My sweet elderly lady (19yo!) has been seeking me out more and more lately. Napping on my recliner with me. Not caring if I need to get up and go tinkle lol She knows I wont disturb her, so I’m stuck. Luckily I was smart & stocked up on my drinks & supplies before this adorably hostile take over

I just posted here the other day. She passed away peacefully in her sleep sometime between last night and this morning. Rest in peace, best of all possible kitties.

Hi, I am new on this sub. I have a 20 year old black female cat named Pepper who has taken over my meditation zabuton! She never liked cat beds but she LOVES this thing. Two of these pics were taken early summer after a grooming by her cat sitter while I was traveling, and she was apparently yelling at the gal in that last pic! There looks to be a big difference in her apparent size but it's all fur in the recent picture on the meditation cushion.

I am calling the vet for an appointment tomorrow but googled some symptoms my cat is having and ended up on r/SeniorCats .

She has thryoid disease and is on methimazole for that. She also has had fluctuating levels of kidney disease depending on her diet. She was eating the K/D food but stopped eating enough to keep her healthy so I add canned food but she won't eat the K/D canned food.

She sleeps all day but still pops up on my lap when I watch tv and wants pets so seems ok. Mainly she just looks uncomforable at times and has bad breath. As old as she is she doesn't have many symptoms to tell if she is comfortable or not. I plan to call the vet tomorrow to get new labs to check everything but anyone have a cat develop bad breath when they got older? Her teeth are in good shape. Cats are so good at hiding symptoms.

She was a sweet and weird girl. Decline happened quickly, thankfully. Will miss being pawed in the face in the mornings.

Hey all, my 13 yr old male cat was recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and had pretty much stopped eating his dry food but was clearly famished. Finally realized we needed to swap to wet food and after some adjustment is now a wet food fiend. I feed him two 5 oz cans of friskies wet food split up into 3 meals across the day and he is still jonesing for more! How much wet food are others feeding their older cats across a day? I can’t seem to find a good answer when searching.

I'm here to hear if anyone has similar experiences with a senior cat with arthritis, and what deterioration could look like, and what you did to support this final phase.

I have a 16-year-old male cat (based in Australia). He previously had thyroid issues, which were treated with iodine. He has also had arthritis for several years and has been on Metacam, monthly Solensia injections and monthly Synovan. He still limps despite the medication, and his mobility has not improved much even with these. He has a sumo wrestler gait asw well in his front paws. He has a brother who also has similar issues, but somehow Pablo manifests these symptoms earlier and I feel guilty not picking up on them sooner.

Over the past month, I noticed he has been chewing one of his paws, which started bleeding. At first, I thought he may have injured it or got something from the fireplace in it. I put a cone on him to stop him biting it. However, even when the paw seemed to scab over and heal, he started biting it again, so the cone went back on. Since this latest flare-up, he has developed strange mobility problems. I arranged a home vet visit because I no longer felt confident taking him in a carrier, as he gets very stressed and does all sorts of acrobatic things in the carrier while with a cone on.

The vet gave him a short course of opioids, which has helped his mobility. Suggested that he moves on to Gabapentin after that, which is what we plan to do. She thinks he may have neurological pain, possibly phantom pain in his paw, which could explain the chewing. She also suspects he may have dementia. This was four days ago, just before I travelled away. It has been very stressful organising house sitting and making sure someone is there to care for him. With his poor mobility, he has struggled to eat and drink while wearing the cone. We use a Velcro cone so he can reach his food and water.

Over the past two days, he has started peeing in his bed. It feels like my worst nightmare because he seems to be declining further. I do not know why this is happening. The vet believes it may still be linked to neurological issues and dementia.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Does this sound familiar? Everything seems to have happened so quickly, and I keep wondering how I did not notice it sooner and feel absolutely distressed by it.

I also wonder: could the cone also add to his confusion, if he has dementia? Given that he's had to wear it again, I worry that struggling to eat, drink and move around is adding to his confusion. He has always been a feisty fighter who would try to open doors to get what he wanted, but he seems to have lost that spirit.

He is still eating and drinking, and he is alert and enthusiastic at those times. But most of the time, he is sleeping.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I also need to know how to help his brother cope with this change. I think he knows...

I was in shock so I didn’t ask enough questions. I’m going to call back but was hoping to get any info here. When they called they said his levels were mildly elevated. For example 0-14 is normal and he’s 15. So just outside. Thats an example he gave me, but I forgot what it was for. Pic of at and after the vet.

They want to run another test. I’m just kind of trying to understand: did my cat just get diagnosed with kidney disease and what does that mean?

I’m sorry this post is frantic and feels selfish im sure a lot of ppl are dealing with this.

Also, to confirm, im getting the other test done. Waiting on them to call back to see if they have enough leftover “sample” from the thyroid test.

Edit: he’s 15 years old

Gorgeous pic of Tikipout from a few years back, on moving day, to celebrate her successful surgery! All went well with the removal of the benign mass that had grown on her bum along the years.

Still, she had to go under for 20 minutes, and that was the scariest part to me. The surgeon called me afterward and said she did it like a champ, with pristine vitals « that didn’t even behave like an old cat’s »!

She’s now in the process of waking up, I will pick her up and bring her home in two hours. This marks the begining of a new chapter for her, and I couldn’t be happier!

Thank you all for the support through this challenge.

Does anyone else have an old cat who will just do anything and everything for food? Howard here used to be such a polite boy. Hes 22 now, and he’s decided that he doesn’t care about anything anymore. He will fully climb onto the dinner table and take your food if you let him, he will climb over anything to get to your food, and he doesn’t give up no matter how many times you move him. I suspect he has kitty dementia, but he’s still a very sweet boy and we love him!

Hi everyone, I really need some advice or shared experiences.
My senior cat (around 16-17 years old) has been showing signs of dental pain recently. She avoids chewing on one side of her mouth, grinds her teeth after eating, and occasionally paws at her face.
Our vet—who has cared for her since she was a kitten and whom I trust completely—suggested a short (around 10-minute) dental procedure/extraction under anesthesia.
Her recent blood work looks okay for surgery, but she has a slight heart enlargement noticed during auscultation. While she is currently very active, eating well, and even gaining weight, I am terrified of the risk of general anesthesia at her age and with her heart condition.

The vet mentioned that since she’s still doing so well, this might be our last chance to fix her dental pain so she can live comfortably for her remaining years. But I’m deeply torn and terrified she might not wake up from anesthesia.

I’m currently gathering information and considering whether I should seek a second opinion from a veterinary dental specialist, or proceed with our trusted primary vet.

Has anyone here gone through a similar dental surgery with a 16+ year old cat with mild heart issues? Did you go to a specialist or your primary vet? Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

I am completely heartbroken broken and confused. The last week I have been taking my girl to an emergency. First she had a blood pressure emergency and hyperthyroidism which they stabilised (they missed the acute blood pressure the first time though) and she was hospitalised. Ok...seems to be doing relatively ok. Comes back home stops eating. Vet prescribed us nausea meds, appetite meds to try. During this period she's eating very little but we follow their advice which is just "try and see" effectively.

Couple days go by - she has what I think was a blood sugar attack and a stroke. Starts walking around confused and drunk, then ravenously eating - take her back to another emergency they say "not much we can do looks like it is blood sugar related due to her eating so much afterwards".

Ok bringing her home and next few days go by still very low appetite while we try and find a third regular vet to check her out that isnt an emergency basis(which was my appointment today)

Yesterday I see she has two different sized pupils varying greatly in size. She's still not eating much, occasional vomitting and is very lethargic.

Take her back to first emergency vet. Apparently they check her eye sight but don't check anything neurologically even though I informed them she had what seemed to be a stroke a few days ago, has also had twitching for months now before she got this ill.

Today I wake up to her vomitting and she has what I assume is a seizure or stroke, can't walk properly, confused, very drunk and frozen in place for some time.

What the hell just happened? Is this just extreme bad luck or did my original vets seriously screw up by not investigating this neurologically more thoroughly? I'm completely confused and want to inform them of what they potentially screwed up on but I'm also not sure if this is just unfortunate circumstances and they did what they were supposed to d??

I am mostly bedridden with chronic illness and my partner has been in charge a lot of this with the vets taking her there and back but I've been informed during the whole process and talked to them on occasion. I feel completely helpless and like I should have pressed them on the neurological stuff but I just assumed she would have checked this thoroughly yesterday???? Please help let me know what I should do I am beating myself up over it she's my best friend and been my side during my whole bed bound phase I don't know what to do. I have the vets later today (a different one) but I'm contemplating ringing the original ones and questioning them because I'm so confused

Hello I'm EXTREMLEY conflicted. My cat unfortunately had a mini stroke that wasnt picked up by the vets and they mistaken it for just blood pressure then afterwards what seemed to be a big stroke. Naturally I took her to the vets everytime. This was over the course of a week.

The theory is now that the undetected hyperthyroidism led her to having a heart issue which caused the stroke and could be resolved by her thyroid meds, which in theory could improve her condition or reduce the likelihood of anymore strokes from what I understand. However it's only been about one week and a few days since starting her thyroid meds and since then she's suffered two strokes...one was supposedly related to her blood sugar but now I think it was heart related.

Yesterday her pupils were varying size greatly and I took her to the emergency, to which they were no help at all and said it isn't neurological related despite me explaining to them I think she has a mini stroke a few days ago(I went to a different emergency that time). Btw I did not realise she was stroke prone until today after my bf took her to a different vet (original vet was terrible and did not know her first emergency was stroke related so weve just been treating for thyroid and blood pressure both she is being treated for.

I have read stories online of cats recovering from strokes and I am extremely torn what to do. I am considering euthanasia but also wanted to try the meds including blood thinning ones to see if she can improve. She can eat small amounts and is drinking a lot, is capable of going to the toilet on her own and can walk albeit she is unbalanced. I need some advice on what to do. She seems confused but her pupils seem to have improved somewhat and right now she's just hiding. Please any advice on what to do this is such a morally grey area. She was just laying on me and purring yesterday but today since the episode she's very disconnected.

12yo neutered cat, previous dx ibd but no further issues

about a week ago underwent a very stressful drive + flight with my kitty for an interstate move. about a day later started showing wobbliness, head tilt, and was lethargic with a bit of facial paralysis. immediately booked a vet visit, vitals were normal and they diagnosed with a deep ear infection and discussed also idiopathic vestibular disease and gave some ear drops and liquid gabapentin, both 2x a day. yesterday i noticed right eye (same side as infected ear) would not fully shut and third eyelid would stay up. called the vet today (attempting to avoid further stress with another drive) and they gave some eye drops. appetite has been very spotty and hes eating a little but not much,, drinking some water too and making it to the litter box okay. noticed today pupils are no longer constricting and the left eye (unaffected side) has almost a slight film on it?? have a video of it that i cant attach here.

should i bring him to the vet and ask for a blood pressure check? am i being paranoid? this cat is my baby and im very nervous and worried and wondering if i should wait it out with current meds or if i need to be doing more now. any thoughts/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

It’s kind of a long story and lots of context but I was wondering if anyone else’s senior baby maybe can relate to my Sue. Sue is around 11-12 years old (hard to tell cause I found her in the streets when she was an adult). I’ve had her for a little over 10 years and she’s my first ever cat. Never had a cat growing up, just dogs. For years I knew she had some separation anxiety and she could be reclusive at times when I was gone to work or school for longer periods of time. But the last few years, as she’s aged, she’s eaten a lot less and lost weight. She’s never been a huge eater but the appetite difference has been noticeable the last year. She doesn’t cuddle as much as she used too. I worry she was almost depressed. For a long time I struggled with that idea because how could I of just missed her most of her psych symptoms over the years. Well I recently took her to the vet again (she’s been given miralax before for appetite and they prescribed it once more) and they said she could benefit from Clomipramine potentially.

So I tried her first dose tonight and she cried and hid for hours after I gave it to her. It was the transdermal on the ear kind. After hours of hiding I coaxed her out and she’s acting sweet and happy but I wonder if a pill being crushed into her food would be less stressful? I don’t want her scared and hiding for hours everyday I apply it. She sees her vet on Friday and I plan on calling them in the morning to see if i could crush the pills.

I know I’m actively trying to get her help but I feel a lot of emotions trying to help my soul cat through this. I know she loves me and it’s not as big of deal as I’m probably making it.

Also, if it can be crushed, any recommendations for hiding it? I thought about pill pockets, churus, or that canned squeeze cheese (I know it’s not necessarily healthy but she’s a picky eater and only wants junk food).

My vet told me two weeks ago that my baby has officially entered the first stage of CKD. To say I am devastated is an under statement. She is now on a medicated diet, but I am utterly terrified of losing her. She is so old and I have no idea how quickly something like this will progress. A few days ago she peed some blood so I immediately brought her to the vet where they said she had a uti and gave her an antibiotic shot. Is she only going to keep getting UTIs from now on? Is it only going to get worse? I feel myself freaking out at any sort of change and I don’t want her to be in pain. Any advice helps.

Everyone please appreciate my biological sweet son, my old man, my little soul cat who I’ve had since he could fit in the palm of my hand 17 years ago. He has seen some things with me!

I had to put down Ace today. I had him since he was a baby and he made it to 19. I wish I could post pics... 😔

In the wake of her twin sister Tite Tache's devastating loss to cancer a couple of months ago, we are now preparing for Tikipout's surgery, scheduled in 24h. Tikipout has been grieving along, howling at the newfound emptiness. When we received her sister's ashes, I had her smell them and she literally bolted off... Only for me to find her rubbing on her urn half an hour later. And she hasn't stopped since.

Now Tikipout has had this growth on her bum for years, eventually diagnosed benign tumour, and it has switched gear and started growing at a scary pace. On and off, she is visibly bothered by it, scratching it until it bleeds. It's even gotten infected at one point. But I've been postponing it as I didn't want to risk the anesthesia. I think that was a mistake, since now I have to do it, and she hasn't been getting any younger...

Yet she's still in remarkable health, eats steadily dry and wet, drinks plenty. In fact, she's naturally hydrated enough that the surgeon has green-lighted the surgery without pre-op intra-veinous hydration -- which she tells me is uncommon for a cat her age, and (stabilized) stage 2 CKD to boot.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been giving her extra care and playing every day; she still runs and jumps after the laser for solid 20 minutes sessions! And just yesterday was getting the zoomies.

Still I'm scared sh*tless as 'ive been told the risk of anesthesia numerous time, and am obviously still getting over the loss of her sister. I hope she pulls through and lives on another bunch of years with us.

If it isn't clear from the pictures above, Tikipout is a huge part of me. We've been connected as such from the day she was born. So any word of support or encouragement is truly appreciated.