hello, had our cat for 18 years now she will be 19 this january 2013, we got her when she was a year old, she was fixed and declawed, we were not looking for a cat but my wife brought her home so we did not see when she was a kitten, she was cross and took her many years to be friendly, it took almost 10 years till she would be okay around others and to this day she still has her moments but we love her and you can see that she loves us, it seems the last 5 years she has reverted to kitten hood, she does strange things to get attention, strangers can now visit and she will go to them where in the past this would be very if not extremely rare, she is an indoor cat but loves the outdoors as well, but always comes in before night fall. we take her to camp and she knows the ritual, she will cry if we dont take her, in the winter months she does not go outside at all, she loves the heat.
we only had her at the vet 2 times over 18 years, when she was about 15 years old we started to buy her premium food from the pet store but she got very ill and almost past away just before christmas. we had her brought in and it cost over 500$$$ just days before christmas, we took her off the good food, fed her table scraps which she loves and nine lives wet food, she seemed to turn around as soon as we got her off the premium pet food, the pet food owner said it was like eating mcdonalds all your life then at 80 years old you decide to quit cold turkey and eat properly throwing you whole system out of whack, but now her age is starting to show, she use to catch mice but now she goes after squirrels and chipmunks, bigger easier game and leaves at our door. she cries almost non stop when she is not sleeping, drinks out of the toilet, off the floor, does not use her bowl if she can help it and even jumps into the shower when i am in it to get a drink she likes baths when it is very hot as well, she weighs now about 8 pounds you can feel her spine down her back and her bones, she is still able to get up into bed and can jump still a couple of feet and loves to climb. she eats fairly well a full can off food a day, a bit of milk in the morning and some dry food to hold her over and the odd turkey or chicken tid bit, which is her favorite also she loves marshmellows at camp and olives as a treat.
we dont want to take her a vet because we are scared that she may need to be put down, we dont know if she is pain, but she is old, she vomits about every 2 days, cries alot, when we pick her up or feed her something it settles her down, she wakes us up every day at 6am sharp except on the weekends i think she knows we are not working on the weekends so she gives us a reprieve, do we keep her as is
this has behaviour has been ongoing for over a year now, she is still playfull when she wants to, we think her hearing is still good and eyesight is still good, but there are times its like she thinks we are not there untill we pick her up
anythoughts or suggestions would be greatly aprreciated thankyou
we only had her at the vet 2 times over 18 years, when she was about 15 years old we started to buy her premium food from the pet store but she got very ill and almost past away just before christmas. we had her brought in and it cost over 500$$$ just days before christmas, we took her off the good food, fed her table scraps which she loves and nine lives wet food, she seemed to turn around as soon as we got her off the premium pet food, the pet food owner said it was like eating mcdonalds all your life then at 80 years old you decide to quit cold turkey and eat properly throwing you whole system out of whack, but now her age is starting to show, she use to catch mice but now she goes after squirrels and chipmunks, bigger easier game and leaves at our door. she cries almost non stop when she is not sleeping, drinks out of the toilet, off the floor, does not use her bowl if she can help it and even jumps into the shower when i am in it to get a drink she likes baths when it is very hot as well, she weighs now about 8 pounds you can feel her spine down her back and her bones, she is still able to get up into bed and can jump still a couple of feet and loves to climb. she eats fairly well a full can off food a day, a bit of milk in the morning and some dry food to hold her over and the odd turkey or chicken tid bit, which is her favorite also she loves marshmellows at camp and olives as a treat.
we dont want to take her a vet because we are scared that she may need to be put down, we dont know if she is pain, but she is old, she vomits about every 2 days, cries alot, when we pick her up or feed her something it settles her down, she wakes us up every day at 6am sharp except on the weekends i think she knows we are not working on the weekends so she gives us a reprieve, do we keep her as is
this has behaviour has been ongoing for over a year now, she is still playfull when she wants to, we think her hearing is still good and eyesight is still good, but there are times its like she thinks we are not there untill we pick her up
anythoughts or suggestions would be greatly aprreciated thankyou
