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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

Old cat issues

30 replies

Picastyle · 26/01/2015 18:45

Our old cat, about 18 I think is going downhill. I just wanted to know what to expect.

He's a ridiculously fussy eater, we throw out more food than he eats. He likes fresh fish and chicken sometimes but often he won't eat for three days no matter what we tempt him with.

He's on thyroid meds and is almost wasting away he's sonthin but I can't force him to eat.

Recent changes in behaviour include howling at blank walls and drinking copious amounts of water.

We have a litter tray indoors but he likes to poop outside. Just recently he tiddled in the house and he looked as surprised as we did. He just half sat on the floor and peed.

The vet will say kidney issues and recommend a diet change but he barely ears any food as it is.

He's super affectionate, deaf and very chatty. Not sure what I should or could do for him. He's pathetically thin. a few weeks ago we were at the vets and he said just to monitor him.

Does anyone have any similar experience? Is this just what happens to old boys? He's getting a bit wobbly jumping from table to couch etc and spends most of his life on my lap.

OP posts:

girliefriend · 26/01/2015 18:50

Bless him, it sounds to me as if this maybe the beginning of the end I think just lots of tlc. The water drinking could be diabetes or renal failure, staring at walls and incontinence could be dementia

If it were me I would be thinking now about PTS as would hate to leave it too long and for them to suffer sorry.

Original poster

Picastyle · 26/01/2015 18:59

Thanks, I just don't know when. Today he's esten loads of chicken and is very engaged. Who knows tomorrow? It's like rolling a dice isn't it?

I'do like to think if I asked the vet to put him to sleep and he wasn't on his way out then the vet would advise against it but to be fair he's so skinny he looks a bit pitiful to start with!

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hrpufnstuf · 26/01/2015 19:02

I had a lovely old boy like this, and we nursed him through for ages on flakes of tuna (yes individual flakes!), gravy, and white rice smeared with marmite...anything that had a strong smell and taste that got his appetite going. He lasted for a good while on those - weeks rather than months - but there came a day when it was just too hard to watch him struggling, particularly when he lost control of his bowels and was getting distressed because of it. He eventually stopped eating completely, and trying to persuade him was hard work for both of us.

You will know when enough is enough, it is very hard but PTS is the final act of love for a much loved puss, and better a little bit too early than a little bit too late .

girliefriend · 26/01/2015 19:05

I think if you talked the vet about having him pts they would understand.

i would take it one day at a time and see how he goes, once he is off his food or seems confused and/or in pain then that is the time imo I dread this day coming for my puss cats

MaeMobley · 26/01/2015 19:12

My girl is exactly at the same stage - 18, fussy, thyroid meds, getting skinnier by the minute, a bit wobbly and a bit withdrawn. She also has a mass/lump in her intestine. Vet has started her on steroids.

Re diet, the surgery have said to let her eat what she wants as she is so painfully thin. She does not like the Royal Canin Renal diet.

Vet says I will know when it is time. I assume she will withdraw from us. I am monitoring her closely and she is on weekly vitamin injections.

I worry that I won't know when it is time & will let her suffer too long. Vet assures me I won't. I pray she is right.

Original poster

Picastyle · 26/01/2015 19:12

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I think we'll take it a day at a time. We're home all day anyway and notice changes day by day. He's just nagged us for more chicken so it looks like today is a good day.

OP posts:

Original poster

Picastyle · 26/01/2015 19:14

Mae I'm just so worried he'll disappear and leave us. I'd be distraught if he just sloped off and left. Do old cats do that? Leave home?

OP posts:

Fluffycloudland77 · 26/01/2015 19:49

I'd keep him in tbh, ESP with being deaf anyway.

Original poster

Picastyle · 26/01/2015 19:51

He dashes out for a poop and dashes back in again tbh, he prefers being indoors. I think I might take to shutting the cat flap at night though. Good thinking, I will do that.

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Original poster

Picastyle · 26/01/2015 19:51

Dashes. Well, he ambles actually!

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MaeMobley · 26/01/2015 20:41

My girl does not go out.

My sister's cat just disappeared when it was time. She feels he wanted to spare her.

hrpufnstuf · 27/01/2015 15:11

Pica that's exactly the way to cope with this, one day at a time, and when there are too many difficult days between the good days (it is wonderful when they eat isn't it?), then have another think about what to do. If he makes the decision for you I don't think he'd leave if he doesn't go outside much now, he's far more likely to curl up somewhere safe and private indoors.

And Mae don't worry, the vet is right you will know. Something shifts in your heart and you realise that you are keeping them for your benefit not for theirs. And that the kind thing to do is let them go.

It is so, so hard, I wept buckets when it was time for my lovely boy to go, we had been together, just the two of us, for eighteen years. But at the end his spine looked like a toast rack and his fur was all matted like a too-much-loved teddy...I'm in tears just thinking about it but it was the right thing to do and he is now planted in my garden under an apple tree, so I can still say hello to him every day. I miss him.

Original poster

Picastyle · 27/01/2015 15:40

Ah sorry for your tears :( my old cat has eaten twice his weight in food today and keeps head butting my arm so that's two good days strung together. Thanks for your thoughts.

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cozietoesie · 27/01/2015 16:00

My old boy has boxes (and I do mean boxes) of decent food in the kitchen cupboard but turned his nose up at them all/fresh food/the vet's special food etc etc. He now happily champs away every day on Felix AGAIL Doubly Delicious meaty pouches. (I wish I knew what was in that stuff.)

but if he likes it and it keeps him going........

Glad your boy has had two days of good noshing.

MaeMobley · 27/01/2015 21:44

Thank you hrpufnstuf.

MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels · 27/01/2015 22:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

chloepetal · 27/01/2015 22:23

My cat is 23 and sounds much like yours OP. She's deaf and very scraggy but does still enjoy the small amounts of food she eats. In the last week or two she's been going to the toilet outside of her litter box, just in random places round the house. I got one of those blacklight torches which show up the wee so you can clean it up quick. I think she's just going senile and staring at blank walls is a sign of that although my cat doesn't really do that. While she's still enjoying her bit of grub and not in distress I'll keep nursing her but I think I will know when it's time to PTS. Dreading it and hope she just passes peacefully in her sleep. Probably best to keep your boy in at night as he's deaf and all that. Glad he enjoyed his food. So sweet aren't they.

Original poster

Picastyle · 28/01/2015 08:43

Oh bless, all these old dears wandering about! Let's give them all an extra hug today :)

OP posts:

chloepetal · 28/01/2015 12:51

Yes big big hugs and cuddles to the poor old dodderers :-) Just think, that'll be us one day, shuffling around. Aaw!

GemmaTeller · 28/01/2015 13:02

Our old girl is 20 in March.

We get the howling at blank walls and drinking copious amounts of water although she still has a good appetite.

She also has a growth in her stomach but the vet says she will not survive an operation so is not on any medication.

She sleeps around 22 hours a day and is not allowed out in the front garden in case she wanders onto to pavement or road. She is allowed in the back garden if one of us is with her - although she hasn't voluntarily been outside since about last Sept.

The vet has agreed to pts when we feel the time is right and I'm dreading it - I hate when she's in a deep sleep and we have to check she's still with us although I'd rather she just went in her sleep rather than us having to make the decision.

noddyholder · 28/01/2015 14:15

I am in this situation too My cat is 17 and she has just stopped eating the last few days but is quite happy otherwise. She has done this before and recovered but this time I don't like the look of her. Last year the vet said there was a small mass in her stomach and we would need to do masses of tests to ascertain what it is. Her bloods showed nothing and since then she has been fine and just watching her She is still quite happy day to day and goes off her food sometimes for a day but today she is not interested at all and is just sleeping. I am going to take her tomorrow to be seen again but I had a cat with cancer last year and we messed about with steroids and anti inflammatories and it was cruel in the end and he had to be pts and I don't want to do that again. Can I say I don't want aggressive treatment or will that stop the vet helping us when teh time comes?

GemmaTeller · 28/01/2015 14:59

You can definately say you don't want any aggressive treatment.

Our vet was very anti-treatment for our cat saying she was too frail for an op and wouldn't survive the anaesthetic and said as long as the cat seemed happy and didn't appear to be in pain she would go with our wishes.

noddyholder · 28/01/2015 15:01

Thank you I would just like her to have a nice end of life as she has had nearly 18 great years and is very independent and hates being touched all the time etc so giving her meds or injections would be a no no. I am going to take her tomorrow in case it is something simple like a tooth but I think I am clutching at straws.

chloepetal · 28/01/2015 19:58

Your vet would definitely understand you not wanting aggressive treatment at this stage of your cats life. They're too frail to undergo any surgery. I had to take mine to have a tooth out that was bothering her but the vet said it was too risky to have anaesthetic and managed to just quickly yank it out. That was when she was 18 and she's 23 now. It could just be a simple thing like a tooth. Hope so.

Gemma, my cat doesn't go out anymore either unless one of us is with her. Just occasionally she likes to go and sniff the grass and eat a bit of it, bless. But she's not really bothered about going out, I'd be terrified what would happen to her alone. I think we will all know when the time comes to PTS. but like you I'm hoping mine slips gently away in her sleep. I'm always having to prod her and check she's still breathing. I think I will go into a major panic if I come down one morning and she's gone. I've finally managed to get the matts out of her fur, had to cut chunks of it of as she doesn't groom herself anymore. She looks so scraggy, poor wee thing but such a sweet nature.

ShebaRabbit · 01/02/2015 20:06

Don't worry too much about the renal food, the main thing is to get anything into him at this stage. Tesco do tuna in spring water and warming it up slightly and mashing it to a pulp can make a big difference, my renal failure girl survived on that mixed with whiskas milk for a month or two.

I fostered a lovely old 18 yr old who walked like a robot because of arthritis, deaf, not great eyesight either and was skinny from old age muscle wastage. We were told she was on borrowed time from day 1 but she lasted another 18 months of a very happy life terrorising my other moggies who didnt realise she had no teeth (worn down from years of killing rats and rabbits)and no strength to claw them by squawking very loudly at them when they came near her. She was a tough old ex-farm girl who ended up the boss of a 4 cat household , all at least 10 yrs younger than her

She woke us up in the middle of the night yowling- I heard DH go downstairs and thought he was going to chuck her outside. Instead I could hear him shushing her like baby and she settled back to sleep, I was so glad I'd married him that night, his patience and kindness with a smelly old battered-looking moggy who often missed the litter tray melted my heart.

She loved being brushed and would visibly perk up for an hour or two afterwards, the circulation stimulation is good for them. when she'd had enough she would turn and gently gum me to let me know to stop.

About 6 weeks before the end she headed out the cat flap early one morning and in a panic we found her about half a mile away down the lane. I reckoned she was heading off to find her home before the end and kept a close eye on her. Cats will often look for a quiet place to die. The day before she was pts she had some sort of fit and was out cold for 30 secs so I made the call and we gave her a last meal of M&S wafer thin ham, it was her favourite.
For weeks after I would listen for the clicking of her claws on the hall floor, when she got bored she'd come out of her room for a sniff and a cuddle. We ran out of oil for CH once and I had to put an electric rad in her room to stop her squawking, the one that should have been in my bedroom that night. She utterly enchanted us all and had us wrapped around her little paw. We still refer to the spare room as her room. The oldies are great, and worth the extra work, no doubt about it.

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