Putting a cat to sleep rather than expensive treatment

[outofofficeagain]

This is a hypothetical question really, but my cat is getting on in years and was discussing with DH.

A friend of ours is paying over a hundred pounds a month for her cat's treatment. Their cat is too old to be covered on insurance (or insurance was too expensive).

The cat is 13. I said to DH that if that was our cat, I'd let her go rather than prolong her life with expensive treatment, especially if her quality of life was impacted or she was in pain.

DH said we'd probably pay too.

I wouldn’t consider £100 p/m expensive. Medication is given to maintain a good quality of life, it doesn’t go hand in hand with suffering.

As pp. I would pay £100 for medication.

We paid £80 per month when out dog needed daily tablets, that was years ago, but did put her down when she deteriorated a year later as we didn’t want her to suffer.

I wouldn’t put my cat through ££££’s treatment that was going to be distressing for her though. I would pts in that scenario.

You sound very quick to put your cat down should it become unwell. I doubt their vet would agree to their cat being kept alive by medication in pain and suffering. Do you know this to be the case?

No not at all. I'm not judging them for their decision and don't know the details.

It was more of a conversation with DH about where our line (and our budget) would be.

Hmm, at 13, if not suffering and we could afford it, I would pay. Mine is 17, nearly 18 and I would not pay for any expensive treatments for him now - he's had a nice life. I would not have him suffer in any way though.

I wouldn’t say £100 a month is expensive or 13 an old cat. I say this while my 19 year old who cost me a few thousand in insurance excess for an operation a couple of years ago sleeps on my bed. I wouldn’t agree to an operation now as I feel he would be too old and isn’t as nearly as fit.

I think whether £100 is reasonable or not depends on your budget. If you can afford £1200 each year and still feed your children and make sure they don't miss out the absolutely you should pay if it gives your pet quality of life. But no pets quality of life is more important than my children. I would cut back on my spending if I could but not my children's.

I had to make that choice with my 16 year old cat. As his health was poor, his treatment would have involved daily meds and regular blood tests, I had to weigh up the cost of treatment vrs his quality of life, also having talked to the vet's on their opinion. It wasn't an easy decision at all to make.

We chose not to do invasive treatment (chemo) on our last cat who had cancer. It was mainly because the treatment would have only prolonged her life for a short time, and she would have found the back and forth to the vet incredibly distressing.

We could have paid for it/were insured and I think we would have done with a different end point in sight. As it was, we let her go, much as it was utterly heartbreaking. She was only ten. 🤍

£100 a month is not expensive.

When you have pets you take on the responsibility of caring for them throughout their life.

You don't put them down because they become inconvenient...

It so much depends on what's wrong with the cat, any side effects of the treatment, the temperament and the personality of the cat.

I seem to specialise in getting cats who need a lot of patience, peace and time. We had the choice a couple of years ago of regular vet visits to prolong Boycat's life (CKD) for a few months but he was an anxious cat who had taken years to settle down & trust anyone apart from me. Plus he was starting to get confused and I could tell he was unhappy. So the decision was very easy for me despite him being my soul cat.

Now I have Tobias, who has a digestion problem but so far we haven't been able to find the cause. He's had a few vet visits lately including having to be deeply sedated for an ultrasound then biopsy, and he gets so stressed that he needs to be dosed with Gabapentin for us to even get him in the carrier. So far apart from slightly odd scan results we can't see anything wrong with him - good coat, no weight loss (despite being on a diet!), plenty of energy, good appetite, litter tray use all good except for having very soft poo all the time. In his case, the decision will be leave him be unless/until he shows any signs of suffering & then PTS - we won't send him off for more scans, more biopsies, tubes poked in from both ends, needles stuck in him and away from his home and sister potentially for a few days while he gets tests etc.

At 13 I would pay £100 a month yes.
There's many many cats who live years past that so that's too early to not treat

I'd pay £100 and 13 isn't especially old for a cat.

For me it would depend on the quality of life of the cat, what the treatment involved the cat putting up with and a realistic expectation of what the treatment could deliver.

For example I would not pay £1 for regular tablets for one of mine because he is an unhandlable bastard who will take your hand off. But I might pay thousands for him to have a one off surgery.

My 16 year old dog was in pain all of a sudden over night. Pain meds didnt fix it and we paid almost 3k for diagnosing her with bone cancer. She had to be pts. I dont regret it one bit. There was a chance its something else that could ve treated and i couldnt have lived with myself if i didnt get a proper diagnosis/treatment.
If you cant afford vet costs you need to have insurance or not have a pet.

Our dcat is 12 this year ( fingers crossed ) we've never had any regular monthly bills , other than the flea / working treatments monthly , and just the £60 - £80 here and there and of course insurance .

I would pay £100 a month if need be and quality of life is ok .

I was persuaded by the vet to put my cat through chemo for lymphoma. She was 11. She did not do well on it and was pts, I regret not saying no now and letting her go peacefully.

I agree with you OP. Meds for life just aren't on my radar. Treatments for cancer or anything else like that I wouldn't do either.

We have insurance but it's for accidents and emergency treatment only so no shocks.

I had my cat PTS at 18, at 13 if she has needed regular meds i would have done so .
It's all about quality of life , I did have a 6 year old dog PTS , because genuinely didn't feel like we had another option . I would have sold my soul for that dog , but unfortunately some things just can't be fixed , no matter how much money you throw at it .
There's no one size fits all

Hyperthyroidism is a condition for life (unless you cure it with the radioactive treatment) .
My cat still has a great quality of life with hyperthyroidism and brb going strong 3 years after diagnosis and still going strong. So how can you write off all life conditions

I don't think 13 is particularly old and I wouldn't hesitate to spend £100 a month on my car. My last cat had two separate operations to remove her thyroid glands when she was 16 and 18, and lived a very happy life until she was 21. It would never have crossed my mind to have her out to sleep until such time as my vet recommended thst there was no alternative and she had a very poor quality of life, which is what eventually happened quite quickly when she reached 21. If you take an animal into your life then I think you have to expect thst there's likely to be a time when you will have big vet bills as they age, but cats and dogs are faithful friends and deserve to be looked after.

It depends entirely on the condition.

I wouldn't battle medication into a cat every day, long term, for them to live a little longer if their quality of life was in any way compromised.

If it was a cat who happily took meds and their life was just as good as before then I would.

My rescue cat is somewhere between 15 and early 20's. If she became ill I'd try new treatment for a month or so to see how she got on, but if she wasn't back to 100% then I'd let her go.

This was us, but our vet was very clear that chemo would be best case another 12/18 months. Our girl hated going in the box/car/vet and it would have been horrific for her.

Per pp we paid about £3k to get to the diagnosis so it wasn’t about money.

My lovely cat died two weeks ago aged 22. She had arthritis in her hips and started loxicom (£40 pm) 7 years ago and moved to a monthly injection 3 years ago (£78pm). Worth every penny. We loved her so much, she had a great life and was comfortable and happy until the very very end when her back legs suddenly stopped working with no chance of recovery. Having her pts the next day was the kindest, and indeed the only, option. Our house feels very odd without her. I keep thinking I hear her padding about and miaowing at doors.

That's an amazing age!

I often wonder how long ours will live