Elderly cats - Page 2

FancyPhillyshopper · ‎05-02-2017

I love my Himmys!! I have had beautiful and wonderful blue-eyed cats for decades and decades, some I raised from birth.

If your cat is sleeping and eating regularly, that is a great thing!

Issues with age to watch out for: thyroid, kidney, cancer.

Yes, cats get a bit more "clingy" with age, but they all enjoy receiving affection and attention, no matter the age.

Thank you for great kindness in adopting an older cat.

luvmybeetle · ‎08-10-2013

You are a wonderful person for adopting an older cat. As for the crying after they eat. The previous poster was correct in that it may be digestive problems. I had a cat just this past year that kept crying before meals and after. When he was at the vet to have his teeth cleaned they found he had mouth cancer. Please take your cat to be checked about that. We never thought that might be the case. My vet said cats often get kidney problems and that could be why also. God bless you for rescueing a senior cat.

Catty2 · ‎09-06-2014

Thank you for adopting a senior cat. I have been a cat mom for decades. My oldest cat (Muffy) lived to be 19. I adopted her when she was 3 months old. If this talking after eating is a recent thing I would take her to the vet. They can do blood work and see if anything is going on. Hoping that everything is OK.

FranandZoe · ‎03-09-2010

My two will be 16 in July. I previously had three that lived to 17 and 18.

Mine definitely sleep more than they used too. But they're still pretty active, still like to play. They love sitting on the couch with me. One loves to be combed - the other one not as much. We adopted them together - they were litter mates.

So wonderful that you adopted an older cat. Glad you're happy together.

sceniccoast · ‎03-09-2010

@GoneButNotForgotten

Thank you so much for adopting a senior kitty. You have a big heart. I'll bet she's one very happy kitty to have you as her parents.

I have 2 senior sisters, adopted together as kittens. They'll be 19 in Aug.

Yes, they do sleep most of the time. Also, this past year their fur is matting. My Fluffy never liked being groomed & I ended with blood everytime. My Ginger always loved being groomed, but this past year, not as much. I've got to get a groomer to come to our home. The past few years, they'll only eat hard food, no more can. I've gone thru many bags of quality cat food to get them to eat better. They seem to have leaned more to the Rachel Ray & I which out the flavors for them. Better to spend reasonable $$ rather than large amts. of $$ on food they don't like. Some days they eat better than others. For several months, they were keeping us up several hours a night. Ginger meowing a lot & Fluffy doing a very loud howling (almost like she's in pain.) Recently, Ginger has calmed more down at night, but Fluffy will howl until I go sleep on the living room sofa, then her purring begins because she's happy I'm there.

Ginger has not lost weight but Fluffy has. Ginger's blood work was fine but she has some arthritis issues in her back region. Fluffy hasn't been to the vet in a year. She was so bad with both the Vet & Technician both trying to hold her, it stresses her way too much. As long as they're both eating & drinking I'm not going to stress them again by taking them unless there's an emergency or I notice changes.

I hope this helps. I'm truly hoping I have a few more years with them. I love them so much

GoneButNotForgotten · ‎03-29-2020

Thank you all, kindly, for you advice and stories.

Missy is old but we call her our Baby Girl. I wish we had known her when she was younger so we could compare her present behaviour to when she was younger. But she seems pretty happy and loves so sleep next to my pillow and sometimes I get a "cleaning". When she gets close to my lips I tell her, "that's ok but no tongue action"

I don't know how long she'll be with us so we're enjoying her now as much as we can.

Toppers3 · ‎10-25-2016

Our last kitty lived to be about 21 years old. She was a brown and black-striped tabby.

We currently have a 5 year-old Maine Coon mix that we adopted last year.

When our little tabby was about 18, she started to develop a hyper-thyroid condition that was also starting to affect her kidneys. We also had to watch her heart, and we put her on thyroid medication.

She was also on medication for arthritic pain.

By the time that she was 18, we really started to notice age-related behavioral and health issues.

We had noticed her starting to slow down more once she probably started to reach the age of 17. She was starting to sleep more, although she was still pretty alert and doing pretty well, considering her age.

She had also started caterwauling, too, the older she became. That is that howling-type of meow.

She would also do it after she ate.

The group of Vets that we were taking her to, felt that she was developing some age-related aging issues, and that she could also be experiencing feline dementia.

She would act a little confused at times, and I would sometimes pick her up and just snuggle with her and cuddle her, just to let her know that I was with her and near her.

She was small enough where I could tuck her under my chin and just lightly snuggle with her.

We live in a large-sized apartment, and she started to confine herself to one smaller area of it.

One of the Vets in the group that we go to said that is not uncommon to do this when they become older. They tend to feel more secure in a smaller area, especially when their vision becomes affected. She could still move around alright and use her litter box.

She just liked to sleep and hang out in our living room and sleep in a few particular areas where she felt more comfortable.

She stopped going into our bedrooms to sleep and hang out.

She had also become more attached to me, and needy, too.

She had lost a lot of her hearing, but could still hear us if we were very close to her, and her vision wasn't that good anymore, according to one of the Vets.

You could see that her eyes were becoming kind of cloudy, just due to natural aging.

She passed away one day when her little body could no longer function due to her aging issues. Her kidneys finally stopping functioning normally.

NickNack · ‎03-10-2010

@Toppers3 The howling is an indication of kidney failure.

The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau

Whosits · ‎05-19-2014

I've had several older cats. Sleeping a lot is a given. They all had various issues as they got older but two females had the toughest to cope with problems. They had some sort of dementia and wouldl howl a lot. The worse of that is that I could not seem to comfort them. Very sad. The males that I've had developed various illnesses. Mortie had diabetes and eventually died from kidney failure. Ira we were not sure. I miss them always, but Ira was my soul mate. Part Main Coon.