Should I PTS very old nearly blind cat?

[snowpo]

Opinions needed please. Our lovely elderly cat seems to be nearly blind now. She constantly bumps into things. However she can find her way to her bed & sleeps most of the time. She rarely goes outside but can find the litter tray ok.

She is also a bit stiff/arthritic.

I think the time has come and things will only get worse. However dh thinks she potters around, eats, sleeps so we should keep her going.

We'll both be so upset to lose her but is it fair to keep a cat when she can't see an inch in front of her nose?

Maybe ask the vet?
Personally an incontinent cat is the dealbreaker for me.

Same as MrsDB if the cat seems like it wants to be alive, is continent and coping, I'd give it a chance. It sounds like your lady is ok, just old. She may go naturally.

I've put two cats to sleep and had one die at home with cancer. The end was obvious for all three and there was no doubt about the decision for the two PTS.

Have you had her checked for the cause of the blindness? High blood pressure is a very common cause and with the correct treatment some sight can come back. Again arthritis very treatable with great drugs now.

Many blind cats cope really well and live several years happily as long as you don't move the furniture.

I've had three cats go blind. They all adjusted remarkably well and still seemed to have a good quality of life. Blindness of itself is definitely not a reason to pts.

She seems to be doing fine. I think your DH is absolutely right. Your cat is just old and blind, and she is coping very well.

I suppose the question is - do you think she's happy?

She sounds like she's fine to me. Yes she'll only get worse but as long as she's happily pottering about then I'd let her keep doing it.

If she's happy then that's the main thing. My own old boy has also been on meds for arthritis (for about a year and a half) and very successful they are as well. Sure he sleeps a lot - in the sunshine in the summer and on his electric blanket during the winter but, for example, he's sitting on my lap purring right now. Maybe I had to help him up a bit, but he's happy as Larry to be here now. He also uses his tray fine.

I think his sight may be getting worse as well but then I keep things pretty organized around the house for him so it doesn't seem to bother him that much.

I'd see how it goes with your girl for a while longer - as long as her condition is stable.

I agree with your DH. I have an old blind boy (he will be 18 this year) and we're keeping him going until his quality of life drops off. The vet said: if he is eating, drinking, tolerably continent, pottering around a bit and coming over for a stroke, his quality of life is likely "good enough" and no real reason to leap straight for PTS. We try not to move things around (hard to stop the kids leaving things lying on the floor but we don't do total switching around of the furniture etc) and we keep his food bowl etc in the same place for him. We also talk to him a lot more than we did when he could see, and we tap his food bowl, the arm of the sofa etc so that he knows where things are. He does occasionally try to walk off the sofa into thin air but usually manages remarkably well & finds his way around just fine. He can even go in & out of the cat flap and he's enjoying sitting outside now that it's warmer. Our back yard is secure (he can't jump up on the walls any more) but we do need to be careful that the gate is always shut so that he doesn't manage to slip out.

His blindness is due to high blood pressure so he's also on a daily tablet which I grind up & put in his food. He is really pampered, as I think he's probably not got too long left (although he has exceeded our expectations and amazed the vet!)

The only possible downside is that we can't really all go out & leave him alone for more than a day as he gets quite anxious if we're not around & I worry he might get himself stuck in a corner somewhere (so not really practical to have neighbours popping in to feed him, or to have a live-in cat-sitter who he doesn't know) and can't put him into a cattery as his blindness would mean he wouldn't cope with the change of environment. So long family holidays are not really happening at the moment. But he's been part of my family for so long and we've all decided to keep him happy in his twilight months.

I haven't had a holiday for years, timtam - them's the breaks.

(Although actually it's real relaxing not to have to fight with airport trials or motorway madness any more.)

timtam your post brought tears to my eyes. What a lucky old boy he is to be living his long life with such loving and understanding owners. Our old girl will be 18 this year. We also hate leaving her and can only go on holiday because my sister (who she adores) is willing to move in to cat sit.

Op please let your old girl carry on spending her twilight years eating and sleeping and gently pottering around like old cats do.

Thank you Tamzin, I'm a bit soppy about the cat but I've had him for so long and he's the most goodnatured cat you could imagine, I also failed to notice his blindness until it was quite far gone so I feel I owe him the pampered old age he deserves

cosie - I don't mind not going away at all! I would worry about the cat too much anyway. But others outside the family think it's a bit strange to have large chunks of life revolving around an elderly cat's needs.

I agree, timtam. With eg Oneago and Twoago, I used to take them with me on holidays (to the UK) but Seniorboy is just too old now to be moved away from his safe home place unless absolutely necessary. I don't mind - and the family understand perfectly. (No-one outside the family would dare to express an opinion on it, either.)