Dear Boo:

I have a 17 year old tabby. Four years ago she was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. She’s been on medication and her weight has been fairly steady. Recently we were told her kidneys were starting to fail.

Whenever she eats or uses the litter box she goes upstairs and cries for about 10 seconds…then goes and lays down and sleeps. She also cries if she knows we are leaving (she can tell by our activity). I’m concerned that she’s in pain and we’re not recognizing it as such. When she’s not eating or using the litter box she seems fine. She sleeps mostly but when we settle down at night she comes and sits on us. When we go to bed she sleeps with us. When I’m around the house doing chores, she often follows me everywhere I go, like a puppy, up stairs, down stairs, back up stairs. Sometimes she’ll sit on the sofa or floor with her head hung.

I don’t know if it’s time and I don’t want her to be in pain but I don’t want to feel like I killed her needlessly either. Help.

NJM

Dear NJM:

As usual, we members of the feline species like to make it a challenge for our caretakers (otherwise known as ‘owners’, but actually we seem to ‘own’ them) to know when the time is right to let us go. 

First of all, it’s hard to determine the meaning of your kitty’s crying after she eats and uses the litter box.  We cats do not commonly cry when we are in pain, so this may not necessarily be a cry that says ‘I’m hurting’.  Some cats will become more vocal with diminished hearing or deafness, with poorly regulated thyroid hormone levels, with hypertension (high blood pressure), with senility, etc.  Cats will often also become more needy and clingey with their owners as they enter their geriatric years – not related to any type of pain – and this may be the case with your kitty.

Unless it has been done very recently, I would strongly encourage you to have your kitty seen by her veterinarian.   We cats, especially in our senior years, really don’t much care for veterinarians and prefer not to visit them, but it really is important in helping to keep us healthy and feeling our best.  Your kitty should have a complete examination, and if laboratory tests (blood, urine), x-rays and a blood pressure reading have not been done within the past few months or so, it would be advisable that these be done as well.  Our veterinarians here at Cat Hospital of Chicago are pretty good at allowing exams and testing to be done on the patient’s terms, when feasible, and your veterinarian probably also has the same philosophy with cats, especially those of us in our geriatric years

If your kitty is eating well, is maintaining her weight satisfactorily, if her behavior is normal to you at home other than the crying that you have observed, and assuming that her physical examination, laboratory work, x-rays, blood pressure, etc. are all normal, then it is probably safe to say that she is happy and not in any severe pain.

Having said that, since cats are masters at hiding their pain, if your veterinarian feels that pain might be a factor with your kitty, whether it is related to the crying or not, although we are more limited in safe pain management drug options that can be used versus dogs and other species, there are certainly a number of drugs (as well as alternative options such as acupuncture, cold laser therapy, etc.) that can be used to successfully control pain in many cats.  Your veterinarian can discuss these with you. 

In the meantime, if you haven’t already seen our library articles on how to assess Quality of Life in your cat and ‘pain in cats’, please visit our library.  You may find the information in these articles useful in helping you to recognize when it’s time to start thinking about humane euthanasia for your feline friend.

Good luck!

Boo