Time running out?

oz'smum · Mar 8, 2016

Hi, I joined here over 11 years ago, Ozzy had come to us a few months previously, a rescue cat age guessed at 3 years when we took him. But he was a hard to home cat, due to him not being over friendly. Anyway, we still have him, so he's at least 15 years old, I'm not sure how accurate ageing of a cat is in their younger years.

Our cat before him lived to 16, a healthy life, until one day he suddenly went into a seizure and didn't come out of it and had to be put to sleep.

So, as Ozzy approaches the same age I'm starting to worry, and watch Ozzy's every move. He is starting to look his age, but otherwise healthy and he had his teeth cleaned and a couple removed last year. When I went to collect him the vey told me they'd clipped his claws while he was asleep. I said "that's good, as I can't even groom him, he won't let me" and she smiled and said they'd combed him through too.

Anyway, do you find yourself preparing for losing your cat? Or, is it just me, at 60 I've loved and lost, and shed too many tears over the years.

margd · Mar 8, 2016

Absolutely. By the time my Wesley turned 18, I was really worried about losing him and trying to prepare myself. He'd been diagnosed with kidney disease at age 12 and I'd been told he was on borrowed time. Instead of losing Wesley, I lost Milo instead who was only 14. I was completely unprepared for Milo to leave me so soon. Wesley did ultimately pass away at age 19 from a stroke. Because of his age and all the time I'd spent worrying he'd go into a rapid decline, it was not as much of a shock as it was with Milo. It did help me cope with losing him a little easier.

denice · Mar 8, 2016

I think about it. My kitties are almost 13 and beginning to slow down, not too many episodes of kitten crazies anymore, and I find myself watching them closely. I tell myself to stop, that it does no good to worry like this, but I continue to do it. I believe one of the things that our pets show us is to live each day with out stressing over yesterday or tomorrow, I haven't learned the lesson very well.

zed xyzed · Mar 8, 2016

Midi is 16 or 17 and I worry about losing him every day. I honestly don't know how I would cope. He is my world

artiemom · Mar 8, 2016

I am going through that exact phase right now with my 12 yr old guy.

AbbysMom · Mar 9, 2016

Abby is getting older now and I can see she is starting to slow down and I think the same. :nod:

donutte · Mar 9, 2016

Yeah, I don't know exactly what age, or even if there is a specific age, I start thinking that way. I think Lucky was 14 when I started having talks with him about making sure to tell me when it was time. He was my feline soul mate :heart4: Still, when the time came two years later, I was in no way prepared enough. You never really are.

My two senior girls just turned 14 last week. With the one, I was actually wondering if she'd even make it to 13 last year when she was so sick from very elevated T4 and not eating at all. But somehow we overcame that hump.

cat nap · Mar 9, 2016

Denice said:
I think about it. My kitties are almost 13 and beginning to slow down, not too many episodes of kitten crazies anymore, and I find myself watching them closely. I tell myself to stop, that it does no good to worry like this, but I continue to do it. I believe one of the things that our pets show us is to live each day with out stressing over yesterday or tomorrow, I haven't learned the lesson very well.

I totally agree with what Denice said. I still have not learned the lesson of not stressing...but I am slowly getting better at it.

My RainBow senior cat Spotty, started to slow down at 13 years, had six teeth removed, then started to act like a kitten again, with more energy and playing...so I know the teeth must have hurt.

But when they did the teeth, they diagnosed stage 2 kidney disease, and a heart murmur...diagnosed later as early HCM . He lived until 15 1/2 and I always thought the heart issue would end his life, but it was the kidneys that did it.

So I definitely felt like I was preparing, but when it happened it was still a shock.

Looking back, I wish I would have worried less, and enjoyed the time more.

sivyaleah · Mar 9, 2016

I think about this with Casper a lot now. Cocoa is a lot younger so it's not something we worry about but Casper will be 15 in a month or so. In the past couple of years the difference in him is very easy to see. He's healthy overall - any tests we've done have come back pretty good and have ruled out anything seriously wrong but he has a couple of chronic issues like throwing up a lot (we've tried various ways to help to no avail) which means he's losing weight. He's had several teeth pulled in the past 1-1/2 years and his muzzle is getting a sharp look to. His appetite stinks at times. It's difficult to get enough calories into him and I do worry about that a lot. His backbone is very prominent and he has a kind of "hunch" now. He used to like being picked up and now, not so much and I'm sure it is due to arthritis. Going up the stairs is slower and he doesn't jump up onto things much unless they are very low. He waits for us to put him into our bed at night - although he can get up it's easier if we lift him. He also sleeps way more than he did before. Oh and clipping his nails is totally impossible now - he used to tolerate it but not anymore. We bring him into the vet several times a year to have them deal with it.

All these little things added up are daily reminders that he is getting on. It comes up in conversation fairly frequently but my BF and I try hard not to concentrate on that too much. I know it is going to be overwhelming for both of us when the time comes when he is no longer with us but we enjoy our time with him in the here and now and will deal with that later as needed.

Margret · Mar 9, 2016

I was beginning to think about it with Floppy, who was 13, but still quite healthy and playful. Then the house guests from hell turned her into an indoor/outdoor kitty, and one day she never came home. Knowing that she was old and would probably be going soon anyway didn't help me at all; especially when one of the house guests said that she had probably "run away" because she was so disgusted by the clutter in my house. She didn't "run away." She used an open cat flap that should never have been there and was probably eaten by coyotes. I have no idea how long she would have lived without that.

Margret

stewball · Mar 9, 2016

Margret said:
I was beginning to think about it with Floppy, who was 13, but still quite healthy and playful. Then the house guests from hell turned her into an indoor/outdoor kitty, and one day she never came home. Knowing that she was old and would probably be going soon anyway didn't help me at all; especially when one of the house guests said that she had probably "run away" because she was so disgusted by the clutter in my house. She didn't "run away." She used an open cat flap that should never have been there and was probably eaten by coyotes. I have no idea how long she would have lived without that.

Margret

That's so terrible and I'm sorry for your loss.
Who are these house guests from hell?

MOD NOTE - Off topic discussion moved to here -

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/315773/my-houseguests-from-hell

stewball · Mar 9, 2016

sivyaleah said:
I think about this with Casper a lot now. Cocoa is a lot younger so it's not something we worry about but Casper will be 15 in a month or so. In the past couple of years the difference in him is very easy to see. He's healthy overall - any tests we've done have come back pretty good and have ruled out anything seriously wrong but he has a couple of chronic issues like throwing up a lot (we've tried various ways to help to no avail) which means he's losing weight. He's had several teeth pulled in the past 1-1/2 years and his muzzle is getting a sharp look to. His appetite stinks at times. It's difficult to get enough calories into him and I do worry about that a lot. His backbone is very prominent and he has a kind of "hunch" now. He used to like being picked up and now, not so much and I'm sure it is due to arthritis. Going up the stairs is slower and he doesn't jump up onto things much unless they are very low. He waits for us to put him into our bed at night - although he can get up it's easier if we lift him. He also sleeps way more than he did before. Oh and clipping his nails is totally impossible now - he used to tolerate it but not anymore. We bring him into the vet several times a year to have them deal with it.

All these little things added up are daily reminders that he is getting on. It comes up in conversation fairly frequently but my BF and I try hard not to concentrate on that too much. I know it is going to be overwhelming for both of us when the time comes when he is no longer with us but we enjoy our time with him in the here and now and will deal with that later as needed.

You need to place boxes in strategic places to help him get up onto higher places. I had one by the coffee table to help him get to my lap and one by my bed to help him get up. We dismantled the tree to get the boxes. He was very grateful.

sivyaleah · Mar 9, 2016

Stewball said:
You need to place boxes in strategic places to help him get up onto higher places. I had one by the coffee table to help him get to my lap and one by my bed to help him get up. We dismantled the tree to get the boxes. He was very grateful.

We do have ways for him to access various areas. He's got a small cat tree so he can look out the office window, and can get to others because our couch is low to the ground. He likes the ottoman of a chair - that's easy for him to jump onto and some other places he can reach.

He can jump in the bed. He does it all the time but it's slow going hence why when we come to bed we lift him up instead. We'd put a stair near the bed but our room is very tight on space. There isn't any possible way to position one without it becoming a tripping hazard for us. Last thing I need is a 4th knee surgery!

AbbysMom · Mar 11, 2016

Denice said:
I believe one of the things that our pets show us is to live each day with out stressing over yesterday or tomorrow, I haven't learned the lesson very well.

I need to work on that lesson a bit myself. :nod:

Margret · Mar 11, 2016

Denice said:
I think about it. My kitties are almost 13 and beginning to slow down, not too many episodes of kitten crazies anymore, and I find myself watching them closely. I tell myself to stop, that it does no good to worry like this, but I continue to do it. I believe one of the things that our pets show us is to live each day with out stressing over yesterday or tomorrow, I haven't learned the lesson very well.

I think most of us have trouble with this.

The problem is, while we don't want to live in the past, we also don't want to give up the lessons we've learned, or the memories we've made. And while we don't want to stress about the future, we need to plan for it.

It seems to be a uniquely human dilemma.

Margret

foxxycat · Mar 11, 2016

Yes I do this as well. I have a 16 yr old, 13 yr old and 5 yr old. the 16 yr old is healthier than my 13 yr old-we have been struggling with some minor issues and i realize this morning i need to get her looked at-what i was trying doesnt seem to be helping and i have been working hard to not think about the worse case senario.

Our animals know how to live in the moment. Its sometimes hard to judge what exactly is too much for them to handle. Sometimes they can slowly deteriate and they still seem to be enjoying life but I struggle with the when. I lately rely on the vets advice. For now everyone sleeps through the night for the most part-one of them thats all she does is sleep-so thats why I guestion when is it time? She hasnt lost weight or stopped eating but slow down-it definately doesnt help that the young 5 yr old chases her-I often wish i could rehome one of them but my heart aches because I made a commitment for life. But slowly I try to make changes to show I love each one of them. Jealousy really is real in them. I only wish I could stop worrying about whether they are happy. The bf is always telling me I worry too much. Mayhap I do-but its because of my deep love for them that I only want the best for them and there simply just is not enough time in the day to do everything. so yes I too have trouble with this. daily.

stewball · Mar 11, 2016

foxxycat said:
Yes I do this as well. I have a 16 yr old, 13 yr old and 5 yr old. the 16 yr old is healthier than my 13 yr old-we have been struggling with some minor issues and i realize this morning i need to get her looked at-what i was trying doesnt seem to be helping and i have been working hard to not think about the worse case senario.

Our animals know how to live in the moment. Its sometimes hard to judge what exactly is too much for them to handle. Sometimes they can slowly deteriate and they still seem to be enjoying life but I struggle with the when. I lately rely on the vets advice. For now everyone sleeps through the night for the most part-one of them thats all she does is sleep-so thats why I guestion when is it time? She hasnt lost weight or stopped eating but slow down-it definately doesnt help that the young 5 yr old chases her-I often wish i could rehome one of them but my heart aches because I made a commitment for life. But slowly I try to make changes to show I love each one of them. Jealousy really is real in them. I only wish I could stop worrying about whether they are happy. The bf is always telling me I worry too much. Mayhap I do-but its because of my deep love for them that I only want the best for them and there simply just is not enough time in the day to do everything. so yes I too have trouble with this. daily.

No need to worry about an old cat sleeping alot. That's what they do. If there's no sign of pain or unwellness then kitty is probably fine.

Time running out?

oz'smum

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margd

Chula and Paul's roommate

denice

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zed xyzed

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artiemom

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AbbysMom

At Abby's beck and call

donutte

Professional cat sitter extraordinaire!

cat nap

stand with ukraine

sivyaleah

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Margret

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stewball

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stewball

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sivyaleah

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AbbysMom

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Margret

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foxxycat

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stewball

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