MY cat is very old and he's having a hard time eating and drinking. His tongue is very swollen and he drolls a lot as well. Is there anything I can do for him? Some how ease the pain?

Interesting. Well, cats don't drool generally unless something is wrong. I've never heard of a swollen tongue. I don't know if an infection in his mouth would do that or not. It's possible his mouth is in really bad shape - cats need to have dentals and it's not uncommon when they get older (or even younger) to have absesses, teeth falling out, inflammation, etc. I've never seen the swollen tongue thing, but dental problems can cause drooling.

You can't give him any human pain medication. (Do not try to give him aspirin or anything.) I don't think there's really anything you can do at home. If this is indeed a dental problem he needs to see a vet - well, he needs to see a vet anyway cause he's obviously in pain and can't eat. If you can't get him into a vet soon, you might need to do some syringe feeding to get food and water into him.

Just curious - what are you calling "very old"?

As morgaine said, you need to have a vet look at him.

Depending on how old he actually is, it may be age shutting down organs. It could also be something that is completely treatable. Only a vet will be able to say for sure.

I know that dehydration can cause swollen tongues in humans. I imagine it's probably the same for cats. Do everything possible to get some fluids into him, and see if it helps.

Something like this happened to my 20 year old female. She wouldn't eat or drink and after a couple days we decided to put her down. There is no point in keeping an animal around who is suffering. There is more mercy in putting them down than being selfish and spending thousands on putting them on life support.

That is completely not true if it's something that can be treated!!!

No one ever puts a cat on "life support." We don't stick them on machines to keep their heart going. But there are an awful lot of things which can be treated and they can still live a good quality of life for months or years.

So we give up without even bothering with a vet to see what it is?? What if it's just bad teeth and the cat needs a dental, or is dehydrated as hheath said and just needs some fluids? Wow, putting him to sleep over that seems pretty drastic to me.

That is completely not true if it's something that can be treated!!!

No one ever puts a cat on "life support." We don't stick them on machines to keep their heart going. But there are an awful lot of things which can be treated and they can still live a good quality of life for months or years.

So we give up without even bothering with a vet to see what it is??? What if it's just bad teeth and the cat needs a dental, or is dehydrated as hheath said and just needs some fluids? Wow, putting him to sleep over that seems pretty drastic to me.

By life support I mean sticking every kind of I.V. possible in them trying to keep their organs from failing. I am not saying this is or will happen to this cat I am ONLY stating my opinion and personal experience. This is a possibility not a diagnoses. So please stop commenting on all my posts. Thank you

Your posts are basically depressing and all they talk about is being time to put a cat down, when you don't even know what's going on. You're going to end up scaring everyone into thinking their cats are dead without having a clue about the situation, making people think there's no hope. That's two threads now that all you've added is the great possibility it's time for the cat to die.

I mean, how much more pessimistic can you be when you tell someone their cat "probably had a stroke," when there were NO symptoms of a stroke presented to us (proving you have no clue as to what you're even talking about). And then telling them "that's what they do" when they're ready to die, which is essentially like telling them it sounds like the cat is ready to die. In reality, "that's what they do" when they are not feeling very well, which sometimes is something that could EASILY be treated (not put on "life support") if they're taken to a vet.

Oh, and by the way, even if the cat had a stroke, it doesn't mean it's time to die!! (Proving further you have no clue what you are talking about.)

You need to be encouraging them to get to a vet, not making them think their cat is ready to die. And especially if it sounds like a possible emergency situation, they need encouraged to get to a vet NOW.

So keep it up, and I'll keep commenting, yes. It's not up to you to say what posts I comment on.

Well, I see you have no life. If this is all you have to do with your time I feel bad for you...

I do plenty of other things besides hang out here, but thanks for your concern.

Your welcome :D

Something like this happened to my 20 year old female. She wouldn't eat or drink and after a couple days we decided to put her down. There is no point in keeping an animal around who is suffering. There is more mercy in putting them down than being selfish and spending thousands on putting them on life support.

lindzc, I will comment here because I too have a problem with your posts. You either recommend to have the animal euthanized, or you recommend to breed and post the litter on YouTube or craigslist. The OP in that situation was very likely a pre-teen and that was your advice. :(

The people that post in the pets forums never diagnose online. We may state that it sounds similar to something that happened to one of our pets, but our advice is always "go to the vet" and we never ever assume that an animal is at the end of it's life and ready to be put down. There's no way anyone can know that, other than the vet.

Many of the people that come here are distressed, scared for their animals life. These people don't need to hear that their biggest fear is a fact, when there's no way that you can possibly know that it is.

I will be keeping an eye on your posts. You are more than welcome to post on any forum you wish to post on, but keep in mind that the people that do regularly post in the pets forum, or are experts in that forum, care a great deal about the quality of advice given. Any more doomsday posts will be deleted. I will not allow you to scare people.

Now, let's continue helping people. If you have an issue with what I've said here you can PM me about it and I will talk to a super mod.

Seriously! I did not diagnose or recommend anything to anyone. I only shared my story. I simply stated that if it should come down to the vet recommending that they put the cat down you should do it out of mercy for the animal. I didn't say their cats were going to die. I came on this site to get a question of my own answered and all I have found is rude fanatical hate mail flamers. This site has not been helpful at all because of the people in it so thanks for that

Seriously! I did not diagnose or recommend anything to anyone. I only shared my story. I simply stated that if it should come down to the vet recommending that they put the cat down you should do it out of mercy for the animal. I didn't say their cats were going to die. I came on this site to get a question of my own answered and all I have found is rude fanatical hate mail flamers. This site has not been helpful at all because of the people in it so thanks for that

This was your exact advice;


Something like this happened to my 20 year old female. She wouldn't eat or drink and after a couple days we decided to put her down. There is no point in keeping an animal around who is suffering. There is more mercy in putting them down than being selfish and spending thousands on putting them on life support.

You never once even mentioned the vet or what the vet would recommend. Read your post again. You likened this animal to yours and said that you put your cat down, and then waxed poetic about being merciful, not prolonging the cats life. Not once did you say "go to the vet and see what he/she recommends"

Obviously you don't like being told that your posts are unhelpful, but, if you think before you post, put yourself in the shoes of the person asking the question, realize that just because you had an animal with a similar problem, doesn't mean that's what's going on with this animal, and post accordingly, than you'll do fine.

I will not tolerate people giving misinformation that could be construed as fact. If you had mentioned taking the cat to a vet and letting the vet make a recommendation even once in your post, I wouldn't have mentioned anything, but you didn't.