My cat is old. Very old. I believe she is 20 this year, most people in my family believe she is 21 this year. So believe me or my brother/mother (oh and a friend…maybe I’m wrong) but she’s bloody old.
She has always been supernaturally healthy. She would say to you “Vet? What’s that” (or would have until this week). In all her years she went to to the vet to get fixed (desexed) and that was that. I’m not mean and neglectful I would have taken her to the vet if she ever needed it it, she just never did. I wormed her and de-flead her and that was it.
She is a fully inside/outside cat though (due to her choosing more inside then outside for the last 5 years…though she visits outside for the toilet several times everyday).
A couple of days ago (in the evening) she jumped of the couch with blood coming out of her mouth. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH” I raced her off to the emergency vet. I thought was taking her to be put down but he said she had lost a tooth. He gave her some antibiotics.
The next morning she rolled down a flight of stairs and I KNEW she was on death’s door. I took the morning off work to take her to the vet. She looked very grim. When we got to the vet he said she had probably had a seizure most likely due to kidney failure but that her trip down the stairs could be related to blood loss from her tooth and heat. He took blood samples for several tests.
Results from the blood test? Her kidneys are hunky-dory. One has “slightly” elevated levels and the other is completely normal. The blood tests show she has the start of a hyperactive thyroid so now I have to give her 2 pills a day forever but the vet said it was he had never seen such a healthy cat of the that age (this is the vet clinic was where she was desexed, turns out she is 21 this year, in August- just don’t tell my brother he was right!).
She is now completely back to normal, (though trying to kill me when I give her 2 pills twice a day) roaming the neighbourhood and pretending she is half her age.
MY cat will never die! I actually think she died 10 yrs ago and just doesn’t want me to know she is the UN-dead.
My dog is 16. This year he had heartworms. I don’t think he even noticed. He may outlive me. That would be cooler if he wasn’t a little mentally ill in the bitey way and can’t be around my boyfriend or my cats. He’s kinda grumpy too. But he’s a sweet puppy with me and my dad.
Ever have a cat sitter? Perhaps you were the victim of a “pet swap” where the sitter found an identical looking cat to replace your original, Mark One cat after some untoward incident you never found out about.
I don’t think 20 is even all that old for a cat any more; with the increase in indoor-only cats, you see more and more pushing-30 ones these days.
However, given that you might have 10 more years to regret the daily loss of fingers, blood, and nerve function, ask your vet about radioactive iodine. It’s a little pricy, but apparently it’s a one-step cure for thyroid problems - no more pills, ever.
I lost my totally cool, seemingly imortal oldie to lymphoma - one of the listed potential side effects of the feline leukemia vaccine I got her. Boy do I regret that one. Who knows? It could be coincidence.
Try some pill pockets - I’ve had about a 50% effectiveness rate of getting cats to take them. You put the pill inside and it becomes a tasty treat! It’s way better than sticking my fingers in their pointy mouths.
I had a dog like that once, when I was younger. Damn thing ate 2 boxes of rat poison and was looking for more – vet did not believe us when we told him what the dog had eaten, but we had caught him in the act with the remains of the powder on his snout. Later, he was hit by a car. In all honesty, by the time we realised that he wasn’t just asleep in the same place for 3 days, and probably needed to see a vet, he stood up, shook himself off and went about his business like normal. We only found out he’d been hit by a car because a neighbor commented that he was glad we’d finally buried him – the neighbor saw the accident, saw the damage done to the car (this dog was part Siberian husky, part collie) and saw the dog lay down in the yard and not move for 3 days. When we told the neighbor we didn’t bury the dog, he was around back chasing the cats, the neighbor insisted on us calling the dog so he could verify it! Apparently the dog was thrown a ways when he got hit. Vet saw no indication of injury. Dad said we would not take the dog to the vet again. The dog got shot point-blank with a shotgun – it ripped his side off. I mean, there was this huge flap of skin just hanging there. Dad looked at him and said, “nope, not wasting my money taking the stupid thing to the vet, if he dies, he dies.” Flippin’ dog was up and running around within a couple of days! I assume he is still alive somewhere, although he disappeared sometime after the shotgun incident.
Sheba was our “Cat That Would Not Die” - we got her as an older cat from the shelter. Ten years later, after several times being shut in cupboards for weeks on end with no ill effects, her teeth had all gone and she took to gumming adult rats to death. She must have been well over 20 years old when she ran away from home - it was a year after than that my folks stopped finding duck carcases presented by the shed at the back of their property.
Sheba was skeletal thin when we got her and never gained any weight, she would have been lucky to hit 5 pounds soaking wet, but I watched her beat off an attacking German Sheppard without even raising her fur. She just waited till the barking, slavering thing was within reach and planted both sets of front claws in its snout. It leapt over her, just like in those cartoons where the small person slams their larger opponent repeatedly on the ground either side. She waited till it was actually dragging her along in its efforts to get free, before she removed her claws and calmly watched the dog yelp its way down the street.
I’d like to say that we loved her, but she was an anti social animal and basically only gained a kind of scared admiration from our family.
I had a cat reach 21 a few years back- he never got old, just slow. Over the second half of his life he shrank down from an obese 20 pounds to less than five, smoothly and evenly, and just slept more and moved slower and slower as time went on. By 21, he’d fall asleep sitting up on your lap because he was too arthritic to lie down, but he’d crouch there, purring away.
The cat I grew up with lived to nearly 23. She was in glowing health all those years, too. Some cats, like some people, just live to an advanced age and put the rest of us to shame.
Wait a minute – MamaTigs, I remember meeting that cat. Do you mean that she was a zombie cat when I met her? That would be disturbing, or really cool. I’m not sure which.
She didn’t like kids. But she did like me. preening like a cat
We seem to be a family of the very old pets. You are right we had a poodly kinda dog (poodle/lab/border collie) who was 18 when she died and her best buddy a shepard/doberman who was 16 (they died with in months of each other) and as a kid we had a 20 yr old poodle who was blind for the last 5 yrs of her life. We also had a 18/19 yr old cat (age was debated) who had gone deaf and was killed by a dog while sunning herself outside (yes maybe cats should be inside).
The vet was suprised at her age (indoor cats are uncommon here) asked what “diet” I gave her, I said whatever can is cheap that week (though she has her fav). He was suprised she just ate supermarket stuff.
Sam would be most unhappy if she didn’t get to sun herself on the driveway now (that’s all she does outside now. Pop out for a poo/wee then lie in the sun for a bit) though she is seriously unthrilled with this whole pill business. I have taken pics of her over the week I just need someone to tell me the simplest way to get them here. She is a bit tatty around the edges but still very pretty.
Thank you for all the giving pill advice!
As for feline leukemia and FIV, I’m not sure if those diseases are in NZ at all but if they are they not hugely prevalent. I know Sam got her 6 week old innoculations but never got anything else. She is on a daily basis in contact with many outdoor cats-they all hate her (they don’t she’s just easy to scare away).
She seemed so “near-death’s-bed” last week. Tonight she met me at my car as usual. I’m sure she is a zombie! She’s back to shooing the dog away from her dinner and claiming a couch for the night.
My sister’s cat (ex-cat) still lives with our parents. She’s… counts 14. Still bumptious as ever despite being FIV+ and missing an eye due to ulceration. Eats cheap cat food, my parents aren’t into pampering animals much.
If it weren’t for the FIV, I would have cheerfully hauled her up here to live with me. Of course, she’d have terrorized my two current cats despite being half or a third their size (depending on who you’re pointing at).
We can’t agree on the house cat’s age, but it’s in the 20’s. She has that old bag-o-bones thing going on. She has no missing teeth or arthritis, just a low hanging tummy. Considering what is on the tummy I guess older women have the same problem, and hide it with a bra.
I thought our 15 year old was old! I guess she’s got a ways to go… which is good news, because I’d hate to lose her! She’s actually at my parents house, but she’s “my” cat. We had another one, for 12 years, who disappeared one day.
The other family pets are young’uns; 9 y.o. dog, 5 and 3 y.o. cats and an 8 month old kitten.
Of course, she’d have terrorized my two current cats despite being half or a third their size (depending on who you’re pointing at).