I've having a heartbreaking dilemma. DS's cat is 13 years old and struggling with his health. Back in May he was given just 9-12 months to live after being diagnosed with end-stage congestive heart failure & a lung tumour. He also had a blood clot a couple of months later, which everyone thought he wouldn't survive, but miraculously he did. He's successfully managed to have a decent quality of life since May on furosemide 2 x daily and clopidogrel 1 x daily for clearing fluid and thinning his blood. He was still monkeying about/playing out/hunting/winding the dog up and other than occasional coughing fits he seemed fine. He then got into a really bad fight with another cat in July and a nasty bite turned into a burst abscess which caused nerve damage to his back end, so he was started on Loxicom 1 x daily which he still takes. After recovery from that he was still himself and pretty spritely. Then last week he started going rapidly downhill, his breathing was extremely fast & shallow. He was given an injectable diuretic to clear the fluid accumulation and the vet wanted him in next day to do x-rays and blood tests. Apparently his thyroid levels were really high causing an exacerbation of his heart symptoms, so he was started on liquid medicine twice daily for that too.
However despite his breathing being back to normal now, he just seems absolutely shattered. He's happy enough (all the chicken and ham I'm hiding medicine in 6 x daily might have something to do with that!) but he's barely been outside other than to toilet and he doesn't really want to play (not sure if this is down to crappy weather though as it's barely stopped raining since he took ill last week.) When he is awake he sits there paws folded, nodding off like a little old man, as after a while he seems barely able to hold his head up. He doesn't seem unwell, just utterly goosed, so I'm assuming this is to do with the thyroid med, because he's only been like this since he started it on Weds.
DS is an only child and I've been a single parent his whole life. The pets are basically my second kids and I don't know if I am now just being selfish and keeping the cat alive because I'll be absolutely lost and distraught if I have to make a decision. I've cried like a baby weekly over this even thinking about it. DS will obviously be upset when the inevitable happens, but he's 16 now and pets aren't really on the radar so much.
So I suppose I'm looking for some kind of indication from anyone with any experience of these thyroid meds, whether the initial side effects lessen over time? Or should I just accept that he's not going to get any better and that without the meds 6 x a day he wouldn't be here anyway? I want to give him the dignified end he deserves but I don't want to unnecessarily have him PTS if the side effects will lessen and he can have some kind of quality of life rather than sleeping all day and trying to fight sleep the rest of the time. God this is absolutely killing me 😢