She's 19. What to expect

[LadyGAgain]

Some advice pls.
She is 19. The most beautiful moggy tabby with a white chin. Since the day I picked her up at 9 weeks, she's been the loveliest. And I've had more than one so not being biased. She has never scratched or bitten or eaten anything that isn't cat food!
I love her with all my heart.
As do the kids.
She is getting thinner and thinner. In early March I took her to the vet as she was "growling" when she breathed. I'm now questioning whether she had covid as she definitely has long term lung damage and still has laboured and "growling" breathing 5 months on.
She's eating less.
Gosh. What am I asking? I've never had a cat of this age. What should I expect? I never want her to be in pain. When cats are 19 and arthritic (sorry I forgot to mention) but appear happy - wants cuddles and sleeps alongside the kids - but losing weight. And lungs aren't sounding normal. Are we facing sunset soon?

First things with those symptoms I would get her checked for are hyperthyroidism and if she has that then treatment may uncover possible kidney issues or heart issues but they likely wouldn't be apparent as untreated hyperthyroidism cover those symptoms.

The growing could be pain possibly arthritis.

To be honest it could all just be old age.

These are common symptoms of a range of old cat conditions so I wouldn't necessarily jump to covid but I'm not a vet!

What did the vet say or test for?

To be honest at 19 I'd be thinking very hard about how much you want to chase treatments. Of course I'm absolutely not telling you not to of course! Just be wary of falling down the extreme treatment rabbit hole.

My old girl is 17 now and while I don't regret treating her as it has meant 3 more years with her, it's been a rollercoaster of when in crisis very severe crisis then months of trying to get her weight back up so she can survive the next crisis and I feel especially the last year she has inspite of every treatment possible (which are working but she doesn't react how most animals do and her symptoms don't always show normal) the quality of her life isn't what it I think it should be but she isn't yet "ill" enough to put her to sleep and we're in a limbo of watching her slow motion deterioration.
Not to mention it's been thousands of pounds so far although every single penny spent has been worth it

Sorry that last paragraph was my experience with an ill old lady.

Sometimes I worry if Iv prolonged things for her and wonder if I'd have been better keeping her comfortable but letting nature decide her course even though the vet and I haven't gone down an extreme treatment plan but she reacted unexpectedly to certain treatments or doses of medicine sent her in to huge crisis that 99% of cats would have been fine with!

Thanks for your reply. We have already decided that at her dear old age we won't be putting her through any ops/severe treatments.

I'll get a vets appointment again and see whether they think she needs a shot of anything.

My 18 year old lost a huge amount of weight very suddenly at the start of the year. The vet ran bloods and put him on Hills kidney food and he was back to himself and usual weight within literally weeks - his markers were pretty close to normal but it seems to have made a difference. Since then, he’s been sleeping more but has had a few nights out at his great insistence and still loves to get high on catnip.

That's wonderful news for your wee boy @TryAnotherNickname . I'll take her this week

Good luck - it might just be simple!

It sounds as if she is on the way out, sorry, but it may take a while. Our old boy was like this when he was 17 - losing weight, feeling stiff, not much interest in food. One day he couldn't stand up any more, and we just knew it was time for him to go. We took him to the vets and it was very peaceful and quick. You will know when it's the right time.

Good luck lady.

Hopefully it will be something simple to treat and she will her usual self in no time!

Our boy was 20. We had a year of him sleeping more and seeming "older" and the vet said he had a mass they couldn't operate on. He got wobbly back legs and he seemed to be struggling to go to the loo so as he was less happy with life we let him go. We'd had him since a kitten.