Worried about the Cat

[worriedaboutthecat]

On Sunday night my poor cat collapsed, He was sitting on my bed then got up and went into the next room. There was a thump and I went to see if he'd knocked something over and I found him lying on the floor. I sat with him until the vets opened and rushed him straight down.

The vet performed some tests on him and said they thought he'd had a mini stroke. He has high blood pressure which they think has caused him to go blind.

He's 13-14 years old. The vet has given him medicine for his blood pressure.

Any advice would be very welcome, can he still eat normal wet cat food (he's a Kitekat fan) or should he eat special senior cat food, if so where can you get it.

How can I help him to be as happy as possible, he just seems so sad at the moment, he'll never be able to go out again, or look out the window. I worry If he can have a decent quality life.

Please any advise or happy stories off cats who've managed to live a few more happy years would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry - just reading. He's definitely blind now?

I have had two cats go blind through high blood pressure. They both adjusted remarkably quickly. One even continued to go out through the cat flap (although I had to help her back in again). They both found their way around very easily after only a few weeks and seemed very happy and went on to live for another couple of years each.

My own boy is very much older than yours and has very little sight or hearing left, I think. It came upon him more gradually though which has helped. Once your lad adjusts - which he will - he can still have a happy life, albeit one which may be a bit more circumscribed. Lots of talking (if he still hears fine) and loving contact should do the job, along with a very organised house if you can manage that.

Personally, I've never given my lad senior food. He's a fussy devil at the best of times, so he's given what he enjoys. He seems to do well on it.

Thanks for the kind messages, He seems to be blind or at least sight impaired, he hasn't jumped up on anything since the weekend and he seems to be navigating using his whiskers. The vet hopes that if his blood pressure improves some sight may return although she's not promising anything. His hearing seems fine and he's still on his chuck but is regular cat food not full of salt.

thecatneuterer how did you keep your two stimulated. Were they able to play ?

What I've done is to try to keep the house the same - not moving around the positions of furniture for example - and to leave the odd strategic light on in the evening in case my lad has any vestiges of sight. He seems happy enough.

i'm glad to hear that your boy seems happy (smile). That's what i'd like for mine I'd hate to think of him just sleeping all day depressed with no quality of life. He seems to be a bit brighter though each day but still obviously not himself. He's still sleeping a lot and isn't really seeking me out although he purrs when I go to him. I also don't want to overcrowd him either

He'll need to adjust - and if he had a stroke, there may still possibly be some after-worry in his mind from that. Just possibly. My own old boy had what I think was a mini incident when he was about 18 and I played him loads of DVD box sets. (But then he liked movies!) He calmed down within about two days - I had square eyes by then but that was my problem and not his.

Lots of calm talking to him is the way to go I think. To let him know where you are at any time and help his bearings.

My old boycat went blind aged 16/17 due to high blood pressure. We only noticed when he tried to jump off the sofa but fell off it instead. He had 12-18 months of what I would say was a good quality of life and his death was not related to his blindness (he was 18 so had had a good innings).
Things which helped: keeping everything in the same place including furniture & food/water bowls. Keeping the house tidy, toys etc out of the way. Lots of chatting to him/verbal cues so that he knew where were were. We used to tap the chair arms etc when we were sitting down & he would jump up. He adapted pretty well and was able to go in & out of catflap on his own, he also jumped up onto the chairs & the bed. We never left him on his own overnight as I worried that he would get stuck somewhere or get scared if strangers came in to feed him. And we didn't put him in a cattery either. He wasn't able to roam freely but he enjoyed pottering & basking in the back yard, DH also took him for walks in the gated back alley in the evenings (not on a lead, just walking around with him so that he didn't go missing)
Once I'd got over my guilt of not noticing his blindness it really was OK and the vet was very encouraging about keeping him going as long as life quality was OK. And we never gave him special food either as we decided he should have whatever took his fancy! He was very very spoilt!

I started to give Seniorboy whatever he fancied when he came to live with me and wasn't expected to last out the year.

That's over 7 years he's been living high on the hog now!

Thank you for all the encouraging stories. The wee guys a bit brighter than he was. When I came home from work this morning he was the first thing I saw demanding his breakfast. He's due back at the V.E.T.S tomorrow so hopefully they will have some good news regarding his blood pressure.

Nothing would make me happier than him jumping up on the bed and purring loudly right by my head until I wake up

Good news so far then. Fingers crossed for him tomorrow.

We'll I've been to the vets. His blood pressure is starting to come down although its still quite high. His sight is still significantly impaired and probably always will be. They seem to think he's moving in the right direction though and he's back next Friday for another check up. All in all I'd says its a lot better than I thought things would be on Monday. He's start to complain and be bossy again which is always a good sign.

Impaired sight means that he might still have some appreciation of, say, light and dark. That would be good.

It sounds as though he's adjusting as well.