Ageing Cat. Support.

[TabbyTatCat]

Hello.

I didn't realise there was a cat section. My lovely boy is nearly 18 & seems to be ageing rapidly the past few months. He's losing his hearing & has also stopped grooming himself.

Is that normal? He currently has a matted section on his back so I need to get that sorted (it's only small, I noticed it today)

He's very noisy, he's always meowing, this hasn't changed, although he used to hear us coming behind him, hear us opening the bedroom window if we were upstairs & he was at the back of the garden, not facing us, & he'd turn & start meowing... Now he won't notice at all or if we are calling him then he will occasionally start looking around, but he can't locate the sound.

He still follows us down the road to the shops but he just kind of sits there gazing into the distance as he can't hear us coming back now, whereas before, he'd hear us from halfway down the road & come charging, meowing.

He has 3 legs but has always been independent & loves being outside. He gets lots of attention from the neighbours/strangers, because of his meowing & then the 3 legs. He runs in like a zig-zag pattern. I joke that he lays on his side across the path, to show everybody that he only has 3 legs, so that they will give him attention!

I'm not sure what I want with this thread really, just to know that there are others out there maybe, to chat about fellow cat-related issues with! I feel really sad that he seems to be getting old so fast, & can't imagine him ever not being here. I got him when he was 2.

Sorry 2 posts, otherwise one would be really long!

So for various reasons, everything went wrong with trying to get to this visit & again once we were there.

He was in his carry box for 2 hours. He had diarrhoea in there so I had to clean him with a baby wipe & he was laying on my cardigan in there instead of on his blankets (the diarrhoea was likely caused by the stress of being in the box so long, the vet agreed) I was seconds away from taking him out of the box & just cuddling him in the vets, but they rallied & got somebody else to rush us through.

So he layed down on the scales & just wanted to sleep, he was still wet from the baby wipe & he just looked so poorly.

I was feeling extremely emotional at this point as this poor family had just had their cat PTS & i'd seen all of the fall-out from this as we'd been waiting so long (it was the grandad, grandma & young grandson, who was in absolute pieces, & the grandma wandered around the vets dragging the crying grandson with her, in & out of the vets, phoning everybody she knows telling them what had happened!

Anyway the vet was trying to push me (it felt) into agreeing to him having a monthly injection instead of the daily pain killer. He had an injection of the pain killer there & they've run out so we have to wait a few days for a new one, but I have something else to try in the meantime.

I don't know what to do about the monthly injection but I'm thinking that I'll stick to giving him it at home. My only hesitation is he has to go monthly for this meds check anyway so should I just get the injection then? But the cost is £££.

No point to this post really I'm just getting it all out.

He had a nurse come in & cover him in a towel so he could have his injection & he hissed & growled throughout.

I was adamant that he needs this painkiller & explained that he's now up & down the stairs etc so this is why he needs it (I don't know why they are reluctant to give pain killers to a 3 legged cat who has hurt his 1 back leg recently!)

The vet was very kind in the end & was completely onboard with the painkillers but I did feel horrible that I'm having to argue my case for them, & that she was pushing for the injection & she told me to see him for how he is & now how he was, which I agree, we sometimes don't do.but him laying on the scales like that was the result of the trip to the vets, that isn't how he 'is'.

She said that they often become 'wobbly' on this injection so I don't want to risk that for him. She said to shut him in a room when he's wobbly...

Once we got home in the warm he snuggled up on my son's blanket & had a tonne of food so he was probably hungry too!

This morning, so far, he's good. We've had cuddles & I feel like he's forgiven me for yesterday!

Ugh, just lots of conflicting emotions about yesterday.

Oh @TabbyTatCat that sounds so traumatic and difficult, I’m so sorry. The rationale for changing his pain meds sounds confusing to me - was he on gabapentin before and what is the injection? It sounds a bit like you’re seeing different vets when you take him in which must make it harder to develop a trusting relationship with them, especially as he’s clearly a cat who HATES the vet. Hopefully now he’s home and settled you can regroup a bit and think about next steps. If having home visits going forward is an option would you consider that? It’s £££ but so worth it and it doesn’t sound like he has all that long left. I’m sure you want to make his remaining weeks as stress free as possible for everyone xxx

Thank you HarryPotterandtheClimateofFear I think Gabapentin is the one that they want him to have by injection. This is the one that usually makes them wobbly (so why would I choose to make him wobbly?!)

The one that he's on (but is out of stock for now) is working & doesn't make him wobbly.

I think that it's my fault as she asked how he is with the meds & I said that he doesn't like taking this one & the thyroid one so I have to hold him & give him those first but then he loves his Arthritis one so he has that sitting on the sofa, like as a treat at the end! (He laps it off the syringe then chews on it too)

She said that it takes at least a month to see if the injection works (I don't even know if we have a month!) but I think that she was trying to make it easier for us so that I don't have to give it to him daily, but it's really no trouble to give it to him (I shouldn't have said that he doesn't like it, I don't think) I told her that I was happy to continue doing it daily & she still told me to think about the injection.

She also said that if it works then we can take him off the arthritis one but this is the one that he likes!

Writing it out today though, I think it's a no brainer, isn't it, that he stays on the daily ones.

Yes we see a different vet each time (I had seen this one once before) but I was supposed to see yet another new one yesterday.

I think you just get whoever is free.

I don't think they do home visits at all but it was just one of those things yesterday where everything that could have gone wrong with the journey & once we got there, did.

He's on Buprenorphine normally.
I have Gabapentin to give him whilst this one is out of stock. And this will be the injection.

Is the monthly one Solensia?

I think the monthly one is Gabapentin. Although Solensia does sound familiar.

Solensia is for arthritis and gabapentin is for general pain. Our girl was on monthly solensia injections and daily gabapentin tablets.

He should be fine on the gabapentin tablets btw - they made it harder for ours to jump accurately for a couple of days but that settled down really quickly. It is bitter though - we used to crush it up and give it to her in unsalted butter which worked great, she loved it 🥹

Thank you HarryPotterandtheClimateofFear that's reassuring. When she said to shut him in a room I had visions of him falling all over the place, & thought that's the last thing that he needs.

I just don't really want to change things if something is working.

Hopefully the other stuff will be back in stock soon.

Sorry to hear things are not great with your DCat @TabbyTatCat. Our girl was on monthly Solensia injections for about 18 months, and then liquid Gabapentin in her final month. She would never take tablets, no matter what tricks I tried - even our friend who is a vet struggled to give her tablets when we were on holiday once - we thought we’d managed to trick her into taking them via that putty-like treat (names escapes me). She took them fine for about 10 days then once we went on holiday suddenly decided she wasn’t having any of it!

I was giving the liquid Gabapentin mixed in a bit of gravy from her wet pouches twice a day. I’d get a bit of gravy on a spoon, mix in the Gabapentin then let her lick it off the spoon. Worked every time.

Things are slowly getting “better” here. I’ve tidied away a few of her things, I want to do it slowly for the kid’s sake. I’m still crying at random moments, and both DH and I have said we keep thinking we’ve seen her out the corner of our eye.

Oh CaveMum I can imagine how difficult that is for you. Thank you for still talking to me on here when you are struggling yourself. Let the tears flow when they need to.x

I realised today that I've not been without a cat in my home for 25 years. I moved out at 18 & have had cats since 19.

We had a good start to the day, he came charging down the stairs, went outside, got me to defrost his water bucket, made a huge racket with his 'Meow's!' when I was on the phone, then charged upstairs again later.

Something changed after this, he came downstairs again later but he's really dragging his back leg again... I know that you told me no chocolate on here but I offered him my chocolate cake as me & my son were sat on the floor. He ate some of this, he still has his appetite today.

But he struggled to get anywhere with his back leg how it is, he's getting around but you can see that it's hard for him.
Then he went to the stairs & stumbled on the bottom one before I got to him I carried him up & he's been in his hiding place in my bedroom ever since, so I've bought all of his food & litter tray in here & shut the door & I'll see how we get on tonight.

Unfortunately, our home isn't set up for 'shutting him in a room' as it's all open plan downstairs, but he's happy in the bedroom anyway, & I'm happy being in here with him.

I can't see him but i can hear him snoring. I'm so worried about him tonight

How is he today Tabby TatCat?

Hi YoghurtPotWashingMachine. The night went better than I expected, he wasn't upset when he saw that I'd shut the door so he just ate & went back to his spot to sleep a few times & it was fine.

He's still struggling with his back leg today, I have the bedroom door open but he's just used the litter tray in the room, had a little wander round & something to eat, & went back to his spot.

That's good at least. You sound like a really good owner x

Thank you YoghurtPotWashingMachine that's kind of you. We've had big cuddles today, he was twitching a bit which is new, & made me cry as I don't think that's a good sign.

He seems ok though, I've been given an old stair gate so I put this upstairs & he now has the 2 bedrooms & landing if he wants them, so a bit more freedom, & I won't be worried about him falling down the stairs.

He came to see what I was doing & he's currently laying on a blanket in the sunny spot on the landing.

Oh bless him @TabbyTatCat. And bless you, it’s so so hard.

Thinking of you too @CaveMum I had the most vivid dreams that our girl was still alive or I could somehow bring her back to life. Absolutely heartbreaking.

I think we sometimes expect ageing in cats to be almost imperceptible. Maybe a bit of slowing down, less playing, but otherwise as they always have been. But I guess we don't have that in humans, and it's probably the same for cats.

My mother is about the same age equivalent as my elderly cat. She doesn't go to many places, prefers to be at home, is a bit more forgetful than she was, and definitely a lot more physically slow getting around, but we'd never think her quality of life was worth it. It's just what being in your mid-70s with a lot of arthritis does.

I know with cats things are more accelerated because of their shorter lifespan, but I suspect a lot of them in their old age are quite happy to do a lot of dozing, find a comfy spot, have some fuss and a slow amble around the garden.

I have no idea what might be behind the twitching, but I guess the question is, does your cat seem content enough despite not being 100%. Kitty certainly is having a lot of love and a very devoted human to give it.

@Babyboomtastic our vet said that cats are very hard to gauge when it comes to pain, so they can appear to be “getting on with things”. I guess it’s why you get the sudden decline, which we experienced. DCat was, apart from needing Solensia, pretty good up until the start December and in less than a month was gone.

If I’m honest, I had “vibes” for the last few weeks that things just weren’t right. The big thing for me was that she’d stopped purring in the last few weeks and for a cat that we frequently referred to as “having an engine” because she purred so loudly, was a big red flag.

HarryPotterandtheClimateofFear I'm so sorry about your dream, sounds so sad & distressing. Hugs from me

Thank you Babyboomtastic I know exactly what you mean. There's always that worry in the back of my mind, that like CaveMum says, he might 'seem' fine with being less active etc, but he actually isn't.

Regarding purring etc, he's always been noisy & he still talks to me. I can't always see him when he hides in my room but if I walk by & he's awake then he talks to me.

I'd told 2 people from the school run, that we were going to lose him over Christmas so now I've had to tell them that he's still here! It's been a surreal few weeks.

It's just a horrid rollercoaster of emotions isn't it? I swear I look at my cat to check she's not died in her sleep, about a dozen times a day.

She's blind and disabled, and likely has congenital stuff wrong with her that we've not even discovered. She's made it to 15.5 and every month feels like a bonus right now.

It is, Babyboomtastic & I know what you mean, my son was complaining that our cat was snoring too loudly the other day & I was thinking 'Any noise from him is good, because at least we know that he's still here'.

Your cat sounds amazing! Was she always blind?

Yes (argh this is so identifying 😂) blind from birth, hare lip, walks funny, issues with muscle tone, can't always retract claws so gets stuck, continence issues, and until we switched to renal food would vomit most days. She didn't go through puberty until 7 - and then made repeated sexual advances to our other (now deceased) female cat. She's only 2kg and looks like a kitten.

She's also amazing. If any of us are hurt/upset she comes and comforts us. With my firstborn, when she cried she'd come and nip at my ankles until I attended her, even where my husband was already doing it!

She's banned from upstairs in the morning as she would wake us up , and if we didn't literally run downstairs immediately, she'd stand in the middle of our bedroom and pee in protest.

Babyboomtastic She sounds wonderful in every way What lovely stories you have of her. She's obviously very loved.

I do miss our morning alarm clock, my boy would be meowing at 6.30 every single morning without fail to get us up. He's usually asleep now, although he was up with me today.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a cat charity, their vets read all of my cats notes & they didn't have anything positive to say (which, on the one hand, I completely expected) but on the other hand they've left me feeling as if I'm a terrible person, my cat is in horrendous, constant agony & I'm just leaving him to suffer for my own selfish reasons.

They took the ending of the last vet visit, where he hissed & growled & didn't want to be touched, as his 'normal' now, & said that this is how he is presenting in his every day life. Hissing & growling if anybody goes near him, tail constantly swishing, 'vocalising his discomfort' and won't let anybody touch him as he is in so much pain.

This isn't true at all.
But I feel absolutely awful.

Oh @TabbyTatCat, that’s not helpful is it? But you know him best and you know what he is really like day to day. I’m not sure if you want advice but if I were you I would be tempted to try and find another vet local to you that does home visits and get someone to come and look at him in his home environment and give you an opinion based on that. Then when the time does come to put him to sleep you’d be able to have that happen at home too. It sounds like he finds vet visits incredibly stressful and I’m sure you’d hate for that to be the last thing that happens to him. Also I’ve got the sense from your posts that you aren’t getting consistent messages from your current vet. I don’t know if that would be affordable for you or even possible where you are though so feel free to disregard and just have a hand-hold instead.