Here We Go Again ... New Illnesses In Our Older Cats

Since losing Amber and Tasha last September, our cats have been relatively healthy – at least as healthy as a group of 13 senior-to-geriatric cats can be. Then -- around New Year’s -- that started to change. We weighed them in early January, and found a few of them had lost significant amounts of weight. And -- since cats are so good at hiding illness -- weight loss is often your first clue that something’s not right. We keep a digital baby scale on hand just for this purpose.

Gloria – our 19-year old matriarch -- had dropped from 10 lbs in October to 8 lbs 12 ounces in January. Since she had been diagnosed in September with early-stage kidney disease we took her to the vet for evaluation. During her exam the vet noticed she had a Grade 3 heart murmur (scale of 1-6) and hypothesized that hypertension may be the cause – since it afflicts about 20% of all cats with chronic kidney disease. We took her blood pressure – and sure enough – it was high – ranging from 190-210. We put Gloria on amlopodine and rechecked the blood pressure a week later and it had dropped back to the normal range – averaging about 150. She’ll need medication now for the rest of her life. We chose to have it compounded in a chicken-flavored liquid over giving her a pill (Norvasc) because the pill is thin and brittle -- and quartering it – the common dose for cats -- is almost impossible without it splintering. The liquid form is a little more expensive but it tastes good and ensures a consistent dosing.

13-year old Keja had lost almost 2 pounds since we weighed her in late September. She was born with allergies and we had been giving her Vetalog (steroids) twice a week over the time she’s lived with us to control the itching from the allergies. When we moved to Santa Fe we weaned her off of Vetalog – with the hope her allergies might not be triggered by the arid climate. But by January her ears – the first area to show allergic distress -- were black and gunky. We treated them topically with a combination steroid/antibiotic drop and they cleared up – at least for awhile. Then earlier this week we noticed her forehead was inflamed and she had lost some of the skin on her nose so she went back to the vet. This time she got a steroid injection (faster-acting then pills) and an antibiotic (to treat a possible staph infection) and the inflammation quickly cleared up. As much as we’d prefer not to keep her on steroids, we know they’re needed to keep her comfortable but do worry about how they’ll complicate her chronic kidney disease – also newly-diagnosed.

15-year old Coswell’s January vet trip was to recheck his thyroid – he’s been hyperthyroid since last August – and because he too was losing weight, I thought the dose might need to be adjusted – as hyperthyroid cats tend to eat a lot yet still lose weight. It turned out the thyroid was well managed– so it wasn’t the source of the weight loss – and beyond that he seemed reasonably healthy – although very thin. But, only two weeks later, he started having diarrhea and vomiting. I weighed him again and found he had lost still another pound. So Coswell went back to the vet and this time they kept him to do an ultrasound which uncovered a growth on his colon. They aspirated a few cells and diagnosed him with lymphoblastic lymphoma – a very aggressive cancer. We chose not to pursue chemotherapy– it could potentially extend his life but only for a few months – and are treating him now with steroids and Vitamin B to keep him comfortable and possibly shrink the tumor. His appetite has improved and he’s put back a little bit of the lost weight.

While Coswell was at the clinic, we found new vomit and diarrhea and realized he wasn’t the only sick cat in our house. The other sick cat turned out to be 17-year old Missy. We worried that we might have a virus running through the house -- since her symptoms were so similar to Coswell’s -- but her lab results were completely different so it was just a coincidence. Since Missy didn’t feel well she was pretty ornery at the clinic making a thorough check-up difficult. Instead we treated her symptoms with antibiotics and supplements and they seem to have calmed her digestive down – at least for the time being.

It’s been quite a winter for the cats and it’s kind of sad to watch these sweet cats follow the patterns of those we’ve previously lost – kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, cancer and intestinal problems. We know they still have a fair amount of time left -- but you can’t help but think their quality of life is somewhat diminished when they start needing quarterly vet visits and trays of medications to manage their health. We’ll try to keep them as comfortable as possible – for as long as possible -- and can only wait to see what happens. Not only are cats masters of hiding illness, they’re also masters of handling illness too.

To learn more about our group of retirement cats, click on older cats.