Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to put my healthy cat down

226 replies

chocolaterabbit · 28/01/2010 09:30

I have a cat who is now about 17 years old but still in good health - glossy coat, all teeth etc.

DH's cat died recently of natural causes and the two animals had been living together for 12 years. Since DH's cat died, my cat has started crapping all over the house, particularly in hard to reach areas like under the kitchen units/ behind the sofa.

I've shut all the doors etc but the cat flap leads directly into the kitchen and her food is there so can't shut her out. Came down this morning to find a sloppy poo under the kitchen table and against the legs of DD's highchair. It is absolutely revolting and horrible to have to clean up, also not exactly healthy for the DCs.

So. Would I be unreasonable to ask the vet to put my cat down because of this?

OP posts:
darkandstormy · 28/01/2010 18:38

chocolate rabbit- could you look that cat in the eye whilst getting it put down. If the honest answer is yes then shame on you. By the way I too have a cat in a similar situation thinks kitchen floor is her toilet etc small children in the house so I do know what its like believe me.Have you got a stash of bacterial wipes at hand .Chances are once the weather has improved cat will go out more.

junglist1 · 28/01/2010 19:02

Vallhala if there were more people like you animals would have much better lives. England isn't a country of animal lovers.
OP give your cat to someone who understands. The fact you didn't even think about rehoming and went straight for the killing option is wrong IMO. Animals become scared when they are put down, they feel fear. Still never mind it's only a fucking cat eh

GoddessInTheKitchen · 28/01/2010 19:05

surely the cat would be more confused/upset if it was rehomed at this stage of its life?

Mongolia · 28/01/2010 19:55

I have just splurted coffee all over the key board at reading that!

England isn't a country of animal lovers???

Just have a look at the BBC today, if you try to find the most popular news the one of a girl from Haiti being rescued from the rubble after speding more than 2 weeks buried in it is 2 spaces below the one of a dog rescued from ice (which incidentally is the second most popular news from today)

Sometimes the love is just ridiculous, lots of animals are kept alive when mother nature would have taken care of them long before, just for the sake of the love we feel for them.

abitupset · 28/01/2010 20:18

I lived with an incontinent cat for 14 (yes 14!) years... My cat was badly injured and broke her back when she was one. I sympathise slightly with the mess - but fundamentally I think you should think about what might happen when you take on an animal. If you really care about your cat, you will take her to the vet - you may need to see an animal behaviourist.

junglist1 · 28/01/2010 20:22

Plenty of animal abuse goes on here. I don't agree with keeping ill animals alive because a human can't let them go.

beakysmum · 28/01/2010 20:24

I was in this position as well, elderly cat started pooing anywhere in the garden, middle of lawn, on steps etc.

I have two small children. Vet said it was probably dementia and would get worse. I took her home for another month, but in the end had her put down. I still feel sad about it. . It's a horrible decision.

Pannacotta · 28/01/2010 20:29

OP ask the vet about Feliway spray/plug-ins.
They are pheromone treatments which calm upset/stressed cats and stop them peeing/pooing in odd places. We used them when we moved as the cats were a bit freaked out by the new house.

I would deffo explore other options before having her put down, she sounds healthy but sad.

Cats often go a bit funny when a cat house mate dies. IMO it would be very mean to punish her grief by putting her down.

Longtalljosie · 28/01/2010 20:37

Do check it's nothing physical though. My (entirely continent) cat did a nasty shit in the kitchen when he was unwell, the vet said when a cat needs help it will sometimes do this - to show its owner what's going on.

If it's not that, cat nappies? The link is above...

Drusilla · 28/01/2010 20:40

Surely if the cat is distressed enough about its friend dying to make it behave like theis, that rehoming it would be far more distressing and cruel? It won't know it's dead. But it will know if it is uprooted and taken to a strange place full of people and smells it doesn't know, even if they do have the best of intentions

Quattrocento · 28/01/2010 20:52

I do sympathise

That syringe is looking pretty attractive. I keep wondering about having ours put down, and tls true these murderous thoughts come upon me whenever I have to clean up cat poo.

Heated · 28/01/2010 20:54

Both family cats had to be put down within weeks of each other, one had cancer of the jaw, the other kidney problems. Sometimes it just happens that way.

NotAPollyanna · 28/01/2010 20:55

I am so shocked by some of your responses. When you get a pet you have responsibility for it. It is a living creature and the fact that so many of you place your carpet ahead of your pet in priorities strongly suggests you should not have any pets.

I am also shocked by your vet who seems to recommend putting the cat down at every opportunity. I think he sounds like a total waste of time and I would see another vet who could be more proactive in solving the problems rather than making them go away.

Also we contacted an animal behaviouralist when my cat was weeing everywhere and she stressed very strongly that cats' emotional problems are nearly always linked to a physical problem.

Finally my brother had a similar problem to you but as he lived in the states they offer more solutions and his cat was put on prozac (obviously a special feline prozac). It is very effective.

So with all the ideas being offered by the less ethically challenged posters and Valhalla's kind offer, it sounds like something can be done. Some cats live into their early twenties so you could be cutting short its life by as much as five years.

This nation may be called a nation of animal lovers but I find that so many people think of their pets as disposable commodities. It is very sad .

pooexplosions · 28/01/2010 22:07

If England isn't an animal loving country then nowhere on earth is.
Also Cats-People, not the same thing. Having a cat put down is not analogous to euthanising aged relatives or rehoming toddlers and comparing the two makes you sound like a crazy cat lady.

tiredlady · 28/01/2010 22:14

A cat on prozac??
Fuck me, I think I've heard it all now.
Utter nonsense
.

Vallhala · 28/01/2010 22:22

Maybe you haven't heard it all tiredlady. I know of a dog who is on Prozac too!

pooexplosions, to you having a cat PTS isn't the same as doing so to aged relatives or to rehoming toddlers... to some of us, it is.

Kind regards from Val the crazy cat (and dog) lady.

edam · 28/01/2010 22:26

lol at someone calling themselves pooexplosions objecting to an incontinent cat. The words pot and kettle come to mind...

tiredlady · 28/01/2010 22:29

Yes Vallhala, still nonsense.
Comparing a cat to your toddler is just ridiculous.

NotAPollyanna · 28/01/2010 22:36

I suspect there is a great deal you haven't heard of tiredlady. Perhaps once you have taken your veterinary degree you can pass comments such as "utter nonsense". Prozac works very well in issues such as this but hey why dont we just stamp on the vermin with a heavy boot, save on paying a pesky vet bill to kill them.

Some of you are beyond offensive.

tiredlady · 28/01/2010 22:43

I wouldn't stamp on them with a heavy boot, I don't think anyone has suggested that have they?
I would put a shitting incontinent cat down though without much of a problem.

ShinyAndNew · 28/01/2010 22:44

My cat does this when he is stressed or upset about something. I have had him to the vets several times and there is nothing wrong with him physically, he just a sensitive cat, who likes to shit all my over
DH's clothes when he upset

Or behind the toilet, if he decrees that his litter is too dirty, i.e. he has used it once and we haven't immediately jumped up and changed the whole litter box .

It's not nice, but it cleans. I made the decision to have a cat, I must look after it.

YABVVVU.

TiredLady, my JRT had anti anxiety medicines, while the vets sorted out her epilepsy meds. Incidentially, she had the same tablets (in much smaller doses) that DH had. She used to shit everywhere too, after a fit.

Maybe a attract shitting animals

NotAPollyanna · 28/01/2010 22:54

We're not quite on the same page are we tiredlady? My suggestion is don't get a pet.

tatt · 28/01/2010 23:00

unreasonable to go straight for having the cat put down without asking for advice/ trying to manage the problem. If you have been copying with it for months, have tried the vet for advice and feel you can no longer manage and haven't been able to rehome then maybe not unreasonable.

pooexplosions · 28/01/2010 23:02

edam I can't see where I commented at all on the incontinent cat. I have an incontinent child, hence my name, and I think cats are not quite the same as people. Bizarre idea to some but there you are.

Pretty sure this thread proves that England is a very animal loving country though, its nice for all of you who can affor prozac for your cats, I can barely afford my own!

Missy8c · 28/01/2010 23:10

morningpaper...No I don't have a house full of incontinent cats. I do have two cats however and should they become incontinent I would not have them put down for my own convenience. I also lost my 17 year old dog a couple of years ago and he was incontinent for the last year of his life but he was still enjoying life so I took care of him despite the fact that I was cleaning up urine every day. So what is your point?