When to have the compost cat put to sleep ?

[TalkinPeace]

On my profile are a couple of pictures of compost cat.

For those who did not read at the time ....
I went up the garden and found a starved, dehydrated, ragged cat curled up in my compost heap to die.

I brought her indoors and cared for her.
Against the advice from the vet we have never treated the kidney failure / the heart failure / the skin cancer / the artriitis/ the deafness / the glaucoma.
When we are home she potters along, weighing under 4 lb
she uses a litter tray even though she goes outdoors each day
BUT
if we go away she protest shits : everywhere : and each one is blood filled sludge

we have the most wonderful house sitter who has rightly refused to look after her again
(we have 2 other cats btw who are no hassle and avoid compost cat)

we have family bookings coming up and there is a part of all of us (me, DH, DS, DD) that agrees to have her put to sleep before her innards collapse
rather than after she shits all over the house while we are away

we love her : she can be sweet
but since the hour I found her she's been on borrowed time
how long do I balance purring against bleeding bowels?

She doesn't have a problem when you're around?

Oh dear, what does the vet say about her bowels?. Is it old age or the result of all her health problems?.

By the way, I never thought she'd last anywhere near this long - I thought she might make it to the New Year if lucky. She must be very old indeed now.

I admit, we;ve not been to the vet for a while : vet gave her 12 hours last December
: last visit was "12 tablets a day and surgery - do nothing"

miserable witch craps on the front doormat when I ignore her
but then snuggles under my laptop fan outlet purring !

problem is that we know NOTHING about before December (including the broken leg and shoulder)

alpaca
our best guess on age is 16 ish
your comment agrees with my heart : we know she is in constant pain
but much much less than when she arrived
but much much more than is normal

I think you have cleared my head

You've given her a loving wonder 9 months but she must be suffering she has enjoyed your affection and food it is perhaps time to let her go knowing that she had 9 wonderful months that she could never have imagined.

cozie
I missed your post and value your input as you were there when we found her.
I have had cats put down before : but I'm struggling as in the other cases it was a rapid decline, this is imperceptibly slow,
BUT
her toilet habits are a foul combination of stress and dominance
I know it has to be done : but when

but also, the other two cats will be happier when she is gone
tricky, tricky, tricky

If it helps, remember that animals don't look forward and it doesn't matter to compost cat whether she goes gently to sleep tomorrow or next month. Don't put her through stress and increasing discomfort, be brave and say goodbye.

Gawd it's a hard one. You've given her far more than anyone could have expected - and you know my views which are that you should always let a cat go while the sun is still shining for it and before things get really bad.

So umm, you've ignored all of the vet's advice regarding treatment? Or am I missing something? Why have you ignored vet advice?

If she's very old and suffering, you know what to do. The vet will surely have a view.

Buggers
Not ignored : I have an excellent relationship going back 25 years including DD's work experience with our vet.
I trust them implitly.
The vet who put old cat to sleep after treating him for 19 years was in tears too.
BUT
to treat all of Zing's problems would have involved over 12 pills a day, regular operations and shit loads of money
for a cat who had curled up in a garden to die last December having lived rough for several months.

The dilemma is that she has clearly been hit by a car in the past
she has clearly had problems in the past
but wherever she lived for the previous ~~~15 years did not take her to a microchip vet

she is currently demanding 1/3 of the sofa from DH and DS !
luff her at times : but the biting and shitting ...

and here come the other two as thay can hear her snoring !!!!

She has done really well to keep going hasn't she, considering how frail she was when you found her. I remember some of your earlier posts about her.
One of my old cats used to poo on the floor and we eventually didn't leave him on his own (in practice what would happen is that DH would take the kids to the in-laws for a little holiday and I - mad cat lady - would stay at home to look after the cats)
Having left it a little too long with my old girl cat, and had to do an emergency dash to the vet which was very upsetting, I would only say it was less traumatic when we planned boycat's final trip to the vet and took him before a crisis was reached (he was still eating, drinking and fairly content but in a matter of days things would have been very much worse I think)
We tried to avoid vet visits/unneccessary treatment as much as possible with our old cats too. Fortunately our vet was really supportive and didn't push for excessive investigation/treatment in elderly animals.

Please don't let her suffer any more. As Mermaids said, cats don't know that tomorrow is their last day or not. But she will not understand why she is in pain, animals cannot rationalise this or distract themselves in the same way as humans nor look forward to a time of recovery or no pain. And an animal in pain feels vulnerable to predators.

You were kind to her when others clearly have not been but now is the time to set aside all of your wants and needs (I mean this gently, not judgmentally) and let her go be out of pain.

I wish you well and admire you for your care of her.

tis funny
kids were v unhappy about me asking on here about this
(because they have heard of aibu)
I feel bad because I'll be asking for a cat to be injected to fit me not them
BUT
thoe who can see my FB and the full photo set see that I started with daily updates : NOBODY expected her to live this long

and part of me realises that she is UTTERLY unaware of the calendar so "18th December" means nothing to her
so maybe for all our sanity I need to toss a dice and make the hospice decision (golly its harder than I thought)

I have had to make this decision before for both my very elderly (19ys) cats and for my horse (25yrs). With the cats I left it far too late and it was traumatic. I put my beloved horse down on a sunny day whilst she was still looking well, although she had 3 knackered legs and was struggling to get up every day.

My advice would be sooner is often kindest

Do you not go away until 18th December? If so, I think I'd shelve this problem until at least 30th November.
I'd be afraid that she'd take a sudden health nosedive when I was away & I'd feel guilty that I left her to contend with that.

lljkk
we cannot go away while she is still alive
(joy of self employment : late booking)
she shits in all the doorways and my office : we had 6 house sitters over 2 weeks this summer : all say no more

the other two cats have their jabs at start Oct
I think I'll get her "done" then

Once you start going down the 'doing it a bit later' you'll keep on finding other reasons to postpone it again. Thing is, no animal likes being incontinent when they are ill, even if it is behavioural because instinctively, they can sense that leaving a faecal trail renders them vulnerable to predators. She may be domesticated per se but she has those wild instincts and they'll be alerting her to her vulnerability.

So best to let her go peacefully, something that is our gift to the animals we love.

Ah okay. It sounds like you're making the best decision you can in the circumstances, albeit it's not easy. Best wishes and I'm sure from what you've described your vet will be on board. It sounds like you've given the wee cat a longer and better life than it would otherwise have had.

Sods law with cats : she's on excellent form today!
BUT bites if you touch anything towards back legs or stomach
and she's moving around less and less : lies on the couch awake but not moving with eyes de focussed

Thank you ladies
I think I'll make the call to the vet next week

(18th December was when I found her BTW - I walked up the garden to chuck stuff on the compost heap and she was on teh top)

OK
another question
she is struggling : I am quite "accepting" of booking her in for a day next week
BUT
DS does not want to know until its done
DD wants to know which day to expect a burial
(we long ago agreed that she will be buried next to the heap where I found her)
Zing is having mini strokes most days
ran to catch a scrap of food but fell over at the end of the run
and her poos STINK - because they all have a layer of rotting blood on them

my instinct is to call the vet tomorrow and get it done
" a day too early is better than a day too late"
as she will not care or notice

give me the backbone to do the right thing ...

You're right. She can't go on like this - and you've given her time she wouldn't have had otherwise.
Having a pet PTS is not cruelty, it's a kindness.
I think you would be right to take her tomorrow, but I'm sorry you have to.

I'm a vet. It sounds like you've done an amazing thing by taking her in, and giving her a comfortable home for the last months of her life.

But, it also sounds like it's the right time to say goodbye. Incontinence is as undignified and unpleasant for animals as it is for us, and she must be in some pain with her other conditions. Someone wise once told me, regarding euthanasia, "better a day too early than a minute too late". I think there's a lot of truth in that. I would let her go peacefully, before she starts to suffer and still has some of her dignity.

for you. It's one of the toughest decisions that you ever have to make, but it's part of the care that you have given her to let her go painlessly. It sounds like you're doing the right thing.