Should I put 15 year old moggy to sleep?

[MrsKilminster]

She sustained a horrible injury to her front paw on Friday - broken toes and sliced right through the paw. The vet stitched her up and did loads of investigations and £800 later she came home. The wound has now become infected and she's back at the vets. She's not insured and I'm not well-off and will have to draw the line with regards to how much more I can spend on her. Worst case scenario would be a leg amputation which I can't afford and as she's an old outdoor cat, I think this would impact on her quality of life. Best case scenario is that they try to treat the infection, she's in a crate and wearing a cone for weeks if not months and I have to keep going back to the vet and spending more money.

Again this would affect her quality of life and she's an old cat. I love her to bits but I need to do what's best for her and for my bank balance. The vet is trying to talk me out of euthanasia but I've lost faith in them anyway because they weren't transparent about costs in the first place (didn't consult me before they did anything). I'm so torn about what to do - she might get better but it could be a long haul. On the other hand, taking sole responsibility for putting her to sleep is very hard. What should I do?

That's encouraging - I've made the crate as cosy as I can and have been taking her out in the evenings. Panna, the dog is insured and I'm going to check now that what I have in place is adequate.

Do check on the insurance because some of them are awful. I had a decent level of PetPlan, which many people speak highly of, and they only paid 1/3 of the bill when it came to needing it. I was left having to fork out £600 while going through a house sale and a divorce.

I will Whisky - I have a feeling the one I've got (Animal Friends) isn't great. I hope you're in a lovely new home and happy :)

i certainly know what happened with human if their toes die (because I deal with it at work) we keep the bad toes bone dry and they fall off by themselves. They heal better too without surgical intervention.
So if it's only 1-2 toes she would probably be ok.

Yes, I'm fine - this was years ago, but I did feel very let down as I'd paid in for bloody years!

irritated - oweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwweeee, that just made my legs go all cold and jelly-like. But I am sure you are right.

Animal Friends is not a good one.
I know a breeder who insured their puppies before they went to the new homes. Animal Friends then declared the insurance void as they don't insure breeders. Who else is going to have more than 10 tiny baby puppies?

*Irritated", that's useful info! Hope she's perked up a bit more by tomorrow, looking forward to having her home.

Please talk to your vet about medical grade manuka honey, it works wonders against infections and should cost no more than £10 a tube from the vets - although you can get a couple online for that price. Activon is what I keep indoors at all times, the healing properties are immense.

Hello again. I just wanted to post an update and would welcome your feedback. Nearly 1 month since injury, kitty's paw seems to be healing very slowly and doesn't look infected anymore. She's not walking on the paw though, which might be due to her broken toes not having healed. Vet says she needs to be kept crated and coned for as long as it takes but won't give me a timescale (he actually said it wouldn't be years....)

She seems happy in herself, feeding well and loves attention. I'm desperate to let her out so she can just lie in her catbed all day but vet says not because dirt might get into paw. He ruled out putting on a light bandage to protect it as well (said would get in the way of healing). But it keeps forming a scab which then falls off which wouldn't happen with a bandage. He says she's happy in the crate (rubbish) and I've lost faith in his judgement. I'd be happy if she could be free but kept indoors and if she needs to keep the cone on until the wound heals, sobeit (obv with a bandage she wouldn't need a cone). If she can never walk on the paw again but can keep the leg without it being painful/potentially unhealthy, I'd be more than happy.

Bump