How long did your cats live?

[Anonymous]

How old were your cats when they died? I've had cats die of natural causes at between 16 and 18, and younger with cancer.

We have a cat now who's about 13.5. He's healthy but seems to be winding down. There's nothing wrong with him but he just suddenly started looking like a senior cat. I guess it's possibly he will go on like this for a couple more years. Just wondering what other people's experiences are with geriatric cats and when they started looking old.

[Anonymous]

I recently lost one at 13 from diabetes. Just looking old was the first symptom. I would take your cat in for a senior bloodwork panel. Unfortunately my cat developed resistance to his insulin treatments and that eventually killed him, but many senior issues are treatable. The diabetes treatment was pretty simple, shots twice a day. my 11 year old learned to do them and served as the vet tech for over a year.

My other 13 yo cat looks fit as a fiddle. That's a little young, IMO, for noticeable decline.

[Anonymous]

I lost mine just shy of his 20th birthday. He was really healthy and spry until maybe 17 or 18, then still very healthy, but he slowed down a bit. He really slowed just in the last few months of his life.

[Anonymous]

I lost one at 13 due to a blood clot to his aorta. Very sudden and painful.

[Anonymous]

We had one that died at 16; one that died at 21 and one that just died at 15.

[Anonymous]

10 (polycystic kidney disease), 15 (sudden death; had some health concerns and had started looking old but no behavior changes); 15? (rapid death; thyroid problems); 17 (kidney/tumor).

[Anonymous]

I was just thinking about this - our current cat is about 14 but suddenly started looking and acting much older and skinnier. We are awaiting labwork results

My previous cats have lived to be 20, 19 and 21! We have been lucky.

[Anonymous]

10 (but I think it had a lot to do with the death of our dog who he was insanely close to)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10 (but I think it had a lot to do with the death of our dog who he was insanely close to)

Oh wow, our old dog died in the spring. I was actually wondering if that had affected our cat.

[Anonymous]

Both cats lived to 19.

[Anonymous]

15, died of osteosarcoma.

[Anonymous]

17.5, outdoor cat. Kidney failure.

[Anonymous]

15 and 16.

[Anonymous]

We are in what we expect to be the final weeks of our 16 year old cats life. We found a very large tumor in his lung when he was 11 (unrelated scan in preparation for thyroid treatment). It took up about 1/3rd of his lung, and everyone thought he would be a goner in 3 months. He has been on subq fluids for kidney disease for a year and a half, and daily meds for thyroid for the last 5 years since we didn't do the radioactive treatment at that time. He has been active and happy the whole time, I kept thinking... surely this is it. For thr last 5 years.

In the last couple days we noticed some more rapid abdominal breathing, and found out yesterday he has pleural effusion, fluid surrounding his lungs, most certainly due to the tumor. First symptom he has really ever had from it, wildly enough. He is still comfortable, eating, snuggling, walking and jumping, etc. So we are just spending lots of time with him and hoping we make the call early enough to avoid real suffering. This morning I was sure today was the day but then he seemed to improve. We will see how tonight is, I wonder if things get worse at night.

Thanks for letting me blurt here. I've been crying off and on for the last 2 days. I've had him since I was 19, I've worked from home for the last 10 years and he has been my constant companion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in what we expect to be the final weeks of our 16 year old cats life. We found a very large tumor in his lung when he was 11 (unrelated scan in preparation for thyroid treatment). It took up about 1/3rd of his lung, and everyone thought he would be a goner in 3 months. He has been on subq fluids for kidney disease for a year and a half, and daily meds for thyroid for the last 5 years since we didn't do the radioactive treatment at that time. He has been active and happy the whole time, I kept thinking... surely this is it. For thr last 5 years.

In the last couple days we noticed some more rapid abdominal breathing, and found out yesterday he has pleural effusion, fluid surrounding his lungs, most certainly due to the tumor. First symptom he has really ever had from it, wildly enough. He is still comfortable, eating, snuggling, walking and jumping, etc. So we are just spending lots of time with him and hoping we make the call early enough to avoid real suffering. This morning I was sure today was the day but then he seemed to improve. We will see how tonight is, I wonder if things get worse at night.

Thanks for letting me blurt here. I've been crying off and on for the last 2 days. I've had him since I was 19, I've worked from home for the last 10 years and he has been my constant companion.

I'm sorry, PP. He was a bridge from your teen years to your 30s. That's quite a stretch.