Advice on OAP - Ginger

[Gill]

Ok So I have never had a Pet Live for so long without moving house, and having to rehome them.

Ginger has been with us since she was 3 yrs old.

She is now the same age as me. Shows My age

Now the question id. How Much longer will She have, as I know my Mom Will Be devastated and so will my Gran, who Ginger has become Close to over the Last year.


She has had a Good life and Never wanted for anyhting. My Mother has smothered her in Kindness and Love.

She was a Rescue Cat who was the smalles of a Large Litter of Calicos. She was scared of Everyone and took months just to come out of Hiding.

After all these years She is still wary of being picked up and Will Only Sit with My father, Under his feet at the Sofa or next to the TV absorbing the Heat from the Fire.

My Main Concern at the Moment is that her Chin has become BALD. All the Hair is comin off, And she has began to drool alot, Leaves her tongue lolling around most of the time. So if she goes to Sleep Next to me in the Computer room on the Day Bed, there is a little puddle of Drool when she gets up. Is this anything to worry about, or is it just Oldage Catching u with her.

She is still very active and will catch birds and mice. She eats Well and Expensive OAP food. Gourmet Gold Range Only. She will get through about £10 of Food a week if she likes the flavour. We Feed her only Gravy Foods that she can LICK up, as she no longer has nay Front Teeth.

She has a Lovely Self Heated Greenhouse to live in @ Night. MUM Made DAD give up his green house and convert it into a Cat Congo. The covered the Entitr Frame with Consevatory Roofing Sheets Triple layer Thick.

When she was younger she had a larhe Sofa to Sleep on with Huge Bean bags Lying Around, and had free Run of the Veranda. She also had Her own Calor Gas Heater to heat the room thru the Colder Nights and as Many treats as she wanted.

She has always Been Mega Spolied by Me and Mum.

Opinions Please.

Sorry for the Long Post. But I needed to Giver as Much Background.

 

[fraservet]

excessive drooling is most likely due to problems with her teeth, but at her age as long as she is eating well, I wouldn't do anything.

realistically, she probably hasn't got a lot of time left, very old cats tend to develop problems with their kidneys if nothing else goes wrong, which can cause a quite rapid deterioration.

however, the key things are that she is active and eating, so who knows?

 

[The-Wolf]

Wow I had a cat live to 21 but never 28! thats a very long time and shows
how great a life she has had with you, I'm not sure on the world record but i belive it's around thirty, or so.

just one thing you say

My Main Concern at the Moment is that her Chin has become BALD. All the Hair is comin off, And she has began to drool alot, Leaves her tongue lolling around most of the time.

The baldness could be an indication of a parasite, like mites, fleas or she may have developed an allergy to something that has never bothered her before. on the other hand it could be just a sign of old age.
As said above drooling is a sign of gum disease or a build up of plaque on the teeth.
Now for the bad one, The lolling tounge.
My 7yrd cat has this problem, we thought nothing of it untill a routine visit to the vets, it turns out that the tounge sticking out is a sympton of a heart murmur.
My advise is to take Ginger to youe vets for a complete and thorugh check up.
I hope all is well with her, but I do fear the heart murmur.

 

[Link]

If she aint broke, dont fix her. She's doing great for a lady of her age and your family desserve much respect for helping her live to a ripe old age

She's gonna have various things that may not be right, like the baldness thing and the drool but if she's eating and drinking then she's happy.
If the problems were severe you'd know.

I'd leave her be to live out her days as a happy Cat, more importantly a happy cat with dignity.

Nice one

 

[Gill]

Thanks for the Advice Guys,

To Tell you the truth I am worried for her. I have never been good at saying goodbye to any of my Animals.

The tongue I will Look Into.

Mum hates the vets, so I will have to take her at the Weekend when Mum is at Grans.

I considered the Heart Murmur from my verterinary Training, But Didn't want or wish that on her.

Mum Tends to bless her every now and then, with Holy water from the Source of the Ganges River.

 

[fraservet]

IMO the tongue sticking out is most likely again due to dental problems

Your cat may have a heart murmur, but you say she is active and don't mention any coughing etc. so it seems to be mostly asymptomatic.

Even if she did have a heart murmur, would you want to put her through all the necessary tests and then start her on several tablets daily at her age?

You would probably be opening a can of worms - while testing her heart you may find she has kidney or liver problems, and also most probably an overactive thyroid.

Again - if she is well in herself, just let her get on with it.

 

[The-Wolf]

Again - if she is well in herself, just let her get on with it.

I'm sorry but as a cat owner that is proberbly the most
unconstructive advice I have ever heard.

I mentioned the heart murmur because mine has it and, although he is very well in himself, it is something that an owner needs to be aware of.
just because a cat does have a murmur does not nessicarily mean it needs medication. It is something that needs checking out, just to be sure.

 

[pebbles]

not really unconstructive wolf ... just maybe a personal opinion that a pet that is very elderly , happy, needs to be left to live its days in peace ..i think i would have got the bald patch looked at, it may be sore if it is wet .but realistically just keep up with more of the same . you have done a good job so far , and i wish you well with her ...pebbs

 

[Gill]

I will definetley have to take her to the Vets.

B4 I Went to bed last Night, When She was all Comfy infront of the fire.

I got her to open her mouth by wiggling my little finger slowly around her mouth then levered it open.

She has a Grey Lump above where she drools from, she was in alot of discomfort when i had her mouth open.

I don't get it really.

She can still catch birds and eat them without any probs, but I want to make sure.


The Only thing that I can think of is that She Will not stop drinking the Bettas Water, She likes the taste of Tetra Dechlorinator. Thats the only recentish change in her behaviour. But she has Always had a thing about drinking water out of vases and Bowls. She will not drink Fresh Clean Water, and will only drink from puddle's, the Pond and the Bettas Bowls.

 

[Samage]

I'm not sure on the world record but i belive it's around thirty, or so.

Apparently the oldest ever cat was 34 years, two months and four hours. Althought the oldest LIVING cat is only 27 (see here) - seems PS has a new record here!

 

[fraservet]

Wolf - I will try to explain what I meant better. First of all, I have never heard that the tongue hanging out is a symptom of a functional heart murmur. The signs that owners generally notice are lethargy and signs of fluid build up in the lungs (coughing, increased respiratory effort, mouth breathing etc.).
If this cat does have a heart murmur, from what has been said it doesn't seem to be causing any symptoms. Going to a vet and having it confirmed or denied will make no difference, as there will be no treatment in an asymptomatic animal.
Certainly if clinical signs develop, further investigation is warranted.
The reason I would not advise doing anything in this case is the cat's age. The next step would be to xray the cats chest. This would require an anaesthetic in almost all cases - this cat would be a poor anaesthetic risk, so I certainly wouldn't advise this where there are no clinical signs.
In a younger animal, such as yours, then further workup may be indicated.

psgill00 - the grey lump you mention is almost certainly a large build up of plaque on your cats teeth. There will also be infection underneath/in the tooth roots. This certainly explains the drooling and the tongue sticking out.
Your cat ideally needs her teeth cleaned, and probably mostly removed. Again, this would require and anaesthetic which you might not want to put her through, but she should see the vet to determine the extent of the problem.

 

[Gill]

psgill00 - the grey lump you mention is almost certainly a large build up of plaque on your cats teeth. There will also be infection underneath/in the tooth roots. This certainly explains the drooling and the tongue sticking out.
Your cat ideally needs her teeth cleaned, and probably mostly removed. Again, this would require and anaesthetic which you might not want to put her through, but she should see the vet to determine the extent of the problem.

Sorry - she has no Teeth, apart from 1 incisor left.

She can only eat foods in gravy as she can lick these up easy than jelly foods.

The lump is not on her jaw, but a part of her "Lips" per say. If yuo know I Mean.

I do not want to put her thru anything that will shock her too much, so I will see how Much a Home Visit Costs. If it is reasonable then will arrange it. If not will have to buy some sedative pre-visit and wait for it to take effect b4 taking her to the vets.

 

[fraservet]

oh well, if it's attached to her gums it could be a number of things, sorry I can't be more helpful (although if you post a picture I might have a better idea).
it definately sounds like she needs examined by your vet.

I would strongly advise against giving your cat a sedative before taking her to the vet though, it could cause all sorts of problems at her age. She might not like being taken, but the sedative would cause more shock to her system.

 

[Gill]

Heres A Pic of her This Morning, She is really Annoyed that the bettas are gone.

 

[Gill]

Discovered the Cause of the Drooling.

We Give her a Variety of Gourmet Gold Gravy and gourmet Gold Pearl.

Its the Pearl Food that makes her Drool, She gets it all over her face and tries to lick it off and leaves patches of it on her chin. she then starts to drool as she can still taste it.

Silly Old Biddy - But she is till Lovely.

Last Night She was tooo Cosy and Didn't want o go to bed. so she Ran Behind the PC and Would Not Come Out. Had to turn it off and move it all to get her out.