- Joined
- Oct 3, 2016
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I am a first time cat owner so my experience is based solely on my one guy. I adopted him from a shelter that I work at almost 10 years ago. He was meant to be a hospice cat. I say that because he came in weighing 5lbs, he was estimated to be in his late teens, and had severe health issues. He was considered unadoptable meaning any average person from the public would over look him. The moment I saw him though I fell in love. So I packed him up and told myself I was taking him home to live out his last few days of life. Those last days turned into year...
Through out the years we have nursed him back to health, watched him act like a kitten again, and find a new life which we have greatly enjoyed with him.
I fear now though he may actually be in his "hospice" days. I'll start off with that I take him to the vet regularly for vet work. I keep a close eye on his blood work etc... and had it done just 2 weeks ago. The vet said he levels were the best they have ever been. Consider his estimated age hes doing amazing. Since our visit to the vet though he has gone down hill drastically. His back end has slowly been going out on him so we have made accommodations for him through out the house.
He has baby gates with holes cut in them so he cant just walk through them(we have dogs that greatly love our old kitty...but he has his own special resting area he has claimed in the basement. So because of this we put a gate up to keep them out.) We have some orthopedic beds for him hut style which are his favorite with heating pads plus his own space heater near by (hes always looking for heat), he has his litter box near his bed, food and water are near by as well. We basically have moved everything within 8 feet of his bed to accommodate his back legs. This seems to make him happy and this is usually where he parks himself. Although in the past he would always come up to yell at us when it was time to eat or when he wanted some some extra attention. For the past month though he hasn't come up at all. He also appears more unstable on his legs these days.
I also make sure to buy and feed him the one brand of food he prefers. But even lately his intake seems lower then usual. More food is being left behind.
Lastly his litter box issues. I do have a low box for him but it doesn't seem to help him. Last night I found diarrhea all over our basement carpet, and puddles of urine on the cement outside his box area. Its almost as if he forgot where to go. My boyfriend says he has watched him go down the basement steps before and just start peeing on the steps as if he couldn't control it.
I guess my question is who else has had similar situations with their old cats? What did you do? Or is this simply a sign that his time is possibly nearing?
Through out the years we have nursed him back to health, watched him act like a kitten again, and find a new life which we have greatly enjoyed with him.
I fear now though he may actually be in his "hospice" days. I'll start off with that I take him to the vet regularly for vet work. I keep a close eye on his blood work etc... and had it done just 2 weeks ago. The vet said he levels were the best they have ever been. Consider his estimated age hes doing amazing. Since our visit to the vet though he has gone down hill drastically. His back end has slowly been going out on him so we have made accommodations for him through out the house.
He has baby gates with holes cut in them so he cant just walk through them(we have dogs that greatly love our old kitty...but he has his own special resting area he has claimed in the basement. So because of this we put a gate up to keep them out.) We have some orthopedic beds for him hut style which are his favorite with heating pads plus his own space heater near by (hes always looking for heat), he has his litter box near his bed, food and water are near by as well. We basically have moved everything within 8 feet of his bed to accommodate his back legs. This seems to make him happy and this is usually where he parks himself. Although in the past he would always come up to yell at us when it was time to eat or when he wanted some some extra attention. For the past month though he hasn't come up at all. He also appears more unstable on his legs these days.
I also make sure to buy and feed him the one brand of food he prefers. But even lately his intake seems lower then usual. More food is being left behind.
Lastly his litter box issues. I do have a low box for him but it doesn't seem to help him. Last night I found diarrhea all over our basement carpet, and puddles of urine on the cement outside his box area. Its almost as if he forgot where to go. My boyfriend says he has watched him go down the basement steps before and just start peeing on the steps as if he couldn't control it.
I guess my question is who else has had similar situations with their old cats? What did you do? Or is this simply a sign that his time is possibly nearing?