How can I tell if my elderly cat needs the vet?

[AintOverUntilTheCatLadySings]

So, this is a little complicated:

We've got a wonderful, beautiful elderly cat that must be about 20. We acquired him after finding him sick and dying under our sofa about 6 years ago. He was fully feral, unneutered, and very very sick with teeth rotted down to the bone. A wonderful charity collected him and said they'd fix him up if we could let him live in our shed as he only had about 6 months to live.

This was 6 years ago.

Now, he's the most beautiful (well, ugly and battle scarred) affectionate cat we've ever known. He adores our toddler and follows her around everywhere. He has gone from fully feral to constantly being next to me and wanting cuddles.

However, since lockdown, I've noticed him slowing down a bit. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him and his behaviour changes could be because we sadly lost our 'top' cat at Easter, and because I'm pregnant (he has assigned himself the job of constant companion), and because life has slowed down with us home all the time.

He is very happy - eating drinking well etc.

I don't want to take him to a vet for no good reason because he is still feral at heart and it'll be extremely traumatic for him. We don't have a car so will be an Uber ride then being poked by a stranger.

Selfishly, I'm also worried that he'll have a secret condition that we didn't notice and they'll want to PTS (my cat who died was healthy but caught a mystery virus and was PTS within 24 hours because his whole body shut down. Was horrible).

Do I just bite the bullet and take him to the vet? Or just let him be for a bit longer?

Happy, eating and drinking, but just slowed down? Constant companion and you've slowed down too?
Not yet. What an amazing story about how he came to you though!
Under your sofa? Please elaborate!
And what about a pic of this old warrior?

If there is no other sign than him slowing down a bit then I wouldn't bother with the vet at present either. Would also love to see a picture or two though .

My cat also 19 and sleeps a lot and has multiple conditions but I think has a good life still. One of her issues is constipation but we give her liquid paraffin in her food which helps - she also has kidney and heart conditions but again on medication. They sleep a lot but so far each condition has been obvious so if no issues the cat is prob fine x

This is a lovely story, so glad he's had a nice life with you. Mine are not as old but weight loss was the trigger for mine going to the vets. It was pretty noticable and did have an underlying condition.

Update on this:

I'd love to post a picture but it would massively out me in real life because I don't think anyone else has such an ugly cat 😂 he has one eye, 1.5 ears, half a tail, no teeth and really stubby legs but a huge muscular body.

Anyway, the update: he very rapidly lost a huge amount of weight. So we took him to the vet and they ran blood tests.

His x2 liver results (I can't remember how they measure it) should have been 60, but his were 100 and 1,000! The vet said that he should have been collapsed and not acting normal- certainly on a drip - and she'd never seen a cat with such high levels, ever.

But weirdly- he got better from that day. No medical intervention other than me feeding him plain cooked chicken to fatten him up.

He's now glossy coated, chubby and full of energy again.

I'm assuming the blood results were an admin error and he just had a virus.

We've been given some liver regeneration pills and told to come back in 4 weeks.

Asked vet to estimate his age and they just said 'geriatric' so over 15.

He's such a sweet old boy. Can't believe our best cat was one we found and who was at least ten when we got him. I think I'll only take on older cats from now on.

Would’ve loved a photo! Glad he’s recovered