I could use some suggestions/advice with regards to my little old guy Lemmy.

He is 15 (will turn 16 in March). He has arthritis, severe cataracts/poor vision, and dementia. He’s also a big boy (Maine coon mix that weighs 20lbs). A few weeks ago we had an incident where he jumped off the sofa at night and injured his right front leg. We ended up giving him a dose of Onsior for 2 days and then he was back to his usual self. The Onsior is the only medication that he is prescribed, and it’s for days when his pain is worse than usual and he’s only ever taken it this one time. Otherwise his vet seems pretty opposed to treating his pain unless it’s with an injection monthly, which I worry would stress him out since he hates going to the vet.

Well after this incident, we made a lot of changes to reduce Lemmy’s risk of hurting himself again. To be honest, I worry he will break something jumping off the sofa and wouldn’t be able to tolerate surgery/healing and I would lose my cat over something like him jumping off the sofa. So as a result, I bought a baby gate and I now put it up in the hall upstairs at night. This restricts him to our bedroom and adjoining bathroom, 1/2 of the hall, and the large bathroom upstairs where his litter box is. We also set up a food/water station downstairs and a second litter box downstairs so that he doesn’t have to go up/down the stairs as much. We also pick him up and set him on and set him off the sofa when he wants up/down. We’ve stopped coming in through the garage when we leave the house because he seems to think this means we have something for him and he would jump off the sofa if he is on it. So now we exclusively go in/out through the front door.

At night our routine consists of feeding him his nighttime wet food dinner around 10:30pm, and then giving him his evening dose of his joint supplement right before I go to bed. Then we clean his box, put up the gate, and go to sleep. I have a nightlight in the big bathroom. I have a small dim light that shuts off on a timer that I set for 2 hours in my bedroom, as well as a blue light that is on my air purifier that lights up a good portion of the bedroom. He has cozy comfortable areas where he likes to sleep in my room that are set up for him.

Lately I am finding that he wakes me up multiple time per night meowing or caterwauling. When he does this he is usually roaming around the bedroom or has wandered out into the hall. Sometimes all that it takes is me talking to him for a few minutes and then he will go lay back down and go to sleep. Other times, he will continue to meow for 5-10 minutes straight until he gets tired of it.

He used to do this maybe once or so at night when downstairs by himself when he would carry toys around in his mouth. At this point it is happening every couple of hours or so. One night it happened 5 times.

I bought a Feliway diffuser and plugged that in. I can’t really tell that it is helping at all. I also bought some “calming bites” by the brand Zesty Pet at PetCo. Unfortunately they are VERY strongly bacon flavored/scented. I’ve given him 1/2 of the suggested dose for his size 4-5 times now, but twice he has thrown up about 30min later. The first time I thought it was probably a coincidence. But after it happened a second time, I don’t believe it is and think that it is possibly due to the bacon flavoring.

He was just seen by his vet about 6 weeks ago, and there is nothing new that is physically wrong with him. He is not currently on any regular medications. I am not opposed to asking his vet about medications to help.

I would love to hear some suggestions on what I might be able to try that could help him maybe sleep better and not struggle like this at night. It would also be nice to get a bit more sleep myself.

13 year old lady was recently diagnosed with STS. She’s been on transdermal Gabapentin and Cerenia for 2 weeks. Steroids for 10 days but it’s rough. She vomits 40% of the time right after. For anyone else who had this experience with a pet any advice?

They are suggesting 4-6 radiation treatments. Closest place to me is a 2 hour drive. Took her in for the consult and FNA, ultrasound but wary of making her miserable if the outcome doesn’t look good regardless.

Any advice would be welcome. I’ve had this sweety for 12.5 years. Only want what’s best for her.

Clearly I'm starving her 🙄, the poor thing hahah. She is currently ignoring me.

She needs some blood drawn for a regular checkup, and needs to be sober.

Hi everyone!

I have a gorgeous, loving, very healthy 13 year old Tortie. This year I've noticed that when she purrs she starts to swallow A LOT and the last few months her voice has gotten quieter and changed a bit in quality--think teenage boy in puberty/cracking.

I took her to the vet yesterday and they offered to to a respiratory virus panel but I kind of doubt she's had a RV for months with no discharge, coughing, etc. and it was fairly expensive. She looked good on physical exam except one tooth with a very small amount of restoration. It makes sense to me that could make a cat salivate more but it was really quite mild.

Do folks have any other thoughts? I'd hate to miss something serious.

Thanks for any input! I do trust our vet but just thinking many brains better than two:)

Java was the shyest cat at the shelter 12 years ago. Her brother got adopted but she didn't get picked. I think she was sad and lonely. Sweet but shy. She has come out of her shell a little bit over the years and has mentally survived three moves big moves. Her favorite things are sleeping in the sun, hiding, meowring gently, and chirping for pettins.

This is Tunzon he’s a lovely 15 year old boy who loves to play and eat! But he’s had some drippy eye business. Took him to the vet checked for any eye scratches and infections and there was none! They found out he has feline herpes ( a cat cold), some days it’s better but some worse. Almost like he has flares. We did two rounds of medication and it does well and then comes back. I think more than anything it’s just annoying for him. Does anyone else older kitty have this? And if so what do you do to help? I constantly wipe his eyes gently but I wish I could do more!

I've had my sweet old lady for 16 years. She was 4 when we adopted her, and she quickly became my best friend. She's began to lose weight, sleeping a lot more, but still comes running when the cheese bag crinkles. It lurks in the back of my mind that her time is coming and I am absolutely dreading it. We've grown up together, she's seen both of my children come home and braved many life changes. I don't know how to prepare for the day I come home and she's not there.

Hi, all - my senior boy is almost 17 and is scheduled for a dental cleaning. I know he has some teeth discomfort (likely resorption), but he still eats normally and is overall a happy cat. I'm concerned about the dental because he has numerous health issues including a grade 3 heart murmur, (mild) HCM, stage 2 kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, hypertension, IBD, and a history of seizures. I don't want him to be in any pain or discomfort, but I'm also terrified of him being put under anesthesia (or the anesthesia exacerbating any health issues).

I've gotten opinions from different vets on this (the opinions are mixed), and he is scheduled with a specialist. This is such a hard decision and I'm just curious if anyone has been in a similar situation. I love my cat so much and just want to do right by him.

A few health challenges this year, but we’re working through them and enjoying life as much as we can 😸 😸

Since it looks we get to have a mostly sunny fall day here in Portland, I need to set up her comfy window sill perch so she can soak it all up.