[alycat726]

Hi. My cat, Jake, is an 11 year old long haired male. He has always been an affectionate, loving cat. About 2 weeks ago, he started acting a little weird. I noticed that he hasn't been eating as much as he normally does and he has lost weight. I can feel his spine. He is constantly tired and sleeping majority of the day. He also has become even more 'clingy' with me than usual. He follows me everywhere. If I go to the bathroom, he's on the counter next to me trying to get on my shoulders or getting me to pet him. As soon as I start to walk he stops me, jumps up on my arm and waits for me to carry him. Same everywhere. When I'm sitting or laying anywhere, he's right there. He has to be laying on me or at least touching me no matter what. He also lays against my chest and 'hugs' me, then licks my ear lobes and neck. And he has to rub his head all over my face even when I'm sleeping. When he is done, he curls up and goes back to sleep. When he is awake, he has been somewhat walking different and slower, but not all the time. He also sometimes bullies my other cat, who is a 4 year old female. Every once in awhile he will sit by the hall closet door and meow or howl so I will let him in. after he's in there, he sits by the water heater for a minute then comes out. He also sometimes throws up or coughs up what appear to be hairballs. He sneezes or sniffles sometimes as well.

I'm really nervous and scared. This cat is my life. He isn't a cat to me, he's my baby. He means everything to me, plus some. I, currently, am unemployed and have been for about 8 months now. As a result, I don't have the money to take him to the vet. I don't have anyone to help me or even be there for me. I'm so distraught over this and I don't know what to do.

I haven't stopped crying and thinking about this. I really hope that I'm over reacting because he's all I have left. Please help me with this, if you can. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

[poseidon]

Hello Alycat726,

Thinking of your cat as 'my baby' is very common with those of us who love animals.

Coughing up fur-balls is quite common in cats. They also have a few coughs or sneezes on occasions.

What does concern me is the fact that your pet appears to be off his food, is losing weight and that he sometimes has trouble walking. There could be several reasons for this, some of which are not serious, but some of which may be.

Although it seems that he is not in any pain we cannot be sure of this and a thorough examination by a vet is really needed.

I am afraid that it is possible that he is nearing the end of his time and his body is beginning to slow down and show signs of 'shutting down', as happens to all of us eventually. However the average lifespan for a domestic cat is from 12-15 years but they have been known to live as long as 20, or even 30 years old.

I certainly appreciate that you have a very limited income at the moment but I must advise you to take your pet to a vet to have any condition he may have diagnosed and treated.

Most vets are prepared to examine and treat a pet, even if the owner does not have sufficient funds to pay the bill all at once. Very often an agreement can be reached with the vet to pay for the treatment in installments.

My advice would be to ring some vets in your area to find out who will do this.

Although I don't know where you live a lot of countries have charitable organizations who will either help toward the cost of treatment, or indeed pay for it completely.

In the UK for example there is the Cats Protection League (CPL) and the Pets Dispensary For Sick Animals (PDSA).

May I suggest you check in your country or area for any such charities.

There may be a simple explanation for what is happening to your pet and a course of treatment may soon put him back to full health, but I am afraid that neither I nor anyone else on this site can diagnose the problem, your cat must be examined by a vet.

I hope you can get you pet to the vet and that the problem is not too serious.

Good luck

Cy
(Poseidon)

[morgaine300]

I do not consider an 11 year old cat to "be nearing the end of his time." I've seen too many live to 20 and beyond. I don't know where the average comes from, but I'm sure the low end of it is outdoor cats and ones that go undiagnosed with something, or are simply not treated for something pro-actively by their owners.

However, that is when certain things can start showing up, such as diabetes or kidney disease, etc. But those things can be treated. Those things also have to be diagnosed by a vet through exam, bloodwork, possibly other tests, etc. And not sure what the "walking" thing is about, if that is just part of the slowing down or if there's something actually wrong with his legs, hips, whatever. (Maybe just arthritis.)

It isn't unusual for an older cat to start slowing down. The way you describe it sounds sudden, but I don't know for sure that it was sudden. There isn't any way someone can diagnose anything on the internet, and unfortunately I think starting with some basic blood work would be in order. And yes, there are organizations that may be able to help financially.

I'm more concerned about the meantime -- that is, maybe you can get him to a vet eventually, but in the meantime I'm really concerned about the weight loss. Even if it takes some time to work out going to a vet, do anything and everything you can to make sure that cat eats, including hand or syringe feeding if you have to. When cats don't eat well and start losing weight quickly, they can very easily get deathly ill (especially if they were overweight to begin with). People often don't realize this until it's too late, so don't let that get out of hand. Find his favorites. Put the juice from tuna on his food, or a bit of like cooked chicken on the food, or heat it in the microwave to make it more smelly. Anything you can think of to get him to eat. Human grade meat and also meat baby food (no onion) will be good protein, but that doesn't make a diet for a cat so you need to be getting mostly supplemented cat food in him. If it comes down to that, get a syringe with a big opening, get canned food and water it down so it'll go through the opening, and syringe it into him a little at a time. That's not much fun, for you or the cat, so hopefully you can get him eating on his own more. But you do need to get him to eat.