Cat question--need advice

[Sleepy]

I will say though that others have said that a vet won't tell you to put them down, but we kind of had the opposite experience. After her stroke in August, we felt that the vet kept kind of telling us that "it would be fine/understandable" if we wanted to. Since she seemed to be living a fairly normal life (other than the climbing/stairs) we didn't see the reason, but almost felt pressured to do so. So it obviously depends on the vet.

If those are the exact words your vet used, then he/she still did not tell you to put your cat down. The ones I have experienced have said something like "If it were my cat" or "There is nothing more that can be done" or "Your cat won't have a good quality of life if you try to wait it out" or as you experienced "It would be understandable". None of those statements is telling a person they have to put their cat down.

 

[puffkin]

OP, you have gotten some really good advice, and I am suspecting diabetes (but that is just a guess).

Another thing could be her teeth. My cat is still fairly young (6) but she lost a lot of weight last year and we couldn't figure out why. All her bloodwork came back normal so they decided to check her teeth. Not an easy thing to do in a cat, they have to basically put them under to even check. She ended up having all of her teeth pulled (well she has all the teeny tiny ones across the front, but the canines and all the ones on the sides are all gone). Poor thing just was born with bad teeth. They said it is very rare with a cat that young, but much more common with older cats.

Since she has no teeth we have her on an all wet diet. We have had some fits and starts finding food she will eat (she loved this one brand called pet promise but they discontinued it) but now she is eating Wellness brand pretty consistently and doing pretty well. We still give her a little dry now and then (Halo brand) and she loves it but it takes her a long time to eat. We kind of use it as a treat.

So, I guess in my opinion I would definitely pursue the diabetes and have her teeth checked!

 

[shortbun]

I've had two cats live past 20. I have a 12yo kitty right now. As they age, you need to raise the level of their bowls so they're not putting so much pressure on their neck and shoulders to eat. Make sure they get enough moisture. We play water games and they drink a lot. Also, their teeth tend to break or not be able to handle the hard, dry food so you need to either get the kitten food with more fat or feed moist food. I actually cooked for one cat because he would not eat any of the canned offerings. He also loved KFC, lol! They don't groom as much either so we have a soft brush and gently brush our kitties daily to remove their excess fur-cuts down on hair balls.