Regarding an old cat...

crowen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Apr 19, 2013
Messages
36
Purraise
28
Hi folks,

One of my cats is around 16 years old. She was purchased by my mother at a pet store and has always been small and not the most healthy. She's had weak back legs with almost no thigh muscles for a couple years after she went missing for a few weeks and has only ever weighed around 8lbs. 

Her health has been on decline for a while. I switched her to a raw diet with my younger cat, who I was trying to get to lose weight after being free-fed kibble and ballooning to an incredible 18 lbs. She seemed better on this diet, though lost about a pound competing with my youngest for meals when I was at work and others provided food that they were not supervising. 

I was told she was "acting strange" yesterday by "walking funny" and having a bad temper, hissing at the younger cat if she got near. This morning I found a strange puddle outside the litter box that looked like a cat tried to go to the bathroom in the litter, hopped out, and then urinated on the floor in a pile of flung out litter. I wiped it with two paper towels, so it was not an overly large puddle, but it seemed like a suspicious happening. To me it  looked to have a pinkish tinge, and perhaps some sort of fragments that were pushed out. My first thought was A.) blood, B.) some sort of crystal or stone.

When I came home from work today I found the oldest cat sleeping on the back porch chair. She seemed more ragged, tired, stressed, and most prevalent to me: her eyes looked like one of my other cats who passed away at 20 around two years ago. They were not centered but pushed off to either side towards the cheeks, completely undiluted to needle points as if she couldn't control it and had a faded look. The cat who passed away was caused by, most likely, kidney failure. I say "most likely" as the vet didn't follow up or confirm: they simply said, "it was probably kidney failure." 

Right now I know if I advise my parents to bring their cat to the vet that she probably won't leave the vet. They'll decide to have her put down. 

So my question is this:

Would you recommend asking the vet for pain killers and waiting to see if she seems to get any better? Chances are she will be left to monitor anyway, but I figured I should ask about pain killers here. 

If these were blockages that were urinated on the floor that I cleaned up this morning, I imagine she might start to recover (?). Not sure if there's anything more I can do there beyond asking them not to switch to a kibble unless they're getting one specified by a vet for her particular, unidentified problem.

To point: they want to "switch her back to her old food for a while" which was just the kibble they purchased from costco. I know all of this is probably an issue that I delayed by switching them to raw food to begin with, given her fading health that seemed to plateau, so I told her it'd probably just kill her faster. Both the cats have been on raw for over a year. 

Thoughts, suggestions?
 

that guy

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
198
Purraise
40
You should take her to the vet and have her blood checked, B12 checked, and check for hydration. Senior cats need more attention than the young ones and a vet visit should not be a death sentence. There could be so many things wrong with her which may have a simple solution. If she is hissing and hanging out where she typically would not then something is probably up. I would say let the vet check her out and then see where to go from there. Remind your parents that they will get old one day and see if they would accept the same fate?
 
Last edited:
Top