Worried about 19.5 yr old cat...

[SchoolSurvey]

Long story short our very elderly neighbour passed away earlier this year and we ended up adopting her 19 year old female cat in June. She was vet checked in March and I took her again in August when she was depressed and off her food... The vet said she may have kidney failure but cats are stoic and it's hard to tell, but she's very old so it's very possible. Without running tests costing hundreds we wouldn't know. We don't want to put her through anything like that and have no insurance due to her age (she's probably 20 now in all fairness). We prepared the kids for the worst and spoilt the cat with lots of attention and let her sleep on our beds etc and she rallied!

We've never had a cat before, though I've house sat and looked after them for a few weeks many moons ago.

She's been a house cat all her life and although in the summer when the doors were open she'd occasionally wander out to sunbathe or eat some grass and regurgitate it, she mostly chooses to stay inside. She's usually brilliant with her litter tray.

She's become increasingly vocal these past few weeks, and has been sick a couple of times over the past two months. She's had poo accidents upstairs in the kids bedrooms (older children and they're brilliant with her) and this evening she's been sick on our bedroom carpet 😞

I think she's had a long life and been treated like a queen these past five months, and it's time we had her PTS... but husband and kids say it's OK for her to be sick now and then and they don't mind cleaning up after her. They want to keep her going as long as possible.

What do people on here think?

Sorry my post is so all over the shop and garbled! Just a bit of a brain dump. Will probs phone vet tomorrow but not sure there's anything they can do apart from put her to sleep (better to do it now rather than potentially let her suffer for a few more weeks?).

Don’t jump to putting her to sleep get her checked out by the vet, like people elderly cats need extra care. Clearing up a bit of sick is no reason to end her life.

@SchoolSurvey I could have written your post. Our cat is about the same age although we can’t be sure as he’s rescue, but we have had him 18 years. He seems happy enough but does a bit of yowling and sicks up 2-3 per week. He still purrs, has his appetite and sleeps peacefully. I’m sure his kidneys are not good though, he is hyperthyroid and is drinking loads and peeing loads. We have him on special food but it doesn’t seem to be helpful nowadays.
i don’t think he’s suffering but it’s so hard to tell. I’m worried I won’t know when the right time is.

Cats especially elderly housecats get very attached to their owners so this cat has had a trauma in losing their owner and their home. They've now had to adapt to living in your house which is going to be louder and busier with more people in it. Its not surprising that a bit of extra love and tlc saw the cat rally it was probably a bit depressed. I think just bring them in regularly to your vet, if they aren't in pain and are enjoying your company then I wouldn't see any need to pts yet. If they become ill or are in pain/ distress then that's different. Accidents in the house are unfortunately part of owning an older pet, they will have accidents. You can help by getting litter trays with lower sides, having them upstairs and downstairs, making sure you've got the right food for their age and grooming them regularly because they won't be able to do it as effectively themselves which can cause hairballs and vomiting.

@ladyandthechocolate it's so hard to know isn't it? I'm sure it'll be a heartbreaking decision for you after 18 years with him! Yes our cat seems to drink and pee a lot too bless her. Her appetite is hit and miss. We only put small amounts out at a time so it's fresh. As soon as it dries slightly she won't touch it, so so much gets wasted. She'll also seemingly love a food one day then not touch it the next. It's like she gets bored of the same pouches/tins so we switch it up to encourage her to eat.

She'd love to sit on a lap all day every day I think but we work (from home mostly so she does get fussed over during the day) and have kids etc so she has to wait until evening most of the time.

I wouldn't PTS because she has accidents and occasionally sick. Just like elderly people them start to loose some of their functions but don't need to be PTS.

@Cw112 thank you so much! Really helpful. When ds1 and I took her to the vets in the summer the vet was suggesting if she didn't rally over next few days and wasn't eating/losing weight and still depressed then perhaps it was time to say goodbye.

We knew she'd be unsettled and miss her old owner and life for a while, but she's been great the past couple of months. Yes the house is noiser than her last when it was just her and a 95 year old lady, but she has free run and plenty of quiet spaces to escape to. She has the south facing conservatory to herself and loves sitting in the windowsill watching the wildlife from dawn, and sunbathing on the comfy chair a lot of the day.

I'll try and remember to brush her more frequently - was doing it every day in the summer as she shedded a ridiculous amount! She's just a standard domestic short hair moggy.

Re food we tend to get the older adult stuff but have to keep changing brands/types as she gets bored of having the same one. Used to have a subscription to Republic of Cats but the chicken ones made her sick and then she went off most. Vet confirmed her teeth are in a bad way so think now and then it hurts her to eat 😟 She only has wet food because of this, with some treat biscuits a few times a week, and her beloved Licky-Lix (cat frubes we call them!) too.

I'll call the vet tomorrow and get some advice. I guess it's been three months so not a bad idea to pop up and have her looked over. She's so placid and gentle she was fine last time so hopefully won't be disturbing for her.

Her behaviour is odd at times so we wonder if she's going senile. She stares at me for ages and it's a bit creepy 😂

We have hard floors downstairs so tend to try and keep her down there as much as possible, and always shut the doors at night so she can't come upstairs... Due to her being so vocal she keeps us all awake! Normally her accidents are near her litter tray in the conservatory so it's not so bad.

Oh we do have a big, open, low down litter tray BTW so it's easy for her to access.

We have an elderly cat. I’ve spoken a lot to our vet about her quality of life and agreed principles (we would not want to extend her life if it meant suffering, extensive surgery etc). The vet has said he will guide us about what to do when the time comes. I’d be inclined to talk to your vet about if all- she or he will have a good sense of how much these symptoms are likely to indicate a declining quality of life.

Our cat is also noisy (deaf) with a tendency to zone out occasionally. At other times she’s positively kittenish. Your cat sounds very lucky to have found such a caring second home.

When you say 'sick' do you mean vomit? There are normal healthy reasons why they vomit - but also not healthy reasons. Mine do it routinely and look much happier after, but it's totally disgusting. Poo not in tray is not so normal. Hopefully your vet can help diagnose any problem.

When she stares, give her a slow blink.😽😍

It sounds as if she is developing dementia and this is a very distressing situation for them. The yowling is part of it as they don't know where they are. We chose to put our 18 year old to sleep earlier this year as her dementia was increasing and she had stopped eating etc I didn't want her to get to the stage of being unable to groom and toilet. Better too soon than too late.
When we were at the vet's recently we saw an old woman with a cat lying on her lap with blankets and a nappy on it. It was a horrible sight but she wasn't there to have it put to sleep. As an owner you have the responsibility to do the right thing. Take your vet's advice.

It's difficult to ascertain whether it's time for PTS, but I fear she may be getting closer to the beginning of the end. Signs that are concerning:

Drinking and peeing a lot - this means that her kidney function is impaired.
Having accidents and missing the litter box.
Losing weight.
No longer enjoying food.
Change in behaviour.

Watch out for further changes in her demeanor and behaviour, particularly hiding and self-soothing. What I mean is that cats who feel chronically unwell often hide in odd place, like cupboards or obscure, dark corners. They may specifically choose a place which isn't particularly comfortable in order to detract themselves from pain that they are feeling. They often self-soothe by purring. Never assume that an older or sick cat is purring because they are happy.

The only other advice I would give is that it is infinitely preferable to let them go 'too soon' rather than wait until you are absolutely sure that it is time. Cats have no sense of tomorrow, no bucket list of things they want to do before they go. She has had a good life - the kindest thing you can do now is to let her go before living becomes a burden to her.💐

It's quite possible that she's got kidney failure and I think if you're not willing to do basic blood tests and face the possibility of medicating for an extremely common geriatric feline condition then perhaps you should put her to sleep. The vet sounds rather lackadaisical in this, as end stage kidney failure can be extremely painful and as a pet owner I would want to know what might be coming.

Dementia is also likely (yowling and crying), although a thyroid imbalance (also detectable by routine blood test) can also cause these symptoms.

In her last days, my older cat pooed herself (diarrhoea) and was evidently uncomfortable just existing as she didn't want interaction with us and kept sitting in unusual postures in the middle of the floor. It was very obvious to me that something serious was up.

The getting sick thing can be normal in older cats. I speak from experience. My 13 year old gets sick often and is perfectly healthy. Carpets can be cleaned. As far as the poo issue, any chance she's constipated? If so, try some pumpkin baby food (without garlic or onions,). Oh and as far as the eating, try meat based baby food on those days she's "not in the mood" My moms cat lived to 21 and at the end was eating nothing but baby food (and was happy)

Ahh my old boy stares at me a lot now too; it is perplexing. I do the slow blink or give him some love but sometimes, eventually, I have to move my computer screen to block him out because he’s so distracting. He also yowls … for fresh water often … and won’t use his litter box if there’s someone too near there, and the bathroom is downstairs. I just can’t think where to put one upstairs as there is no room, just bedrooms - consequently I no longer have a living room rug … and the small bedroom rugs get washed a fair bit.

He has hyper thyroidism but is easily controlled by medication and he drinks lots of water because of that. He’s eating and enjoying love and has a wander around the house. I won’t be having him put to sleep for any of this — elderly cats need different levels of care, like people. I agree with PP to have her checked for kidney disease and thyroid issues, so common and not very expensive, it’s slack of the vet not to, I agree.

My previous cat I just didn’t know, I had never experienced a long decline into illness & held on far too long trying to get veterinary interventions & I regret it so much, her last days were awful. But I know now. I would say if you have a good relationship with your cat, & it sounds like you do, you and your vet will know when it’s time. No interest in being petted; total incontinence; no/very little food at all etc.

Your cat sounds very lucky to have you anyway! It’s lovely you took her in.

I wonder if the cat has diabetes?

My elderly cat has early-stage renal failure. This can be controlled by renal cat food. The vet only needed to run some blood tests for her which were about £150. From these we could also rule out a thyroid problem.

I mix normal pouches in with the renal food to make her eat it better. If she eats too much normal food she can be sick and her poop gets runny so she needs the renal in part.

I would suggest you take the cat for Blood tests then you know what you are dealing with. It may be that you need to put the cat on renal food and she is fine otherwise.

Thanks everyone!

She definitely gets constipated - her stools are dry little pebbles sometimes and this is what she leaves around the house (in a tray of - tiny bits of - Lego a few weeks ago - lucky dh found it and not the children! We now have the cleanest Lego in the land. Think she got confused and thought it was her litter tray, despite it being in ds2's bedroom upstairs and not downstairs in her usual place).

The sick - yes vomit. It looks like diarrhoea but no smell, or sometimes it's a pile of cat food.

She has been going into the dark, cluttered cupboard under the stairs recently and we thought it odd when she loves the fleecy bed we bought her (or the sofas, the blanket covered chair or the beds).

I always said when we got her we know we'll just be offering a comfy, warm loving home for a few weeks or months. Like palliative care really. We do love her and she can be affectionate - tho her purr is only extremely faint and she's only done it for me a couple of times.

Having lost my parents and friends to long, slow, painful and undignified deaths I won't put her through that. The vet last time did a thorough check but quoted something like £350 - £400 to find out if anything was wrong! She was expecting me to call the following week to have her PTS I think (I'm very pragmatic and we'd only had her a few weeks so was going more down that route).

Dh and kids are in denial as if anything she's since gained weight and her coat is looking healthier than ever. It's so hard to know what to do!

If she does have kidney issues then she might get sick from that. When the kidneys arent working properly the will feel nauseous constantly.
I also wouldnt pts just because she’s occasionally sick, but if shes always feeling nauseous, then thats also not a very nice life. Hard to know without testing though.

@jimjamy oh always! We watched that fascinating Netflix documentary a while ago and always give slow blinks 😊 She also loves being spoken to like a baby, chin rubs and touch in general (more so from me and dh than the children as she'd never experienced them before).

Yes that's what the vet said about renal failure - it can make them feel nauseas 🙁 After two pregnancies with hyperemesis I wouldn't wish that on any living creature for any length of time.

I can understand all you lovely owners who've had their cats for many years saying to have blood tests, scans, medication and special food etc to extend her life. But we've only had her since June and as I've said I'm very sensible and pragmatic about these things - definitely in the camp of better too soon than too late at her ripe old age.

And oh that poor cat in a nappy in the vets! I actually think it's worked out better for our cat to be with us now as if she was still with her 95 Yr old owner no doubt she'd be doing similar and keeping her go no matter the costs (financially and physically).

My 8 year old boy was recently diagnosed with kidney failure, probably stage 3 though more tests (BP and urine) on Monday, and many of his symptoms are similar. He's lost weight, yowls a fair bit (usually for attention), drinks like a fish, pees a lot, and vomits more than he used to (always was a good vomiter though!).

Litter tray usage is still fine and no accidents yet. I've added an extra water bowl downstairs plus one upstairs in the bathroom. Vet has said renal diet only, preferably wet, but neither of my cats eat more than a little wet so have the renal dry as well. Plus reduction in treats sadly, so Tuna fillet once a month only and Dreamies cut to a quarter of what they were used to.

Boycat is still young so I'll do as much as I can until I think it's time, but your lady is rather ancient now so I would ask the vet if it's worth going the extra mile to treat whatever it is, or if you should just indulge her as much as you can until she's suffering.

@Allergictoironing oh your poor boy, sorry to hear he's suffering with renal failure at 8, that's quite young.

We decided after the last vet's trip that we'd just indulge her until she's suffering. The problem is not knowing if she's suffering...will see what they say tomorrow but should imagine it'll be the same as August (and we'll be paying £44 for nothing).

Typically, she's seemed much better today! More settled, no yowling, eating fine etc...it's like when you take a 'sick' kid to the doctor and they perk right up the minute you get there! 😂

Good to hear that she seems to have rallied!

However, I really must take issue with your belief that you paid '£44 for nothin'g. You paid for the veterinarian's examination of your cat - his/her patient - and their expert assessment and advice.