My super senior kitty (20 years old) is getting his FVRCP and rabies vaccines tomorrow and I’m feeling really nervous about it. I know he’s tolerated the vaccines well in the past, it’s just he’s getting up there in age and I’m worried that could cause something to go horribly wrong. I’m feeling way more nervous about the FVRCP vaccine than rabies. The only reason he’s getting that vaccine is because I’ve started volunteering at a cat shelter and the last thing I want to do is bring home fpv and him getting horribly sick. I’ve also heard FVRCP vaccine could cause issues in senior cats (?) but I’m not sure if that’s true or not. Am I overthinking too much about this?

Hey all, I took my cat to the vet yesterday because he’s been eating less and struggling to eat when he does. Kibble falls out of his mouth and when he has wet food me makes with weird crunching noise. No lethargy though, he clearly wants to eat and is just struggling to/ hurts him. He is a senior kitty with arthritis and hyperthyroidism. I took him to the vet yesterday and they checked his teeth and ran bloodwork and everything looked fine. Any thoughts or advice?

We lost him on Friday. He was with me his whole life and I’m so thankful he chose me. Even with 4 cats left behind, the house feels weirdly silent without him. I’ll love and miss him for the rest of my life. 🩶

I didn't think I would be writing this post so soon. I had poppy for just over a year, she was my first cat that was truly mine. Through the months we've shared many happy memories, every morning I would wake up to her prodding my nose with her little paws to ask for food, her midnight zoomies and her obsession for dreamies.

This morning I noticed she was having a little trouble breathing and throwing up a lot so I rushed her immediately to the nearest vet. It was sad news unfortunately, her heart didn't sound good and her breathing was laboured. They offered tests but the vet said it wasnt guaranteed to show anything treatable and was going to cost £720. So I had to make that heavy hearted decision and let her go, i was right by her side until the very end holding her paw and giving her pets. She'll be up on the rainbow bridge now with my other cat Maisey.

Rest in peace Poppy, I will miss you forever

I cannot fathom what life is about to be like…
After being my entire world for the last 16 years you’ve been the best thing in my life!
I’m gonna miss you so fucking much… after losing both my parents and now this guy I’m at a genuine loss. Idk how to do this life without you. You’ve been glued to my side since I was 13
Entering my 30s without you feels insane.
I love you so much Momo🩵🩵
I cannot believe I have to do this without you..
I’ll love you forever 🥺🤍
Momo has been the sweetest and best cat I’ve had the absolute pleasure of owning 🤍🤍 He’s been my baby and with me throughout all my big life stuff
He’s most likely going to be my last cat as he’s been the best cat literally ever!
I cannot believe he’s gone and I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’d rather go through the passing of my mother again than to go through this passing..
Momo you will be forever missed and deeply loved 💕

About 8 months ago I had to put down my best friend who was 10, he was a Manie Coon, had him longer than my kids have been alive. He was sick and it was time, I was so devastated and still am. Still think it was a mistaken… anyway. My other senior cat is 13 and she’s just starting to not be well. Peeing outside of the litter box, although still poops in it. Doesn’t eat much, still drinks and loves treats though. Has always had a limp and was never in pain, the limp is getting worse but she’s not in any pain. Check it daily, poke and touch and it’s never an issue. Not in any pain and still purrs and cuddles every night. She absolutely hates people, so terrified of my husband who I’ve been with for seven years, only loves him when she’s asleep, he loves her I’m not sure why she’s afraid. My kids are still little so she hates them being loud. Taking her to get anything medical wise done has always been so traumatic, like for days after wouldn’t eat, bitting and hissing the vet techs, took almost a week to recover. So any testing is out of question. Plus a cbc and urinalysis is about $750 which unfortunately I don’t have the money for… doctor can’t do anything else. Not sure what to do, I don’t want to give up on her, I’m not ready for another loss… I know you’re never ready but it’s too soon since my other cat. I’m not sure what I’m looking for… my husband doesn’t understand how attached I am to her. I can’t just put her down. I’m so emotional it’s been affecting my work which never happens. I cry every day and every time I think about her. I am such a depressed mess. She’s my best friend, always there for me, so loud and chatty, been with me for 13 years. My teenage years to adulthood… so many emotions. Im a mess. Any similar experiences maybe.. Thanks for reading or not. I needed a vent I guess to people who understand cat love.

Please help, my 16 yr old cat has peed and pooped in laundry basket with clean clothes, and then couple days later, she jumped up into my sons hamper and i think she was ready to poop but I caught her, but on floor by hamper she peed

I will be at the vet in 1 hr, I have called them already

The left side of meatloaf face is completely drooped, she doesn't seem to have a way to lift her left lip, close her left eye, and she is repeatedly scratching her left ear. She is walking toward the left, seems to be struggling to chew her food so she is only licking her food. It seems difficult or impossible for her to look up at me, when she does I can clearly see the droop. If I pull on her whiskers she doesnt respond compared to the right side where she makes an effort to pull them away from me

The rest of her body seems normal. It is only her face

Just sharing another picture of my little cutie Marblecake.

I'm putting my sweet boy Jack (17) down on Monday. He has kidney disease, and I've been doing the special diet and all the things around water, but he's declining fast right now. I had an appointment on the 28th, and I moved it up. The vet, whom I adore and trust, gave me the options, and none of them fit the quality of life that I want to make sure Jack has. He's not eating or drinking on his own (so I'm feeding him special foods by hand and water every few hours); he's stopped being social with his best buddy, and even with me, he is withdrawing.

Here is my question. His best buddy Mumford (16) has stopped hanging out with him.

1) Am I making a mistake by bringing Jack to the vet to be put down vs having him put down at home (where Mumford can see his body).

2) Should I get Mumford a buddy?

Jack was a foster dad to close to 100 kittens from the SPCA over 10 years (he was amazing at it). I got Mumford about a year after I got Jack, and I didn't foster for several years. When I did, Mumford was never as welcoming to the fosters. But Mumford has been (up until now) so bonded to Jack.

So I'm curious for you who have senior cats who were bonded - did you get another kitten or two, or did you have your other senior stay solo?

She has arthritis and is in remission for her diabetes. She has never done this before? She just got back from vet around an hour or 2 ago, they didn’t give her any meds to it was just a check up and she’s totally fine. She uses the bathroom fine both pee and poop. But she’s just laying there.. I’m so scared :( she’s never done this before.

Prefacing with: purrito blanket is not an option, and yes

Our 20 yr old short-haired, frail, CHF cat frequently gets constipation as a side effect of the strong diuretics he's on. It usually manageable with daily miralax and wet food, but occasionally, a turd just gets sort of stuck due to size or "sticky" texture and he has a hard time getting it completely out, so he scoots in his litter box and the result is a sticky poo + litter mess stuck to his butt fur. He's too arthritic to get back there to clean himself so we need to help.

He becomes stressed and wiggly very quickly when he try to clean him, but he HATES when we try to wrap him in a blanket like a burrito. He's also very frail and with his heart condition, needs very gentle handling or he has a cardiac event where he gets dizzy and meows in pain, so we take a lot of breaks to avoid triggering that.

We've tried washclothes, wipes, and no-rinse foam cat shampoo, but none of those work very well, and even just trying to get the poo out of his fur with a warm wipe or something, little tufts of fur come out, I'm worried we are somehow yanking it out! The foam sometimes leaves his fur even dirtier than when we started, like it the product is just coating his fur with something..

There's just has to be an easier way thats less stressful for him. Is there some miracle product or technique out there? Searching this sub and googling the suggestion is to wrap him up like a burrito, but that's not really an option for him unfortunately.

My lovely boy, Badger, is 17 and a half, has well managed hyperthyroidism, a low grade heart murmur and osteoarthritis. He has been very slowly losing weight, is going deaf and has quite a lot of muscle wastage on his back legs. He joints have clicked for a good while and he will occasionally get small mats where he isnt cleaning himself as much as he used to in certain spots. He has become more clingy in his old age too.

For his pain, he is on an NSAID and gabapentin 2 x daily as he started yowling which the vet thinks was likely due to pain (we thought originally it might be cognitive decline but thankfully that isnt the case). This has done him really well and the yowling stopped after some tinkering with the doses.

With all of this in mind, he still plays, eats, is a nosey parker, jumps around the place and a character. He will sometimes get the zooming and attack the rug as he always has done too. He has a tall cat scratcher and recently has been jumping onto that to sleep! He is largely very much himself but does sleep more than he once did. He looks older but not 18!

In the last week or so, his back legs have been sporadically more wobbly (if he turns his head to look behind him at a particular angle his back end will wobble or he might slide/slip off the sofa arm onto the sofa) which prompted a phone call with the vet. Following this I am going to increase his gabapentin dose to 3 x daily, however we also discussed his quality of life.

I have already been looking at quality of life assessments but because he is for the large part still himself, his scores are generally ok. The potential pain and reduced cleaning are the most prominent issues that any of these charts list. She said that I should start seriously considering his quality of life now, due to the fact he is nearly 18, already on multiple medications with potentially chronic pain. I know that cats hide pain really well but because he isnt showing any of the classic signs of pain (withdrawing, eating less ect), Im really struggling to process and find my way forward.

He is such a wonderful cat, so patient and kind. Ive been so lucky to have him in my life but I dont want to just be propping him up with medication for my benefit. ​I am also so worried that he could have a happy few years ahead if the medication is managed well. Am I just kidding myself with this because he means the world to me?

I'd really appreciate any insights or experience anyone may have. Or if anyone has any advice on knowing when its the right time in these circumstances? I have always been a 'rather a day too soon, than a day too late' person but really struggling with this. ​Thank you.

This is long, you don't need to read it. I just feel really alone right now and had to tell my girls story.

2 and a half years ago I came across a poorly looking cat living amongst the tractors and hay at the farm where we have a small office set up.

It was just before the winter in 2024.

She looked just like one of my childhood cats who would have been the same age.

I coaxed her into my office with some treats and got her to sit on a thick blanket on one of the chairs. She fell asleep soon after and from that day onwards, she became my little companion.

Soon after taking her in, she became unwell. I took her to the vets and we learned 3 things; 1. Her name was Sprocket, 2. She was 17 years old. 3. She had late stage 2 kidney disease.

We left with new meds and new diet instructions. I had the thick matted fur gently shaved off her and bought her a new heat pad to sleep on.

I learned that she had been left to live in the farmhouse by her first owner who went into a nursing home. That must of been about 8 years ago or more. The people who moved in must of made it so she wasn't allowed to sleep inside any more. On rainy days she would sit outside the front door crying her heart out.

Winter 2024 came and went, I wasn't sure if she would it but she did. It was a hard winter. Summer came and she started perking up, she started exploring the farm again, spending more and more of her days in the sunshine rather than sleeping on her bed.

Sprocket, for the first few months going on a year, didn't really like lots of scratches and strokes. She would try and nip at you if you ever tried to stroke her. It was during that summer that her behaviour started to change for the better and I could tell that she felt loved.

The seasons changed as her visible love for me did.

Winter 2025 came around and we were prepared. Multiple blankets, heat pad, new renal food selection, new heater for the office. We managed to keep it warm in there all Winter. It was about this time where she developed a daily habit of jumping onto my desk and let me actually stroke and rest my hand on her without trying to nip at it.

She made it through another Winter. And I made sure that winter was as gentle on her as I possibly could. We grew closer over that winter. Some days I set up her heat pad on the side of my desk and she would just curl up there and sleep. Or she would just spend the day lying on the sofa on her heat pad and she was peaceful. She had one up or down during that winter but she did very well.

And this summer we were blessed. Albeit being a bit slower, eating a bit less, and sleeping more, she continued desk hopping, she went back outside into the sunshine, and she let me love her deeply. And I felt her love back.

And then 3 weeks ago, I could tell from the way she looked at me that time was running out. This good spell was coming to and end.

Over these 3 weeks she ate less and less. Slept more and desk visits became noticeably less frequent. As the days are growing colder, her bones were becoming painful. She started showing signs of intense nausea, she wouldn't get her meds in her, and yesterday, when she refused her chicken completely (she normally always eats some chicken) I felt like I had to make the hard decision.

Sprocket went to sleep for the last time with her head resting in my hand at 11:40am yesterday, the 14th October.

I know that I only had and was able to care and love her for 2 years of our lives, but im so sad man. Im so so sad. Im dreading walking into the office today.

I keep telling myself I did the right thing. And that above anything, she left this world feeling loved. Unconditional love. And she knew it. She still knows it.

Sorry I just didn't think id grieve this hard and I just had to speak about her.

I wish I could know her full story. I wish I knew why she was left here by herself. I wish I knew why they didn't let her sleep in the farmhouse and put her out into the cold. I wish I was a witness to her entire life and not just the two or so years I had with her. I miss you, Sprocket, so much already and I keep seeing your fur lying around my desk. I can still smell you on my hoodie. I miss you.

Miss Bella Shark turned 11 on September 23rd and I’ve been waiting to post her here!

even though she’s in her senior years, she loves to play especially with her younger brother and with her mousy toys.

she is inbred though and has no teeth but did get a clean bill of health from the vet before her birthday.

🖤🖤

My cat is about 16-17 years old (he was a rescue so we dont know his exact birthday). He was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism about a year ago and has been on medication since. He’s lost a significant amount of weight since being diagnosed but according to his monthly bloodwork his medicine was managing his thyroid well.

About 2 weeks ago he declined pretty severely all of a sudden. He has never had a seizure before in his life and one day he started seizung out of nowhere. He then had a seizure every day after that for about 5 days. The seizures were about 20 seconds and he was still semi-conscious, not limp, and did not lose control of his bladder, only foaming at the mouth and convulsions. He hasnt had another seizure in a few days but hes still very unlike himself. He seems confused, walking in circles, pacing, and getting “stuck” in places. He barely meows anymore when he was previously the most talkative cat ever. He isnt very alert and can still walk fine but is very limp and weak. He was definitely showing signs of early dementia prior to all this happening (yowling) but its gotten worse very quickly.

I dont want him to suffer ever but he doesnt seem like hes in any pain which is my delema. Hes still eating and drinking water fine, hes using his litterbox, and still purrs and loves to be pet. I want to do whats best for him and if hes confused all the time i dont want him to live like that. But then on the other hand i dont want to let him go too soon when he still has life left and regret it :(

We’ve obviously been to the vet who wasn’t very helpful on the situation so any advice would be very appreciated