Vet visit for elder cat

Your story about the cat who wouldn't eat until you decided to take him to the vet gave me a chuckle. Typical cat behavior. I hope he is still doing OK.

Cats sound a lot like people...kids in particular. I'm glad, though, that so far, kitty is okay. Hopefully the tests will back that up! Darn cats anyway lol. Karen

i sure hope the result for the blood work is alright. i know how it is to worry about our pet. my girl once lost her appetite when she was two. sent her to the vet after three days of her eating only a few kibbles. the vet suggested an x-ray and turn out there was a lump in her intestines. the vet prescribed laxatives and everything was fine. 7lbs is neither a lot nor a little depending on how much your cat weighed before. my girl is permanently at this weight, give or take half a pound. my boys are both double her size and weight. crossing my fingers and toes for you and your cat. sure hope everything turn out well.

A fortunate old cat.

These felines will do that to you! (LOL) I am in the same boat with my 13 year old cat see: http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/2128604.aspx He is still vomiting and taking steroids via tablets along with antibiotics. He is not himself but still hanging in there. He does it to me too; he’ll go off his food and look down and out, I’ll call the vet and make arrangements to see him a.s.a.p. and my feline will suddenly perk up and eat a heap of food, it’s like he knows and he is saying, “Don’t take me to the vet Mum, I’m better now, see?” I hope he is fine, keep us posted...

There are things I still don't know about cats.Mine is about 10 years old(we took her from the street and it was just our guess that she was about 6 months old then).Last month she had problem with her neck - she couldn't lift her head up.Though it was hard for her to move, she tried to be playful and show me she's alright.She recovered and I thank God that these animals have this incredible vitality.

there's a product you should keep on hand for older pets called "nutru-cal " your vet carries it and its pretty cheap, what it is ,is a high calorie palatable supplement for cats and dogs, comes in a tube, and when they dont eat for whatever reason squeeze an inch on your finger and let him lick it off.

This shows how much you care for your cat. I do take great concern of my dogs but not so much on cats. I have made a monthly appointment with the vet to come over to the house to have a monthly check on my 7 dogs. I have to pay quite a hefty amount for the vet house calls but I have no choice as it is too inconvenient to load them in the car for a visit to the vet.

Isn't that the way of life? Your car is making a horrible noise until you take it to the mechanic (there is a funny story about that one!), children and pets are sick until you get them to the doctor, the washer is eating laundry until the repairman comes out. Actually, you did do the right thing in taking the cat to the vet. (Even if it complained the whole way to the vet...and they never lose their voice whether it it a couple of minutes, 30 minutes or an hour they can still vocalize! We had one cat that could scream for hours. We were moving and it was a five hour trip from our old home to the new one and the cat screamed the whole trip.) The thing with cats is that they can get so sick so quickly that it isn't even funny. I have had three that I have rushed to the vet and each time it was NEVER under a hundred bucks. I would get them home and they would be fine. I think it was the trip and seeing this strange smelling person that scares the crap out of the cat so that they change their ways! I will say that his losing 7 pounds is a rather serious weight loss...he might have something in the blood system or feline leukemia (which is treatable, fortunately). But the best sign is that he is eating again. Hopefully he will keep eating and gain the weight back. I think that the great thing about cats is that they can be so infuriating! Of course dogs have their moments too.

cats think they are royalty. mine thinks he is king.

I'm glad you're looking after your pet. As they get older more things seem to go along with them of course and eventually they do wear out like us all. It sounds like your cat is on the mend, and I hope the blood work shows nothing serious. We do get attached to our pets but sometimes they can frustrate us when you cannot figure out what is wrong with them. I hope everything continues to work out okay.

Oh yes i had a cat of 18 years old that look very thin and refused to eat then we got to the stage the cat would eat all the time as well as had diahrea,the cat had bloods done as well as given pill to find out the cat had a thoriod problem when the results came through.

hello pat, they are like people i guess. and getting old has some attitudes going. i guess that is what happened to your cat. he knows whats going to happen the next day hence he wanted to show you he is fine. ann

I had 3 elder cats that were all from the same mother (different litters). They all got sick in the end and I had to have them put to sleep. It was very upsetting.When I thought one of them was sick and had to go to the Vet I didn't want to pay for the visit, and someone had to go with me, but I was afraid not to take them in case it was serious. They seemed to know when the appointment was and they would hide from me, and if I did have contact with them they would act like nothing was wrong, just like when you take your car to a mechanic. I ended up closing all the doors a few hours before I had to get them and putting them in a pillow case to get them into their carriers (which I had to set out a few days in advance so they weren't sure when they were going). They would scream at me the whole way there, which luckily wasn't very far. They were fairly quiet on the way home, but every once ina while they would let me know how mean they thought I was. Usually it was nothing serious, until the end and they all got cancer. One of them had gum trouble also, which probably explained why he didn't eat. After they would get home they would hide for a day or so and not let me near them. I couldn't get them in the carrier at home without the pillowcase, couldn't get them out at the Vet's, and they were more than anxious to get out at home.

I am glad though that he has started eating again I wonder if it was because of his Gums that he could not eat Please Pat let us know the results

that is SO true! our 18 yr old cat is losing weight, but we don't know if its mostly because it was so HOT this summer, but she ate her wet food no problems all summer, maybe not the whole cat, but Pong finished it for her since his surgery

That's a cat, wants to prove you wrong. Hope he's OK...

Cats are so funny.Typical I used to take my kids to the doctors after a few days of being poorly and they would make me look like the worst fibber in the world.Your cat is wonderful how about all that complaining he knew where he was going at least he is on the mend,hiding in the closet how funny.They do say dogs are owned by the person ,the person is owned by the cat.

I'd guess the gum problem was the root of it all. Perhaps he didn't eat much because his mouth hurt. Hope he will go on ok. Anyway, you are certainly looking after him well.