Old Cat Not Right

16 year old PJ has always been healthy-- can still jump from the floor to the counter when he wants to.  Today he got up and didn't want to eat and he hid in a clost.  My husband took him to the vet at noon and he had labs, urine, everything checked and everything was fine.  Gave him fluids.  Came home and he wouldn't get out of the carrier.  My husband finally dumped him out, wouldn't eat and went back in the closet.  He never does that--he always sleeps on a cat bed on our porch (looking out over the back yard) or with a dog.  Still hasn't eaten.  Any ideas?

I'd go to another vet because the cat clearly doesn't feel well. They are good at hiding their feelings which makes it hard to see whether the cat feels good or not, sometimes. But this sounds very clear.
Is he dehydrated? And did they also check his kidney values? 

Did they check his mouth too?   At age 16 he could have bad teeth, any number of things could be wrong.  Doesn't sound like his joints though, unless something happened during the night.  My old girl can still jump up on the kitchen counter, but I have noticed she's a lot slower coming down the stairs all of a sudden

Just from noon, did you already get all the results back from his blood tests, etc.  Usually we don't get the results until the next day.  I'm guessing there's something wrong there that you just don't know about yet.  Could be liver, kidneys, thyroid.  When he walks, does he look normal, or has he even walked around enough to know.  Did they check his eyes...was everything ok there?  Heartrate, breathing, temp, weight steady? How did he ACT at the Vet?  Normal?

I don't have any insight as to what it might be, only it's obviously something.  Cat's don't act that way if they are feeling their usual self   Last time our old girl withdraw like that (hid in the closet), she had an anal gland that had ruptured, but I'm guessing that would have been noticeable. 

His labs are all fine, urine is fine.  He has started eating a little but continues to hide--in the covered litterbox, in closets, etc.  My husband picked him up last night and put him on his chest and he started peeing on him.  When I left this morning he was in a covered cat bed and is still there.  Ate a little.  He is going back to the vet tomorrow for blood pressure test and xrays.  We are beside ourselves, he's such a loveable guy and is just not himself.  I thought maye a cognitive thing but it came on so fast I wonder if it was a stroke.  He seems miserable.

Having your cat's physical health checked out, as you are doing, is essential, but also consider if your cat has been traumatized psychologically somehow. Is there a dog in the house? Other cats? A child? Maybe he was frightened by a cat he saw outside? I think if he'd had a stroke, you would tend to see some physical impairment that the vet would notice.

I am fostering a cat that we rescued from an abusive situation, and she showed some of these behaviors. It turned out she had a bladder infection, and had been terrorized by a dog. Also the litter boxes were filthy.

Good luck finding the cause of your boy's problems!

I agree that with a stroke in cats, there are usually physical signs....the usually walk in circles, that type of thing.  But there is definitely something that is not right.  Does he react to your voices?  Did  he seem to NOT want to be with your hubby when he peed on him?  Of course you're beside yourself .  I'd be frantic too.  I guess they checked his eyes to make sure his pupils were dilating, etc?  High blood pressure can cause blindness, and since you mentioned he was going to tomorrow to have it checked, I wondered if he is already known for having it?  I supposed if he went blind overnight, it could cause all kinds of anxiety, but doubt if it's that because I would think the Vet would check for that. 

Gosh, I don't have any ideas other that what Ravenclaw suggested, some sort of anxiety that might have him really scared for some reason. 

After more tests and xrays they have diagnosed PJ with . . . constipation!   Now I understand why he seems so miserable.  We have been syringe feeding him water (and he got more fluids today) and this morning after the syringe he actually walked to the water blow and drank on his own.  We got stool softener and baby food beets (so we can identify his stool in the box since we have 3 cats).  Thanks for the advice and consolation!

Oh for crying out loud!   I'm so sorry I didn't even think about that It's so common in older cats too   But, gosh, I would have thought they would have caught something like that the first time he visited the Vet.  I know our Vet always tells us if they feel any stool inside our cats, and especially if they feel a LOT! 

Just as an aside, we give our senior miralax every day, to keep her regular.  Did the same with our RB cat, who had a problem with constipation the last several years of his life.  1/8 teas. mixed in a teeny bit of water then added to their wet food.  With our RB cat, we gave it to him twice a day.  With our current senior, we give it to her just once a day.  Seems to do the trick

Hopefully the stool softener works quickly  

Well the stool softener worked but PJ was still not eating so we took him to an emergency vet and she admitted him immediately.  She put him on IVs with lots of drugs, including antibiotics, stomach relaxers, pain meds, etc. and we picked him up 24 hours later and he has been fine ever since!!!!  He acts as if nothing happened and I think he has put back on a few ounces that he lost.  Our "friends" chastised us for spending  small fortune on a 16 year old cat but I could care less--especially when I got such a good outcome!!

You friends obviously do not have pets.  WE here at TCS certainly understand. 

I am SO GLAD he is doing better now.