Weddingbee boards

My soon to be 8 year old rescue kitty has recently been losing his balance or agility if you will. The other day he jumped from the window sill down to the couch (which he does about a hundred times every day) but instead of making a nice landing like he normally does, he hit the arm of the couch with his belly--hard. And then this morning was he was walking down the stairs it was almost as if he miscalculated the tread distance and slipped/stumbled down the last few stairs.

There have been a few other instances where it seems like his depth perception & equilibrium just aren't what they used to be and I am beginning to get a little concerned. He is due for his yearly in a few weeks and am just wondering whether this is an issue of health or his age. (fwiw 8 years is a vet estimate, not necessarily his actual age).

Has anyone else noticed their cat(s) losing their spryness at any point in time due to age or health issues?

I'm not sure what that could be, but maybe you could have the yearly exam a few weeks early? Or you could call your vet & see if they have any suggestions & see if its urgent. My mom has had many cats live to be 12-16 years old & none of them had any issues "mis-judging" things, so IDK if its an age thing.

Sometimes my 6 month old kitten Murphy will slightly misjudge something, he will barely miss where he's aiming for but he normally makes it.

I know sometimes if cat's whiskers have been cut, bent, or break off, that can affect balance. Are his eyes clear, or do they look cloudy at all?

@serabell:

His eyes are clear as ever and none of his whiskers seem to be broken/trimmed, At first I definitely though it might be eyesight, but that seems to be okay (as far as I can tell via naked eye anyway).

I just checked his tail (since it has a lot to do with balance as well) and paws to make sure that they aren't injured either, and he seems outwardly to be okay.

When I called in they said if it wasn't incredibly "frequent" (every time he did something) and he wasn't injuring himself or otherwise acting oddly then they didn't regard it as an emergency based on what I told them about his behaviour/ appearance.

@farmgirl2106:

we actually have no vet within a 2.5 hour drive of us, but I called their office earlier and they said they will call back on Monday to let me know if I can bump his yearly up.

Luckily one of my friend's dad is a 'farm' vet and he can usually be reached 24hours even on weekends, so if the conditions worsen I can give him a quick call and take the cat for a drive to get checked out in case of emergencies.

Aww, poor guy.  Is he declawed?  My parent's cat is declawed, and she loses her balance sometimes - she can't get a good grip.

My cats aren't declawed though, and they sometimes misjudge their jumps.  Just last night my one cat tried to jump up onto a table, but he totally missed and hit the table with his stomach.  He tried again and made it.

Since your vet doesn't seem too concerned if it's not frequent, I'd just wait until the upcoming appointment.  I hope he's doing better!

Have you heard anything back from the vet yet? Has your kitty (what's his name) re-gained his balance? Hope he's doing ok :)

@Blueshoes2:

Thanks for mentioning the claw thing! I checked his claws and none of them are/were broken.

@serabell:

Merl seems to have improved, he hasn't had any more falls over the weekend which is a good thing -- the vet still wants me to watch him until he goes in in 1.5 weeks.