I have just had to have CandleCat1 put to sleep this afternoon. He hadn't really been ill, but he was getting thin and his stomach was sometimes gurgly, but he was fine in himself. Then this afternoon he was hideously sick this afternoon and I rushed him down to the vet, due to the volume, colour, consistency and smell and they found a mass in his abdomen. They did offer to try various things, but he was 15 and I've been through this with a cat before. So bloods were done and they were okayish, but I didn't want to put him through lots of tests because of his age. And the vet thought it was rather suspicious, so I made the heart-breaking decision to have him put to sleep, rather than put him through lots of tests and most likely with the same outcome.
I know I've done the right thing and I held him until the end, it has still broken my heart. CandleCat2 still seems unawares, but that may change. Its so hard.