13 year old Cat - advice please

danielley

Thank you for all your comments.

I am going to get them booked in for an annual check very soon.

Buttonmoons

I've never taken my cats to the vets for a check up, I've taken them when something has been wrong or to be spayed.

Clio - 5 this year - Neutered at 1year old - Vets for anti'bs and painkiller as she had an infected paw last year.

Archie - 3 this year....er i think- Neutered at 5 months - £600 eyewatering operation to remove a piece of his intestine as he loves to eat netting.

Dexter - Not old enough for his balls to be lopped, sadly, he's a p1ssy pants nutter.

bacardi66

My cat (nearly 18) goes to the vet for his annual jabs or if he is showing signs of illness (not eating. repeatedly vomiting etc) Ive known people who have had cats live to 21 and they have never been near the vets in their life!

The vet does give my cat a quick checkover when he has his annual jabs but other than that I imagine if he did develop kidney/diabetes/thyroid conditions (which older cats are susceptible to) that he would display obvious signs of illness.

juliebunny

I'm a bit undecided about annual jabs and vet trips at the moment. It's not the expense, more the nightmare that each trip is. I've always taken mine in the past but a couple really don't travel well and I've stopped taking them now they are ten years old. As others have said, I really don't think the vets give them much more than a cursory check over unless you report specific symptons. I had a gorgeous tortie who they told me was healthy until she collapsed from heart failure. Even after she was home again (after a spell in intensive care) the vet said her heart sounded normal - I lost her last year to probably a heart attack. She always covered her illness until it was very bad. Cats do this as a protective mechanism in the wild as being seen to be ill would make them vulnerable to predators.

My neighbour and others I know have cats who are totally unvaccinated and have never probably seen a vet in their life (except for the snip) and they all look great but God help your cat if they are not neutered as they will roam and fight, or if they ever had to go into a rescue as they will pick up any illness going round there in the blink of an eye.

Air_Cooled_75

We lost our beautiful 15 yr old boy yesterday I took him to the vet last week ( last time he'd been, he'd have been about 2, a house cat so no vacs, please don't flame me!) because he was off his food, he was still a very good weight, all blood tests came back fine and his teeth were in great condition, he was given an appetite stimulant that helped for a few days. Fast forward to Wednesday...X-rays revealed a massive tumour in his lung and another in his abdomen...I don't really know what I'm trying to say though (I'm completely gutted) the vet said (although she couldn't be sure) that he'd probably had the cancer for about 6-8 weeks. His kidneys were perfect last week, the cancer must have really took hold over the past few days x

cutestkids

Our current cat is 19 still going strong and was last at the vet when around 2 years old, the one before that was a stray that we took in the vet estimated him to be around 10 and he lived for another 6 years after that.

The one that died was getting thinner for about a month and then occasionally would mess in the house, he was still eating and drinking well, we took him to the vet who said it is old age, and assured methat he was not in pain or suffering he passed away a few weeks later happy after a dish of poached fish for his tea that evening