What do you feed your old cat??

[archfiend]

Am posting in the hope of inspiration! We have a 14(ish) year old cat who is becoming increasingly picky about what he eats.

He will eat food in gravy, but only eats the gravy and ignores the meat so when he is hungry again later the food has dried out and he won't touch it. Everything else is ignored and accompanied by scratching, whinging and generally making a nuisance of himself because he is hungry.

His teeth are ok and he will eat dried food if he has to (usually left down for him during the day) but he only eats small amounts as it isn't really what he wants.

We have tried all of the usual brands and variants but he just doesn't seem to like any of them because he's a bastard picky. He doesn't eat 'real' food like fish or chicken and he doesn't drink a lot of water.

He is currently ok health wise but obviously as he gets older I am worried that he will just stop eating anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what else we can try before he drives us totally round the bend?!

[archfiend]

Not interested and back on the sofa. Popped into the vets and they are going to give him a steroid injection later along with some tablets to crush into his food when he starts to eat again.

Trying to get pills into him usually involves 2 people, a towel and a pill popper thing (and I still have the scars from the last time!) so this seems like a less stressful way to do things for everyone. Hopefully he will continue to eat once he is getting regular steroids, but will continue to review.

[cozietoesie]

Ah. I know that you're being careful not to get your hopes up here but I recognize all this.

Good luck to him.

[archfiend]

I know. I feel like we have to give him every chance while he is still happy in himself, but I also know that this is not a long term solution...

If the steroids don't kick in or he goes downhill straight after stopping them again then I think we are into hard decision time.

[cozietoesie]

Thinking of you all. Let's hope that the steroids kick start him or buy him some time for things to get going again.

[archfiend]

A very sad update. Despite having perked up initially on steroids, Himself continued to lose weight and find it hard to eat. The vet confirmed that the most likely cause was a lymphoma in his bowel/intestine and we made the hard decision to let him go.

He went quickly and peacefully while he was still comfortable and not in any distress. A horribly sad day, but ultimately the kindest thing we could have done for him.

Thanks for all your support and kind words over the last few weeks.

[cozietoesie]

So sorry, archfiend. I'm glad that, at least, he went before he was in distress.

Have you decided on a special place to bury him or his ashes/way to remember him?

[archfiend]

Thanks cozie. He will be greatly missed.

My parents have a beautiful area of their garden where the family cats all go, he will be safe there.