Support Topic for those with elderly or ill cats?

[QueenOfAccidentalDeathStares]

Is there any interest in a topic for those with elderly or ill cats?

GrumpyOldCat is 19.5y, and is currently fighting to get over suspected stress(christmas)-induced cystitis. (on top of his other acquired issues - hyperthyroidism, blindness, arthritis, bad teeth).

He is so skinny now, but now on pain-meds, he seems to be comfortable and back to being inquisitive (and happy?) again. His appetite has completely returned.

Every time he is ill, i start thinking "is this it?" "are we being cruel?", but then he starts to cat about like normal. And being his normal (albeit slower) inquisitive cheeky self. And now i feel mean for even considering it.

I suspect this is his last year (though I have said that for the last 4 years ......).

t4 level upto 76. should be under 40. change the dose again.....
urine looking ok (for him).

I hope the meds help.
Yes I have to groom her. She loves it 🙂

Hello all. Have been dipping into this thread for a couple of months since our ginger boy was found to have a tumour in his abdomen. He has been on steroids to give him a more comfortable life, but sadly he has been going downhill over the last few days. I think we will take him to the vet tomorrow and their advice will be to have him pts. So sad.

I'm so sorry lifeofbriony I've just stumbled across this thread, it's an incredibly hard decision to make. Our cat Bella is 6 and in her final days, she is in heart failure and her quality of life has now dropped, even with all the medicines she's on. She'll be making her final trip to the vets this week. She was diagnosed with sub aortic stenosis last May and was stable for a while but is fast going downhill now. Some days she's OK ish but the bad days are outnumbering the good now xxxx

@LifeofBriony so sorry to hear your news. It's so heartbreaking when they're ill isn't it. It's awful to see them staggering around too. My line in the sand was that if they my cat was still asking for food and enjoying being stroked etc we would keep her going, but when that stopped we would go to the vets. Thinking of you at what is a horrible and upsetting time xxxx

The fluffy cat is my Millie who died of cancer aged 10 at the beginning of February, I miss her very much as she was crazy & had a unique & very loving personality.

The black & white cat is my new rescue cat! I didn't mean to adopt a cat so soon but it has helped me to recover.
She is a real challenge as the only place she seems to feel safe is on my bed!
She flinches whenever anyone tries to touch her. I don't know what abuse she's suffered.

This is my dearly departed cat, she was such a darling, happy and loving, asking nothing and giving affection and love. Miss her every day.

tierra and sarf your cats are beautiful.

tierra look at those white toes ! I'm sure the flinching will reduce over time as she gets used to you.

grumpy is much better on his new drug dose. He is pretty much as good as he can be ! went away for few days over easter ..... felt so guilty leaving him alone.

so sorry LifeOfBriony thinking of you and your ginger boy today.

Thank you all for your kind words. We had an appointment at the end of surgery today. I believed we were doing the right thing, but for the benefit of DS who decided at the last minute to come with us, I asked the vet if this was the right time. She confirmed that he was nearing the end and that we had done a good job of palliative care since diagnosis. But it was very sad.

We have another cat but this one was such a character. We will miss him terribly.

Girlinleeds sorry to hear about your Bella. Our DCat was still having good days last week, but over the weekend he was finding it painful to move and was not eating or drinking very much.

Sarf and Tierra, your cats are lovely. Queen I am glad your Grumpy is responding to the meds.

LifeOfBriony im so sorry as our vet often has said to us its the hardest decision but often the kindest one to make xx

Dh has booked Bella into the vets on thursday, unless she deteriorates further. we're also waiting for lab results on one of our other cats, Jess she's always had a delicate stomach but now has frequent bouts of diarrhea, im dreading the results i don't know how i'll cope if its more bad news. DD (9) and Bella are best friends and she knows how poorly bella is, knows there's no cure and we've talked about putting her to sleep, but i've decided not to tell her until thursday morning that its happening. we've previously had the discussion about bella going to sleep and she wants to go to the vets but not be there for the injection,

Sorry to hear about your cats LifeofBriony & Bella.

When mine was pts in Feb the vet came to my house & sedated her first before giving her the final injection.

She was very feisty even at the end despite being very weak.
She hissed & spat at the vet & her last noise was a growl which made me smile despite everything because the first noise I ever heard from her was growling when I picked her up from the rspca in 2007.

Putting her in the body bag & carrying her to the vet's car broke my heart.
But I'm glad I was able to do that.

I have her ashes in a nice beech box upstairs.

My new cat has been following me round today, despite her nerves she's curled up next to me now.

Girlinleeds, how awful for you to have two cats unwell. Sending you and your family love for tomorrow. My DS was a bit younger than your DD when we got our two cats, and at the time he thought of DCat as his little brother.

Tierra, that sounds heartbreaking.

We have decided to scatter DCat's ashes in our garden, in a nice spot where he was happy. DCat2 seems to have noticed that he has gone. They were not best friends at all, but greeted each other with head bumps occasionally and I am sure she knew he was not right. The house seems so empty.

ive told dd, shes heartbroken but is spending lots of time with bella, giving her lots of treats. I want the day over but at the same time im dreading it getting to her appointment time.
The vet did say that bellas illness could be stressing jess and thats causing her illness, there both rescues, jess was thrown away in a carrier bag at a few weeks old so, when we adopted her bella took on the role of mum. think losing bella is going to hit jess hard

Bella has gone, we are heartbroken, the vet said she had lots of extra fluid even with the drugs so it was the right decision.
Jess test results still aren't back, so we dont know what is going on with her, i just feel broken

Girlinleeds

girlinleeds

fx for Jess.

Results finally back for jess, she has a stomach infection and hopefully some antibiotics should clear it. I wonder if stress over Bella has made it worse. Since Bella was put to sleep on Thursday all jess has done is mope around and look sad, not that I blame her that's how I feel, I hope she'll perk up soon

oh thats good news !
i'm sure jess will perk up soon.