Handhold please

[PipLongStockings]

I has to rush my ginger old boy to the vets. It seems they believe he's has a stroke and has a blood clot in his main artery feeding his back legs. They're cold and his pink pads are blue.
He has lots of pain relief on board but tomorrow will need to make a decision. Options are MRI, heart scans, extensive medication and then hope that he doesn't have a further stroke whilst drugs get properly into his system.
He is 15, he is my baby and I love him dearly. I got him at 18 and he has helped me when I've been through hell and back.
Any experience of this? Any advice?

When can you ring the hospital?

He came home with me overnight drugged up to his eyeballs. He is comfortable at the moment but we will have to make the decision today

No advice but hand hold.

Any update?

Hugs xx

Hand held.

Sometimes you can tell if a cat wants to fight on or if they've had enough, so he may help you decide. Whatever decision you made today, you took it out of love.

Sending you virtual hugs and hand-holding.

With the agreement of vets we put him to sleep. He did fight them and i am racked with guilt today that I made the wrong choice. My reasoning was he couldn't mobilise at all. He pood himself couldn't clean, he was dehydrated and would have needed hospitalisation for fluids, he didn't want to eat just sleep and didn't look happy. But at the vets we snuggled (for an hour) going through the options but he had no feeling in one of his legs and it dragged around. he could only move in a circle. But should I have tried for longer. It's shit.

Really sorry you are going through this.
You 100% made the right decision, he sounds like he was in a very bad way, with not being able to move. Also not being able to clean himself has a massive impact on cat's well being. And not eating is also a sign he wanted to give up.
You still preserved the dignity of your little friend, which is very important.
The guilt feeling is horrid though and takes a while to go away. Maybe it helps to look at pictures of him in top shape and see how different he looked.

Oh gosh honey, you did the right thing. You really really did. It is traumatic and you will take awhile to be able to breathe properly and trust the right thing was done. But look at what was head of him, hospital, injections, tests... you know how that affects cats... .

Huge hug, you did a very hard but strong thing. Better a day too soon than a day too late.

Yes you definitely made the right decision. It feels awful, but it has to be done.

You made the right decision, and are a fantastic owner for doing so. Keeping him hanging on with poor quality of life is an easier thing to do, but wouldn't have been in his best interests.
Be gentle with yourself; it takes time but eventually you'll look at photos and remember him fondly, without the raw grief.  x

for you. My old boy had a stroke last March, survived it and had B12 supplements to perk him up a bit, he seemingly recovered and then went into respiratory failure last July. We then made the heartbreaking decision to PTS, he was 17 and it was just not fair to poke and prod and drug him.

It’s horrendous and the grief is awful but you 100% made the right call, he went with his dignity intact and you saved him from pain and suffering.