[shygirl]

my 18 yr old cat has changed in her behaviour recently.
she has gone from being a content outdoor cat to coming in the house crying for food all the time.  she has been wormed for round and tapeworm repeatedly, treated for fleas. her coat is dry, tatty and moulting and she is thin and very light. i think her belly is a potty so she has all the symptoms for worms. the wormers i used are drontal, spot-on and tablet form, is there something else i should be using?
we have been considering putting her to sleep as she looks awful and she is so old but she still has a zest for life. she still hunts and eats it. she is choosing to eat tinned food but has choice of kibble
am i missing something? the vet has suggested blood tests to check her kidneys etc but at her age i dont want to start messing with her too much.
any advice on what to do with her?

[hafod]

Hi shy girl, our cats used to be very 'wormy' they are hunters and we found we'd worm them and within a couple of weeks they were wormy again. We now use advocat or profender (from vets) and have found these to be much better. It might be worth a try?
I'm sure you will choose what's right for your cat - not an easy decision though

[waddy]

She may be crying for food more because she is hunting less. My 15yr old cat rarely catches anything now. She has digestive trouble requiring a vet diet to keep things moving through, and her kidneys and heart are a bit dodgy. The vet thinks she had a stroke a couple of months ago as she suddenly went wobbly, but she has recovered well. She has had blood tests for various things and has needed a drip for dehydration when her bowels blocked up recently. The kidney test I did just required pee collection. They give you a bag of plastic beads to use as litter and a pipette to get the sample so the test is not invasive at all and may be worth doing. Cats are amazingly resilient. Ours still has a good appetite and a zest for life. Your cat will let you know how she feels. While she is enjoying life it is worth persevering.

[in the hills]

Hi, 

There is a condition in older cats that means they cry constantly for food. They tend to be over active and they look in poor condition. Coat often looks poor.

Sorry I've forgotten  what it's called and exactly what the problem stems from. Could be thyroid/ gland problem of some kind.

My old cat had it and my sisters old cat too. It is common and can be treated. Seem to remember sister's cat had surgery and mine had tablets as he was real old and had other problems too.

Might not be this but just a thought. It is common.

[Mammyshaz]

There are several conditions affecting elderly cats which can have these symptoms. One common one which is what I think ITH is referring to is an overactive thyroid gland. Symptoms include overeating, weigh loss, thinning and dullness of coat, change in behaviour, to name a few.
Blood tests are taken without too much stress and can often give the key reason for abnormal symptoms or poor condition. She sounds like she could do with a vcheck and tests, it may be something easily corrected.
  

[shygirl]

thanks, thats really helpful. il look into it further. shes just a moggy type.
my other cat (a persian cross) is 20 and shes looking really well again. iv no idea how long cats live for.

[lord flynn]

with older cats it could be thyroid, diabetes or even teeth so worth a quick test to find out. or you might just need some industrial strength wormer if she's a great hunter-just in case the worms she has are resistant to the wormers you are using.

[Dans]

There is also the possibility that she is getting forgetful, forgetting that she has eaten. Try giving her very small portions of food regularly.

Dans

[doganjo]

My boy, Rio, was crying for food, then not eating it - he's a great hunter and I thought it might be worms.  i wormed him but it took a full week before he was eating normally, so now I'm not sure.  He prefers wet food, and i let him have that to ensure he has fluids as I rarely see him drinking, but he is in the utility room at night and the kibble is eaten by morning.

Hope you find the answer shygirl.  In my experience 20 to 25 is pretty well max for cats.

[sss]

We had a couple of strays move in and we had always been amazed at how hungry they always were. One had a seizure a month ago and so off to the vets she went. A fewf blood tests and the like we found she had thyroid issues.  She is on one tablet a day and her appetite stopped and her coat looks much better. They did find a UTI as well, but that has been dealt with as well.

We then took the male in as I was sure he must have the same with his eating and again the blood results came back with high levels on the thyroid test. So on the tablets he went and both are much better.

[fsmnutter]

Sounds typical of overactive thyroid. Few things that cause increased appetite and getting thin, this sounds most likely.
It is easily treated, one tablet a day, but there are alternatives if tablets are impossible.
Well worth the blood sample

[shygirl]

thanks alot, i will book her in next week 

[lord flynn]

iv no idea how long cats live for.

as Dojango says, 20-25 is pretty much max but fwiw, they are considered physiologically geriatric at 15+ years.

[devonlady]

Have just read this as no longer have cats but if your cat cries for food and then won't/can't eat take a look in it's mouth. Our very last cat cried with hunger but refused to eat whatever I put down for her. God forgive me but I got impatient with her until I discovered  a huge tumour in her mouth. Poor dear had to be put down but what suffering I could have saved her with a bit of forward thinking.

[doganjo]

as Dojango says, 20-25 is pretty much max but fwiw, they are considered physiologically geriatric at 15+ years.

Shhhh, Rio's in the study with me!  Don't say that or he says he'll come and kill all your rats as punishment.  Geriatric indeed he just said