Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

If you’ve ever had your cat put to sleep please can you help me?

47 replies

Comff · 21/05/2024 12:24

I’m saying goodbye to my cat today and I’m worrying I’ve made the wrong decision about where it happens.

I was given the choice of the vet coming to our home or me taking my cat to the vet. I chose the latter. Is that the right choice?

• If the vet comes here she might get spooked by the process at home and try to hide. And then the whole thing would turn into her feeling stressed and trying to run away. She does occasionally get spooked by visitors, although she’s so dopey from so many painkillers she might not today.

• Whereas every visit she’s had at the vets she’s been very calm and even eats treats and purrs when they stroke her. If she’s ever been scared there (ie having a painful procedure) she’s come to me and buries her head under my jumper instead of running away.

I’m so upset at the fact I’m going to lose her and can’t stop crying. I want this part to be ok for her, for her to be with me and not be scared. Have I done the right thing saying I’ll bring her in rather than a vet comes out to us?

OP posts:

longtompot · 21/05/2024 14:00

We had to take our old boy to the out of hours vets as he collapsed one evening. The vet took him away and prepped him with the cannula in his front leg and we came into the room to say goodbye. When we were ready, the vet injected the medication, he looked around at us all and did one final loud purr and was gone. I was so grateful to be there for his final moment of almost 20 years having him.
It is the hardest thing we've done but was the kindest. You are doing the right thing and I hope it goes as well these things can 💐

Igmum · 21/05/2024 14:18

I've had to do this a few times. It's heartbreaking and I'm always riven with doubt. Sending love and hugs to you @Comff and @BigPussyEnergy

Houseplanter · 21/05/2024 14:19

So sorry it's taken so long to come back.

My old boy sat eating dreamies while the vet injected him straight in to his kidney. He didn't even flinch.. no cannula, no drama.

It was so much more dignified and simple than I could have hoped for.

He was gone in moments.

SammyScrounge · 21/05/2024 14:35

You should take her to the vet for all the reasons you have mentioned
And another reason - if the vet comes to you, the room he puts the cat to sleep in becomes an unhappy place which reminds you of what happened there.

Pudmyboy · 21/05/2024 21:27

Comff · 21/05/2024 13:11

Thank you, all your messages have really helped.

I wish I could stop crying.

Don't hold back your tears, you are crying because you love your cat, it is entirely natural to grieve for what has led to this and because you know what is going to happen 💐

Houseplanter · 21/05/2024 21:58

Thinking of you @Comff and hope it was peaceful x

OnTheBoardwalk · 21/05/2024 22:07

@Comff ah I took my cat to vets and was told being put to sleep was the only option

they gave her the good drugs to start then asked if I wanted her in my lap. My cat really wasn’t a lap cat so we smuggled on the table. You can snuggle on the floor knowing you are doing the right thing

ItsFreedomBabyYeah · 21/05/2024 22:13

I'm so sorry OP, what a gut wrenching day. I took my precious Mia to the pound to be euthanasised, as it seemed fitting. That was, after all, the place I had adopted her as a kitten from, 18 years earlier. What I didn't realise was I was not allowed to be out "back" with her, holding her, petting her, comforting her whilst they put her to sleep. I was only allowed in once it was done. It's my biggest regret! The guilt I feel many years later that I wasn't with her.

DesparatePragmatist · 21/05/2024 22:20

OP I hope it went peacefully and your cat is out of pain now. I've had to do this twice and the vets were brilliant each time. It didn't stop me from being devastated and I'm sure you are too. One thought that helped me is just to know and recognise that their lives are shorter than ours. They live them with 100% authenticity and bring us huge love and joy, and then they're over. I could accept this more than I could accept ideas of being OK without them, somehow.

Toddlerteaplease · 21/05/2024 22:43

Both the emergency vet and my own vet, sent me a lovely card with some poppy and forget me not seeds in. Which was a lovely toucj

Mumsgirls · 22/05/2024 12:43

My boy went sat on my knee, with me stroking him and telling him what a good boy he was. Had a cannula in that day, so two injections into that. No pain, no fear, very swift and he died feeling my love. Having watched my parent at end of life, cat got the better deal. My fear was cat would slope off to die somewhere, to me he got the best possible death. Be prepared though that the eyes don’t close. They confirm death by listening to the heart. The kindness and care of the vet was wonderful. Sorry for you having to go through it.

IBegYourBiggestPardon · 22/05/2024 13:15

I had Felix pts last June. The Vet took him off to pop a cannula in and then brought him back wrapped up in towel with just his head and cannulated arm sticking out. Then she left me with him and told me to take as much time as needed. I kissed him and stroked him and cuddled him as best I could. Told him how much I loved him and thanked him for 16 truly happy years and told him his Kitty friends would be waiting for him and so would Mummy's Baby. Then the Vet came back in and we just talked for a while. She asked me to tell her when I was ready for her to put the injection in and once I was ready I stood in front of Felix and said my final goodbyes and kissed the top of his head. He went as soon as the injection went in and I could feel his head gradually falling downward so I held his head in my hand and lowered myself down. He also had his eyes wide open. The Vet then asked me if I wanted some of his fur which I did and took a cutting of and then popped it in a little glass bottle for me. I did take his favourite blanket for him to be wrapped up in but as we lifted him he'd emptied his bladder all over the table. So she said they would take him and clean him up and then wrap him in it. She said I could spend as much time as needed but she had to go and deal with an emergency so once I was ready to leave just let someone know and they'd come and get him. A few days later I received a lovely card with his paw and nose prints inside it and his ashes about 2 weeks later.

Summerdew · 22/05/2024 13:56

Hope you are as ok as you can be OP. It’s just under a year since we had our beloved cat PTS, absolutely the right decision and it gets less raw but I miss her every dayz. We named a star after her and we can see it at this time of year if we track the constellations, it’s lovely being able to still “see” her and talk to her (I do sometimes still stroke the casket and talk to that). Sending hugs.

Toddlerteaplease · 22/05/2024 14:08

Magic and Maia both went, wrapped in their own blankets. It made me really sad that I did t have time to pick Cheddars up. So she went in a Spider-Man blanket that belonged to to the vet. The towel from the carrier was wet so couldn't use it.

Kachew · 22/05/2024 14:48

Definitely the right decision to go to the vets from what you've said OP, sounds like Dcat may well be more distressed with a stranger at home. I'm so sorry, not much makes me cry but I couldn't stop either the day we lost our boy

Original poster

Comff · 22/05/2024 20:25

Thank you all for your posts. You’ve helped so much. I’m going to read through them all again.

I stayed with her. They didn’t need to take her away at any point. The vet and I fed her treats, and I stroked her and thanked her being mine and she purred.

I miss her so much.

OP posts:

Kachew · 22/05/2024 22:10

You did your best for her all the way to the end OP, it's all we can do

Twynklebell · 28/05/2024 16:01

I sadly had to send my 19 year old cat on his final journey today - we were very lucky as we have a local home visit vet so we didn't need to go via car. Bramble hated the car and it would have been awful for him. Myself and my partner both stayed with him - he was cuddled up on his heat mat. I didn't think I could I stay but our vet made it so easy. He gave him a sedative and then once that took effect, an injection in to his tummy while we stroked him. He was gone in under 30 seconds. Very very peaceful.

Kachew · 28/05/2024 18:27

So sorry Twynklebell, thinking of both you and Comff

sprigatito · 28/05/2024 18:29

I did the same thing for the same reasons when we lost our old girl. It was completely peaceful and not traumatic at all for her. I'm so sorry you're going through this, it's awful

largeprintagathachristie · 28/05/2024 18:32

My cat was put to sleep while she was in my lap (at the vets).
I hadn’t expected that to be an option but it was.

all the best. It’s hard.
I think you’ve made the right choice regarding at the vets versus at home.

AgnesX · 28/05/2024 18:38

I genuinely don't know. We had our cat PTS at the vet hospital. It was Christmas and an at- home visit wasn't an option.

On one hand I would have preferred it to be at home in familiar surroundings, on the other it was probably best that our remaining cat wasn't aware of it. He was terrible when she didn't come home as it was.

Flip

1 2