My cat is in pain

My 17 year old black kitty (yes, its her name that is Stumbleine) has been skinny all her life and has also been an anxious/nervous scratcher. she's vocal too! she's always been very healthy, active and just last week brought me a mole. even though she is primarily an outdoor cat (we live on 10 acres she's never seen a road) she's not had a big problem with fleas. however, i give her revolution starting in the spring, through summer and fall and give her the winter off - we're in florida but i live in a swamp, fleas aren't normally a big deal (mosquitos are another thing). she also has a good appetite and has never been a picky eater. she is happy with dry food but goes nuts over wet. 

over the past couple of days i noticed that she's gotten much skinnier, her scratching has gotten worse and she is barely touching her dry food. she is still gobbling down the wet stuff i gave her, appetite is fine. i looked at her mouth, almost all the teeth on the right side are gone! just a few stubs and there is one whole one remaining on that side. on the left side they are all there but i didn't want to touch them to see if they were loose. i am guessing that it hurts to eat the dry food. she seemed like she was scratching more than usual so i also checked her out for fleas and sure enough, there were plenty! i put some revolution on her and hope that in the next 24 hours she'll get some relief. i know that fleas can cause anemia in cats and i am afraid that has contributed to her weight loss - along with not eating her dry food.

so here it is, saturday night and the vet won't be open until monday morning. this doesn't strike me as a situation for the emergency vet but i don't really know.  she seems like she is in pain. she will sit upright in one spot for a long time - like she's meditating - but i can see her swaying a little. other times she sits in a way she's done her entire life - hunched with her front paws tucked under and her head tilted down nose to the floor. i just read today that is a sign a cat is in serious pain. wow! it makes me feel like she's been in pain her whole life and i never knew - how can that be? she's been so normal, except for now, it does seem like she could be in pain. she also seemed to have a bit of heavy breathing at one point today, but not now. however, she's an anxious cat and i've seen that off and on her whole life. i am guessing the teeth are what are hurting her, could it be something else? i am keeping her inside since its gotten dark to keep an eye on her. i usually keep her on the screen porch at night (she isn't allowed to roam outside after dark) tonight she has shown a lot of persistence in trying to climb up on something high like upper shelves or the refrigerator. so she is physically able to do that. for the past couple of years she walks like she is stiff when she first gets up, but i know that is not uncommon for older cats. she was "trotting" across the yard today, but in an old cat kind of way 

(i just walked into the kitchen and she's curled up on the kitchen counter. a big no-no but i can't bear to disturb her. she looks sweet and more relaxed than i've seen her in the past 48 hours)

the scary part is that i have to go out of town from wed-sun. she will be getting daily visits from her cat sitter. i have little time to get her to the vets before i fly out - maybe monday morning if they can squeeze me in asap - i have to be at work by 9:30. i work well past the vet's office closing and 45 min away. my husband is already out of town and can't help. i do not know anyone who would feel comfortable helping me out with taking my cat to the vet. i really like our cat sitter, have used her for years, but i am feeling so guilty right now. guilty about leaving my kitty alone and feeling bad about leaving a sick aging cat for the sitter to stress over. i'm upset i won't be there for stumbleine. for all i know cats don't want us to "be there" for them. i am feeling a lot of anxiety and don't even know if i am asking for advice or just want to tell someone who understands. thank you 

She definitely needs to see the vet.  Sounds like she's got resorptive lesions and those are extremely painful.  She also might have an infection and might need an antibiotic.  She will probably need to have dental work as well to clean up her mouth and remove any other teeth that are affected.

wow. i just looked that up. it sounds like she could be in a lot of pain. i feel so bad for her. do you think that is something that will require several visits right away or do you think its something that can provide some meds in the short term for pain/infection and then deal with tooth extraction when i return? i am thinking about if my sitter will have to take her to the vet.

She needs to get to the vet ASAP.  You can probably do pain meds and an antibiotic right now and then do the dental, or you can board her and have them do all the work while you're gone.

took her there to the vet this morning. good news. the vet said i wasn't pulling her lip down far enough. shows what i know. her teeth, while old and full of tarter are okay, just missing 1. no infections. her gums were very light colored almost white. doc said thats a sure sign of anemia.  she got a complete geriatric blood workup. yes she is anemic but otherwise all her levels were normal - no hyperthyroid issues. the vet gave me iron supplements and some deworming meds just in case. they had to sedate her to get her blood, so they scraped her teeth while they were at it. the consensus is that she had flea-related anemia. why she wasn't eating the dry food? the vet couldn't really tell but said that when they feel bad they aren't hungry but since wet food has such an attractive odor, that can stir an appetite where dry food does not. my cat sitter recommended i try another dry food just to see if changing it up works - and it did. probably a combo of feeling better and a different dry food. i typically get food without corn, wheat soy, etc. like wellness or blue buffalo- but the sitter recommended some fancy feast dry because cats go crazy over it. for the short duration i'm out of town, i want something i can leave out all the time for her that i know she will eat - so that will be it - better than not eating all day except for when the sitter comes. when i get back, we'll work on getting her back on the good stuff.