14 year old cat

[BarrelOfOtters]

He's just starting to slow down a bit. He was v lethargic and not eating yesterday so took him to vets who said he had infection somewhere. Gave him antibiotics. He perked up and started eating after that. But he's gone lethargic again today..

She didn't think he was in pain.

She suggested they could keep him in on antibiotic drip...but he really is very stressed at vets so I bought him home which vet was happy with as a choice.

I don't know what to do for the best.

I would ask about doing a pain trial.

Cats are really, really good at hiding pain and at 14, I'd be incredibly surprised if he didn't have some arthritic changes in his joints. If it doesn't make a difference then at least you've ruled it out, at least.

Definitely give him some pain relief as PP's have suggested.

What’s a pain trial?

I think he needs to go on the drip. My late elderly boy hated the vet's with every fibre of his being, and got aggressive. We still had to let him have the drip a couple of times for his own good.

It's where they give him pain relief for a period of time and see if that makes a difference to his behaviour - it's normally something like Metacam that you just give once a day.

The idea is that if doesn't make a difference then it hasn't harmed the cat, but if it improves the behaviour then at least you know that the cat is struggling with something and can start to narrow down the symptoms a bit.

We started mine on a pain trial last year and his behaviour changed massively. We didn't realise how much he'd gone downhill until he started regular pain killers.

Thank you all of you. The vet said she wasn't keen on giving Metacam to older cats....but I can go back and ask. I don't want him to be in pain and I think he is moving more stiffly.