quality of life vs quantity for a 20 yr old cat

[fatflatfrog]

i have a 20 year old cat that i am sure has diabetes.
i have had him treated recently for urinary issues but he also eats anything and everything he can, vomits often, drinks non stop from his flowing water bowl - sink - toilet (if i forget to close the lid) - my glass - the bottom of the sink... he's lost all of his body fat, meows and purrs all the time. he really has every symptom.
has anyone had this with a cat this old? i don't want him to suffer anymore. my vet gives me generic answers as he doesnt want to directly tell me to treat or not to treat. i have not had blood work done yet -( i am on a budget and have my own health issues and a toddler.)
right now i just have a dish of hard food always available, keep his flowing water bowl fresh, give him canned soft food once a day and i dont scold him for eating food from the countertop or the sink/dirty dishes. (today he ate part of a strawberry and chocolate cake crumbs!)
any advise - comments (nice ones) would certainly be appreciated. thanks!

 

[Hope + (((Baby)))GA]

I would at least try removing ALL DRY food and making sure he doesn't get into anything like cake, cereal, break, pizza crust, etc. Give him a few days of stictly canned food and see if you notice a difference in his drinking and urinating. Also, if he is diabetic, feed him all he wants to eat....his body is starving for food.

 

[BJM]

An untreated diabetic is essentially starving to death, even if eating voraciously.
Changing his food to low carb canned food may or may not be sufficient to control it. An excellent resource is Cat Info

An inexpensive food choice is Friskies pates; I feed it to all of my 14.

 

[JL and Chip]

Has your vet checked for hyperthyroidism? That's easily treatable and not uncommon in older cats. My Charlie ate weird things and exhibited strange behavior when he was hyperT. Information is power -- I'd do the bloodwork, including a thyroid panel -- rather than making assumptions. Then you can focus on the actual diagnosis and make an informed choice about what path to take.

Good for you for asking for input rather than just euthanizing. If you do the tests, please come back and share the results. Many of us have dealt with far more than just diabetes and are willing to share information and knowledge. Yes, we care. We want to help.

 

[Jean and Charcoal]

Wow, how amazing to have a cat live to 20 years old! I hear more people talking about their cats living longer and longer and it amazes me!

I just lost my oldest tortie cat I ever had, and she was born in my house, and was 17 and a half when she died. I sure wish she could have held on for another three years. But, her 'quality' of life was totally shot, and I had to let her go. She was not diabetic, but had end stage renal disease and other diseases including cancer.

It is hard to watch a cat literally starve to death, and that is what my girl was doing at the end. So, it is hard to advise you on whether your boy is really suffering or not, but try to give him whatever he will eat in canned food, but you did mention he vomits often? He sounds like he just can't keep enough food in his poor thin body, to sustain him enough to feel 'good'. He probably really feels nauseated but has a heck of a drive to keep eating and drinking. He must be a really loving cat.

If there is any way possible, I think it would be wise to get his blood work done, and go from there. Is he your only cat?

If you are feeling his bones, and he has lost muscle mass, that is very hard on a cat. Is he able to walk okay? He must have a really strong heart to live this long.

Please let us know how he is doing, and if you are able to get him tested for the hyper thyroidism, and other things.

Take care! It sure sounds like you love this sweet boy a whole lot, but sometimes, we do have to know when to let them go, especially if he is eating and drinking that much and also vomiting. He may also have kidney failure going on, and that was so hard to watch my Ketchie girl go downhill from feeling so nauseated, as much as I tried to do for her, I had to love her enough to let her go.

God bless you and your little toddler and your sweet furbaby!
Jean and Charcoal (GA) cat_pet_icon

 

[LynnLee + Mousie]

fwiw, the non stop drinking could also be kidney issues at that age. i have 3 20 year olds and 2 out of the 3 have tired kidneys and need some help from me. they all get bottled water rather than tap, lower phosphorous foods, one gets phosphorous binders and the two get subq fluids....all at home. LePew has had tired kidneys for a couple years now and his brother only recently was diagnosed. LePew spends his days going to and from the water bowl sometimes it seems and both boys talk up a storm sometimes, very deep guttural meooowwwowwahhhs

and kitties get muscle wasting as they get older too.

do you by chance know any human diabetics? someone you could borrow their glucose meter from? it's not definitive but it would help as far as knowing if what is wrong is diabetes or not.

 

[Mary & Simba]

My cat is about to turn 18, and he developed diabetes just before his 17th birthday. He used to get up on the counter, in the sink, dirty dish water, and it was all a sign that his sugar was too high. Just before his diagnosis, he had an inflamed liver, he developed E.coli and a UTI. After about a month and a half of ProZinc, and a change of food to FF Classics, he was diet controlled for a year. He's back on the insulin due to unaddressed inflamed liver issues and constipation, which we are working on now. When his sugar is under control, he never gets up on the counters or seeks out water in non-designated places, but that still remains a warning for me, and his way of communicating what he needs. My cat also seeks out cold places when his sugar is too high for too long. My vet wasn't going to test him for diabetes until I insisted on it, because he was always a small skinny cat, even for a Himalayan breed. She was so sure he couldn't be diabetic, imagine her shock when he was.

 

[SierraNevadan]

Congratulations on your 20 year old cat!

What I would do if he were mine and wanted to try some simple, cheap, likely helpful things first?

If he eats canned readily, I'd remove the dry completely, feed the grocery store brand canned pate-style foods, like Friskies pates (without gravies or sauces), eliminated the human treats esp the sugary desserts and that should both help his diabetes and urinary issues. For treats you can save him a piece of plain meat from your dinner (wash off any spices or sauces or save a piece before you start to cook). Many cats resolve their diabetes completely just by eliminating the grains and other carbohydrates (sugars, starches, potatoes, etc) from their food. It's worth a try if he enjoys wet foods anyway.

Also, many small meals spread out over the day are better for his blood sugar than 1 or 2 huge ones. That also might prevent him from vomiting so much if gorging on food is his problem. Try feeding him 4-6 mini meals spread throughout the day.

Diabetics lose weight because they can't make use of the food they're eating even though they eat a lot. Lowering his blood sugar either through diet or insulin therapy is critical to his maintaining a healthy weight.

Do you have a friend with a glucose monitor? Ask to borrow it and take a few samples to see if high blood sugar is his problem. There are videos on youtube and some good threads here about home testing your cat.