Older Cat Sick

[yomamab]

We have been taking care of a now 13-year old male cat that is actually our son's cat. His name is Garfield and is so adorable and likes to walk along with two cats early last year, who were kittens at the time. They're confined to the house and we talk them for one-hour walks each day in our back yard. For the past several months, we've been noticing Garfield losing weight, and at first I didn't think anything of it. My husband didn't want to spend any money on him because of him being our son's cat. Our son can't afford vet care any more than we can. We have put a lot of money into three of our cats in the past two years, two of which we couldn't save. Now Garfield must have some illness and from reading online I'm suspecting diabetes. He has a healthy appetite. As a matter of fact, sometimes when he eats I think he's going to keep eating and eating. He really chows down at times. He's been laying down at the water bowl and drinks and drinks like he can't get enough. He's an inside/outside cat and prior to this illness he had loved spending most of his time, day or night, outside. Now though, he's been staying in on our back porch at night lying on his screen bed that I just made him.

The reason we are taking care of Garfield is because our son's landlord doesn't allow renters to have pets. I know our son will say that he doesn't have the money to take him to the vet, and we're still paying on the vet bills from our sick cats (one had cancer, one had something called pyothorax (I had never heard of it before that), and one had what the vet clinic had said was a bowel obstruction (turned out it wasn't that when we took him to the emergency clinic). So thousands of dollars later after having three sick cats and us being in lots of credit card debt, hubby isn't going to jump at the chance to take Garfield to the vet. I don't have money (can't work because of a problem but don't collect disability), so I'm not really sure what to do.

When I noticed Garfield continuing to lose weight, I mentioned it to my husband and wasn't receptive to the idea of taking him to the vet, so I was pretty much resigned to the fact that we were just going to let him eventually die, which isn't easy for me to do because I'm attached to the kitty. I'm really torn. I don't want to see him suffer. I don't know if we should just put him to sleep or what the heck I should do. I feel like crying most of the time lately because of this.

Can I just go into the vet clinic and tell them what I think it is so they don't have to test for everything under the sun and run up the bill? How expensive would the bill be? If he does have diabetes, can I assume that I'd then have to give him insulin shots for the rest of his life? The thought doesn't appeal to me, but if I can save him, I'd be willing to do that. Or maybe I'd take him to the vet, start treating him and somehow end up killing him myself from some mistake or whatever, like if he'd end up going into a diabetic coma (if that's possible like with people). Is the insulin expensive? How do you give it to a cat? How often do you think I'd have to be running Garfield to the vet after that? I love him to pieces, but I also have to keep peace in the family. If I'd put it on the Care Credit Card that we had applied for when our one cat supposedly had the bowel obstruction, my husband would have a cow. I really don't want to get into a fight over this, but I'd like to know how in the heck I can just ignore this and pretend it will go away. I can't! It's been nagging at me more and more with each passing day. I'm not sure if my son would want to get into more credit card debt either, just like we don't want to. We had to file bankruptcy one time years ago, and I don't want to be in that position again. This is our "golden years". Maybe to some people it is, but not for us in the way that it's meant.

I probably sound like a bad person and maybe you wonder why we have any cats if we can't afford vet bills. Well, I've had depression for years and having a cat makes me feel better. Of course, when they pass on, I am pretty devastated, so then I end up getting a cat several months after that happens. Over the years we've lost 6 cats and it's always very difficult going through that. You know they're sick and you keep hoping they can pull through and they don't. That's another reason why hubby doesn't want to spend money on Garfield, because our track record isn't so good with having sick cats being treated by the vet and actually end up living. Every time but one time they died. They were 8, 6, 4, almost 15, and 11 (the ones that died). So at age 13, Garfield is up there is age and I don't know if he'd live much longer anyway, but still there's that nagging feeling that what if I could save him....ugh, my stomach is twisted in knots over this. Please help me with advice. I feel like a basket case, honestly.

 

[stephanietx]

I understand the financial concern. The first step is to get him to the vet for a senior blood panel. It could be that his thyroid is out of whack. That's a very common thing for older kitties to develop. Figure out what the problem is first, then start looking at the cost to keep him healthy.

 

[verna davies]

I'm so sorry for the position you are in, vets fees are so expensive. Excessive eating and drinking could be hyperthyroidism but the cat would need a blood test to confirm this. I live in the UK and there are places that help with costs of treatment. I don't know where you are from there may be other members on this site that could point you in the right direction.

 

[yomamab]

Thank you for your replies. I've made an appointment at the vet clinic for this week and it will suit my son to go with me then. I don't know what else to do but ask him to charge it and I'll eventually help somehow. It's awful that veterinary costs are so high. Generally, with us anyway, the testing, x-rays,etc. just to find out what's wrong is more than we can afford. Then if the cat needs to be hospitalized awhile, there's another cost. The emergency clinic where we had our one rescue cat we got last year stay over one weekend (supposedly bowel obstruction) charged $35 just to give him a bath. He had "raging" diarrhea, as the vet put it. Yes, he did, and with the barium (I guess to find out if he did indeed have a bowel obstruction like another vet had told us), the baths, the x-rays, etc. and the stay for two days, it was close to 2 thousand dollars! I mean, I know that they need money too, but I don't know what they expect people to do, especially when NO VET IN THIS CENTRAL PA area will take payments. They refuse. And that makes me wonder how much do they REALLY CARE??!! Years ago, maybe, but I think that's a thing of the past in this fast-paced world.

So hopefully we can do whatever needs to be done with Garfield. With his sickness, he's unlike most other cats we've had that, when they were sick they didn't last very long after you first noticed they were sick and took them to the vet. They either had kidney failure, cancer, and in the one cat pyothorax, and they soon died. With Garfield, he's been gradually losing weight until now it's to the point where he feels bony. He seems more normal than our other cats did when they were sick and has more energy, although he does lay around more than he did. He's not on death's door. With the others I had a hunch that they weren't going to make it, although we had to try to save them, but I don't get that feeling with Garfield. I think it's something treatable. I just don't know if we'll be able to afford to treat him. I'm hoping that the vet visit and blood tests will be the bulk of the expense and that the medicine to treat him will be affordable for us. If it will be some exorbitant amount, then I don't know what I'd do. It's not like I want to take him in this week and found out we can't do it and then have them put him down. But I don't want him to suffer either if he is indeed suffering. I can't tell if he's in pain. He has a grumpy meow, but he always had a grumpy meow. He's purring, but he's always purring. The only time he doesn't purr is probably when he's sleeping. I know when we're around, he purrs constantly. I know that it doesn't necessarily mean that a cat is happy when it purrs; I've read that when they're sick they can purr to comfort themselves (which is what I think Katrina was doing the night we took her to the emergency clinic).

Anyway, I could go on talking about all of our cats over the years, but I'm sure probably everyone here feels like that, and they all hold a special place in our hearts. I still cry sometimes thinking about our cats that we've lost. I get upset more over them than when a person dies who I know, even though that might sound heartless. That's how attached we (especially me) get to our cats. I am just devastated when I'm given bad news about them. They really are part of the family. I hope that we can save Garfield. He's not on death's door, but I know that if we keep ignoring this, he will eventually die from whatever it is. I just hope that I haven't waited too long and that we can afford to treat him. He really is one special cat. Oh, and he's happy as a clam when he gets his butt spanks. Ha. He meows like he doesn't like you spanking his butt, but yet he keeps turning around from side to side coming back for more. He's so goofy and lovable, and I really do want to try to save him if I can. Thank you and if anyone else has any ideas, I'd love more replies. I'll post back after we have him to the vet and let you all know what's wrong with him and what the vet says.

 

[verna davies]

Garfield sounds a real character. I hope the vet sorts him out quickly. Just something to think about, if he does need medicine everyday, it is half the price to buy online. You might need a prescription from the vet that of course they charge for, but it still works out cheaper.
Let us know what the vet says. Good luck.

 

[yomamab]

Thank you! We had Garfield to the vet today and he pretty much agrees with us; he thinks it's most likely diabetes or hyperthyroidism. I don't remember what all he mentioned could be used to treat the hyperthyroidism (I mean there were three options, I think). He said about smearing some drug on his ear but that it wasn't always reliable. Darn, I'd much rather do that, I think, than anything else. It just sounds simple, but if it's maybe not going to work very well, I don't want that. The vet was so informative, I forget what the one option was (maybe pills?). I know the first option he mentioned was iodine and that it would cost $1500 to do that and then it would be a done deal, never have to deal with it again. That sounds great, but the price is way too much. I forget if hyperthyroidism is something that we'd have to take Garfield back for a followup soon or not. I mean I don't know if it's something that the vet techs would have to show us (well, me) how to do.

With diabetes, if it is that, they would have us bring Garfield back in after they get the blood test results back and show us/me how to give him an insulin shot. I don't think my daughter would want to do that because she has always been squeamish with needles; I don't mind them. As a matter of fact, I used to watch my gram give herself insulin shots when I was a kid, but it's not like I'd know how to actually give one to a person or a cat. So I'm glad that they will show us if the blood tests show that he has diabetes. I don't know which is easier to treat, hyperthyroidism or diabetes, but we will be treating Garfield if it turns out to be something that's treatable.

The vet mentioned kidney disease, but he mentioned the same thing that we already read, that cats LOSE their appetites when they have that, not eat normal or ravenously and frequently. Sometimes Garfield eats and comes back inside half an hour later to eat more. And of course, he always drinks a lot right after eating. He parks himself at the water bowl (we have a fountain here that our other two cats drink from, but he will only drink out of a bowl) and he's there for at least 5 minutes drinking, I'd guess. Anyway, we've had other cats that had CKD and they LOST their appetites, not eat like Garfield like there's no tomorrow. The vet, however, did say that depending what a cat has, if it's let go too long with no treatment, it could cause CKD. I hope I haven't waited too long, but this has gone on for months, probably half a year.

I don't want to lost any cat that we have and would rather treat them if they have a chance at living a longer life. The big reason why I let this go is that my husband said that Garfield is our son's cat and that he should take care of his own cat. Like I mentioned before, he's not rich either. So I/we just kept leaving it go and I don't know why I thought would eventually happen, but it seemed so far off in the future that I was really trying to put it out of my mind. Our son's credit rating is pretty high right now, so he said he'd put this cost on his charge card.

These were the charges in case anyone else is wondering: Office Visit Medical Exam-$54, Purevax Feline Rabies Vaccine 1 yr-$22.50, Premium Senior Bloodwork-$113.04, Revolution Blue Feline-$168.84 (Garfield had/has fleas and the vet said all the cats should be treated; he gave us a buy 9 get 3 free special). Since we should treat all cats and the other two cats' drops don't appear to be working efficiently (since they have recently gotten fleas too), our son thought he might as well get enough tubes to get the discount; I told him I'd reimburse him for them since they're mostly for the other two. The bill also included Siphotrol Plus II Premise Spray (16 oz)-$16.04, and Biohazard Disposal/OSHA Compliance-$5.78 for a total of $381.16.

They could have included testing to see if Garfield has Feline Leukemia or Feline AIDS, but since the vet said they're untreatable once they have them, we thought then what would be the point of having him testing for it if there'd be nothing we could do about it anyway. He also mentioned that Garfield has a heart murmur, and I can't remember what he said about that then. I told him if Garfield's weakened state that I wouldn't want to put him through anything that would requiring any cutting him open because I'm afraid that he could die from that and we'd have him for even less time than we probably would have if we'd have just kept ignoring it. In hindsight, I wish we'd have taken him to the vet sooner because he doesn't deserve to die if he can be treated. I'm sorry that he had to wait this long to be seen by the vet, and if we lost him because of our delay, then I will have to live with that, and that would be difficult for me. I'm hoping for a good prognosis/diagnosis even if the idea of giving him a shot doesn't exactly thrill me. I would do it though in a minute if it meant he could live longer. I will post back what his problem is when we find out.

 

[yomamab]

I forgot to mention that Garfield weighs 8.4 lb, actually a little more than I thought he weighs. It's so hard to tell because of his long hair. I was going to post a pic on here of Garfield bu don't know how. He's a long-haired orange and white cat and usually looks kind of grumpy but he's not. He behaved really well at the vet and laid there on the scale the entire time that we were there and didn't even try to walk away. I think he could have jumped down off the counter if he'd have wanted to, but I guess he preferred to just lay there, and the vet tech said how good he was when he was in the back having his blood drawn. We said he's always been a really good cat. Sadly, two years ago, his brother passed away of cancer, but I might have mentioned that before.

 

[verna davies]

Don't beat yourself up about the delay in taking Garfield. I did the same with my cat, I thought she was loosing weight due to age and as I had two cats I just thought they were both thirsty. I knew nothing about hyperthyroidism or the symptoms. The important thing is he is going to be sorted out now. Let us know the results

 

[Elfilou]

Glad you took him and that it's most likely something treatable. He sounds like an awesome cat. Let us know how things go.

 

[foxden]

I had one senior kitty who developed diabetes.
I was very lucky because she was very easy to treat. We simply had twice-daily insulin injections we gave sub-cutaneously under the skin tent at her shoulders while she was crouched over and eating.
We used insulin purchased at the pharmacy, and we needed a prescription for the syringes that we also purchased at the pharmacy.
After her initial testing, she only required an A1c test, bloodwork and urinalsysis every 4-6 months. We didn't need to test her blood sugar, and our vet did an adjustment in dose if we noticed she was drinking or urinating more than usual. She did require higher doses over time. We kept her in good overall health for abt 5-6 years with this treatment. She was 19 when we had to PTS for a combination of other conditions.

Canned food is better for diabetic kitties as almost every canned food is lower carbs than kibble.

 

[yomamab]

Don't beat yourself up about the delay in taking Garfield. I did the same with my cat, I thought she was loosing weight due to age and as I had two cats I just thought they were both thirsty. I knew nothing about hyperthyroidism or the symptoms. The important thing is he is going to be sorted out now. Let us know the results

Thanks, I guess I needed to hear that because I have been beating myself up about this whole thing like you thought. Here at our place it went pretty much like you said with yours...at first I didn't really think anything of it, and time kept passing by and I kind of was telling myself that it wasn't anything serious. Since Garfield is our son's cat, I thought if he's not worried, then I wouldn't either; however now that it's pretty noticeable that he's skinny and he's bony, it bothers me that we were going to just let him slip away when he might have a chance of living a longer life. After he's given us so many laughs, love, and so much enjoyment, I just can't give up on him and I hope and pray it's not too late. I will try to let myself off the hook.

I don't know much about hyperthyroidism either but will learn as I go I guess. Between my daughter and I we will give him medication; she would give pills, and I would do shots. I will definitely post back with what is wrong with him.

 

[yomamab]

Glad you took him and that it's most likely something treatable. He sounds like an awesome cat. Let us know how things go.

I'm really glad too that we took Garfield to the vet. My mind is more at ease now than it was before I decided that I wanted to take him. It was really eating away at me this past month. Yes, he is awesome and we love him and he, like all the other cats we've ever had, is part of the family. I'd certainly take my husband or "kids" to the doctor/hospital if need be, so I have to help out Garfield too. The vet might call tomorrow, but we will be at a big fair here in PA (people come from states away) and so I won't be able to talk to the vet until Friday. So I'll post here Friday or Saturday and let you all know what the bloodwork results are. I have my fingers and toes tossed that it's treatable. Since the vet sounded pretty certain that it's either diabetes or hyperthyroidism, so if they say anything else, that would come as a shock. I really don't think it's kidney failure, and I'm hoping that he'll be able to live with his heart murmur. The vet agreed with us that it wouldn't be a good idea to cut Garfield open for any reason is his weakened state. I'm afraid that alone would kill him.

 

[yomamab]

I had one senior kitty who developed diabetes.
I was very lucky because she was very easy to treat. We simply had twice-daily insulin injections we gave sub-cutaneously under the skin tent at her shoulders while she was crouched over and eating.
We used insulin purchased at the pharmacy, and we needed a prescription for the syringes that we also purchased at the pharmacy.
After her initial testing, she only required an A1c test, bloodwork and urinalsysis every 4-6 months. We didn't need to test her blood sugar, and our vet did an adjustment in dose if we noticed she was drinking or urinating more than usual. She did require higher doses over time. We kept her in good overall health for abt 5-6 years with this treatment. She was 19 when we had to PTS for a combination of other conditions.

Canned food is better for diabetic kitties as almost every canned food is lower carbs than kibble.

It sounds like it was pretty easy for you to treat your kitty for diabetes, so I hope that it goes that well for us (me). We'd probably do the same thing, purchase the insulin at the pharmacy. I wouldn't know what online pharmacy a person could trust. That's a good idea what you said, and I think that I would also give him his shots when he's eating since I assume that it would distract him somewhat. If we have to take him back to the vet every 4-6 months, I hope that the finances will appear somehow.

Since Garfield likes to be outside most of the time, I guess I don't notice things with him like I do with our other two that are inside cats. For instance, the vet mentioned bringing in a stool sample if the blood work doesn't show anything to try to figure out what else could be wrong (like parasites). I don't how we'd do that, though, because I don't think any of us want to follow him around outside all day and night waiting for him to poop. He doesn't use the litter pans when he comes in and always does his business outside.

I think that it's great the your kitty was okay on the insulin for 5-6 years and that she lived to age 19. Wow! The oldest we ever had a cat get to was almost 15. Mittens passed of kidney failure in 2010 two months short of his 15th birthday. I don't know but maybe I'm being greedy wanting my cats to keep hanging in there until they're a very old age like 20 or more. My mother gets a cat magazine for me and people enter a contest to see who has the oldest cat; they say how old the cats are. Some live to be into their late twenties. We get more attached to them as they get older, so if I'm so broken up about them at earlier ages, I don't know how terribly I'd react if we'd have a cat be with us for almost thirty years.

I wish Garfield liked canned food more than he does. We've tried feeding the cats canned food and they will just lap at the gravy part of it and leave the meat lay there, so it's really a waste to get canned food, although I wish they would eat it at least sometimes. We don't buy real expensive food for our cats. They eat various flavors of Friskies dry food, and when we tried canned food, it was Friskies also.

 

[foxden]

I feed the canned Friskies as well. My 20 year old cat Patches was raised on Kitten Chow, then Purina Cat Chow

 

[yomamab]

I feed the canned Friskies as well. My 20 year old cat Patches was raised on Kitten Chow, then Purina Cat Chow

Wow, 20 years old! Patches is a ripe old age too, like foxden's cat was. That's fantastic, and it's nice to hear that it's possible for them to get to be older on a "regular, bought in a grocery store or Walmart, etc." diet. I don't know if it's a subliminal message or what but with some advertising I get the idea that a cat owner is a little less caring of an owner than someone who buys their cat "top-of-the-line", pricey cat food. We can't afford those brands and if we'd have to absolutely feed them those other brands, then I guess we just couldn't have any cats. I think a LOT of things these days are over-priced and people want to retire early at other people's expense. I'm not what I'd call a cheapskate but more practical than some who throw money away like there's no tomorrow. We pay the bills and then we think about other things. We love our cats, but they're going to have to be happy with the Friskies, I guess.

 

[yomamab]

We finally received a call from the vet on Friday, but none of us were here at the time so he left a message saying that Garfield has hyperthyroidism. He mentioned that a scale that they go by to check for that should be 3.5-4.5; Garfield's was 13.5. The vet said in his message that Garfield's kidneys are great, so that's a relief considering we had several cats pass away from kidney failure.

I called the vet's office when I was able to and was told by the receptionist that she'd put a note back for the dr. to call us either between patients or at the end of the day. So I stuck by our home phone for several hours and at 6:00 I called back thinking that he didn't get the message. The person I talked to wasn't the same one as earlier and she said that she didn't know why I had been told that he'd call me back, that he only had morning hours that day and had left the clinic hours ago. Then she said that one of their other vets was there (unavailable at the time though). The gal on the phone asked if she should ask the dr that was there to look over Garfield's notes in the computer and call me back when she got a chance that evening. So I continued to sit within earshot of the phone most of that night because I hadn't asked the phone person what would be the latest time that the dr would call us. Once again I was disappointed because we never got a call that evening. I'm thinking that there is a lack of communication at that place or there are so many people that there is much confusion. I don't know what the problem is. We decided to have our cats seen there at that vet office because the vet where we had taken our cats before has been in the process of retiring for the past few years. We have always liked him, but I thought it would be best if we started out new with someone else considering that our previous vet probably won't be seeing patients much longer and has very limited hours.

I almost forgot to mention that the vet mentioned in his voicemail to us that we could either do the iodine, pills, liquid, or give something that you put on the cat's ear. I'd say that we will probably do either the pills or liquid depending on the price. If there's not much difference in price, I'm thinking that perhaps the liquid would be easier to give; we've always had a heck of a time trying to give our cats pills over the past 30 years that we've had cats. I'd like to know which method other people prefer and I realize that you're not telling me to do the same, but it would be nice to have people's opinions on how they like to medicate their kitties.

I guess I'll have to call the vet tomorrow again and hope that he's available when I call or I guess I'd have to stay in the house where I can hear the phone ring. Maybe they figure since we waited around so long to take Garfield to the vet another few days won't matter to begin treatment. I'll post back after I talk to the vet.

 

[catsknowme]

I have been reading your thread with much interest and I salute you for doing an awesome job on getting medical attention for Garfield. You have excellent instincts for figuring out what is going on with your kitties! The vet visit just confirmed it - bless you for being proactive and doing your homework...you sound well-prepared to give Garfield any necessary health support.
My only suggestions would be to move away from a corn-based diet - I feed my ferals Purina Cat Chow Naturals and/or Cat&Co Kitten. Sometimes I feed Costco's premium, basically nothing that lists corn as the first ingredient. I have one feral who is 9 and the other well into his teens; both healthy and we live in an area where summer temps are daily 100+ and our winter nights often drop -0°. For the canned cat food, I add at least a half can of water and make it into a slurry; all the kitties, especially the gravy lovers, like that best.
Whisker fatigue is something new that I read about in a vet school's magazine (where some cats dislike the overstimulation of their sensitive whiskers touching the sides of their feeding dish) so I switched to paper plates for their canned and they really like that. Since I use paper plates for my disabled daughter, it is easy to repurpose - with a 21 cat property (on an acre of land), money is a huge balancing act.
I am sorry for the delay in speaking to the vet - that was terrible for them to do to you. I hope that the vet makes you a priority!
And you can post pics by clicking on "upload files"bar and click on the "choose file" in the box. It was easier than it sounds.
Prayers and vibes for a good update soon
~Susan

 

[verna davies]

At last, now you know what is wrong with Garfield you can start to treat him. I am no expert in hyperthyroidism but did have a 15yo with it that I treated for 2years. If you want to pm me feel free. Well done for all your efforts and I hope Garfield responds quickly.

 

[yomamab]

Well, I go from encouragement to DIScouragement. My daughter is really frustrated having to give Garfield his pill because now he runs away from her when he sees her. So in her eyes (and maybe his) she goes from his favorite human to his least favorite because of this pill giving. I certainly don't like giving pills. I've tried it before and I get so frustrated I'm almost crying. I have anxiety to begin with and something like this doesn't help. Amber doesn't like shoving the pills down his throat and so she tried putting one in part of a can of wet cat food. He ate it at first but after a couple days, he wouldn't eat canned food at all anymore. So now she is thinking of trying hiding it in with his dry food, but I'm afraid that he will for sure taste it in there in its whole form (just like in the wet food). Then he won't be eating at all. He didn't eat at all today yet, so I don't know if he's associating eating anything (wet or dry) with the pills and therefore doesn't want to eat. I just don't know what to do. Even if we'd crush it (if you can do that), it wouldn't do any good to put in wet food anyway because he quit eating it. Those pill pockets seem huge and I can't picture a cat swallowing them. We put a pill in one and he walked away from it.

We just don't know what to do now. If only we were rich and could afford the iodine treatment! I know there's a liquid you can give a cat but I guess it would be about the same thing, he'd come to hate whoever is giving it to him. It kind of seems like torturing a cat to have to put them through this medicating business, but yet I don't want to see him die. Worrying about him and what we should do is literally making me sick to my stomach. I sure would welcome some replies.

 

[verna davies]

It is important that he has the pills everyday to keep the right balance for the hyperthyroidism. The ones my cat was on couldn't be broken or crushed, they had to be go even whole and the same time every day. Every morning it was a battle to give them to her, she tried hiding from me, spitting them out but not having them was not an option. Garfield will get used to it, try giving a treat after the pill. I bought mine online, they are half the price. You will need a prescription from your vet but it was still a lot cheaper. Try not to get stresses, it is a good thing you are doing for Garfield and cats are very forgiving. Keep us updated please.