Any Cat Owners Here?

Aldaniti

Aldaniti

At the Start
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
2,360
Location
Wickford
Just wondered if there are any members who have had any experience in caring/nursing an elderly cat? my eldest cat Jasper who is nearly 15yrs spent last night at the vets, the vet felt something in his abdomen when we took him last night, a few months ago he had some blood screens because he was losing so much weight & he was borderline diabetic, his kidney function had also slowed but he has pottered on quite happily until a few days ago when he started losing more weight, I know deep down he hasn't got long to go & worst case senario is that they are sending him home to pass away at home, the vet nurse would not give me any info regarding the xrays over the phone but I think that was down to not knowing rather than not telling etc, its been a tough couple of months on the pet front as we lost my dearest cat in September very suddenly & then my border collie Zak died three weeks ago of renal failiure :( I just want to make what time Jasper has left special, I have been told he is bright & not in any pain which is good, any suggestions?

Helen
 
Sorry to hear that Helen, I have had a cat that had the same problem, she ended up being pts but she seemed to be enjoying life right up till the last day.
All I could suggest is treating him to his favourite foods and lots of love and attention
 
I had a cat who had similar symptoms Aldaniti and it turned out to be a problem with her kidneys.
She lasted another 18 months on a steroid injection every month and finally passed away at the age of 16.
So long as the cat is not in pain and has an appetite, let nature take its course.

One of the main symptoms was the need to drink which led us to the kidney problem.

Sometimes it can be very expensive finding the problem or finding a sympathetic vet.
 
Same as Lee's cat, Aldaniti, mine lost a fair amount of weight and needed to drink water all the time. She enjoyed a gloriously hot summer, baking herself in the back garden and when she became too weak to climb the Everest-like stairs to bed, I used to carry her up. You may find the cat drools a lot, but take no notice. 'Sunny' lived about a year from diagnosis, but still had to be pts in the end, although in no pain - just weakening all the time. I know she enjoyed the time she had left, but the end comes up fairly fast, within two or three days you'll realise the time has come to say goodbye. My condolences in advance, as although you'll know there's no way back, the floods of tears still come in spite of knowing so.
 
Poor you, Helen :(

I agree with the others. Get your diagnosis and assuming Jasper is in no pain, spoil him rotten.

Always remember, you have given all of your pets a very special and loving home. Heartbreaking as it is to lose them your family have given them all a chance and a lots of TLC. Never lose sight of that and just make Jaspers last days/weeks/months special ones. :)
 
Thanks, he has a mass/lump in his gut area that could be a tumour or it may be a swollen gland, his blood sugar is fine so that rules out diabeties but he does have a kidney problem, he also have a severe urinary tract infection, so he has been sent home with A/B's, cystaid to help his bladder & steroids to see if they will reduce the tumour/inflammation, we need to take him back next Wed to see if there has been an improvement, if there has then they will look at putting him on a fairly new drug called Fortekor, its not cheap but has shown to greatly increase the life expectancy of cats with kidney failiure, so all in all its not the end just yet :)
 
Sorry to hear about your poor cat, my tiny old tabby was a bit dodgy for a few years being sick a lot and having some lesions in her liver, but she's now permanently on Overid, which seems to have sorted her out, and she's fine now. So don't give up hope just yet.

If you enter "cat" and "kidney disease" on Google, it comes up with some useful info on possible treatments for your elderly gentleman.
 
Not so good this morning, he hasn't moved from the bed since OH brought him home won't eat or drink, I'm syringing water into him at the moment & thats all we can do, just have to hope that the A/B's & steroids kick in & he starts to feel a bit better, if he hasn't picked up by tomorrow eve then we will take him back to the vets on Sat am.
 
It's such a tricky decision to know when to take the tough decison to put your pet to sleep imo. So far, I've never had one of my 'oldies' just not wake up the next morinng - without fail, they've all had to be put to sleep because they've had old age problems such as acute renal failure or cancers of one sort or another - it's horrible!

We had a Siamese cross female cat who lived to the grand age of nineteen - much adored by all of us. She was jet black and extremely vocal and towards the end, went from svelte to a hat rack. She was the especial favourite of my husband and he acknowledges to his eternal shame that he let her suffer unnecessarily during that last week for purely selfish reasons, something he would never do again. It's a hard lesson to learn but I do now know that it's one of the kindest acts you can do for a best beloved pet and if there's ever an inner voice nagging at you, then don't ever put it off..
 
Another cat I lost was given steroids to stimulate appetite and they didn't work, this was after exhaustive testing.
The vet told him he had only a 5% chance of survival and I had to have him put to sleep, he was only 3 years old.
 
After seeing Zak in the vets for two days on various drips & drugs etc before he was put to sleep was enough, I'm not going to let that happen to Jasper but I do need to give him a day or two to see if the drugs they have given him do anything, if I don't I know I'll beat myself up for weeks thinking that I didn't give him a chance, can't win either way I suppose :(
 
Sorry Helen, that wasn't directed at you! Of course give him a couple more days - as I said, only you will really know when the time has come - he may indeed start to respond to the steroids.


Our cat was 19, not 15 and being dispassionate about it, at that age it's pretty obvious they aren't going to make a miraculous recovery.
 
No its ok, I know it wasn't directed at me, You did make a very important point as I know several people who have left their pets too long before letting them go, I have just had a chat with my partner & we have agreed if there in no improvement at all by friday eve then the appointment we make for Sat am will be the last one.
 
Sorry for you in advance, Aldaniti. Take a box of Kleenex and have a swift half afterwards. It'll be a rough evening.
 
I'm sorry about Jaspar, Aldaniti, but it sounds like he had a long happy and pampered life with you. I had my old cat put down a few years ago as she was suffering fom nasal cancer and know how you must feel. It was horrible at the time but now I'm left with many happy memories of her.
 
That is the downside of being a pet owner, it hurts when they go but at least he had a good innings Aldaniti.

I have lost so many by being run over, trapped up a tree and FIV that I vowed not to have any more.
 
Bad luck Aldaniti but how nice for your cat that (hopefully) he was at home and had such a calm and stress-free end to his life.
 
Sadly we had to take him to the vets :( it became obvious late last night that he was getting worse, he could not stand up & spent most of the time sleeping, he led next to me on my bed & stayed there all night whilst I gave him lots of fuss, it got to about 5am & I thought he would drift off as he really wasn't with it anymore & he just let out a bit of a meow every 20mins or so, he hates traveling & I so wished for him to die at home but it wasn't to be, he started making more meowing noises around 8am & it was then that I rung & made the dreaded appointment, if it was any comfort I don't think he even knew we were in the car & he didn't even flinch when they injected him :( the vet seemed to think that he had some internal bleeding due to the possible tumour as he was very pale & had thrown up some very dark brown fluid the night before that was possible blood, it doesn't really matter as he is now at peace & i hope he is up there with his best mate Tash who died in September.

Again thankyou for all your kind words they are appreciated

Helen
 
So sad, Helen, but thankfully you were with him to the very end! Hopefully, you have a few photos and lots of happy memories.
 
So how do you transport a cat 160 miles ? Mrs DG is putting ours in a cattery for two weeks whilst we settle in to our new home and get Christmas over with and then we are driving back to Cornwall to collect it, taking it to the vet to have it chipped and sedated for the journey , then driving back to Cheltenham after dark so it can't see too much out of the window

.......all in one day. :blink:

Next problem, how do you stop it doing a runner if it doesn't settle in ?

Even if it does the neighbouring properties all have cats and ours doesn't take kindly to having other cats on its patch :ph34r: :P
 
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