16 year old cat seems dopey this week, closed eyes, mouth open, sleeping allot, otherwise normal?

Just looking for some feedback after searching around for a bit.  it has been a year since he had surgery and they took his spleen out due to mast cell cancer.  they have kept him on steroid and benadryl daily since which is a low consistent dosage.  luckily he has only barfed a few times since surgery and has solid poop, etc.  lots of bad things were happening before surgery and the previous vet took a month of jerking us around before we saw a specialist.

we log his weight and litterbox patterns in hope we will see a trend before we notice him crashing since they mentioned on average cats will live 6-18 months after that type of surgery.  we have been lucky i guess so far.

anyways we just noticed this new issue i would say for the past few days.  he gets up many times/day to eat/drink and go to the bathroom.  weight is the same.  he walks around the house and loves to jump up on the couch for movie time which is how we noticed.

he acts normal but it reminds me of being on some kind of meds like benadryl for myself, or nyquill, etc.  specifically his med regime may have made him more tired than normal but it hasn't made him dopey like this.

he acts real sleepy and i noticed he isn't reacting to stimuli as much.  like petting his face or making noise near his ears.  i can pet on him for a bit and move him around without disturbing him.  he seems to want to sleep.  he isn't going to a corner or hiding, he likes sleeping on us for hours at a time.  and he gets up to do his business.

something just seems different.  seems like his eyes are real heavy and his mouth is slightly open, he isn't sticking his tongue out.  i have not noticed any labored breathing, his ears are cold.  he seems comfortable if i pet him or pick him up and purrs allot.  he rolls over and looks like the comfy cat i have always known.

im wondering if it could be a sign of something or maybe as simple as his body digesting things differently and maybe the benadryl is making him drowsier these days.

also does anybody know if maybe a shot form of this stuff can be purchased anywhere in cat dosages that is affordable, maybe in a way that releases differently?  he always foams at the mouth when syringing his dosage.

At his age and with a history of cancer, I would sure be checking with the vet on all of this.  How is he doing today?

I agree with @betsygee. He's very lucky to have you watch over him like this. You know your cat best and if you're seeing this kind of change in behavior it's best to consult with your vet before things get worse. He's been taking medications for a year now so it can have all sorts of effects on his system, especially liver and kidneys and I imagine a vet would want to run some blood tests around this time, just to get a better picture of what's going on.

Let us know how he's doing and what the vet said! 

it got worse and our vets office days later still hasn't let us speak to a doc.  wow what a joke, don't know if the receptionist or docs dropped the ball.  another vet did the surgery a year ago but had to leave and passed us on to this guy.  i couldn't wait so had to take them to a place near me which i don't like to do.

did typical tests and was saying they think its something neurological, his retinas seem to be doing there job but his eyes aren't dialating right when they turned off the lights, etc.

so i guess it makes sense why he was squinting and rubbing at his eyes.  i have never seen this kind of thing with a cat in my life so yet another learning experience.

they didn't have any info from blood tests except for a few elevated liver results which were worse than his history has shown.  he had some goofy liver stuff going on while dealing with the mast cell stuff but they never did anything directly for it.

they suggested a specialist, mri, etc. but let us leave with a couple oral meds.  

they made it sound like a small chance it was some virus episode or something that may be helped and pass for now with these meds or put him to sleep if he crashes worse?  or go to a specialist and keep spending money and hope they find something wrong?

so no clue what to do.   now after watching more i see his vision is impaired.  he can tell where he is at but does some goofy things up close and is squinting.  i guess he atleast has blurry vision after just observing because he goes from bed to litter box, food, etc.

he has been drinking broth and he did eat some food in the am and a tad tonight.  he basically cleans his eyes harshly and then seems sleepy.  you can pet him and pick him up but he acts like hes doped up almost like staring with his eyes just cracked and mouth cracked open.  

he doesn't want to be alone, we have started to leave his bedroom door open because he is yodeling with it closed, we thought he needed to rest.  once we open the door he comes out when we are watching tv on the couch, jumps up and seems to sleep peacefully.  he will spend 1/3rd of the day like this until he goes to the litter box or eats/drinks a bit.  still going to the bathroom

What does the vet say when you bring your cat in in person?

If this vet is not responsive, can you go to another one?


I'd be concerned about the liver...if liver enzymes go up they can manifest as neurological symptoms.

well i think i knew deep down something was wrong.  after 5 days on the meds atleast he was using the litter box, drinking and eating although in waves.  he was loving baby food last night.  he would load up for a few hours and then sleep all the time.

all he wanted to do is be with us and when opening the door he would come out to the front room and watch movies, curl up in his blanket and seemed to be peacefully sleeping.

but when he moved all his functions were messed up.  this wasn't just the normal cat we knew under the weather with another problem.  i tested a few times with the hardcore pain meds they gave us after surgery in case of emergency.  each time within minutes his jitters would slow down and his body seemed more at peace.  so to me this just confirmed he must have been in discomfort.

last night i awoke to him struggling with the food dish and he tipped the whole thing over with the water bowl.  then he had a seizure for the first time ever and my heart sank.  it passed within a minute and then he moaned as he came to and seemed to adapt in a few minutes to my touch.  he ate just before it and wanted to eat after it so i let him.

sadly we are in a small town and the vet turned out to be a joke, the after hours emergency calls are apparently at their descretion which defeated the whole purpose of their after number line.  i didn't feel good about traveling an hour and a half to another vet.

so i gave him another dose of pain meds not knowing what else to do.  this calmed him and his eyes were atleast open and he would now sleep in his typical ball.  i could pet him and he was comforted like always sleeping right next to me.  i stayed up all night and watched him like a hawk until the vet came in today at 8am and we decided to put him to sleep.

i was given a quality of living rating chart and it made me think objectively about what was going on.  there was no surgery for him and whatever was wrong was at the core.  it wasn't just like it was neurological with an otherwise healthy cat.  

so he made it just over a year after having his spleen removed from the mast cells.  he was better the day he came home from surgery.  he had diahrea maybe a couple times and maybe a few times yacking something up.  he had gained weight and maintained it and his appetitie until the end  i did find it goofy how his taste buds changed so much, i didn't catch that right away.  between the dry food, baby food, broth, fancy feast he would eat something and took his meds like a champ.

when they did the surgery he had some wierd liver values with inflamation.  so i assume the cancer spread.

so looking back im glad i spent the thousands on surgery for the mast cells.  that surgery and the meds/steroids gave him a great quality of life.  he didn't have any crashes in all that time.  for some reason all these issues came on all of a sudden.  only thing i can think of is we might have been warned a little earlier something was coming because he was very clingy to us and would yodel in a different deep tone than we were used to.  he was always vocal cat and meowed like crazy.  we did think something was changing but everything with his food/water intake and using the litter box were ok.

I am so, so sorry for your loss. You gave him a wonderful life, and he knew for sure that he was loved, and loved you right back.

Rest in peace, you gorgeous boy
[emoji]128062[/emoji] [emoji]128062[/emoji]

I am so very sorry for your loss You were such a good parent and I'm sure he knew you loved him. Doing what is best for them is so hard though when it comes to this {{hugs}}

So very sorry to read this news.  On behalf of the TCS Team, we offer our condolences.  As a sign of respect for your loss, we will now lock this thread.  We invite you to post a tribute to your sweet boy in our Crossing the Bridge thread:  http://www.thecatsite.com/f/19/crossing-the-bridge