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I have an elderly cat who is about 15 years old. Vet says she is in good health. I just want to know what is normal behavior for elderly cats. She is relaxed and sleeping most of the time. Her favorite spot right now is on our mat in front of the oven. Her appetite has decreased. She often makes a sound like she has a hair ball but just a little clear liquid comes out. Are these normal things for a cat of this age?
Our adult cat (probably about 10-12 years old) has a fracture on her front left paw/leg. It’s the holiday weekend, so we splinted it but we don’t want her to suffer until Tuesday. There’s an emergency vet but it’s over 2 hours away (we live in a rural area) and of course the expense will be outrageous so while we are willing to do whatever needed we’re wondering if there are any OTC pain meds we can give her until Tuesday when we can take her to our regular vet, or is she at risk of complications if we wait? Any info is appreciated. The break seems to be right above the paw joint.
Hello,
I’m sorry to hear about your cat.
Sadly there really aren’t any otc medications that I feel are safe for cats.
The best advice I can give is to place her in a cage that allows her room to sleep, eat and use a litter box. Nothing bigger than that. If you are worried about the cost of an orthopedic surgeon than resting in a small ache to allow it to heal is the next best option. For pain meds you would have to see your vet.
Good luck
My 9 yr. old Megacolon cat Eli wasn’t able to poop. It happens sometimes. He’s on Cisapride and Merilax daily, but he still get’s backed up. When he started vomiting after not being able to BM and jumping out of the litter box I took him to the vet. They did an enema on June 20th. He’s still backed up! I can’t afford 1k plus to have a vet manually extract the feces (this is Washington, DC area – everything is very expensive!). He hasn’t started throwing up again, but he’s not eating much and I need to find out if there is something I can do more at home to get him through this emergent time. I can’t just watch my cat suffer. I have Pedi lax, but don’t know if that would help or hinder at this point. I watch videos on palpitating the colon to try and break up the feces. I know there are specific enemas to give cats at home. Is it too late to try this? My vet is frankly bad and too busy to bother, so she said to just go to the emergency. It sure seems like there are other steps that can be taken ,,,at least I hope so becuase I just don’t have that kind of money left with the cost for caring for my hospice Husky, Loki. Help!
Hello,
For these cases I talk a lot with owners about trying to identify the underlying cause. Often it is poor diet and sedentary life but there are also diseases and illnesses that can contribute. If able start to learn how to palpate your cats colon and feed watery wet food and use the fiber supplements and laxatives. Exercise is also very important. For these cats we start training in a harness to go outside for walks. I feel that if you don’t increase environmental enrichment and stimulation they won’t start moving.
But before all of this you have to remove the obstructive feces. This often needs a vets help. Call rescues and shelters and keep asking for affordable help.
Household “accidents”, need advice, please!! I have 3 cats, 3 dogs, and a toddler human. In the past few months my two youngest “house trained” dogs (9 & 5 yrs) and my youngest cat (4 yrs) have been purposely relieving themselves in different parts of my house. The dogs poop/pee on the floor, in the past month they began peeing on my couch, it’s gotten so bad I have to keep them in crates most of the time they’re inside. The cat will pee on my toddlers belongings – first on clothes in his laundry basket (which is now inside a closet) and on his stuffed animals (which I had to hide in a bin), now has resorted to peeing on any accessible hard plastic toys. If I put the cat in a kennel she uses the litter box 100% of the time, once releasing her she’ll behave for 1-2 days then starts up again. The dogs will have “accidents” within 10 minutes inside after being outside for 30-60+ minutes. I have 3 litterboxes, each with a different kind of litter, all clean, no diagnosed medical issues (taken all 3 to the vet twice since this started $$$). My oldest dog has been going through dementia for the past year, it’s getting worse but not yet at the point of euthanasia. I started preparing to move the past 6 months, house is almost done being packed/cleared. I’m not sure which/both/none are triggers for them acting this way. All of them have moved with me before and they never did this on previous moves. Vet prescribed multiple anxiety meds which are not helping at all, they have no other solutions to offer. Ironically my 14yr old dog with dementia barely ever has accidents in the house. Personality wise they aren’t acting any different. Messes are thoroughly cleaned immediately and they don’t even bother to do this secretively, all 3 seem to purposely do it right in front of me. The situation is driving me to my wits end, I really need help 🙁 Besides keeping them all in crates I have no other solution. Does anyone have insight to what I can do? Thanks so much!
Hello,
In cases of inappropriate urination we always start with looking for a medical reason and start addressing the behavior possibilities. That means every animal urinating outside the box or inside in unwanted areas gets an exam and a urine check. It might be that one has a urinary issue and is soiling and the rest are following the same behavior because the area now smells like a place to pee. You have to clean so thoroughly they can’t smell residual urine (and remember their noses are so much better than ours!)
Also rhe stress of moving might be contributing. Or even the stress of the other dogs dementia might be a contributor. I use a lot of calming agent like feliway and DAP and add more litter boxes. Different kinds of litter and even try different kinds of litter. Try not to get angry at them. They think they are doing something completely appropriate and never do anything to make you upset or for spite. (Only humans do those things). If all of that fails you can try an oral behavior modification medication. They have worked well in many cases I have had.
Looking for information regarding polyps. In January of this year (2022) my then 3 1/2 year old cat developed what seemed like nasal congestion. She would snore, wheeze and “slurp” through her mouth. After 2 rounds of antibiotics they discovered she had a polyp under her soft pallet. After removal of the polyp her symptoms subsided a little but never completely. We then tried steroids but these did not help either. Now they are recommending I go to a specialist/internal medicine veterinary hospital to get a rhinoscopy and ct scan to see if there are additional polyps or some other kind of blockage. The initial consult visit would be $250 and the scoping and ct scan would cost $2500 to $3200. Is it common for cats to have more than one polyp and is there other treatments you would try before the very costly next step my vet is suggesting? I’ve already spent $1000 with what we have done so far so I am looking for any suggestions you can offer! I hate seeing her uncomfortable!! I should mention that she is not sneezing or coughing, but shake her head sometimes. She is eating fine and acting mostly fine except when lying down as that is when the difficulty breathing seems to get the worst.
Hello,
Without knowing your pet I would say the options are to recheck for the polyp (they can recur), try a barrage of medications to see if any help, or wait and see what happens , or see the specialist. There I’m not sure this is helpful but it’s the best I’ve got. Good luck
How can you make a cats oversized bladder shrink?
I know it’s possible,
Do they need to be hospitalized?
I seen a video of a guy with a cat that has lower motor neuron bladder atony. He said his cat had a cath for 3 wks and it shrunk the bladder.
Also diapers… is it a guarantee that a cat will get a bladder infection from wearing a diaper or is it just a possibility? I see hertz has special diapers for cats n dogs, it doesn’t say if they will help block infections. We have an appointment the 23rd with the neurologist for a 2nd opinion. I was told mri is $4,500 to $8,400. We don’t know how to look at this situation or what to do. Our hearts are breaking at the thought of possibly saying goodbye to our 3yr old cuddle bug. He peed on me twice this morning while he was sleeping. I worry I am squeezing too hard, or that he is in pain.
We have a very sassy beautiful 12 year old orange female tabby named Nala. She has been perfectly healthy until about a year ago when she started to sneeze a lot (that rapid-fire sneezing that cats do) and she started to make a snoring sound when she breathes. We initially thought it was just allergies but it didn’t get any better after several months. We took her to the vet and he diagnosed her with herpes and prescribed Chlorpheniramine 4mg crushed in her food. I’ve been giving her this for at least 6 months now and she has not improved. The sneezing has decreased, but the “snoring” has not improved at all. Searching online, we found a video of Dr. Magnifico performing surgery on a cat that had a nasal polyp and we are wondering if this may be what she has. The symptoms all seem to be the same as what she has been dealing with. So we’ve been searching for a vet in our area that performs this type of exam and surgery, and we have found this to be very expensive ($2000-$5000). She is otherwise a very healthy girl, she eats, drinks, uses litterbox and plays and snuggles all like normal. She has lost weight, but now seems to be putting it back on slowly. Dr. Magnifico’s office is only about an hour away and we would absolutely drive down to be able to have her exam Nala and if it is a reasonable price, have her remove the polyp if this was the diagnosis.
Hello
I’m sorry for the delay. If you would like a consult I would be happy to meet you and discuss options. Please call the clinic and ask for an appointment. It is the best place to start.
my 3yr old is leaking urine in his sleep and will pee on floor when his bladder is over full.
vet says I need to talk to urologist. she also said he has an abnormally large bladder for a cat. she said I can express him before sleep, to help him not leak. that worked for about a week now he is getting mad and biting. he has so much urine he will pee on floor 2x’s, I will express him, then in a couple minutes he will pee on the floor again. he is part Manx. he is considered a stubby tail. because he has 5 out of 7 vertebrates. this mystery is stumping my vet, so now I have to take him to the most expensive place around here. any suggestions for me or my vet would be greatly appreciated.
why would his bladder be so big all of a sudden?
why is he leaking?
why is he producing so much urine? we have not increased his intake. this has been happening since December. we have tried different thing; he doesn’t have a Uti. we have tried antibiotics and another pill.
I adopted a feral cat just over a year ago. My elderly father was feeding him twice a day for two years. He moved to a condo when my mother passed and the cat sat at the empty house day and night waiting for my Dad to come home. I ended up taking the cat and have worked on taming him. I’ve been making progress but not quite where I can pick him up.
He’s been mostly healthy up until 8 weeks ago. He seemed to be straining to urinate in his litter box and had decreased appetite. I took him to an animal hospital. At this time, I couldn’t touch him. He was anesthetized and examined. His exam and bloodwork were all neg. He was put on a urinary diet and given mirtazipine to stimulate appetite. I was not able to consistently get the stimulate in his ear but he would eat, just not a lot.
Followed up with my vet who said maybe he isn’t that hungry because he doesn’t have to worry about food and just watch his weight.
Weight continued to drop and found out last week he has tapeworms. He got a topical dewormer. Since then, it seems like he’s lost more weight and his lack of appetite is worse. He does eat enough to poop and pee daily.
My vet does house calls only and is coming Thursday. She’s limited in what she can offer for interventions. I am contemplating taking him back to animal hospital for evaluation,
It gets dicey though because he’s not completely tame. When I went with him before I could hear the attending talking to resident on other side of door saying, “he’s feral, what does she expect us to do,” I get that, but to a point. Is it unrealistic for me to want Pinky treated? He’s getting sweeter and sweeter and enjoys being petted.
Hello,
No it is absolutely not unrealistic. When we get feral cats at our shelter we try to treat them as best as we can, too. Obviously there are things that you can’t do with feral cats like you can with tame ones. But still we were still able do give daily fluids and feed them with a syringe, when they wouldn’t eat on their own for most of them.
However for this it helped a lot that they are usually in large crates, as this makes daily handling a lot easier. We place them in pillow cases to feed them or give them fluids. Most stay calm when they can’t see.
Also, a lot of needed exams can be done under anesthesia. Ultrasound (except heart), xray, bloodwork, urin analysis…
Not all treatments can be done with ferals, but there sitll is a lot of possible. That also depends on how far you are willing to go, and how stressfull daily handling for him would be. Most, while obviously hating to be forced daily, were still able to build trust after treatment or even with ongoing treatment. However it is helpful to have a second person do to the “bad” things.
Thank you for your response. He is currently hospitalized and being ruled out for a brain tumor. He is getting excellent care and the medical team is treating him well.
That sounds very good! I wish you two all the best!
Hello!
I applaud your dedication to this cat. It’s a hard case based on the cats temperament but it sounds like you are doing all you can. I wish you the very best of luck!
Hi! I have two beloved cats who I rescued about 4 years ago at the age of 2. They are now 6 (biological brothers) one of them has always been on the more apprehensive side. This problem tends to go in phases but this time it’s lasting longer than usual. During the night time anywhere between 12-4 AM he is just a ball of energy and wants to play and will cry and run back and forth. Before we go to bed at night, I try to play with each of them for about a half hour. Is there anything else I can do? I feel bad that he has all this energy and just looking for love and attention in the middle of the night! I’m worried about when we go on vacation or something or that sorts because we won’t be able to comfort him when he is having these “moments”
Help!
-anxious cat mom
Sounds like a typical cat to me! My old man would do the same in his younger years. As long as you’re making the effort to play with him when you’re both awake, he should be okay.
I agree with Laura. There are lots of things you can add to enrich the time you spend with your cat, and, lots of things you can add to your cats environment to help provide additional play enrichment. Think about toys, rotate and add new ones. Add a bird feeder outside a window. Games. Even teaching your cat how to walk in a leash with a harness r in a stroller. There is no limit to what a cat can learn and where you can go with that.
Have fun. Literally.
Hello,
Did your vet offer any diagnostics? Blood, urine, blood pressure? I think every 15 yr old deserves them. And I also think vet vista every 6 months from here on out are a great way to find problems early.
As far as normal for an elderly cat goes,, well they are each their own. So that’s hard to quantify.