How to tell if something could be wrong with my senior?

i know ive asked this before but sometimes reading the posts about senior cats and their health issues really freaks me out...how on earth do i know when to be concerned??? I have a 13 year old boy named Squiggly whom i have had since he was 5 weeks old...how can i tell if he is sick? i mean what are signs to look for...he drinks and eats normally in fact he still loves to eat and eats alot even though he is very thin but he has always been thin...he drinks water normally, lets me pet and hold him (well as well as he ever did he has been a grumpy cat his whole life) is is shedding but is summer now and he is drooling more...what can i do to check him?

At a minimum, annual check-ups at the vet, with a senior blood panel and urinalysis, would be a good place to start. This will help detect any health issues before symptoms appear. Might also consider having an EKG and/or echocardiogram done to see how the heart is functioning. Besides that, you want to look for any changes in appetite (increase or decrease), weight, water consumption, activity level, an increase in dandruff and shedding, increased urination, difficulty defecating, limping or reluctance to jump (i.e. arthritis), and any change in temperament (more grouchy, aloof, or even more needy and loving, can be signs of illness).  By the way, eating a lot and being skinny is a common symptom for a few health conditions in older cats: hyperthyroidism, diabetes, kidney disease, etc. Drooling can also be a sign of dental issues. The best place to start is with a vet visit if you haven't taken your kitty for one recently.

that all sounds very very expensive...i havent noticed any change in him at all...he has always been thin his whole life no matter how much he eats and hes always been a sleeper ...he still loves  a good game of catch the crumpled paper  & jumps to and from the couch like it was nothing...just the drooling now has me scratching my head

Drooling could be any number of things from dental/oral to nausea to kidney problems. He should be seeing a vet twice every year at his age anyway so l too am recommending a prompt vet visit.

When was his last vet appointment? The problem is a lot of the conditions that rear their ugly heads as cats (and other animals, including humans) age aren't visible and you could easily end up with one hefty bill for what could end up being a dire emergency. It's just a matter of weighing your concerns - vets, and cats will always be expensive, but when it comes to getting older, you tend to need to weigh more heavily the cost of preventative treatment and diagnostics vs the cost of treating an emergency and facing something that could be potentially fatal or painful. We all know cats hide pain and discomfort very well.

A senior blood panel and urinalysis cost $200 at our vet (our vet had an in-house lab - I'm not sure how much that effects price), and even though there was no emergency with our cat, it gave us a baseline to establish a more appropriate diet for his needs. His values weren't through the roof, but now we have the information to prevent it from skyrocketing or dropping to the point of needing emergency intervention. Even if you want to opt out of that bloodwork for now, if the drooling is a new occurrence, having a physical wellness check can't hurt. If he's been to that vet before, past patients are usually seen at a lower price than new patients if money is your main concern.

Any change, even the most minor, can be cause for concern. You know your cat best. If he starts doing something new or peculiar, or he changes his normal habits, at the very least that means something is different about him or how he feels. Better to be safe than sorry.

No one ever told me when I was growing up about the importance of dental cleanings on cats. At about 10, my boy Len started drooling everywhere and he had the worst breath - but ever since he was a kitten he had really bad breath, so I just chalked it up to age.

Took him into the vet and was told that his teeth were in such bad shape, it actually hurt him to fully close his mouth, hence the drooling. He had to have all his teeth removed, and while I felt horrible I let it get to that point... He was so much better off after he had them removed, they must have hurt him. Vet said to chalk it up to bad genetics ( as well as my ignorance not to get dentals done on a regular basis). Once his teeth, and the pain, were gone... He closed his mouth and that was the end of it.

But I do agree with everyone that it's probably time for well-cat visits and yearly bloodwork.
You know your cat better than anyone, you will probably notice if something is really "off".

Good luck and lots of petting never hurt, either

Thank you very much i have a good feeling its his one canine bc its very yellow..how much does it cost roughly to remove teeth?

Georgiesmommy said:

Thank you very much i have a good feeling its his one canine bc its very yellow..how much does it cost roughly to remove teeth?

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Well its been a long time since my kitties had been done - one cat had three teeth removed and I believe it was somewhere in the mid 200s. I'm not sure if that included the blood work pre-op. Any cat over about 8 or so should have their blood run to make sure that there won't be any complications with anesthesia because of liver or kidney, etc issues already present. And, hey - at 13, you were looking to have her blood run anyway.

You may want to move fast, because when my Roni broke off one of her canines at the gum line, the vet ended up removing both of them - the leftover "root" from the broken one, and the other one as well because it was very loose. He told me that because the canine roots were so long, they went way back into her head, and basically butted up against her sinuses and a loose tooth could introduce bacteria in there. Everything is so compact in a cats little facial area, a little bacterial infection could easily spread and could become troublesome.

I don't mean to frighten you, but I'd move sooner rather than later.

I got estimates ranging from "700-1200, we won't know until we are finished" (yea right, see ya) to the 200-300 range. When Len got all his teeth pulled, it was maybe mid 300s, but that was 8-9 yrs ago. See what your regular vet quotes you at, and don't forget pre op blood work!

Good luck, and I hope it's something as (relatively) easy as a tooth problem.

Here's a link to a short article on TCS about health issues  common in older cats.  

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/health-concerns-in-aging-cats

A couple of the things I learned from exerience are:

Your cat might start to walk with a slightly arched and rigid spine and the legs appear stiff: this is another sign of arthritis and a vet may well be able to offer something to ease their discomfort.  Also, getting from standing to sitting or laying down might start to look more like an effort.

Check your cat's eyes regularly.  If your cat's pupils stop reacting to changes in brightness of light, or pupils remain more open than they did in bright light this is one indicator that something is happening with their sight. The causes can be many but it is important to get it checked out as soon as you notice it: the eyes can be one of few early indicators of things like high blood pressure and if your cat is taken to the vet quickly you can save your cat's life, and probably save on massive vet bills too.  Early treatment of high blood pressure can reduce the risks of kidney damage, or pick up on kidney problems causing blood pressure problems and enable the vet to start treatment to correct or control the problems, or prevent a stroke from happening!    Don't wait for signs your cat can't see well as you may never notice them - cats are excellent at using other senses to compensate and completely blind cats can race about and you would never know they had lost the use of their eyes.