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How do you measure a cat's quality of life?

10 replies

wheresmymojo · 02/08/2022 19:56

My cat, Nancy, has a chronic skin condition.

This means she often has large sections of skin - currently from the underside of her chin all the way down and across the whole of her chest - that are red raw from constant licking and scratching.

And I really mean red raw. It's just weeping and partly bloody skin. No fur at all. It must be very painful.

We then go through a long cycle of fortnightly steroid injections and steroid cream.

Over several weeks it will get slowly better and then she might have a few days or weeks before the whole cycle starts again.

No vet (and there have been several) has got to the bottom of it.

She also has neurological issues - she always has but they've got worse so she's often confused and will sit and cry or she'll go somewhere and then it's like she forgets anywhere else exists?

So she'll go to a bedroom and then stay there in the exact same spot for 24 hours (she'd be there longer if we don't find her).

She's just been missing for 3 days and it turns out she was in a neighbours outside glass collection box lying on top of their empty bottles and she'd just been there for 3 days. We'd seen her come back for food and drink which we'd put outside for her but otherwise she just lay on top of the bottles basically looking depressed or perhaps demented?

That being said, when you pet her she purrs so loudly and right now is curled up on my lap.

The neighbour (who has seen her lying in her bottle box!) have implied it's time to PTS due to quality of life.

The vets are not really giving a view one way or the other.

So how do you measure a cats quality of life in this kind of situation?

Would you PTS?

OP posts:
greentreesgreengrass · 02/08/2022 19:58

Poor Nancy

How old is she?

wheresmymojo · 02/08/2022 19:58

She's ten by the way.

I feel like she's happy on my lap but the rest of the time either unhappy and/or extremely confused and I work full time so there's a lot more time she isn't on my lap than on it.

OP posts:
KittyCatsby · 02/08/2022 19:59

Sorry to hear that about your cat . I once read on here it's kinder to pts a day too early rather than a day too late . Sending kind thoughts your way.

Bootothegoose · 02/08/2022 20:01

Poor you and poor Nancy that sounds very difficult.

honestly? I would say put to sleep. If nothing more than for the skin and neurological issues. You don’t have to do it today, or even this week however I would start preparing yourself for these being her last weeks.

the losing herself would worry me that she would get lost and forget where she was and not be able to get home. She would then have all these problems but just on her own.

wheresmymojo · 02/08/2022 20:01

It's so hard in this situation. I've had to have cats PTS before which was hard enough but I knew they had terminal illnesses.

This feels so much harder...sort of trying to step into her shoes (paws) and figure out what she'd say if she had a voice Sad

OP posts:
TalkingToMyselfAgain · 02/08/2022 20:02

The poor thing. She really hasn't got much of a life at all. She isn't enjoying a normal cat life of playing, climbing, patrolling her territory, grooming, etc. As for the very sore skin problem - she must be in a lot of pain and discomfort.

I've had cats for the past 42 years (3 at once for many years), and would never let a cat of mine suffer like that. Please, be kind to your cat and have her put to sleep. She's got a horrible life. x

Blueswedeshoes · 03/08/2022 09:31

I’m really sorry to say but your cat does seem to be suffering quite a bit, and cats very skilfully often mask any pain they’re in.

I sadly lost my cat recently, on the roads, but she had always been an outdoor loving cat before we had her and so couldn’t keep her in. I’m gutted that we lost her, but I find comfort in the fact that she was a very happy cat doing her own thing.
I always measured her quality of life by the way she always had her tail upright, and was very playful with a good appetite.
If she’d suffered with a condition such as the one your cat does, and taken to staying in one spot for 24 hours, I would’ve hated having to make the decision to pts, but would’ve known she couldn’t have been happy anymore.
I think it’s best to take the advice of your Vet 💐

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 03/08/2022 09:43

KittyCatsby · 02/08/2022 19:59

Sorry to hear that about your cat . I once read on here it's kinder to pts a day too early rather than a day too late . Sending kind thoughts your way.

I absolutely agree with this and would PTS in this situation x

sausage767 · 03/08/2022 09:45

If I thought she was in pain, or constant discomfort that was permanent, I absolutely would pts. I am sorry OP, it’s very difficult to do even when you know it’s 100% the right thing to do.

Teateaandmoretea · 03/08/2022 09:48

It is a gut feeling that you have. For what its worth though vets won't usually suggest you have animals pts unless its really the only option.

I'm not sure about the day too early/ late thing if I'm honest so I'd carefully think and observe her. Its when its 2 months too late and they have been in a real state for all that time that its a problem and some people just won't make the decision.

Make sure you feed her like a princess in the mean time.

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