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The litter tray

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Fourteen year old cat going downhill don't know what to do.

3 replies

deweydells · 28/02/2015 14:51

My cat was in a fight a couple of weeks ago. She came in with a few seemingly superficial injuries. The vet patched up her up and she seemed to recover and was out catching mice a day later but a couple of days after that she went down hill suddenly. She stopped eating a drinking and went a listless and floppy. The vet was very worried and put her on a drip for a couple of days and gave her antibiotics. She's been back to the vets several times since and They also did a raft of tests, blood tests, an xray and ultrasound - none of which turned up any problems.

She's back at home now and better than she was but she's by no means back to her old self. She's barely eating and has lost lots of weight and she's not interested in going outside. The vet says the next stage would be exploratory surgery and a feeding tube but I'm reluctant to put her through that when they don't have any idea what's wrong. I'd really love to have her for many more years but she's fourteen and I wonder whether her age means that she's having difficulty recovering from the infection. She hates going to the vets and being in hospital and I don't know how to decide when to stop and just to try to make her comfortable. Any advice would be appreciated.

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cozietoesie · 28/02/2015 15:23

Well she's no spring chicken. I'm thinking back to my Darling Twoago who got himself into a very serious fight at about 13. Although he had no apparent injuries, it was after that fight that he started with the renal failure that finally killed him.

It could have been coincidental but I've always had the gut feeling that the physical and emotional stress of the fight might have kicked a problem off in his body. I have no hard or anecdotal evidence to support that though.

I can't advise you but I think in your position, I would try to make life very very pleasant for her inside the house - nice food all the time, plenty of warmth (electric blanket or heat pad) and an internal litter tray if she hasn't already got one. Just so that things are fine for her in case she doesn't really want to go out any more and is living in a constant state of low level fear. Maybe see how that goes for a week or so.

psyandsoc · 28/02/2015 15:33

I agree with cozie puss isnt getting any younger and surely its about comfort. When our 14 year old tom started to decline we made things as easy as we could for him until his final days. I understand you not wanting to stress her out with visits to the vets and hope she soon pulls through.

deweydells · 28/02/2015 17:06

Thanks. That's pretty much my feeling. I'm going to make her as comfortable as I can and will see how she goes for a little while. While I'm sure that the vet cares for her, they do always seem to push for the most aggressive form of treatment and I'm starting to wonder how much of that is financially motivated. It is really difficult to know what's best for her.

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