Elderly Cat: Illness and Behavior

by Ryder
(Baker City, OR)

About 18 months ago, my cat, Purgi, sneaked into the house and was eating out of the cat dish. I was about to kick her out when she looked up me. One eye was badly glazed over, the cat had only one tooth hanging down, and her cat hair was badly matted. She gave me that look and I said, “You poor thing!”

I took this cat to the veterinarian to make sure she didn't have some bad feline disease that the other cats might get and blood test were given and they came back that she was okay. Some feline medication drops were given for her eye, but they did not help. We also had her cat hair clipped to get rid of the matted fur. This cat looks and acts old, walking very slowly, which I'm sure is from cat arthritis. But the cat adapted to the rest of household with no problems.

Then, a couple of months ago, she starting eating less and had bad breath, so we took her to veterinarian. They removed the one remaining canine tooth she had hanging down, ran some blood work and everything came back fine. Since then, though, her habits had changed greatly, and my cat has been sleeping in new spots away from everybody.

She had developed some new cat illness symptoms, too. Her third eye lid was staying closed a little, her right ear was warm, and her right lymph node was extremely swollen. So, back to the veterinarian we took our sick elderly cat and the vet withdrew some cells from lymph node to see if they were feline cancer.

When my veterinarian came back, he stated that he was not a pathologists, but that he saw a lot of cells that appeared to be the same and would have expected to see a lot of cells that where different if it were cat cancer. Still, we opted to have the slide sent to a lab to be looked at by a pathologist. My cat was given another long lasting feline antibiotic, but it will be over two weeks before news from the lab will be back.

Since the biopsy, the swelling in my cat's neck has gone down, and she is hanging out a little more like she used to, but you can tell something just isn't right. The cat hasn't gone used the litter box in a couple of days and I've been giving her some cat hairball lubricant stuff to help with cat constipation. So, the confusing part of all of this is that the cat's blood tests are all fine. However, slides from the cat's biopsy are being sent to a lab to be looked at.

My thought is this: My cat is old and just took really poorly to the infected tooth and the stress of going to the veterinarian three times in a row now. Maybe it will just take her a while to recover. Euthanasia has been considered, but this kitty still seems to want to stay around.

Presently, she goes to the water bowl, and since she cannot see it very well, she sticks her paw in. Recently she really knocks it around, I guess to get the water moving around so she can she it. Generally, you can tell my cat has a hard time swallowing, and you can tell that she is forcing herself to eat because she will make her slow walk to her bowl and does not eat much. She makes a mess of her face, which of course she needs help with cleaning off.


Tonight, though, for the first time in week, my cat came over to the chair and put her paws on the arm of chair to be picked up with that look, just like the first day I met her that made me fall in love with this old pathetic looking cat.

Do you think I'm right and that she just needs some time to heal? Or should I maybe consider seeing a different veterinarian? Any thoughts would helpful.


Dear Ryder,

Thank you for writing in with concern for your rescued elderly kitty. I applaud you for the thorough cat care you are providing for your cat.

There are several things to address from your cat question, starting with her current cat illness symptoms. Stress can certainly contribute to physical ailments in cats, and can even cause kidney failure in older cats. Of course, it can definitely take your cat time to recover from a tooth extraction, a cat infection, or even just the emotional stress of several trips to the veterinarian.

Regarding the swollen lymph node biopsy, sending the slides to the pathologist was very smart, even if the cells looked okay to your veterinarian. The fact that the size of the lymph node has decreased in size since your cat has been given antibiotics suggests that it may be an infection, which is a good sign. However, it is very possible that your cat’s bloodwork could be perfect and that she could still have cat cancer somewhere in her body.

The decreased appetite is definitely cause for concern, and may require an additional trip to your veterinarian. If you could weigh her regularly, even at home, to make sure she is eating enough, though, and not losing weight, she may just be having trouble adjusting to eating with no teeth, even if she had only had one tooth left before her extraction.

Unfortunately, the only choice right now is to wait and see what the results are from the pathology report. When it comes to euthanasia, the best decision will really need to be based on her quality of life. If she is eating and drinking okay, doesn’t seem to be in pain, and seems to have quality of life, I would agree with you that your cat doesn’t seem to be ready to leave yet. In fact, it sounds as though she has started to show improvements in her cat behavior and is returning to her normal self in recent days, and it also sounds as though her physical cat illness symptoms are improving.

In all honesty, I don’t hear anything particularly concerning about the way your veterinarian is treating your cat. As hard as it is, it sounds as though all you can do right now is continue to wait to see what happens for your cats health with her biopsy results. Of course, if your cat stops eating, drinking, starts to show signs of being in pain, or seems to be losing her quality of life, I would recommend that you bring her to your veterinarian again for a follow-up.

Wishing you and Purgi all the best,
Dr. Neely