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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

14 year old cat lost lots of weight

23 replies

missmagnum · 20/04/2014 22:48

My lovely boy has always been a chunk and has lost so much weight in the last month or so, feels very boney and others have commented. Eating usual amount and become much more loving lately, seems happy enough. Found a hard 2p size lump near his hip earlier, wondering if it's connected...

I have a horrible feeling this is the beginning of the end .

OP posts:

2kidsintow · 20/04/2014 22:52

Our cat lost a lot of weight and looked out of condition. The diagnosis after an expensive blood test was that he needed thyroid medicine. He's been on 2 tablets a day for about 2 and a half years now. He has them in a little treat morning and evening.

He's poorly with something else now, but he's 18.5 and has had a great run.

If he was younger when the thyroid problem was diagnosed, he could have had an op to remove part of his thyroid.

Not sure about the lump near his hip though. That would worry me. Our oldboy has a lump and it's a matter of time for him now, but it's larger and in his gut.

It's horrible sensing that the end might be coming. Hope that when you get him checked out, that the vet gives you a happier outcome.

cozietoesie · 20/04/2014 22:52

Oh dear - have you booked him into the vet?

crazynanna · 20/04/2014 23:00

How old is he?

Original poster

missmagnum · 20/04/2014 23:02

Will ring and get him booked in on tues, was burying my head a bit about the weight loss, but a visitor mentioned it earlier and then finding the lump has made me think.

He has been my faithful companion through so much and great at picking out the gooduns and baduns with men . He loves dp and gave his nod of approval straight away.

I digress, must stop thinking the worse, just have a bad feeling.

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soaccidentprone · 20/04/2014 23:02

Well that's not such a bad age for a cat.

Take him to the vets ASAP. It could just be his thyroid (like a lot of elderly cats), or his kidneys, or of course it could be something else. My elderly cat has just started a renal diet, and she seems loads more perky. She is 17.

I think the check up, plus blood tests was around 90 pounds, plus the cost of the bloody expensive special cat food!

I know it's hard though. I still really miss my cat who I had to have put down 2 1/2 years ago at the age of 19. Fortunately I still have 3 others to keep me company (shed fur everywhere, leave 1/2 eaten pigeons and mice under the kitchen table, destroy the furniture with their claws, complain constantly about the cat food - too cold, wrong flavour, not enough biscuits etc). It's a good job we love them so much

Original poster

missmagnum · 20/04/2014 23:03

crazy he is 14.

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crazynanna · 20/04/2014 23:08

Yes definitely vet appointment.

Deep breath...keep calm

cozietoesie · 20/04/2014 23:14

Good luck next week then. Let us know how he gets on.

Original poster

missmagnum · 20/04/2014 23:22

Thanks everyone. So nice having you all around as I'm lay in bed worrying. MN is great.

Lots of extra cuddles for him tomorrow - on his terms of course!

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crazynanna · 20/04/2014 23:32

we are here for you

timtam23 · 21/04/2014 00:22

Definitely get him checked out, it could be any number of things but hopefully it will be something easily treatable

My old cat had surgery for overactive thyroid at the age of 16, and is still with us aged nearly 18, so age/worsening health need not rule out investigation/surgery

Don't feel bad about overlooking the weight loss, I did exactly the same and then also managed to overlook the obvious signs last year that the same cat had gone blind he is still a very loving animal so seems to have forgiven me!

Original poster

missmagnum · 21/04/2014 07:56

timtam I did that too , he went blind 6 years ago, it was when I first started seeing dp and he noticed that he kept bumping in to things.

OP posts:

Original poster

missmagnum · 21/04/2014 12:25

Have googled hyperthyroidism and pretty sure it's that, thanks for pointing me in that direction. His symptoms all fit including having the odd poo accident, I thought that was just leaving him in too long but it seems to be a key indicator.

Hopefully get him in at the vet tomorrow and get him sorted. Best start saving up!

Still a bit worried about the lump but glad everything else seems to be treatable. Phew.

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DulcetMoans · 21/04/2014 12:30

Defo get a vet appointment to be sure but my old boy had hyperthyroidism too. It can be managed, may need a change in diet and possibly some tablets but can be managed!

2kidsintow · 21/04/2014 13:05

The costs for the blood tests that my cat initially had was about £90. Then when he was diagnosed, the tablets are about £33 for 100. That's enough for 50 days so it costs about £20 a month to treat him.

Then he had follow up blood tests after he'd been on them for a month or so, then he just kept having the tablets filled on repeat prescription.

They wanted to see him again this week, but all they did was weigh him. As he'd not lost any more weight they were happy to keep giving him the tablets.

They might biopsy the lump if it's accessible.

timtam23 · 21/04/2014 17:59

Good luck at the vets

My vet said that in older cats with weight loss & little "accidents" there are 3 main diagnoses to rule out - overactive thyroid, kidney failure & diabetes

I was quite relieved with the thyroid diagnosis as it seemed the least awful of the 3 (didn't fancy daily insulin injections, and kidney failure is ultimately a terminal diagnosis). However we had a battery of blood tests to diagnose him, which cost an eyewatering £160 the eventual thyroid op was not too much more than that (vet was really good and did a reduced price as the cat had a severe reaction to medication and was made more unwell by it), and as he has survived nearly 2 years I think it has cost less than tablets in the long run (he is not insured any more due to old age & previous vet treatment making premiums ridiculously high)

cozietoesie · 21/04/2014 18:03

Insurance is not my strong suit but I was listening to people talk in the vets a couple of visits ago and they were complaining volubly about the raising of excesses as their animal aged. I guess that's something to keep an eye on as well.

soaccidentprone · 21/04/2014 18:14

Our cats used to be insured.

I think our 17 year old cat has only been to the vets 3 times ever (apart from being spayed). The first 2 times was fir a general check up about 10 years ago. She needed to have some teeth out. We discovered after surgery that insurance doesn't cover dental work

So I cancelled the insurance.

She went again 3 months ago and had blood tests done. She is now on a renal diet as her kidneys aren't functioning very well.

Not bad for 17!

She still goes out every day, and yesterday I saw her jump about 5 foot onto the garden fence. I was well impressed

She only weighs 2.5 kg though.

Original poster

missmagnum · 21/04/2014 20:50

We did have insurance until last year but the premiums doubled due to age and previous claims (had a big op on his head last year to remove a huge cyst), so had to stop it, just wasn't affordable any more. We have been saving what we used to pay so do have a pot for vet fees to a certain extent.

Oh well, main thing is to get him sorted so his quality of life doesn't suffer.

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timtam23 · 21/04/2014 20:57

missmagnum I was in the same situation and with 2 very elderly cats I was looking at over £350 a year for insurance premiums, it wasn't worth it as they were both remarkably healthy for their age at that time

When the younger one had thyroid problems we were in fact not out of pocket even after he had surgery - as the few years of insurance premiums would have cost us far more

TalkinPeace · 21/04/2014 21:00

THYROID
THYROID
THYROID
old cat had it at about 16 - he lived another fantastic 3 1/2 years
when he started the pills we took daily pictures as the transformation back to the old him was so miraculous

PS
get the prescription from the vet and then buy the pills in bulk from somebody like petdrugsonline
same with the metacam that you may find will help

GRW · 21/04/2014 21:18

My 17 year old cat has been on thyroid drugs for about 6 weeks, and she has already put on weight and stopped being sick. The vet did say that kidney problems can become more evident once the over active thyroid is treated.

Original poster

missmagnum · 21/04/2014 21:30

Thanks for the tips everyone. So glad I posted.

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