Cat Owners - When to call it

[Trapper]

We've never had to make a call on when to euthanise a cat. Back in 2008 our first was found dead on the drive, and another passed away in August 2015 during the night due to hear failure (she'd lived for 18 months after having a blood clot almost take her front paws off).

 

The remaining sibling is declining rapidly. She also has heart problems, but she's also in the endgame of renal failure. She's gone down hill very swiftly in the past four days. We've been having a lot of work done to the house, so we'd hoped she'd get better when this had finished, but she hasn't.

 

At the moment she's not eating, drinking a lot, peeing a lot (more than usual with her bad kidneys), can't poop and is starting to become a bit incontinent.

 

However she is also very bright, still runs up stairs and jumps off desks, follows us around and seeks us out (so not hiding away).

 

I don't want to come home and find a fading animal that has been in pain for hours. A stroke is highly likely as the toxins her kidneys are not removing build up.

 

Got a vet's appointment tomorrow, and I get the feeling we'll take her in, but not take her out.

 

If she'd declined to the point where she'd stopped moving, or interacting I'd have her euthanised in a heartbeat. Where she is now is a bit different. She's very ill, but still seeking company and play.

 

Anyone else had to sort through all of this?

[LeMarchand]

Sorry to hear about your cat.

 

Our last cat was in a similar state and we went by the vet's advice, which was that the cat was hanging on mainly for us (she'd been in and out of the vet's for months) and he could keep her going a while longer but it was kinder to let the cat go. Still wasn't an easy decision (and we still have her ashes in the rather lovely box we paid through the nose for!).

 

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst is my advice.

[Miscbrah]

Ah nooo, sad reading.

 

I'll give my cat an extra big stroke later on thinking about this.

[CAM]

I had a cat in multiple organ failure after a birth defect left his insides a disorganised mess. Impossible to diagnose until too late as everything grew incorrectly so organs weren't properly connected to the blood supply. He was dim-witted, but seemed happy until we realised he was getting nasty headaches with his head pressed on the floor when sleeping. We thought it was a silly kitten thing until the vet explained what caused it.

 

We fed him drugs to help alleviate the toxins in his bloodstream, gave him a litter tray (he refused to go outside) and he was for the most part a happy cat. But eventually the vet said he was suffering from alzheimers due to the toxin buildup in his brain and the headaches were getting worse. The drugs, special food and treatment were also expensive and his pet insurance was coming to an end so it would have cost thousands in treatment. This was just after we had a cat who had stomach cancer and we saw waste away in front of our eyes, something we didn't want to see repeated. Reluctantly we had to have him put down.

 

He lived to a shade past one-year old leaving his now seven year-old brother behind.

[Duranis]

Really sorry to hear that. My only advice would be to find a vet that you trust and follow their advice. Animals can sometimes appear to be fine but are in fact in a large amount of pain, on the other hand sometimes they can have a lot of problems but still live quite happily for a long time. A good vet will know which is the case and tell you the truth.

[Trapper]

Well she's still with us. Slightly worse than yesterday as she's moving slower and although still seeking me out she's being a bit more standoffish.

 

The crying when she see's me is heart breaking. I get the feeling she is asking for it to end.

 

Got the vets tomorrow night, and me and the missus are pretty much accepting this is her last night.

 

Damn unfair really. Our first cat we had for 8 months and was 14 months old, found dead at the top of the drive. On a Thursday evening, 8:20pm we were watching Jamie at Home on tomatoes and a lovely couple knocked the door to tell us.

 

We got this current cat with her sister from a rescue. Her sister had a thrombosis in December 2013, where the blot cot got stuck on her left front paw. The furthest away in the circulatory system from her heart. 9/10 a thrombosis either kills the cat from a heart attack, or it gets trapped where the main artery splits into two at the hips. This paralyses the cat, and is extremely painful.

 

We got lucky with her, she was fine until late August 2015 when I got home from a GPs appointment and found her dead. She was just 8 years old! We had a lovely card from the vet who owns the practice. Both himself and his heart specialist were amazed how long we kept her going for!

 

The remaining cat has been declining steadily since then. She gets stress induced cystitis very often, pills and Feliway barely work. We've had some much work done to the house recently that I think the stress of it has pushed her over the edge. She also has a heart deformity and would expect a thrombosis at some point.

 

I know getting cats from a local rescue is supposed to be the best way. However all three of ours came from a local rescue and they've all died from bad genes and inherited conditions far too young. The current cats were house cats as well, they never went out. There is no way a damn house cat should die at age eight! It is totally unfair!

Edited February 22, 2016 by Trapper

[Andrew_C]

To be honest, 8 isn't that bad an age. Young, yes, but only the equivalent of someone going in their 60s. I had to take our dog on the one-way trip; just horrible.

[Nixon77]

Its horrible, I don't think I could ever make the "call". My dog of 14 years just died, I never had to worry about making the choice.

[round2it]

Been here a couple of times, and the best way I cope is to try and take the emotion out of the situation and ask yourself is the animal in pain? Or what quality of life they have.

 

It is hard but it's not about you and what you want.

 

On the other side of this we have 3 cats and one has neurological problems and it can not walk very well but it is not in pain and is a happy cat, eats sleeps and plays. The vets said its easier to euthanise for our convenience as it will be hard work (not been back to that vet).

 

If the cat gets cystitis from stress ask the vet for phenoleptil tablets my cat has these and they are for epilepsy but since having these the cat does not get cystitis and the cat is very relaxed.

 

So just do what you think is right.

Edited February 22, 2016 by round2it

[Trapper]

Well she spent last night eating everything in sight, running around, chasing socks and being full on in your face annoying.

 

Damn cat I have no idea what's going to happen now! 24 hours ago she looked so bad we assumed euthanasia was the most probable outcome, now we don't have a clue!

[LeMarchand]

Fingers crossed that the vet gives you the thumbs up!

[witch]

My dog was quite ill a couple of months before he died and my vet also said that euthanasia was best as he might not last much longer and would be a lot of work.

I haven't been back to that vet either. My beloved Smudge had another few happy months, and the night before he died we had a Christmas party and everyone remembers him running about, begging for sausages and snacks etc. It is true that once he went downhill he did struggle to breathe and that wasn't pleasant for him or us, but we sent him on his way quite quickly and I think it was worth if for that extra time with him.

[Trapper]

Well we've had a bowel movement. Bloody diarrhoea, but she is moving. Much brighter today. Looks like she won't be killed today, some antibiotics, painkillers and blood tests though. Thank Deus for the insurance, just an £80 excess per policy year!

[LeMarchand]

Yay! (For the good bits - not the pain etc).

[Trapper]

Not the best news she's at the hospital having fluids, bloods and scans but it's looking like her kidneys are on the verge of packing up. We probably will have to end it tomorrow.

[witch]

Sorry to hear that @Trapper. But you are doing the best you can and it does sound as if she might have to leave you

[Trapper]

Phew. Stage 3 not 4, 24 hours more hydration and it can be managed in the medium term. Months rather than years, but our other cat had weeks not months and she lived for almost two years.

[twin--turbo]

Hopefully I have given another a chance tonight, found him laying in the road expecting him to be dead but when I went to move him I could hear him breathing although it was raspy. I knocked on a couple of doors and was directed to one house, it was not her cat but she came down. After a while sitting on the pavement with it (one other neighbour though it was his but confirmed at home instead) and calling the RSPCA ( and anincorrect VET as it seem) he was lifting his head and moving a little.

 

So we took it up to the womans vet, they managed to get the owner from the chip so they were on route.

 

Initial assessment was no major skelletal trauma, a bash to the face but no cranial fracture. Could be other hidden injury’s though.

 

Left our numbers with the vet so the owner can hopefully tell us better news.

 

TT

 

TT

[Trapper]

Well we've got her home, the poor half furless old girl!

 

Basically monitoring, renal diet and see how she goes. Prognosis is good in the medium term, but she has three kidney stones, one in her urethra which could cause her remaining good kidney to shut down at any time. They can stent it or remove it, but it's all specialised work and the insurance won't cover that, it's only £3000 per condition per year and given her myriad other health issues I'm not paying for it.

 

Basically she's had her shot and it's up to her now.

[elsiegee40]

Poor girl

[witch]

good luck to the kitty

[Trapper]

And she's on 10mg of a Tramadol a day, so she is totally off her face!

 

[elsiegee40]

And she's on 10mg of a Tramadol a day, so she is totally off her face!

 

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And she looks it! I haven't seen a spaced out cat before

[denzal2k4]

I had this dilemma 2 years ago with my cat, her breathing became noisy, which she had had before but generally sorted itself after a big sneeze, and the mess that goes with it, but this was different and she was old I knew if I took her to the vets she wasn't coming back, not ashamed to say I wept at the vets, she was 18 years old and I had had her since I was 10, most of my lifes major events she was around for. She was a massive wuss to the point I had been living with my GF for 5 years or so and she still wouldn't let her stroke her and would run off, so I was really all she had.

[Trapper]

Just noticed I haven't been on EduGeek for a few months...

 

Anyway the cat is still well with us. She has a stone in her urethra from her good kidney to her bladder. It is moving at the last scan about 7 weeks ago, so we are more hopefully. She's pretty much on anti-biotics for life as the swelling caused by the stone is causing her to have bouts of cystitis.

 

We've been told the stone will either pass, or it will totally block her kidney from emptying into her bladder - which we'd know about from the screaming cat. They don't want to remove the kidney with the stone, as it's the "good" one running at about 30% efficiency, the other is running at about 5% so she'd go into instant renal failure and 95% chance of death in 24 hours. The other surgical option is a stent, but that costs thousands, and however I love the smelly, shaggy old girl it's not worth it. The vets have said if it does block they'd remove the good kidney and see. A 5% chance of not dying is better than a 0% chance.

 

Still she eats food like a starving man, and is very in your face so it can't be that bad at the moment!!