Sorry it's so long...

[OldLadyKnowsSomething]

My girlcat is nine years old, and is the most incredibly nervy, skittish cat I've ever known. She was a semi-feral farm kitten, and as we also live on a farm she's never had to get used to strange people, or a lot of noise or traffic. She took a while to settle with us but has been fine, and even learned to tolerate our dgs after a couple of years.

However, about three months ago our farming neighbours were doing some construction work which meant heavy vehicles and strange men in the field next to us, and around the house. She found this so traumatic she went missing for three days, and after she came home she spent a lot of time - all these weeks! - under the sofa, when indoors. She was/is stinking, but I put this down to her having been hiding out in the nearby cattle byre.

In the last few days she has finally become her old personality again, and I've been able to pet her, but she's plainly ill. She's always drooled when asleep, but now she drools a lot; her saliva is thick and is the real reason she stinks. She can't/doesn't groom herself properly; her "brother" has helped, but so enthusiastically she's now bald around the side of her mouth from which she drools. There seems to be a reddish, raised lump on her lip. She also has sore looking bald patches on both of her front legs, where she's drooled on them. She's a stinking mess, in short.

Up until about three days ago she was still eating fairly normally, (biscuits) but this seems beyond her now, and the weight has dropped off her. I've tempted her with treats she enjoys (scrambled egg, tuna; she's fine with dairy products and went wild trying to steal milk I was drinking, which isn't like her) and she's eaten some, (and drunk a lot of milk) but not enough to get weight back on. She's going to see the vet tomorrow, and who knows how much that'll traumatise her; she hasn't been since she was neutered as a kitten, never had fleas or worms (she doesn't seem to hunt, has never brought anything home) and doesn't come into contact with other cats so I've never seen the need for vaccinations. I don't want to subject her to a lot of invasive tests or treatments because that would seriously freak her out, and be cruel.

It's a PTS case, isn't it? :(

Sounds like bad teeth. Maybe she just needs dental work.

That's what I'm hoping; dental work under general would be the least traumatic outcome. But Dr Google also suggests cancer.

It sounds like either a tooth/gum problem, in which case relatively easily fixed, or as you say, possibly some sort of mouth tumour, in which case PTS would be the kindest thing.

Either way a trip to the vet is the only option.

She's seeing the vet tomorrow, I think I'm just venting a bit here. If it's just dental, will they keep her in and do it asap, do you think? She'll hate that, but I don't fancy my chances of getting her into a cat carrier twice. She's incredibly good at just vanishing, even when kept in the house and with (you'd think) nowhere to hide.

(How do they do that? Indoors, when not in the livingroom of an evening, she has access to the bathroom, the downstairs hall, and the stairs; nowhere else. A gate at the top of the stairs stops her getting into the bedrooms and upstairs loo. And yet she can just vanish!)

I have a very stinky-breathed cat (he is nearly 18) and his problem is gingivitis and loads of tartar on his teeth. He's always had teeth issues but is now too old & frail for dental work. He had a GA for a "scale & polish" as a younger cat though, with no problems. More recently an injection of antibiotic + steroid has helped somewhat. Hopefully that'll be all your cat needs but she definitely needs to see the vet tomorrow, as you say, to rule out cancer or an abscess somewhere.

Good luck

Thank you, you're all giving me some hope. :)

Vet says it's a dental issue. She'll be put under a general later today and they'll see what's what. Bill estimated to be about £230, gulp...

That's brilliant news.

And some not so brilliant news. She's under the general as I type, and "basically, half of the roof of her mouth has rotted away". PTS is the only option. Bye, Lilith, I hope you didn't suffer too much.

oh no, I am sorry. Poor girl.

I'm so sorry. At least you didn't let her suffer.

I always thought her "brother" would go first, he's a bit of a mutant and thick as mud, but there you go. He'll miss her, I think, he's been surprisingly solicitous towards her recently, which made a change from sitting on her head and randomly attacking her.

My lap will feel empty this evening.

big hugs at least shes out of pain now and has had a good life with you xxx

Thank you.

So sorry OldLady

It was the best thing to do

Thanks again. Her "brother" obviously doesn't understand, he's sitting staring at the door and waiting for her to come home. At least I know what's happened.

Poor girl. So sorry. But you did absolutely the right thing and the kindest thing for her

Sleep well, Lilith.

I'm so sorry, OldLady.

You're all being too kind. Her "brother" spent half an hour trampling me into the sofa (he's not the daintiest of ginger toms) and is now dozing in front of the fire, so at least he's stopped worrying.

I can still "see" her curled up on my lap last night, sound asleep, trusting me, relaxed... It was the right thing to do, I know, but nine years is at once a long time, and no time at all. No more cats for me.

(Mind you, I said that years ago, when our old cat died at 18, then ds found the tom kitten nearly dead at the side of the road and here we are!)

I've given up thinking or saying that. There's a difference though between just getting another cat and having one land on you in some way - the latter carrying a certain inevitability and also, in some way, the blessing of previous cats.

I hope you're doing OK - and to hear that her Bro at least is adjusting.

I like the idea of having the blessing of previous cats, that's quite comforting. I won't be looking for another cat, we have a set routine with the remaining cat and our cat-phobic dog to keep them apart, and I don't see a new adult cat being happy with that; plus how would the tom take to a new one? But as you say, sometimes these things just happen.

I'm ok, mostly, when she went missing for three days a few weeks ago I had kind of resigned myself to "something" having happened to her, so when she came back I was overjoyed. But her whole body language changed, and she somehow looked old, even last night I was prepared for the pts decision today. It was a bit of a kick in the teeth to get the "it's dental" news this morning (whoopee! Relief!) so quickly followed by "It's lethal"... I have shed a few tears, of course, and there will be more, but I'm not a helpless sobbing wreck.

Now we need to explain "death" to dgs, who is nearly 5 and next here on Saturday. Gulp.

Have a read of \link{https://www.bluecross.org.uk/files/childrens%20leaflet.pdf\this}. It can be downloaded/printed and might be helpful. (It was linked by another poster a few weeks back - timtam, I think.)

So sorry OldLady

Thanks for the leaflet link, cozie. It raises an issue I was wondering about, the phrase "put to sleep". I know it's important small dc don't link sleep with death, have just contacted ds to ask if he's spoken to dgs yet (ds is no longer with dgs' mum, but they're amazingly friendly) and if not we need to discuss how to handle the situation best. Dgs isn't, I think, massively attached to our pets (Lilith in particular kept her distance) but he'll notice she's missing. It's slightly complicated by the fact that ds took the cat to the vet with dgs this morning, explaining she was sick and needed to see the vet, the vet being a doctor for animals... Gawd, this could get complicated!

OK, ds already spoke to dgs and said cat was very sick so vet put her down, not "to sleep". There will no doubt be questions, but crisis averted.