sudden onset of symptoms in cat

Question
Dear Dr. Sherrell,

I have a female cat, 18 years old, that I'm very worried about.  She is hardly eating at all--very, very little-- and sleeps most of the time, although she will go outside once or twice a day, mainly in the morning.  She has also lost weight and seems weak, the weakness probably due in large part to the fact that she eats so little.  She doesn't appear to have had a significant bowel movement in maybe a week--maybe longer.  It was roughly a week or week and a half ago, incidentally, that these symptoms started to appear.  I'm puzzled by the fact that all of them came on so suddenly.  I did notice that around the time they began to appear, she came walking into the yard one day with a limp, favoring one hind foot over the other.  She isn't limping anymore, however.  I should mention that she has a heart murmur and an occasional "cough," which might have some connection with her present condition.  I gave her a couple of applications of that gel that's supposed to help cats pass fur balls during defecation, thinking that fur ball intestinal blockage might be the cause of the problem, but this only resulted in a very small bowel movement several days ago, and her overall condition hasn't changed.  I plan on taking her to see a vet just as soon as possible, but in the meantime, is there anything I can do to help her?  I would greatly appreciate any advice you can give me, as I'm at my wit's end.  At this point, I just don't know what to do--nothing seems to help.  Thank you sincerely.  Regards, Matt

Answer
Matt -

The best thing you can do for your cat is to take her to the doctor as soon as possible.  Just because she is geriatric does not give license that she will get sick and die. There are certain diseases that affect  cats as they age and many of theses diseases can be controlled with medication.  Your veterinarian should perform bloodwork and take radiographs to help come to a diagnosis.

An eighteen year old cat can continue to grow old gracefully but you have to seek veterinary care as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Charlotte Sherrell, DVM