My neighbor asked me to look at her cat who has suddenly started being relatively stinky. You can smell her about 3 feet away and anything she sits on stinks. This cat, Ann, hates people besides her mom and always hides when people come over, but yesterday let me come up to her and pet her when she’s never even met me before.
Her gums are healthy pink, her eyes are alert, but she is pretty smelly. Her fur has health to it, but matted from not cleaning. My neighbor said brushing is too painful so she’s just been trying to do what she can with her fingers, but her cat is only medium hair and still pretty matted on her back legs.
She is not laying in her own urine or feces, she went to the litter box while I was over. However, it took her about five minutes to make her about 20 feet to the box. She stopped every couple steps and sat down. Then she’d take a few more steps and stop.
She’s still responding to her name and seems very much “still there.” Her brother is the same age and they tend to scrap a lot, but apparently he has been giving her a lot of space, even giving up his favorite blanket and lounge chair to Ann.
My neighbor got Ann and her brother as feral kittens, and they absolutely hate the vet. They’ve had traumatic events when they were younger from the vet so she started self medicating and giving shots as necessary. When her third cat was ready to pass about 8 years ago she had a vet make a house call. She really does not want to have to take Ann anywhere and would like her to pass peacefully at home but is also worried about Ann being in unnecessary pain for a long time.
I work almost strictly with kittens and cats under 10 years. I have had kittens pass (unfortunately a too common experience with street cat babies) and I was always able to tell if they were getting ready to go. Ann doesn’t seem to be in pain and she seems very responsive, but I am not a vet and don’t have experience with cats passing from old age. Any advice on what could be happening? Is Ann hiding her pain or just getting ready to go naturally?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/eq228a/19_year_old_cat_suddenly_stinky_possibly_passing/
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