Two days ago our 14-y-o Maine Coon (who is an indoor cat) didn’t wake us up for her breakfast, and we found her hiding under the sofa. I took her to the vet, who said she’s lost 20% of her bodyweight, and took bloods, but said it’s probably musculoskeletal, perhaps a trauma from a fall, or arthritis, and dosed her up with Metacam, which perked her up no end and she was eating and interacting that evening.
The blood results, which came back yesterday, showed hyperthyroidism (which might explain the weight loss, and for which we now have medication) and early signs of kidney disease (for which we need to change her diet), but no markers for infection or cancer. Vet says to keep her on Metacam for a few days, which will help her while she recovers if it’s a trauma pain, and then put it on the shelf and see how she does without it.
When I tried to brush her yesterday (extremely gently) at one point she suddenly hissed, ran, jumped onto the cat tree, pooed and was clearly in a lot of pain.
As it was almost 24h since her first dose of Metacam, I gave her the next dose, and she perked up very quickly. That was at 5pm yesterday, and she ate her tea and seemed fine all evening - interacting, vocal, demanding.
This morning she was hiding again, had just done a poo on the carpet as I was looking for her, and is still hiding, and hasn’t touched the breakfast that I’ve placed nearby in her hiding corner. So I assume that the pain-relieving effects of the Metacam barely lasted 12 of the 24 hours.
I’ve called the vet and am waiting for a call back, but what do you think are likely to be the options at this stage? Up to Tuesday she seemed absolutely fine, so this has come out of the blue, but obviously she’s quite an old girl now.
Yesterday the vet seemed happy enough to give her pain meds for a few days and then see if she manages without the meds (which would suggest acute pain, eg from a trauma, though she’s a sedate indoor cat in a calm household) or if she doesn’t, it’ll point to arthritis. However, if the Metacam doesn’t ‘last’ 24 hours, she’s going to suffer for part of every day, and we absolutely don’t want that for her.
Is there anything else we can sensibly ask the vet to do, such as an X-ray or scan? We would like to know what’s causing the pain, rather than guessing! She’s fully insured with Petplan and we’re willing to give her every chance, but we would of course end her suffering, if it was the right thing to do.
Pic so you can see how beautiful she is!