My cat is getting old =(

Before, he was throwing up everywhere on the carpet every 16 hours or something. We got him some medicine, so now he's stopped hurling.

But shortly afterward in the following week, he's eating very little, his underside is... damp? from mouth to the anus for some unknown reason, and now he apparently has arthritis and hardly moves around anymore. He wasn't very active in the house for a few years before.

Other than the inevitable, what do?

Give him memories he won't forget, if he's capable of forgetting anything after the inevitable.
The dog I grew up with has also shown signs of old age, I pet her more often every time I come by to visit.

How old?

Well, beside the fact you'll have to do the deed when the time comes, maybe just pet him gently and do anything that will make him happy?

Honestly, when they show such grave signs as this and seem to suffer, it's only cruel to try to keep them alive just to put the grief off for a while. When they reach the point where they would pass away in the wild, that's when you should start preparing for the trip to the vet and go relatively soon.
Until you can go, be close and give the cat a lot of gentle affection.

But shortly afterward in the following week, he's eating very little, his underside is... damp? from mouth to the anus for some unknown reason, and now he apparently has arthritis and hardly moves around anymore. He wasn't very active in the house for a few years before.

Probably urine. Goats do it naturally (pee on their undersides). If it can't move where does it pee other than the floor/itself?

My last cat died from some pimento using what's-it-called (some vehicle coolant).

My parents took the cat to the vet.

Apparently hair just clogged up his system quite thoroughly, which pretty much explains everything. Hopefully he'll be fine now.

Talk about lucky breaks. Every cat we've ever owned dies tragically. Heart attack, poisoning, birth defects, you name it.

He's not out in the clear yet. He's not eating or drinking anything now, even in spite of removing the problem o.O

At a certain age cats tend to give up on life. All the cats we've had have gotten to the same point where they vomit consistently and refuse to get better. Unfortunately, taking them to the vet to get them cured only pisses them off more. Sadly I think all you can do is give the porr thing a few days and see what happens, but it isn't looking too good...

I had a cat when growing up that was born around the same time as me (she was a bit older than me actually, by a few months). I know what it's like when you see them grow old. I'm actually surprised, because my cat lived until she was 20, and we didn't particularly give her special care or anything.

About your cat's underside being wet, maybe your cat is loosing bladder control? It sounds nasty, but when my cat got to a certain age she couldn't make it to the litter box anymore, especially while sleeping (often with me, which would make for some long mornings...) It's just a guess though, just seems likely to me that your cat just lost control while laying down. But I'm no vet.

[video=youtube;FlAmKsmLav8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlAmKsmLav8[/video]

WARNING: if you don't like depressing situations, leave now!!

So here's the situation as best as we could deduce...

Neko continues to have no appetite for anything, and is getting thinner every day. We checked for any repeat blockages of his intestines, but there apparently hasn't been any, from what my mom says. Other people with similar stories have said that their cat ended up with kidney failure and/or thyroid failure. On top of that, he's probably senile now, and doesn't exactly walk straight all the time.

Now, our cat is 10-13 years old.
Indoor house cats live for 13-16 years, up to 21 years.
Oldest cat ever is 38 years.
A neighbor's outdoor calico cat is still up and about, even though he's older than our cat. And supposedly they live shorter lives.

*sigh*

Might need to put the cat to sleep soon, to be brutally honest. One of my cats had kidney failure, and we didn't realize it until it was too late. The cat ended up suffering pretty bad before we finally put her to sleep. You should bring your cat in to the vet soon to see what's going on. Really sucks to see a house animal suffer so much before the end.

Speaking of old animals, apparently my golden retriever only has about 2-3 months left to live, so I'm spending a lot of my spare time with the old guy. He's about 12 years old, which is pretty old for goldies I guess. Just be sure to give your cat lots of love, that's all he will ever ask for.

Makes me remember of Dewey, the library cat. How sad
Enjoy every single moment with him from now. That's what i'd do with my pets. I almost got in depression when my other cat died many years ago. Some neighbor put a poison in his garden and my cat got poisoned, i spent all the day with him on the vet, he got medicines, and i spent the whole night in our house with him. I sat next to him and made he sleep next to me, he seemed to be alright and was happy while playing with me. It didn't even look like he was sick form that poison. I got to sleep happy, and he was sleeping near our room. When i woke up by the next morning, i was too shocked to move, he started puking blood in the other night, there was a lot of blood next to him, and he was dead in there.

I couldn't see that scene without feeling like pomegranate. He just seemed immortal to me, and seemed like he never got older. I'm too much attached to my pets, that when something bad happens to them, i just get destroyed by it. My other cats died in bad ways. I had a kitten that got pregnant for the first time, we took a lot of care about her, but in the night she was supposed to give birth, she ran away from home, and probably died in the street. My other cat was poisoned 5 times, and survived all of them. He was just too strong, but when he was 8, instead of dying from such thing, he got hit by a car a few hours before we were going to school.

We found him in the street on that rainy day, and i gave up of going to school. We took care of his body and no one left our house by that day. Just enjoy every single moment you spend with him, because even if a pet is okay, if he's still young, no one knows what can happen on the next day. Just make him happy for every single minute you can. That's all i can say.

This is very unlike the times where my great grandma died, or when my previous cat disappeared and was presumably killed by raccoons in the night.

The hour of end is nigh.

Rest in peace, Neko.

It hurts.

Condolences.

Losses always hurt, I don't know why we always bother building hopes, dreams and chasing that pink goose on the other side of the rainbow.

I remember how much it hurt when my dog died. I am sorry about your cat.

Mine was put to sleep aswell about 3 weeks ago. We could never tell there was something wrong with him... But he seemed to be in pain for quite a while... so they had to put him to sleep aswell. My cat bram was 13 years old.

And now my other cap bop (Also 13) keeps searching around the house for bram. And he's suddenly getting alot thinner himself and barely eats anymore...
Could it be that he misses his friend? I think its so sad...

But yeah goodluck ):
Condolences

It hurts.

[COLOR="green"]The pain is the way our hearts let us know something mattered.

May he rest in peace, and be fondly remembered.[/COLOR]