[Calyrain]

Hello, I'm Claudia from Chile and I'm very worried about my old cat, he doesn't eat anything and he makes a big effort to defecate that causes him vomits. His vet said that is just showing of age because the ecotomography didn't show anything weird except for some free liquid in the stomach. Another thing to mention is that all these sympthoms started to showed gradually (till today that he is very down) after a small surgery he had at home due to a thing in his skin that used to bleed do the vet took it away using anesthetic.(the surgery was 2 months and a half ago) Please help me if you had a similar experience or something to share. I'll be eternally grateful.

[Ren6]

One of my friends cats went through something similar. He was fifteen (old for an abyssinian) and he became so backed up with feces, he had to go to the vet's office to undergo a procedure to "un-block" him. The vet discovered through ultra-sound that he had some thickening of the intestinal walls. He was prescribed a stool softener, which probably would have helped had he not refused it. If I were you, I'd try a stool softener, and adding liquid to his wet food. Good luck...

[morgaine300]

I absolutely hate when vets say they are "showing signs of age." If I started getting arthritis when I get older, do I ignore it cause it's just a sign of aging? Wrinkles are a sign of aging. Problems that start are many times things that can be treated. Sigh.

Older cats are prone to kidney problems. It takes more than a few clinical symptoms to diagnosis it, but a loss of appetite and constipation are two things that can happen. They are symptoms. You can treat the constipation. If he hasn't gone for a couple of days, an enema can be necessary. If it's not quite that bad, try what Ren6 said. You can grab something at the store, but you can also try something like a bit of pumpkin, and a thing called Lactulose works really well (but may need a prescription). If it's an ongoing problem, a store-bought stool softening may not be enough.

As for the loss of appetite - that's a little harder to deal with just trying to fix the symptom. You can try different foods and see if there's something else he'll eat. Heat it for just a short time in the microwave to make it more smelly. (It burns easily.) Maybe put a little tuna juice on it. I'd highly suggest canned food if he'll eat it, cause dry just lacks too much moisture, which can cause just the type of problems you're describing. It's very important that he eat, so try to solve this one, cause he can get sicker if he doesn't eat. Just as a note - constipation can make them inappetant, so if you solve that, you may have solved the inappetance also. (If your innards already felt stuffed full, would you want to eat? :))

Did the vet do any lab work, i.e. blood and urine testing? I've never heard of an echotomography, so I looked it up and it sounds like an ultrasound. My cat had a couple of different problems going on that never showed up in an ultrasound but showed up in blood work. So regardless of what it is, I think getting some blood work is a good idea, and really should have been done as an early step.

As for when the symptoms started to show - since cats hide things, quite well, there may or may not be a connection. Something could have already been going on, even for quite some time. Especially if he's "old." (How old is he anyway?)

[Calyrain]

I absolutely hate when vets say they are "showing signs of age." If I started getting arthritis when I get older, do I ignore it cause it's just a sign of aging? Wrinkles are a sign of aging. Problems that start are many times things that can be treated. Sigh.

Older cats are prone to kidney problems. It takes more than a few clinical symptoms to diagnosis it, but a loss of appetite and constipation are two things that can happen. They are symptoms. You can treat the constipation. If he hasn't gone for a couple of days, an enema can be necessary. If it's not quite that bad, try what Ren6 said. You can grab something at the store, but you can also try something like a bit of pumpkin, and a thing called Lactulose works really well (but may need a prescription). If it's an ongoing problem, a store-bought stool softening may not be enough.

As for the loss of appetite - that's a little harder to deal with just trying to fix the symptom. You can try different foods and see if there's something else he'll eat. Heat it for just a short time in the microwave to make it more smelly. (It burns easily.) Maybe put a little tuna juice on it. I'd highly suggest canned food if he'll eat it, cause dry just lacks too much moisture, which can cause just the type of problems you're describing. It's very important that he eat, so try to solve this one, cause he can get sicker if he doesn't eat. Just as a note - constipation can make them inappetant, so if you solve that, you may have solved the inappetance also. (If your innards already felt stuffed full, would you want to eat? :))

Did the vet do any lab work, i.e. blood and urine testing? I've never heard of an echotomography, so I looked it up and it sounds like an ultrasound. My cat had a couple of different problems going on that never showed up in an ultrasound but showed up in blood work. So regardless of what it is, I think getting some blood work is a good idea, and really should have been done as an early step.

As for when the symptoms started to show - since cats hide things, quite well, there may or may not be a connection. Something could have already been going on, even for quite some time. Especially if he's "old." (How old is he anyway?)

Thanks for your help. My cat White Lion is resting forever now and I want to share with all of you his peace in this beautiful photo I kept.

[Calyrain]

Thanks for your help. My cat White Lion is resting forever now and I want to share with all of you his peace in this beautiful photo I kept.

Here is the image!