Old Cat advice and support

[TheConstantLurker]

hi, I posted recently about my 18 year old tom. He was diagnosed with over active thyroid and put on Hills y/d dried and tins. He throws up most days-small amounts and poos yellow, very soft, very stinky poo twice three times a day. He is not getting better but not getting worse although he seems to have lost some more weight.
Is there anything I can do to help him? I feel so sorry for my once strong and feisty cat although he seems pretty, well not happy but at least perky.
Every so often I cave and let him have a prawn or a tiny bit of cheese.
My financial resources are very limited so unnecessary vetinery visits are not desirable.

Update: The Smelly Old One is thriving on his new found dietary freedom. The poos are solid and less smelly, he has more energy and seems to have better muscle tone, there is less throwing up too. Hurrah!

Could this all have been part of a pet food manufacturer conspiracy?

Interested to see this Lurker as my 19 yo female has a hyperactive thyroid and has been on Felimazole for a few years now (she also has high blood pressure and is on medication for that as well). She has regular blood tests to ensure the Felimazole dosage is kept at the optimum level and is happy and pretty lively.

When she was first diagnosed, my then vet advised me to put her on a special diet, which resulted in her having awful diarrhea and vomiting. She is currently on Whiskers steamed food as it is the only food she can take that doesn't cause her to vomit. I know it's not considered a good food but it's helping to keep her going and she's recently gained a little weight (she was getting rather skinny).

I had a similar experience with special diets with my other cat (same age) who had kidney problems for some time and had to be pts at the end of last year. Again when he was first diagnosed the vet said I should put him on a special diet and we tried several different ones. He didn't like any of them and when I did manage to get him to eat any of them they also caused diarrhea and vomiting.

When a cat is very old and in failing health one of the few pleasures left for him or her is to enjoy is the food they eat. I cannot imagine that restricting them to a bland diet is going to give them that many extra years of enjoyable life, especially when these so called 'special diets' seem often to cause more problems than they solve. Think you could be right about the pet food industry conspiracy.

Hope your moggy continues to thrive.

My old boy has had to go back onto wet food, as they're worried about his kidneys. So he's on Whiskas and he loves it - he's even regained a little weight :)

Good to hear about all the oldies happily trotting along.
Mine is still fine and looking well.

Well I get Friday afternoons off and one old boy here is well aware of the signals - so is sitting on the bottom of the bed anticipating a snooze. It's his favourite time of the week.

Duty calls.

One of my cast is 19 with overactive thyroid and is on 10 mg of carbimazole a day. He also has problems with his kidneys and liver. The tablets were over £68 for a hundred. A special diet was never suggested by my vets as they are pretty much of the view that at his age he should have what he enjoys.
Since taking these tablets he is like a different cat, putting weight on, chasing his tail like a kitten. I put his tablet in a bit of tuna or inside some smelly cheese and he takes it okay. Before that I had tried smashing it into a powder but he always knew.
Glad that things are improving for you

Good for him, minsmum.

Oscar is having an ultrasound next week - he's been having pain / blood when peeing and they think there might be a mass. It could be curtains for my old boy :( so he's getting lots of cuddles. I'll give him some tuna too, he loves tuna more than he loves me.

I bet he doesn't.

Best of luck to Oscar.