When do you know its time?

[danji31]

I feel a bit on my own with the recent degradation in my cats health as most people who don't care about cats seem to not understand the close relationship they have with their owners. I noticed a few weeks ago that my 16 years old cat, Dexie, was drinking water more than usual. Since she had a UTI some years back I thought that it would probably be a good thing that she is drinking more water. Well then it started to become obsessive and when I noticed small pink spots (blood) spread out randomly around my house I knew I had misjudged the nature of her drinking behavior change. I went to the to the emergency vet, declined most of the test they wanted to run except for a urinalysis so we could see what her urine was showing use. From that we could reasonably assume is that she is diabetic from the extremly high amount of glucose, which was later confirmed with blood tests at my regular vet. She stayed at my home vet for a few days on an IV as they did some more testing. I picked her up and brought her home and watched her act like a normal cat again, felt a weight being taken off my heart and that she will be OK for at least a little while longer with the proper diet adjustments and insulin injections.

That was short lived. Things began to go downhill again the following day. She wasn't drinking obsessively, or drinking much at all, nor eating. I called the vet again because I can't give her insulin if she does not eat. After another day of no improvement I started becoming very concerned, so I thought perhaps the special food from the vet just doesn't taste good, so I went to the store and picked up every flavor of fancy feast I could find, and a syringe if I had to result to force feeding her. I came back and opened up a can of fancy feast and she started to eat it. Problem is that she kind of just licks at it, doesn't actually take in any substantial amount of food. Not enough for a diabetic cat for sure. So I took her back to the vet last Friday and they did an ultrasound to look at her kidneys, liver, etc. Doc says that her liver doesn't look well, she said the official name of the condition, but I kind of zoned out after hearing she has liver problems. It was a bit crushing after going thru a week of hell with her already to learn of another potential issue. Being that it was Friday, they referred me to an emergency hospital located in another city where she wanted them to surgically insert a feeding tube. Apparently her condition makes her not hungry which only worsens the condition and definatelty inhinits my ability to care for her diabetes.

Surgery at an emergency pet hospital is not going to be cheap, the veterinarian told me this upfront and I expect as much. So far I have already put in about $1600 to get to this point. So I am torn between my love for her and if continuing this is what is in her best interest. She is 16 so statistically speaking she's in the zone when most indoor cats die. So I can drain my savings account in an attempt to save her life, with no guarantees that her liver will ever return to normal or that there is not another issues they haven't found yet.

So taking all this into account, her age, the costs, the changes to both of our lives and if she is able to pull through all of it, I find myself unable to decide what is best for her. I never wanted money to be a part of my decision, but since it's looking much different now with thousands of dollars in emergency care and the costs incurred afterwards when she returns to my regular vet, I have to consider it for my own welfare. It's such a hard decision to make and even family members think I am insane for what I have spent already, but they don't understand the nature of my love for my cat. I think my heart just cant choose to let her go, and I also don't want her to suffer in a cage being stuck with needles, and now a tube down her throat. At her age does it sound reasonable that maybe i should let her go instead of waiting for it happen all over again some years down the road if it works at all? We have spent many years together, she's always been my rock. I owe it to her to do what is in her best interest and not allow the my feelings of loss affect my decision.

Any comments I would greatly appreciate. I feel like I've been through the wringer, sure Dexie does as well. We could use some good advice from others who may have been in this position before.

Thank you all,
Danel

[booktigger]

It's such a tricky situation, the liver can regenerate, but you have the complication of diabetes, which, while not a terminal condition, generally shortens their life, and at 16, I'd be thinking is it fair to put her through all the procedures, regardless of cost, when you might not be buying them a lot of time. I have been in a similar position and opted to let cats with a potentially treatable illness go because they have found the treatment too much. As someone said recently, just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. Good luck

[alanc]

As Booktigger says, it is a tricky situation and one where I don't think any definitive answer can be given and you will always be left wondering what would have happened if you had done the opposite thing. On balance, I think that in your situation, I would not put Dexie through the operation as I suspect at 16 her chances of recovery to a happy life are too small to justify the trauma of being operated on. Having said which, I did get my Badger operated on as a last resort (which failed), but he was a much younger cat (5) and had more hope of a longer life had he survived.

[Ruth B]

A few months ago my Mother decided to have her diabetic cat pts as everything else had started to shut down as well, Tufty was 16 years old and had been diabetic for at least 5 years. Everything started to go wrong, her liver was shutting down, her diabetes which had been stable for years suddenly went uncontrolled and my Mother was giving her the insulin only to have to be forcing glucose down her several hours later as Tufty was refusing to eat. My Mother decided that instead of all the intrusive surgery for tube feeding etc., and constant blood test to try and monitor the glucose level it was kinder to let her go to sleep.

During the time she had been diabetic and on insulin she had had to have injections every 12 hours 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year. You probably already know this but you might want to think just what that means, if you go away someone has to give the cat its insulin and make sure it eats, if you go out for a meal, to the theatre, to a club, whatever, who is going to give the cat the insulin. My parent spent years deciding on whether they could go out to an event around when Tufty would need her insulin. When they went out for the day, it was always on their mind what time they had to be back for. Giving an animal insulin is an incredible responsibility.

Before Tufty was diagnosed one of my own cats was diagnosed in the early stages of diabetes, the food and injection pattern at the time was different and we worked it out that my partner could give her the insulin before he left for his shift and I would be getting in from work just as she needed her food, assuming the bus was on time, if the bus was late I would be risking getting home to a cat in a diabetic coma. We decided we could not take that stress and opted to give the cat as good a few months as she had left, the vet reckoned she might have 6 months, she lasted 9 and the end came very quickly, one day all light had gone out of her eyes and she had no interest in anything going on around her, the time had come and we said goodbye without regrets, we had done the best we could and she went peacefully to sleep.

With hindsight and knowing the two different stories I still believe we made the right decision not to go down the insulin route.

The costs will also mount up far more than you might think, it isn't only the initial treatment, it is the ongoing costs of insulin, syringes, glucose monitor and testing strips, regular blood tests at the vets to check the glucose control as well as kidney, liver and everything else's function.

I don't want to sound pessimistic and I know full well what these animals mean to us, Tufty had several good years on insulin and once the treatment was stabilised you would never have know anything was wrong with her until right at the end. At the same time getting her stabilised was a bit of an uphill struggle. Think very carefully about what going down the treatment route might do to your own life, one time when my Father was taken ill and had to be rushed in an ambulance to hospital, my Mother was there distraught at the thought she could not go with him as Tufty needed her insulin, or she could go with him and leave Tufty to possibly die while she was gone, we were there and told her not to be silly we could bring her back to give the injection and then take her back to the hospital to be with my Father. She also had the time when she had to go into hospital herself after my Father had died and refused to be admitted as there was no one to give the cat her injection, I live over two hours drive away and couldn't get down to help. It is a massive responsibility and should you decide you can't go down the insulin route for whatever reason don't feel guilty about it, you have given her the best life you can up to now and will do what is best for her and for you.

Sorry it turned into such a long reply.