What I would do differently/the same with my next cat

[FreakInTheSheets]

Hello all,

My cat is coming to the end of her life.

I have learned quite a bit.

Here is what I would do differently and what I would do the same.

Please add your own.

DO DIFFERENTLY

1. Weigh her once a month right from the outset of getting her so as to pick up changes early doors. (Weight loss was a symptom of hyperthyroidism and kidney disease which I could have spotted slightly earlier than when her behaviour changed). I recommend buying scales for weighing babies.

2. Give her a solensia injection once a month as soon as she got to say 15. Don't wait until you actually see possible signs of pain/lack of mobility. £85/m though so depends on your insurance/finances.

DO THE SAME

1. I feel I got it right with not bothering with insurance. She was a 9 yr old rescue so I just saved the money into an account. Personal decision though based on your cat/your finances.

2. I also feel I did right by being slightly hands off. Let her go out exploring outside and only took her to the vet if there was something wrong. Not for routine check ups. (She found it immensely stressful).

I'm not sure if do anything differently, although I do wish I'd spotted the signs of illness more quickly in all of them.
I'm glad I had a plan about what I wanted to happen when the time came. And it really helped.
Insurance was a must for me. As my previous pair ran up bills of £25k and Cheddar's final bill was about £1300

Do the same

Have a young gang - they spend hours playing together

Buy them good dry kibble

Not let them out, had the bestest cat in the world killed by a dog in our garden NEVER AGAIN

Have them shut away overnight for their "big sleep"

Not sure what I would do differently.

Teach him how to close doors after a grand entrance.

I wish supper time was earlier - waiting for it to be 10pm so I can feed them and go to bed!
I hesitated over purchases but litter robot, microchip cat flap and trackers have all made a big difference - I would use them all from the start

Oh another thing. I wish I'd got her teeth sorted when she was younger. I was worried about the general anaesthetic and then she was too old for it to be safe.

I don't think I'd do anything differently except I am having second thoughts about insurance as we've never had to claim.

But I know my luck - I'll cancel it and end up with a massive bill 😂

We just adopted a wee fella after losing our beautiful girl to lymphoma. It’s very early days and we still have no routine and I am just going with it for now.

Definite same - insurance, or we would be bankrupt, keep him in overnight/while we’re out (he won’t be out for another few weeks)

Different - push for investigations if anything medically wrong. I blithely accepted hairballs as a cause of vomiting when in fact it was cancer. Not let him be the boss (let’s see how that goes…)