My little old lady Hazel just turned 15. Her last vet visit was a little less than a year ago and I’d taken her in because she had noticeably lost some weight. They did blood work and told me she had kidney disease and that it’s a super common thing in older cats, and to put her on a renal diet.

Fast forward to now, she’s been on her renal diet and still eats and drinks water normally. She’s the same happy and snuggly cat she always was. But I feel like she’s gotten smaller. I know I need to take her back in for a checkup and I plan to, but the last time I was in they suggested thousands of dollars worth of testing and treatments. We have a 7 month old and money is extremely tight. Hazel also gets so stressed in her carrier that I have to give her gabapentin just to take her in.

I guess I’m posting to see what others would do in my situation. I don’t want to neglect testing and treatments but she’s happy, eating, snuggling, pooping and peeing. She’s an old girl and I just want to keep her happy and comfortable. I also can’t go into debt to get testing done that will essentially say “your cat is old”. Feeling conflicted