Age related health questions and advice needed...

spindlehead · New member Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Posts: 8

Hello! I am new to this board and I have a few questions about my 17 1/2 year old cat. About 3 years ago he went from 24 pounds to 14. We found out that he has hyperthyroidism and now takes a pill every day to regulate it. Last year his blood test showed that his white blood cell count was very high. They tested him for AIDS and Lukemia but found nothing. Lately it seems he may have lost a few more pounds. He has been urinating a lot more and will go down into the basement and will howl for what seems like no reason. I am also concerned that he may be having trouble hearing. I have to touch him to get his attention to give him his pills if he is sleeping. He used to "sense" me coming. My husband also thinks his eyes may be getting cloudy. My concern is this, I don't want to give up on him too soon but I also don't him to be in pain. He is scheduled for more blood test this December & that is what has brought on my concern agian. The vet told me to pay attention to his eating and urinating. His appetite seems to be okay. I guess I just want an unbiased opinion. My husband's intentions are good but he just tells me to relax, that he will be fine. I'm not quite as confident. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jenny

sunset05 · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 2:10 pm Post subject:

It is sad when our kitties get older and are failing in health. I really don't have any good advice other than to take the advice of your Vet.

It is a personal decision when we fell it is time to let out pets go. We had a 16 year kitty that had a lot of health issues, but when he finally became blind we decided it was time to let him go. We weighed his quality of life with hanging onto him for our own benefit and decided we wanted to do what was best for him. It was sad to have him put down, but we felt it was the decision that we had to make.

Keep us posted on your kitty.

vene · Super Senior Member Plus Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 4207

I had put Pumpkin to sleep on 9/10. She had cancer and it was causing her to lose weight and eventually her appetite. When she became too weak and was no longer interested in eating and drinking, we felt it was the "right" time to let her go. I asked my vet for an unbiased opinion and we all felt it was her time to go. Check for difficulty in breathing and continuous purring. Those are signs that your cat is in distress and or may be in pain. Think about his quality of life. If he's ejoying food, and your presenses, he's not ready to leave yet. Big hugs.

spindlehead · New member Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Posts: 8

Thanks for the stories. Timie is still enjoying food and seems to still have his agility. The howling has me concerned still though. I wish I would have asked more questions last year regarding the white cell count. I was so relieved that I was leaving the vet WITH Timie and that he didnt' have AIDS or lukemia that I didn't think to ask more questions. I know that the white cells help fight infection but that is about it. His face still looks like a young kitty so for now I take comfort in that. I am going to try to get him in to the vet before my Dec. appointment though.

My co-worker has a kitty that was diagnosed with an auto immune deffinciency that will eventually cause her to loose her teeth. She occasionally has a hard time with hard food and will attempt to bury her food the way she would her feces in the litter box. My co-worker wonders if any of you have seen this behavior before and what it might mean.

Again thanks for the words of support.

lovemypet92054 · New member Joined: 13 Dec 2007 Posts: 4

Hello

I had a cat that got sick like that with the thyroid problem. She was about the same age. Whe she would go around and howl like she needed to urinate and could not it was because one kidney was the size of a pea and not working. Eventually the other one shut down. We kept her going until she was 19 and she stopped eating and drinking and could barely get around and our vet said it's time or she could keep her around a little longer but not healthy and at a large cost. We did not want her to suffer so we made the decission to put her down. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

Now we have one 13 who will not eat and am at the same empass because so far they have not found anything. We do not know when to give it up.

Good luck but get ready.

Mary_NH · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:33 pm Post subject:

if your cat is loosing his hearing he might be wandering around the basement yowling just to hear the sound of his own voice!
Could also be starting to get a little bit of dementia going on. It happens.
Basements have really good echobility LOL
I have one cat who has a little teeny meow (14 pound cat whose meow sounds like a 6 week old kitten) he goes into our basement and wanders about meowing for all he's worth and he sounds louder down there. He thinks he's a lion on the prowl.
Do you have any vets in your area who do kitty optomitrist work (I probably spelled that wrong). I have a 12 year old siamese who needs an eye exam but the only vet clinic here who does kitty eye checks is over an hour away at $200 a pop!!! I need to take her but gotta wait until after the holidays.

yogi · Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 3:52 am Post subject: it is time for another vet check

the excessive urinating and the howling are more often keys to kidney issues. Unfortunately kidney failure is one of the biggest problems in cats.
I would say it is time to have the vet check for this to ensure and rule this out. good luck.