Poorly chicken

[Lydia]

My 2 cats, Meg and Minty, will be 11 next year. They've alway been fit and healthy and, as we have no kids, completely rule the roost!

 

Lest week one of Meg's eyes changed colour and became muddy brown. A trip to the vet revealed it to be inflamed but nothing conclusive as to cause. She's on tablets and anti infamatories to treat any possible infection but there's still brown in her eye. She's otherwise acting completely normally and eating normally too, definitely no loss of appetite.

 

She's going back on Friday to have tests for FIV (HIV equivalent) and FeLV (Leukaemia)

 

We've had them since 8 weeks old and it's sort of come as a bit of shock to realise that in fact they are getting on a bit. And if the tests come back positive then we will have to face the possibility that Meg might not be around much longer.

 

I think I've timed this badly as all our animals seem to suddenly be of advancing years. Our original and eldest hen, Ping, is definitely slowing down more and more (that said she popped out an egg the other day but I think she was just showing off!) and our oldest ex-bats are now 2 1/2 - 3 (ish).

 

The gerbils are over a year now so hopefully they will go a bit longer but you never know. And Hairy Knees the goldfish, who is 16 and pre-dates my husband, is spending more and more time "asleep" at the bottom of the tank. She's also got arthritis or something similar in her tail. Cornflake goldfish is also now 9.

 

Methinks 2009 could be a tough year.....

[bellekatz]

I have a cat who is between 16 and 19 years old wh has been on his last legs for the last 5 years! I always that being the eldest he would be the next to go, but have lost three younger cats in the last 4 years. Our next eldest has suddenly hit 12 - and you think "how did that happen - we haven't had him that long have we?" The rabbit is approaching 7 and gone grey ( she was black!!). We do have younger cats so we have a spread of ages. The youngest is 2 but we will have a new kitten in the new year. Jaffa has taught us not to write them off because they are old - he seems to go on for ever.

Hope your test results on Meg are OK..............

[Tessa the Duchess]

My dog is 17, she spends 22 hours out of 24 sleeping She only gets up to eat twice a day, loves her food though. She is completely deaf, has arthritis will not go for any type of walk, although she does love sunbathing in the garden. Every morning when I get up I check to see if she is 'ok' it is very hard when much loved pets get old

 

Tessa

[chelsea]

Aww, bless Tessa your doggy sounds lovely.

 

I absolutely dread the day......(I cant even say it), with my dog .

 

She is 9 now, but for a GSD that is old-ish. She is the most beautiful, loyal pet and is like a child to me as we dont have kids and she keeps me company and safe when OH works nights. I talk to her all the time.... im sure she understands me!

[craftyhunnypie]

This post reminds me of my Holly, who we sadly lost just over 2 weeks ago at 12 and a half.

One of her eyes had changed colour, it looked glazed. But what prompted us to take her the vets was she started having fits /funny turns.

She had blood tests & had a bit of renal failure. The vet mentioned about feline aids & brain scans, but just advised us to take her home & love her. We loved her to the end, but we are lost without her.

I sincerely hope yours are ok.

My kind thoughts are with you.

 

Emma.x

[SnowWhite]

Sorry to hear that Meg is a little under the weather. I completely understand how you feel. We've reached this sorry conclusion with our lot too.

 

Teazle is my old girl. I've had her for more than 10 years now. She has been deaf and with no sense of balance due to a car accident for 5 years. Her eyes once green are now full of brown spots and she is thin (almost certainly thyroid problems) and has few teeth. I'm not sure how old she was when I got her - 4? 6? 8? and that is the hardest part. I know that she is old but exactly how old and how long she's got left is anyone's guess.

 

My boys are brothers and I've had them for 9 years (time just flies by!) since they were 6 months old. So they've also started to show signs of slowing down and old age problems are creeping in - they both had a dental op the other week.

 

We realised that Tikka who we call ''kitten'' is at least 6 years old! She's another rescue but who has been with us for 4 years now.

 

I could go on but I don't want to get depressed! On the bright side, they are all still with us and they enhance our lives so much with their characters and affection that I am happy and thankful everyday that I've got them in my life. And consider this, a friend at work had two cats that both lived to 21 in relative good health. All of them could live for many more years to come - and lets hope they do!

[Redwing]

 

We realised that Tikka who we call ''kitten'' is at least 6 years old! She's another rescue but who has been with us for 4 years now.

 

Its funny how time flies with pets! one of our cats is 9 now but we still see him as a kitten

 

Our other car is 15 and very senile, she miaows at nothing and bites her own paws, its really sad but she is healthy otherwise- small but eating well with glossy groomed coat etc.., we are facing a hard decision

 

Meg isn't particularly old for a cat so hopefully she will bounce back quickly. Cats are very resilient.

 

Hope everything goes ok with the tests x

[Rhapsody]

It is sad isn't it? Our Top Dog Metz is still bright as a button at 11 and will chase squirrels and deer but comes back to the farmhouse of her own accord for a nap now instead of us having to go find her. She has limpy arthritic days too.

Killer the cat has a pact with the devil though, at 14 she still jumps up the beams in the kitchen and sleeps on top of one of the cabinets!

[Seagazer]

Its funny as I was only thinking about this the other day. My oldest cat Sophie will be 11 in May and last week she decided that she didn't want to use the cat flap any more to go out! She always goes out the front door last thing at night but uses the cat flap the rest of the time. I'm now having to open the kitchen door for her. I do feel bad as there is quite a big step down so I think that is probably the reason.

 

She does this odd staring off into the ether thing as well. I hope she goes on for many, many years though as she is my oldest surviving cat of my own. The other 3 all died when they were 6, 7 and about 8.

 

My SIL had two cats that lived until their 20's. They were never vaccinated apart from the first one and lived a lot of the time outside. I obviously went wrong vaccinating and mollycoddling my lot

 

I hope Meg is ok and that its nothing serious.

[Lydia]

Thanks everyone for your good wishes. I've just dropped Meg off at the vets (they have to sedate her as she's so skittish) so hopefully we'll know more later on today.

[bellekatz]

Fingers crossed that all is well!

[blackgold]

I have a border collie called Gromit who was 12 last month but he acts as if he was 3. he is my dog of a lifetime and can understand 200 different commands. i dont know what i would do if anything happened to him.