Cat has poorly eye - sad news

tishywish

Could she be going deaf, blind, or senile? Maybe she loses track of where you are and is shouting to you for reassurance? She probably does want the attention and if she's going a bit senile, she wants to make sure she knows you're around?

tishywish

Hev, your girl sounds like a monster - it's lovely to hear that she can still be a madam at her age Having a good vet helps, too - I know even when I'm just being neurotic it is good to know that my vets understand me!

Smiley_Mum

I remember a little dog my mam had and if there was little ones in the house, parents visiting etc. The dog would watch them and guard over them, the kids crawling about the floor or toddling etc and when the mother went to pick them up when they were leaving the dog would start growling at her. Just being protective, same if you were messing about. Used to play fight and the dog would go nuts if anyone touched my mother, even if you raised your voice just in a jest at her. The dog used to get thrown over kids shoulders and carried around like a dolly round the house and everything and it never bothered her.

Februarycat,

The old cat we had used to meow loudly at times but he was usually right at your heels. I think it was just so he got your attention, he wasn't a cuddly cat that would sit on your lap but he loved been stroked. Perhaps he's getting a little deaf/blind etc and wants the reassurance that you're nearby so he does that so he knows that you are there.

hev_2

Our old girl does that - she calls like a soul in torment, wandering round. But when you go over to her, she looks at you as if you are the one that's going daft as if to say, "What!?"

Our old tom used to sing as he carried a sock around in his mouth. He used to have this really spaced out look and would walk round, dangling sock (or stocking, or tights, clean or not) howling his furry head off. Never worked it out but we had to keep all our underwear firmly shut away and the dirty laundry basket was kept locked in a room.

As far as I can guess it is the sort of thing mum cats do to attract kittens, like an 'is anyone out there?' sort of thing. The old girl seems to do it when she's feeling a bit alone. Having said that, she has been completely batty since she was a kitten - and she hasn't quite grown out of that, nor her devotion to radiators and catnip.

She is currently having a good sleep on a warm spare bed.

Smiley mum - I think there is something that is known as kitten immunity, where youngsters are allowed a certain amount of freedom which would leave an adult needing stitches. DS prods, shrieks, pats (gently), attempts a stroke (he's only fifteen months) and she is fine. If I prodded her like that I would be in A&E.

I still have a scar, from nearly fourteen years ago, of the only time I tried to bath her when she had got between the floor boards and came out covered in dust. She did not like it, and she expressed her displeasure with vigour. I bathed three cats, one after the other that day, and I would never, ever do it again.

tishywish

hev wrote: »

she has been completely batty since she was a kitten - and she hasn't quite grown out of that,

You mean it's not normal for cats to all be completely batty?! :rotfl:

hev_2

I've never met a sane cat.

We started off with the old girl as a wedding present, but we hadn't got a cat because of the garage at the back, so she couldn't go out, so she was bored.

Cue ambushes, mad fits, running up curtains and general mayhem.

So we got our old tom cat, now sadly gone to the great hearth rug in the sky. He was rescued from someone who also had two rottweiler puppies and didn't feed him separately. He was definitely not the full can of Whiskas and was agraphobic. He had a thing about socks and was the most henpecked, huge tomcat you have ever met. He was enormous, and I wish you had seen it when he tried to run up an estate agent's skirt! Three nights after we got him he got stuck in a coal hole I didn't know we had. He had weird rules as well, for example, the eldest cat was always allowed to get her own way, unless she attacked the youngest cat in which case the Tom declared war and gave her a right battering.

The youngest one desperately needed a home in a hurry because she was rescued from someone using kittens to start dogs fighting. It didn't affect her - she was born wearing Doc Martens and if she was human she would be covered in tattoos and piercings. She once chased off a Doberman when she was only a few months old :eek: She knew she wasn't allowed on the table, but had a dash over it every meal time, just to prove her point, no matter how much she got squirted.

Actually, in my case, I'm not sure if the cats are batty or just taking their tone from their owner.:p

Thank you so much for posting. It is a real help.

tanith

Hev only just seen your post.. just wanted to tell you about our 'old girl', she developed a bulging eye but otherwise was a very fit and healthy 20yr old... we paid to have a scan/xray not sure which it was now and it showed a growth behind her eye.. the vet said it was inoperable as it was going to spread into her nasal cavity and to just monitor and see how it went... well this was christmas 2006 and her eye continued to bulge but she still ate and appeared to be in no distress at all... she saw the vet once or twice and he was happy to let her carry on as long as she was eating and drinking normally but he did warn me to be aware that if she started bleeding from her nose I was to get her to him straight away...
Sad to say she made it to February but one morning I noticed blood on my quilt cover and knew that this was the day to let her go.... I know its the kindest thing to do but it was also the hardest thing I ever did to hold her while she went to sleep.... I bawled my eyes out all the way home .

Sorry if this is upsetting and hope its different for your old girl ... but now I look back at her pics and know I did the right thing by her ....

tishywish

hev wrote: »

I've never met a sane cat.

...


The youngest one desperately needed a home in a hurry because she was rescued from someone using kittens to start dogs fighting. It didn't affect her - she was born wearing Doc Martens and if she was human she would be covered in tattoos and piercings. She once chased off a Doberman when she was only a few months old :eek:

...

Actually, in my case, I'm not sure if the cats are batty or just taking their tone from their owner.:p

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Brilliant! I'm glad I'm not the only one who's never met a sane cat - all the cats I've had have been slightly strange but I think that might be my influence I had a cat who used to chase a really nasty Border Collie - she fled with her taile between her legs every time he look at her

On a more serious note, when it is time to let your old girl go please do it sooner rather than later - better a day too early than a day too late, no matter how upsetting it is at the time. I've had an animal put to sleep that, in hindsight, I should have let go earlier but making that decision was the hardest one I've ever had to make and was one I put off as long as I could.

I don't want to upset you, and hopefully she'll have a good time yet - she sounds such a great character

Februarycat

I dont think she is blind or deaf, she seems to hear things ok and gets around all right, I think it is just for reassurance as I said she starts purring when you go over and stroke her, they are not daft are they cats , but sometimes she will do it and if anyone is round they say oh dear what's the matter with your cat, and then you pick her up or even just shout her name she is back to normal.

hev_2

Februarycat - yes, that's exactly like our old girl, and she's been doing it for years. I've just assumed she was potty.

Thank you for your post, tanith, you are absolutely right. We may have a good while with her yet, as long as she is okay.

DH & I agreed, when she loses quality of life then we make the hard decision. It will be dreadful, I know, but she is not human, can't understand what is going on and no doubt there will come a stage where there she is only aware of pain. I am not going to let her suffer when she shouldn't just because I love her so selfishly that I cannot let her go. But until she gets to that stage, we will do everything we can to keep the old battleaxe going. (she used to bully a friend of ours - really deliberately. She was absolutely shocking, and he was too timid to stop her or let us stop her for him. tbh suspect he enjoyed the attention).

I really appreciate the support from here, it is a real help. Sometimes I look at her and I just want to cry - she has a load of the old fashioned siamese in her, not the angular type but fine boned and with a long tail. I remember when we were burgled the policewoman spent more time cuddling her than taking our statement - with the cat's connivance and encouragement! She is so beautiful, and then the eye looks weepy, it really stands out and it breaks my heart.

She's now in a favourite spot next to a radiator.