How do you know when it's time for the end ?

[Foxesinmygarden]

I've posted before (with a different name) about Foxescat. He has a neurological problem, think cat Parkinsons, he has problems with his limbs doing what he wants them to do and has been slowly declining over the last few years. We are now at the stage where he is very very restricted in what he can do. He will only go in the garden if a person is there with him (or the foxes creep up on him as prey). He struggles to go up the stairs between our kitchen and sitting room, he struggles to jump on the sofa and basically falls of the sofa when he needs to get down. He struggles with his litter tray and although he can get in takes a long time to lower down so he can do his business. He has also been getting very needy, mewing for people / company increasingly which is what our old boy did right at the end.

So what was it that made you know the time had come with your cat? We keep thinking maybe a couple more months and it's just so hard to know if it's time or not? Vets are not that helpful when we go down, just say you'll know ?

With our last cat, the vet was right in that we did know. She had been struggling for a while and one morning I came downstairs to find her stuck behind a chair and she couldn't free herself. That was it. We had no idea how long she'd been like this and couldn't risk her being in distress again. She was put to sleep that day.
Tbh, she'd looked miserable for a week or so and I'd been wondering if I was being unkind by keeping her alive so that incident just decided it for us.

I don't think you can know for others because people and cats are so individual. For myself, though, I always try to remember that cats don't have foreknowledge so I'd rather go down to the vets when the sun is still shining for them a little rather than when they're miserable as all get out. They won't know that it's not an ordinary appointment and the fact that you might be aching at the situation but keeping yourself schooled is your last big gift to them.

I left it too late once and that's always preyed on my mind so that view is very individual. I'm sorry if I didn't explain it too well.