This is a sad topic. We often discuss about babies, habits, adults but what about seriously ill cats who are elderly - or even not so elderly but seriously ill?

What sort of things would tell you when the time has come to make that last trip to the vet?

Obviously, each cat speaks to their own human in a unique way. Quality of life and the amount of suffering obviously come into the equation. This is never going to be a cut and dried, easy formula.

When the time came to say goodbye to my Booboo, he was in his 17th year. He could not get about. He would not eat or drink and he could not even meow - he had this low constant purr and could not get comfortable in whatever position he lay and was as thin as a stick. That was over ten years ago but I remember it as if it were yesterday.

Anyone else had a similarly difficult decision to make? Do you just hope that your fur-kid will pass in their sleep rather than have to go to the vet? Do you put it off day after day as I did with Booboo?

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best purrs

Ra

http://www.bobergsiamese.co.uk/

I know this may sound odd, but I try and think ahead for these things.

An example of this would be my cat smudge who is very poorly at the moment after being hit by a car. When it first happened his anal nerves were not working and his butt was just like a hole, so everything would keep falling out of it, thank-fully this is showing signs of improvment.
But before he started to improve I did some reading, and found that many cats in this situation never regain control of their bowels.

So while I am not actually in that situation yet (so I think I am thinking alot clearer), I have discussed with my partner that we would have him put down if he did not get over it. Now before you think this is cruel, to put a cat down that poos themself, you really should see the cat at the moment, he is absoulutly covered in poop, and it is very distressing to the animal. The only reason not to put him to sleep would be selfish.

He is having an operation on friday to try and sort out some of his problems, but this is a very real situation, and so we have to think carefully.

If I was to leave this decision till (if) the time came, then I would be so upset and irrational, I would probably want to choose to keep him, which of course wouldn't be fair on him.

Of course sometimes these situations hit us from no-where, so you cannot think ahead. But I really do have faith in myself that I would do what is kindest for the animal and not myself.

I had this decision with my elderly Maine Coon in March of this year.

Once his (probable) cancer had been diagnosed both the vet and myself were concerned with quality of life. As soon as he showed signs that he had 'given up' we decided that that was the time.

I was very concerned that he should not suffer any pain, though it can be hard to know whether a cat is suffering in that way.

When we finally decided the time had come, it was something the whole family concurred with and every one of them came to say goodbye. Even my son who was 300 miles away came home.

Oh I feel I can speak from the heart on this subject.

I lost my 12 month old Siamese Heti to the horrendous hereditary condition called Amyloydosis.
She was well right up to the age of 6 months and then she would have an “off” day no temp or clinical signs could be found by my Vet ( these days were about 6 weeks between each other, these quiet days I found out later was due to a bleed from her liver, which would stop and then she was ok again, blood pressure back up etc)….eventually I got so fed up that I insisted that they took bloods from her as I knew my cat and all was not right…she was extremely anaemic and was rushed to the Liverpool Vet Hospital.

My own cats donated blood to her and 2 days after she was admitted they took a liver biopsy and sent it away for an Amyloydosis diagnosis. All through this short time she was ill she was comfortable and in no pain, she was part of my family and I spent £5.5K having treatment to give her a chance. The Prof who treated her could not believe what a fighter she was, truly a brave girl, with a tremendous will to live.

Heti was discharged from the vet hospital on a Friday. The Prof who was treating her was hopeful she would enjoy a good 6 months, unfortunately she had a “quiet” day on the following Monday and I then made the decision to have her PTS, she went quietly asleep in my arms, being held by the person who loved her most, she was my brave girl and she had fought valiantly to beat this awful disease.

I think what upset me the most was the “whispers” from so called friend in the cat fancy, who spread malicious gossip that I allowed my cat to suffer…personally I feel this person was desperate to sweep my beautiful Heti “under the carpet”.

So yes I speak from experience, its hard to let them go, but we have a duty to our beloved pets to prevent any pain and suffering.

I have a tribute to my girl on my website if you care to look

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http://www.starappealsiameseandorien....uk/index.html

I have been lucky enough to share my life with some very well beloved and special cats and each one has taught me so much about love and companionship. Unfortunately part of loving is losing and I have had to be the one holding them when the time came. Only one has passed away at home and she slipped quietly away in front of the fire at the age of 18.

I have fought very hard for more than one incredibly precious cat, but it was very obvious when the time had come. Although I didn't want to see, I couldn't ignore the signs any more. It was a privilege to be with them at the end even though it broke my heart. It is the hardest decision to have to make, but I loved them and could not let them suffer when there was no more hope.

When we lost Patch in April last yr,it was middle of the night and he was fine except normally he'd have wanted to go out for five mins and he snuggled on the floor near where i slept,myself and Ross were awoken shortly after by an awful sounding cry from him and we knew something was badly wrong,he tried to stand and his back legs went. We stroked him and talked to him but we both knew he wouldn't be coming back from this as we suspected he'd had a stroke,Patch was one of our first lads and Noodles best mate and sounds daft but he was a lot like Ross but in fur,our whole family were devastated,it was the end of an era that none of us expected,holding him whilst he took his last breath was one of the hardest things to do but was one of the last show of love we could do for him,you never get over any loss of this nature but you do with time learn to live with them because you have to and for me all our furbabies are only ever borrowed to us be it for a short time or for yrs to come and always to remind us of the goodness in the bigger picture if that makes sense

I lost my baby Jimmy in december. He was 13 years old and had all the symptoms of diabetes but it could not be controlled.

I tried everything - including learning to blood sample him at home myself as he was petrified of the vets and needles.
I injected him twice a day but he never responded. His blood levels remained sky high and he was constantly drinking and towards the end began vomiting. The vet tested him for everything and could only diagnose him with a possible pancreatic tumour.

However after both of us battling on i came home one day to find him not wanting to walk, not eating and just sitting staring at me as if to say "ive had enough". At that point i felt i had to put him to sleep.

I held him whilst he fell asleep and sobbed so hard, i felt so lost without him.

I still have days where i question making the decision to end his life asking but what if i had done this, or tried this or just kept him a bit longer he would have gotten better.

I have to live with this every day and tell myself we done the right thing for him. It is sometimes easier for us to keep them alive as it is so hard to face losing them but i have 13 years of great memories of my boy and hopefully the memories of his last day will fade and i will remember him without crying.

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I Love My CatsI Love My Cats

I feel that the greatest love you can show your pet is to ensure they do not suffer pain or live in pain and indignity because you cannot face the loss.

It is hard and you will go through a grieving period that may last many months or even years. Do not feel ashamed of crying for a pet or talking about a pet or looking at photos and remembering.

I lost my first cat, a female Seal Point Siamese, Sophie,when she was about 4 years old. She had to be put to sleep due to the fact that she had Leukeamia. In those days there were no vaccinations for this disease.

One minute she would be fine and then suddenly, wouldn't go out, eat, I took her to the vet's, they gave me some medication for her, but after a few days, I realised that this was not getting any better, so I took her back to the vet's, this time it was a female, she said 'quite honestly, the best thing for her is to be put to sleep'.

You can try and hang on, but at the end of the day, you are not being kind, only prolonging the suffering.

Only you can make these decisions, not your pet.

I think you just know when it is time to say goodbye. I had Maisie who was operated on twice for cancer and it came back again three weeks after her last op. I decided with the vets advice not to let her have anymore surgery and I knew when she had had enough so tenderly held her while my vet helped her to the bridge.