Geriatric Cat advice please

[Nell39]

Im new to this forum so hoping you guys an give me advice please.

I have a 15 year old female cat, Meg, she'll be 16 next April. And a 7 month old female kitten, Bella, also known as the demon cat .
Its my old girl Meg im worried about at the min, her urine smells very strongly of ammonia, its makes your eyes water strong, she has dementia so i have water bowls all over the house as she was forgetting where the main bowl was. Recently she also has got spots or scabs on her skin and is losing little tufts of fur.
Now some people have told me this is because of her age but i wanted more advice from other cat-mums especially if you have experience with geriatric cats.
I will whisk her off the vets if its needed, but she gets very confused and stressed out, so dont want to put her through going to the vets, outside of routine check ups etc, if its not needed.

They are both house cats, not sure if that makes any difference.

[meriad]

when was the last time she was at the vet and had a full senior cat blood test done, esp testing the kidneys. If more than 6 months ago then I'd get her back there and have that done first.

What does she eat?

[Nell39]

Thanks for reply.
Meg was at the vets just over 4 months ago to have teeth removed,she only has 4 left now bless her but doesnt stop her from filling her face. I did pay extra for them to do extra blood tests, from her neck, whilst she was under so they could keep a closer eye on her vitals because of her age, i think they were checking kidneys etc with that.
They get a pouch each of wet food twice a day and there is always a bowl full of dry biscuits for them to eat when ever they want, and Meg gets treats when i go to bed at night, she wont let me get away with not giving her the treats lol.

[lilynmitz]

I do think you need to get her back to the vet for more tests. I do get cross with people who say "that's what happens when they get old". Most of those "old age" conditions are treatable, so that you can manage the various age related medical conditions to give your cat much better quality, and sometimes quantity, of life. If you started getting age related illness and medical conditions, would you just ignore them, or would you go to the doctor to try to deal with it better? Yes, so would I, and it's no different for animals. Just writing them off because they're old is unnecessary and heartless, so don't listen to that advice. I know you care about your cat, because you're on here asking what you can do for her. Next you need to ask your vet the same question.

[MarkB]

I agree with others. If she does have kidney disease, there is a new treatment called Semintra that is supposed to work wonders. If could be an infection, which will be very painful for her. I would say the latter is more likely, as cats with kidney disease tend to drink a lot and produce very dilute urine with little smell.