Old Cats - classic or CLASSIC.

http://static.flickr.com/31/38299620_9bc75cff18.jpg?v=0

changy, 15 years old (or thereabouts). he doesn't fart, but his fur is mostly dreadlocked at the moment.

Anyhoo. Back to the senility of the felinity.

I have yet to hear a cat fart. Does this mean I haven't experienced complete cat friendship? Perhaps my feline friend is too sensitive to experience such a release in my presence.

but i wouldn't swap him for the world.

I wonder if I'll dream about farting cats?

I haven't either, and I assume for the exact same reason. I mean, you should see the stunned look he'll give me if I do in his presence!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/misery/sets/72157594465068614/

xpost, the dogs had no problem with qtip and he was kind of wimpy. Wheezy seems pretty confident so I'm hoping after they all get past the "hey why are you here sharing my owners?" phase, all will be well.

We notice his face is swollen underneath his eye and eye was running. Vet says eye infection. We torture him twice a day with eye cream for two weeks. swelling grows.

His mouth starts smelling nasty and we can tell he's favoring the other side of his mouth (where the swelling isn't). Take him back and the vet says, 'oh, this wasn't his eye. His gums are inflamed and the teeth are falling out. The swelling must be an abcess."

He goes in to pull all the loose teeth from that upper left gum and vet says after she pulled them she was concerned about how his jaw felt beneath the gum. Cue xray and large tumor in his cheek is reveled. It had destroyed the jaw bone below it hence the inflammed gums and falling out teeth.

It was squamous cell carcinoma which usually manifests as skin lesions (esp in white cats.) His had invaded the soft tissues of his face however and there was no treatment at this point. About two and half months after his diagnosis we had to put him to sleep b/c he was just too miserable. He was 13 and had had a good, happy life.

Like I said I don't want to alarm anyone. I just want illustrate how in my situation the cancer was disguised by other seeming ailments. Also, I was unaware that this type of cancer could be anything but with the skin.

good luck with your ailing kitties. Hopefully it's nothing but run-of-the mill old kitty dental problems.

I'm sure he will be fine though. He has been on antibiotics for the last week, and the improvement in his mood is remarkable already. I'm simultaneously looking forward to our perky new cat and guilty about all the pain he must have been in for most of his life so far.

Our old cat is still holding on at nearly 15, but he's probably not got much longer, he's already reached the average life expectancy for a cat with his type of cancer. Chemotherapy didn't really work so there's no chance of remission, but he's fairly stable at the moment, not getting better, not getting worse. I hope he makes it to his 15th birthday.

Fingers crossed my old old cat makes it to her 20th birthday this August.

Hooray.

Linus is excited because he has antibiotics to take, which means TINNED SALMON, which is like cat crack for him.

wheezy is in my lap, loving, right now. She has been making me get up an hour earlier lately to spend time with her.

He's usually pretty good about where he pukes, like if he's sitting on the bed and he starts retching he'll jump off onto the floor. Poor thing must have been caught by a surprise barfing.

He did manage to spew on some Yo La Tengo CDs the other day, but cats hate indie rock, so that's not surprising.

That's what Maurice Gibb died from I believe

I'm getting a complex over this!

Those extra blood tests when you bring 'em in for an op are a good thing, aren't they? Especially with cats, who don't give a lot away about how they might be feeling.

She'll come round to her food. She's just trying to wait you out.

Maybe.

i'm going to take his face...off

My old kitty (17) whom I love dearly and whom I have to give IV fluids 2x weekly for kidney issues has this thing that she does where she puffs up her cheeks and makes ticking-pop noises. I wish I knew why.

She is possibly making kissing noises because she loves you?
My kitty is sweet 16. No health problems yet, knock on wood. I want her to live 4-ever.

Aw blowing kisses cute.

That cat that I grew up with is turning 21 sometime around now (we picked her up as a stray 20 years ago this spring, and she was about a year old then) and while she is definitely old, she's still remarkably sprightly (if deaf, and increasingly picky about what she eats).

I love the way they quack!

Wait how did you know my cat also quacks besides puffing and popping rox???

Cause that's what old cats DO!

Also, SMILE U ON CANDID CAMERA LOL

I don't know how old my cat is, but he's got to be around 15. He's cool, he just wants to chill out and sleep on people mostly. He fell off the couch again the other day. :(

I feel lucky that my old cat is still very playful. She does love to sleep and is very affectionate, but she also likes to attack the feet at the end of the bed and play fetch with milk-bottle-top-like toys. She does quack but in a very siamese meow-quacking way. The other cat has a traditional mew but purrs like some bizarre bird.

They have been having more fights lately, which disturbs me. The young cat (1.5 years) will want to play with the older one and bop her on the head and the older one gets a big scared hiss on and then I have to comfort her for 3 or 4 hours.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2169/2125783318_1508265996.jpg
1991(ish?)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2207/2343978413_ef7f321aaf.jpg
2008

So, at the age of (at least) 21, it seems like she's had kidney failure. My mother is dealing with her making a mess everywhere (she is wearing kitty diapers sometimes, but they fall off easily and they are bulky when full) and we're hoping that she is not in too much pain. They very much don't want to take her in to have her put down, and would rather she die either at home with them or by heading off somewhere to do it alone (she's indoor/outdoor). It's unclear whether she only has a few days or whether she has a few months in her. She's being a picky eater (mostly into lunchmeat, last I heard, after a few days on baby food) and sometimes a voracious drinker. So, she's a good kitty and hopefully she will have a peaceful ending.

I'm sorry Casuistry. She looks like a very sweet kitty, and I hope her last days are gentle ones.

Sorry to hear that Casuistry, but it does make me happy to see that I've got many years ahead with our (currently 8 year old) Alfred.

I'm glad I got to see her this summer, at least.

Oof she's doing much worse today, apparently. Disoriented and falling down, too weak to move more than a few steps. My mother, who is an emotional wreck about this, is thinking of taking her in after all.

Disoriented and falling down, too weak to move more than a few steps.

This is a pretty clear sign that it's time. At least it was for our dog. Condolences on your ailing kitty.

There maybe is a housecall vet where your mom lives. That can make things much easier all around. I found one in Seattle through googling.

:(

Casuistry, my sympathies.

Oh so sad. Our kitty also has kidney problems that, although controlled OK with medication for now, will likely affect her more in future years. I can't imaging being without her!

oh kitty :( my sympathies too and wishes for peaceful end to a happy life

My sincere sympathies, C. I know that when my 17-year-old kitty gets to that point, I will be a total wreck.

:(

I keep telling my mother to call a vet already, just for some advice at least, but she is weirdly reluctant to do so. Also she's decided that maybe her reluctance to take her in to be put down is more about *her* not being to let go. But she just picked her up and snuggled a while with her and put her onto some pillow and she seems much more comfortable now.

(For those who aren't clear on this, they live on the other side of the country from me.)

I spend a lot of time fretting about my cat's age, and he's only 13. I hope we have many more years together, but I don't think I'd want him to live to 21 and be in such poor shape.

Condolences Casuistry.

She's only been in really bad shape for about a week, though.

Well, she spent most of the rest of yesterday and the night feeling much more comfortable resting on pillows, and today she finally passed on her own.

RIP Pud (1987-2008).

:(

RIP sweet old kitty

RIP

RIP, kitty

RIP

aw kitty
if there's a way to go, comfortably on pillows sounds pretty good tho
my thoughts and sympathies to you and to your mom

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2022/2349244953_66832044f9.jpg

^^^classic cat

I would have cuddle with all these old cats.

I have a pussy of '91 too. A black one. On one hand, she is very agile compared to other cats of that antiquity (we had to lock the skylight to wean her off using it as an entrance and freefalling onto the bed. My love-life suffered as a result.), but on the other hand, she has lost all her canine teeth and needs to be fed alone because the other 2 cats (twins aged 7) would just eat it all for her. I also have a feeling her hearing and short term memory are ailing too. However out of our cat history she is not gonna suffer too badly... about 10 years ago we lost a cat to our neighbours' water tank :(

The vet is coming this afternoon to put my old cat to sleep :(

She hasn't eaten in two days and has gone downhill very rapidly since yesterday, she is hiding in the kitchen, panting and foaming a bit at the mouth, she is very shaky and can hardly walk. The vet has confirmed she has heart failure, they could try to treat her but it would be just buying her time, with no guarantee of success, and she may well die in a strange environment. I feel it is kinder for her to go at home, before she is really in pain. Still devastated though :(

I'm sorry, Meg. But I think you're making the right decision.

She's gone now :(

The vet who came to the house said it was definitely the right thing to do, she had fluid on the heart which would have been untreatable. It was very quick and I got to cuddle her and say goodbye.

We had ten lovely years together and I couldn't have had a better kitty.

Sigh.

Youth (2yr, left) & beauty (17yr) still can have a cuddle:

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/1672/kittiesnh0.jpg

WHAT MAKE ARE THEY

Some folks come into the humane society looking for the older/old cats. I guess they want to make sure they have comfortable lives during their final years. I should go in to volunteer today; at least their a/c works.

The left one is Maggie, a snowshoe Siamese cat we got from a "rescue" place last year. The right is Greta, who is a traditional (applehead) Siamese that my wife has had since the early 90s.