Quality of life

[Plump82]

My cats had a pretty rough life with a lot of illnesses. Shes now 17 and on medication for megacolon as well as spondylosis. The medication she takes for megacolon unfortunately gives her very bad diareah but she doesn't make an attempt to use her litter tray and it just leaks all over the place and her. Without this medication however she ends up constipated.
This is becoming quite stressful for me and her. Right now shes locked in the hall and meowing pitifully.
Her quality of life isnt great when all this is happening but inbetween when shes able to go to toilet then she seems pretty happy.
How long do i go on with this. Should i even be considering discussing putting her to sleep.
Its so upsetting . The last time i was at the vets about 3 weeks ago she did agree we need to start thinking about quality of life. But what do i do? Call the vets and say i want my cat pts?

I'm so sorry xxx I don't really know what to say but didn't want to ignore.

Speak to the vet soon xxx if you know in your heart it needs to be done

Its such a hard decision to make. My boy had CKD and one day I just looked at him and knew he hadn't enjoyed his day, on top of which he was deteriorating, so that really helped my decision. My girl, however, had dementia, then lost most of her sight and hearing but despite this still found her way out and wanted food. Towards the end she was finding it hard to navigate the cat flap and couldn't find the food she wanted, I had a couple of weeks where I kept trying to make that decision.

I think for both of you you're coming to the time when that decision is going to be made, might not be this week or month, but soon. If your vet is any good, she'll be willing to talk things over with you on the phone as she's seen her recently. There may just be some other medication that may help. If not, from whatever she says, whether you agree or not, you'll know yourself whether it's time or you give her a bit longer.

If she has a favourite place for accidents, it might be worth putting some newspaper there or Wilko do some cheap soft puppy training mats. I know you can't be there all the time, but you always try and put something under her if you think she's about to go. Having said this, I know it means you can't relax as she'll always be half watching her and she'll know.

She was as right as rain this morning. No mess after the last lot. Thats what makes it so hard to think if being pts is the right thing.
My vets are very good but always insist i bring her in which i try to avoid as it stresses her out so much.
Ive got puppy pads and towels everywhere but she doesnt even make any signs that shes going to the toilet. With out going into too much tmi its only when i smell it 😕 and unfortunately her favourite place is my bed!!

If you've agreed with the vet that quality of life needs to be discussed, then I think it is an indicator that any time now onwards would be the right time.

A vet once said to me that if you're starting to think about whether it's time or not, then it usually is, and I've found that to be invariably true.

Once I've made the decision I just ring the vets and ask them to come to my home to pts, or make an appointment at the vets if you prefer.
I've never had a vet query my decision and they are usually supportive and compassionate, so yes, you do just say you want your cat pts. They do this every day and will be used to people requesting it.

17 is a good age.

This may not be appropriate advice at all, but I had an old cat who started having uncontrollable diarrhoea, making no effort to get to her tray. It turned out it was caused by cat food in jelly, when we swapped to food in gravy it cleared up completely. I know yours has bowel issues but it might help. Mine literally didn’t seem to know she was pooing.

@chemenger - thats interesting because i distinctly remembering last night thinking she would like her supper as it had loads of jelly in it.

I hope it will help, fingers crossed for you. Food in gravy is annoyingly difficult to find in my experience, most seems to be in jelly.

I managed to get pouches in Tesco which are for senior cats. Expensive compared to tins but nothing compared to the prescription food she used to get that cost £29!!
She wolfed it down and also went to the toilet normally.

That seems like a positive sign, still keeping my fingers crossed for you.