Need some help puzzling through what to do for my oldest cat. A little background:
she is 15 years old and is indoor only. She is a simple cat who is happy with basics: she likes to sleep in the closet or in winter on the heat register, toddles down to whine loudly for food, eats, uses the litter box, then toddles happily back up to sleep in the closet or on a bed. Not very complicated and she cheerily likes it that way. She arrived as a foster kitten when she was five weeks old, then decided she didn't want to leave so hissed at anyone interested in adopting her. It worked, she stayed. She gets VERY stressed out by vets and used to go off her food for a day or so after a visit. Major trauma. We eventually quit taking her & haven't taken her in for years now--no shots, nothing-because she never goes out and the other house pets who do are all vaccinated annually.
She has been looking like old lint for the past couple months: a bit thin, wide + flattish. Still happy and upbeat. Considering she is 15 I wasn't utterly surprised--figured she's an old cat, and it might be close to her time. Then she was showing reactions to flea bites, and gums a bit paler than normal. Our other cat is an indoor/outdoor, so I blame him for giving her fleas. (He doesn't react to fleas at all.). Treated her for fleas, treated her for tapeworms just in case that is why she was looking thin (figured pale gums from blood loss either due to flea bites or she ate a flea and developed tape worms), and treated the house. She looks the same, still toddles around enjoying her simple pleasures, but still looks like dryer lint and is beginning to sound...squishy,..when she wakes up in the morning. If you heard a sponge breathe, it would sound like her. Damo, crackly. Goes away after she's up. Pneumonia?
Here is my question: what to do to treat her. DO I treat her. If I take her to the vet, there is a chance that the stress from blood samples and other tests might kill her on the spot,. (I had that happen with an ancient cat once before, so I'm paranoid.) Plus, it is danged near impossible to go to a vet in this area without a bill of a few hundred dollars, and money is tight right now. I don't have it, they don't bill--payment up front. Any suggestions on treatments or meds to try at home before a vet? Knowing how miserable she is about vets, am I being cruel if I take her to one at this point in her life? Or am I being neglectful by not taking her and should get her to a vet NOW. Suggestions?
she is 15 years old and is indoor only. She is a simple cat who is happy with basics: she likes to sleep in the closet or in winter on the heat register, toddles down to whine loudly for food, eats, uses the litter box, then toddles happily back up to sleep in the closet or on a bed. Not very complicated and she cheerily likes it that way. She arrived as a foster kitten when she was five weeks old, then decided she didn't want to leave so hissed at anyone interested in adopting her. It worked, she stayed. She gets VERY stressed out by vets and used to go off her food for a day or so after a visit. Major trauma. We eventually quit taking her & haven't taken her in for years now--no shots, nothing-because she never goes out and the other house pets who do are all vaccinated annually.
She has been looking like old lint for the past couple months: a bit thin, wide + flattish. Still happy and upbeat. Considering she is 15 I wasn't utterly surprised--figured she's an old cat, and it might be close to her time. Then she was showing reactions to flea bites, and gums a bit paler than normal. Our other cat is an indoor/outdoor, so I blame him for giving her fleas. (He doesn't react to fleas at all.). Treated her for fleas, treated her for tapeworms just in case that is why she was looking thin (figured pale gums from blood loss either due to flea bites or she ate a flea and developed tape worms), and treated the house. She looks the same, still toddles around enjoying her simple pleasures, but still looks like dryer lint and is beginning to sound...squishy,..when she wakes up in the morning. If you heard a sponge breathe, it would sound like her. Damo, crackly. Goes away after she's up. Pneumonia?
Here is my question: what to do to treat her. DO I treat her. If I take her to the vet, there is a chance that the stress from blood samples and other tests might kill her on the spot,. (I had that happen with an ancient cat once before, so I'm paranoid.) Plus, it is danged near impossible to go to a vet in this area without a bill of a few hundred dollars, and money is tight right now. I don't have it, they don't bill--payment up front. Any suggestions on treatments or meds to try at home before a vet? Knowing how miserable she is about vets, am I being cruel if I take her to one at this point in her life? Or am I being neglectful by not taking her and should get her to a vet NOW. Suggestions?
