I know giw that works, too. The first time I took Rocky to TED he was
still semi-feral. The vet did a minimal exam, gave him a long-acting
anitbiotic for the abcess leg wound, which was the readon for the
visit, and guess made a guess as to his age. Over the course of the
next three or four years his age never changed, each time they revised
it downward. So he was 6-8 years old the entire four years I knew him
;-)

I don't really know how old Kitty FC is either.  The first time I took her
to TED's was maybe 5 or more years ago when she was still living in the
garden but I was feeding her.  I'd noticed she was a bit wobbly on her feet
and she turned out to have ear mites.
That was a really fun appointment.  We arrived at the vets milliseconds
before she exploded out of her cardboard cat carrier which she had been
ripping at with claws and teeth the entire journey ;-)
I asked the vet if he could estimate her age.  He said it's quite difficult
to guess the age of a cat once it's adult, but in her case he said  "let's
just call her a very senior lady.."  Nice.
In 2004, when she went missing and was found injured, I asked for another
age estimate.  The verdict was around 18 years, and if that's true now means
she is entering her 20th year.
It seems a bit of an overestimate to me, but then, I don't know much, these
2 are the first cats I've had since one I had in childhood.
She is certainly an old cat, there is no doubt about that.  Her fur always
looks greasy now and sticks out even though I groom her regularly.  Where
she grooms herself, there is always a tongue mark.
I gave her a dry-shampoo with some stuff I got a while ago, but it didn't
make much difference.  I've given her margarine and some vegetable oil on
her food, but her fur still looks, well, not so nice as I would like.

I can pretty well say for certain when I first noticed Kitty, because my
lurcher Trim was still alive then (RB 1995) and liked to "help" with the
chickens too.  Kitty would be mousing and ratting round the huts in those
days, maybe 1993.  They (Trim & Kitty) eventually became friends, although
Trim, like most lurchers, would kill a cat as soon as look at one normally.
Kitty always kept "just" out of Trim's reach for a couple of years until
they got used to each other.
My estimate for Kitty's age is 16 ish.  She could be nearly 20 I suppose,
but wouldn't this be very unusual?  It seems very old for a cat - to me,
anyway.

Tweed

The operation is scheduled for the 6th of February. The surgeon said
that should go just as quickly as the extraction, so I'm not worried. At
least not yet. ;o)

I spoke a bit too soon, unfortunately.  Because I was feeling better I
started to do more, fell asleep at 6 pm last night, woke at 10.45 and then
was awake all night.  Yes, *all* night..  Now I have a fever again.

<sigh>  Why do I always do this?  I need to learn to give myself permission
to be ill but I never do.  I push myself far too hard and refuse to give in.
I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's just my cussedness ;-)

Tweed

I'm not sure, Wayne.  I had a cold about a month ago that was easy-peasy,
sore throat, runny nose etc but was able to continue to go to work right
through it as I had no fever.  I was very surprised to get another one so
quickly and such a severe one, so maybe my immune system is a bit
compromised at the moment from having been so ill, and not yet in proper
working order.
Usually I can go years without getting a cold.

OTOH, my aunt told me yesterday that my cousin Margi was knocked out by
something that sounds identical and was in bed for three days over last
weekend.  Maybe there is "a lot of it about."
(does your doctor often say that to you?"  Mine does.)

Tweed