Water has clear advantages. Buoyancy takes weight off sore joints, and gentle resistance builds strength without the pounding of normal exercise, which is why it helps with some post-surgical fractures, muscle wasting, obesity, and neurological cases. For a cat that stays calm, a warm underwater treadmill can do things land work can't.

The catch is temperament. A cat that thrashes in water can hurt itself, so hydrotherapy only makes sense for a cat likely to accept it, introduced slowly with a therapist in the water the whole time for support. For the large majority of feline patients, land-based physio, laser, and pain management carry the recovery, and that's completely normal. We would rather your cat make steady progress on dry ground than fight a pool it hates.

What happens at your cat's first visit?

The first visit is a full assessment, priced at $168. Bring your vet's diagnosis and any X-rays or notes. We watch how your cat moves, check joints and muscle, talk through your home setup, and build a plan. There's no pressure on your cat to perform on day one; settling in comes first.

Plan for a slower start than you might expect. A good chunk of the first session is simply letting your cat decompress: out of the carrier, into a quiet room, sniffing the space, deciding we're not a threat. We read the diagnosis your vet sent, then assess gait, range of motion, muscle mass, and where the pain sits. From there you get a plan with a realistic number of sessions and what each one aims to do.

What treatment costs at AURA:

Packages work out cheaper per session because most cats need a run of visits, not a one-off. Laser and massage aren't sold separately; they're folded into whichever plan fits your cat. Daycare and grooming are priced on their own and sit outside cat rehab. The full price breakdown is in our rehabilitation cost guide.

What results can I realistically expect?

Rehab manages and improves; it rarely cures. For an arthritic or senior cat, the goal is a comfortable, mobile animal that jumps and grooms again, not a brand-new joint. Post-surgical cats often recover strength and normal use over a set course of sessions. Progress in cats is quieter and slower than in dogs, and that's fine.

Be honest with yourself about the finish line. Arthritis doesn't reverse, so that work is lifelong management: fewer stiff days, more willingness to move, muscle held onto rather than lost. After a fracture or hip surgery, many cats get back to near-normal function once the tissue heals and the strength returns. Neurological cases are the least predictable and depend heavily on the underlying problem.

You'll usually spot the small wins first. A cat grooming a patch it had given up on. One clean jump to the sofa without the halfway chair. Using the litter box normally again. We track these with you and adjust the plan, and if something isn't working, we say so rather than keep booking sessions. Your vet stays in the loop throughout, because rehab works best alongside the medical care, not instead of it.

This page is for education, not diagnosis. Always see your vet first about your cat's health, and for any injury or emergency go straight to a vet or emergency clinic.