How worried should I be about 19yo cat?

[IsItMeOr]

She's vomited properly (i.e. food) and had diarrhoea (sp?) with some blood in it. This isn't that uncommon for her, as she seems to have a tricky pancreas which gets inflamed from time to time. When it gets particularly bad, antibiotics seem to do the trick.

Am I being too relaxed if I leave her overnight to see how she does before calling the vet? DS (4yo) has chickenpox again, and DH is in bed with diarrhoea bug and headache, so will be tricky to do anything with her tonight, but I'm not sure if I'm being a bad cat parent...

She's just had the one bout of each, and is otherwise seeming ok in herself.

[PeachActiviaMinge]

If it's not too uncommon for her and shes eating and drinking then leave it until the morning She's an amazing age by the way so you must be doing something right!

[IsItMeOr]

Thanks Peach - almost all she's done for the past 10 years is sleep and then come for the occasional bit of fuss. She must be onto something as apart from glucosamine for arthritic knees and this pancreas thing, she's not really had any problems.

[IsItMeOr]

The vet prescribed the Hill's z/d which is low allergen. That seemed to help, together with the occasional round of Anti-biotics when it's flared up. Is the Royal Cannin Sensitivity the same sort of thing, do you know?

She seems a bit better today - poos still a bit softer than normal, but no blood and no vomit. She seems happy enough, so maybe she's just had a bit of a bug?

After it cost £1,000 in tests for us to find out about the pancreas (yes, we really should have got insurance...), which she clearly enjoyed even less than we did, we're pretty reluctant to have her fussed about with unless she's properly under the weather.

[cozietoesie]

We're the same. Seniorboy gets only essential tests and vet visits. He's too old now for otherwise.

[cozietoesie]

Why was it responsible, merlincat ? I'm sure that would be worrying for many people here? And did the vet say whether this applied to any other common commercial foods?

[IsItMeOr]

Thanks everybody - feeling a lot happier with my decision now that I know she's reasonably normal for others of her age with similar issues (and she's been fine all evening).

Fingers crossed that she will be making a hollow in our sofa/leaving fur everywhere/always being where I want to put my feet for a good long time yet.

[cozietoesie]

No problem, merlin. That makes sense.

When you have a cat of that age whom you've lived with for yonks, IsItMeOr, I think you get to know them pretty well. Sure the vet may have to do tests on occasion but its usually possible to tell if they're really out of sorts.

[IsItMeOr]

I hope so cozietoesie. To be fair, I didn't resent the vet doing the expensive tests, as he clearly thought - as did I - that she probably had a cancer which had spread. She was very obviously not at all well and had lost a lot of weight over a short period. Sounds like merlincat's cat presented similarly.

So it was a relief to find that all she needed was a cheap dose of anti-biotics. We also wouldn't have wanted to make the put to sleep decision without being sure.

Thanks for the support, don't know anybody in real life with such an old cat, so it's much appreciated.

[cozietoesie]

I think a lot of us on this board have (or have had) elderly cats as you'll see if you visit here. Mostly pretty healthy as well, apart from a few grumbles - which is to be expected at that age. Well over 100 in human terms?