Sick Cat. Any ideas?

[mgreencrna]

Have this 14 or 15 year old Siamese Cat that I brought home from Korea 10 years ago. Got to be about 14 pounds over the years. In the last year she has dwindled to about 5 pounds, pukes yellow, lots of poop.

Saw the vet many times and has had every test but no diagnosis. No blood in stool or vomit. No palpable tumors.

Any ideas? May have to have put down. Doesn't seem to be in any pain. Eats canned food twice/day.

Mark

[legionserial]

I had a cat that was about 18 that had similar problems. Turned out to be a Kidney faluire. We had to let her go.

But if the vet isn't picking that up, it's possibly not it. 14-15 is old for a cat though. Problem with cats is you often can't tell if they are in pain. They are very brave animals and hide it very well. In fact the biggest sign that a cat is in pain is purring. Cats purr when they feel any kind of strong feeling. Most of the time it's happiness, but it can also mean extreme discomfort or unhappiness. If the vet can't find anything wrong, she might just have eaten something funny.

Has she been checked for worms? When my Loki was a kitten he used to yak up a lot and had the squits. And although the vet couldn't see any visual signs of worms, he gave him a worming tablet and it cleared right up.

[mgreencrna]

Thanks for the reply. She was checked for worms. Nothing abnormal has shown up in any tests, blood work, etc. Sometimes she give off a low pitched growl. I wondered if that was some sort of pain response. She is my first cat and I don't even know how long cats live. She started getting sick after my Springer Spaniel died suddenly from a vessel that ruptured from the kidney and she blead out. She was 12 years old. The two got along really well. I miss my dog more than anything and it's been about 1.5 years now since she died. Now I'm about to lose my cat. My big-eyed fish came up floating a few weeks ago after 4 years. This is a really bad time for all of my pets.

[slidey]

my mother's cat is approx. 14 years old & it poops, vommits & does all sorts of things nasty with no real reason other than old age......

[Dragon]

Originally Posted by slidey

my mother's cat is approx. 14 years old & it poops, vommits & does all sorts of things nasty with no real reason other than old age......

Yeah, but with that weight loss thrown in, it sounds bad for sure.

This seems to be a bad time for cats...my woman in Tokyo just lost one yesterday (or tomorrow, it's hard to tell with the time zones) and our Panther just got diagnosed with diabetes. Sigh.

I hope things go better for you, mgreencrna. Without knowing more, I'd say don't be in a hurry to put her down though. After all, the vet can't really find anything wrong. The growl could well be an acute pain (sudden) but unless she is growling, purring, or acting up constantly, there's no reason to believe she's in constant pain.

Make sure you give her lots of love, though, and thank her for all the time she's spent with you. She may just surprise you.

[Treeline]

Try putting her on a worming remedy and just see if anything changes.

When I was a kid I had a cat who was the runt of the litter - turned out to have one lung and an enlarged heart. But there was decent quality of life for many years. He used to pounce on house flies. Odd, well-loved cat.

[Dogman]

Maybe try some different food...we leave some dry food out for ours all the time, and give them wet food as a treat. If it's teeth are ok, try some dry food to suppliment the wet....may not work, but it's relatively inexpensive to try....

[Oancient1]

My wife (a vet tech) mentioned recently (in regard to our 15 yr old cat losing some weight) that excessive weight loss while eating normal amounts can indicate a hyperthyroid condition that is common in older cats. She said that would not show up in the blood work that we normally have done when she (the cat that is) goes for her yearly checkup.

We have three dogs and three cats, plus four other departed cats planted at various places in the yard. I hate that pets don't live as long as us, because it is so painful emotionally when the die. Over the years we have decided that when their health deteriorates to where they are obviously in discomfort, it is time to put them down. It hurts like hell but we get over it, in part because there are so many other animals in the shelter who need owners.

Tom

[legionserial]

Originally Posted by Oancient1

I hate that pets don't live as long as us, because it is so painful emotionally when the die. Over the years we have decided that when their health deteriorates to where they are obviously in discomfort, it is time to put them down. It hurts like hell but we get over it, in part because there are so many other animals in the shelter who need owners.

I too have had so many pets that have had to be put down over the years. It hurts like absolute hell, but I always feel that they are in a better place than when they are in pain.

I have a 1 year old cat. He's still a baby, but sometimes I think about how I'm going to outlive him,and it cuts me up for a while. It may sound silly but Loki is like a son to me, and I treat him as such. And no father should outlive his son. I just remain thankful for the years of happiness that he'll bring me.