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?

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

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

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. 🩶

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.

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?

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

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.

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?

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 💕

My boy Prince, still has all his teeth except for 1 canine that mysteriously went missing.

She turned 21 in September and for the most part is doing well and gives lots of love still. She still owns me. Lol

This counts as a senior kitty, right?

My coworker had this cat hanging around her backyard for a while. I decided to take her in a few weeks ago. When I took her to the vet they told me she has a microchip, so they scanned it. We were all shocked to find out that she was about to turn 18 years old and that her name is Laverne. They called the number on the chip and they said they do not have a lost cat and hung up. We just call her Miss Laverne now lol. Her birthday was a few days ago, so we celebrated!! <3

Any tips on caring for a senior cat?! What food do you recommend? i wasn’t expecting to add such an old lady to the family. She definitely can’t see or hear very well and I’m pretty sure she has cat dementia and maybe some kind of kidney problem. :( Luckily, she has been getting along with my 2 year old kitty for the most part.

This is a repost from r/aww recently. I just wanted to talk about my cat here because he's in his last part of life and I didn't want to bring anyone down looking at cute stuff.

He has terminal cancer. He recently had a kidney removed and the biopsy showed an aggressive form of blood vessel cancer that typically doesn't allow life for more than a few months of finding it.

I love him so much and I'm so grateful I got to see him so happy and playful the last bit of life he got to have. I keep rewatching the video and it just makes me so happy.

Thanks for reading if you did. His name is Ocho and he is the best cat.

This is Sophie - yes she is in rough shape :(. I moved into this community about a year ago. She hung around outside only, in front of one house in particular. The owners of that house told me she is the last of a feral colony, she’s at least 14 years old, maybe 17. They said they’ve never been able to pet her, and she never wanted to be indoors. Myself, them, and another neighbor leave food out for her as much as possible.

She doesn’t like the rain, so I put a box outside for her (pictured). The other neighbors have a tiny cat tree on their porch for her as it’s starting to get chilly at nights. She disappeared for a few weeks in August - someone must’ve gotten her some medical care because she had some sort of infection on her fur, and she came back shaved.

Lately she is howling quite a bit, and not always for food and water. I think she gets confused sometimes and she definitely can’t hear as well.

I know cats usually find a quiet place to pass but I hate to her struggle. I’m not saying I should call in someone to speed up the process, but I would like to try and give her some sort of hospice environment if possible…

My own home has 2 cats and a small dog, so I can’t house her here, but I have a friend who lives alone who could take her. Is this a horrible idea? I know she’d probably hate it, but she’d at least have a balcony and no risk of being hit by a car, other cats picking on her, freezing, etc. I just want to help her….

She had a seizure recently. Now every living creature in the household is on blood pressure medication.

She literally gets anything she wants.

Hopefully we can get a bit more time with her; be it years, months or weeks.