old man kitty not doing well :(

[alicia622]

Our oldest cat, Sidney, is 15 and a half. He has always been a big aggressive cat. He started losing weight earlier this spring and we took him to the vet about a month ago and learned he had lost half of his body weight (16 to 8 pounds). They ran some tests and told me he has a hyper thyroid condition and so we started him on meds. I didn't think they did much of anything for him and we just went back to check his levels. They were unable to do this because he hadn't had a dose in a couple days due to running out. They weighed him again and he was down to 6 pounds. He had no fat on him to begin with so he has lost all muscle and is really just skin and bones. The vet upped the dose of his medicine and we have an appt to go back in a couple weeks (before we run out of pills this time!). The vet did tell me his thyroid levels were only slightly elevated initially, he seems to be in good shape for such an old guy and that it's possible he is just old. She said the weight loss could simply be from being old.

Recently Sid has started having litter box accidents. He has pooped in DS's room a few times and he also has started leaving a trail of black drops around the house. When I clean them up, they really stink- a different smell than regular stinky cat poop. I didn't tell the vet about these other than to say he has had some accidents and it seems that it is diarreah and he just can't make it to the box. Well, this morning the black nature of the drops stood out to me and I though- OMG this is dried blood

My plan is to call the vet in the morning and let them know my realization.

Does anyone have any other explanations for what the black splats may be?

[CrazyCatLady]

I have nine cats so I didn't want to read and not respond.

I have no idea what it could be. Some of our cats have had all these symptoms within days of their dying (they were all old too). But I hate saying that.

I hope someone here or your vet can help more. I hope Sidney feels better soon.

[Katie T]

It does sound like the black dots are old blood, and I know when humans have a GI bleed it has a very unique smell. Hard to explain but I could pin it anywhere. (I work in a hospital).

I know nothing about cats, but I hope your poor kitty all the best.

[mama2004]

I'm so sorry about your kitty. I just lost one who was 16 a few months ago, and have her "sibling" who is struggling with what is probably cancer.

You said that the black dots had a particularly foul smell, is it possible to see if Sydney's anal glands are impacted/inflamed/infected? I didn't know that could happen with cats, but it happened to one of ours, and the smell was like something dead dipped in poop, rolled in something dead, and spritzed with poop juice. It was just awful. Given the pooping outside the box, maybe your kitty was trying to tell you something about his rear?

Also, I only know about this from our recent limited experience, but my Oscar tested as very slightly hyperthyroid, too, but because he has other symptoms/disease processes going on, the vet we see didn't really even register it as an issue (possibly a contributing cause), because of how hard the thyroid meds are on the kidneys of a cat, which in an old cat are probably already compromised, so there's the issue of a risk benefit analysis there. How is Sydney's appetite and behavior in general?

Oscar is on prednisolone to try to control some inflammation, and he gained about a pound in a month or so of using the pred, although we're doing it a bit off label, since it's not meant to be a long term thing (hard on the kidneys too), but we're just trying to keep him comfortable until we can't anymore.

ETA, an abrupt change in diet probably isn't advisable, but just to make things easier on his body/get more calories and fluids into him, would it be possible for you to consider slowly switching to an all canned food diet, if he isn't already on one? My understanding is that good quality canned food is much easier on a cat's entire system as it more closely mimics eating small critters, and is particularly helpful for older kitties.

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by annalivia

You said that the black dots had a particularly foul smell, is it possible to see if Sydney's anal glands are impacted/inflamed/infected? I didn't know that could happen with cats, but it happened to one of ours, and the smell was like something dead dipped in poop, rolled in something dead, and spritzed with poop juice. It was just awful. Given the pooping outside the box, maybe your kitty was trying to tell you something about his rear?

Anal glands were my first thought too.

We have a 17 yo male Siamese and we had a major (MAJOR!) anal glad issue this weekend.

Al's anal gland secretions were very dark brownish/blackish and stank! Looking back on it, the signs were there - poop outside the box and odd spots around the house. I attributed it age, poor eyesight, declining mobility.

I would follow up with the vet.

Here is what happened to my Al - around midnight Friday night, we noticed large globs of blackish/brownish blood on the floor, a trail through the house. When we tracked him down, we saw a large, gapping, oozing wound to the right to his anus.

What happened was his anal glad became infected, festered and burst open, spilling all that gunk out. Awful, awful, awful...

The vet said anal glad problems are sort of rare in cats because, in part, most cats don't reach 17 years of age. The vet flushed out the wound, loaded up him up on antibiotics and pain meds. So far, so good.