21 year old cat

Question
My Milo is 21 years old, today he started walking a little unsteady, his back legs are unstable and he is not sitting on his butt, Is there anything I can do for him or is it getting close to his time?

Answer
Nancy,

Bless his heart, your cat is 100 years old in human years! That is a long life for a cat. He must have had a lot of love and good care.

I would guess he may have severe arthritis. If he does, I would use puppy pee pads next to his litterbox so he doesn't have to climb in and out of it.

I would take him to a vet that specializes in geriatric cat care and conditions (not all vets do). They can give him some pain medication to keep him comfortable.

I am including some excellent links for geriatric cat information. I hope they will be helpful to you and your kitty:

http://www.messybeast.com/towards-end.htm

http://www.wbvc.bc.ca/elderly.htm

http://www.sniksnak.com/resources/geriatric.html

If you do need to put poor kitty to sleep at some point, or if he passes away at home, here is an EXCELLENT site for emotional support:

http://rainbowsbridge.com/hello.htm

I hope for the best. And it sounds like kitty has a lot of heart. It's never easy to go through when they get old. I'm sorry, I wish I could help more but at this point the cat is in the vet's and God's hands.

Carol