Cat is slowly dying. When should I put her to sleep?

IMPORTANT: If your cat is in any distress or discomfort, please consult your own vet as your first priority.
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Meri07
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Cat is slowly dying. When should I put her to sleep?

Post by Meri07 »

My cat was throwing up and had Diarrhea. I took her to the vet and they ran a bunch of blood tests. The results were negative for anything. The vet did notice a mass in her abdomen though. She said that it felt like either her kidney was swollen or that there was a mass of some kind located near the kidney.

The only thing that was an option for me was to take her to the animal hospital and run more tests at a very high cost. I just don't have the money for that unfortunately. So, I opted to medicate her for the vomiting and the diarrhea and make her comfortable. She isn't vomiting and her diarrhea has stopped. She is pretty much wasting away though, and it's heartbreaking to witness. She is eating, drinking and using the litter box. She is still continuing to lose weight despite her food intake. I have my suspicions that she has lymphoma. Her mother and sister died of it.

She was my Dad's cat(he recently passed away from lung cancer in January-that is why I have her). My Dad was a heavy cigar smoker. My mother (I lost her in July of 2015-to lung cancer) was a heavy cigarette smoker. To say that she was in an unhealthy environment is an understatement. I can't help but to feel that it could have contributed to her current state. I had to put her brother to sleep in March due to kidney failure. Now I'm being faced with another heartbreaking and unfortunate choice.

She is functioning as she normally would, but she is becoming skin and bones and is definitely weaker than before. I don't think that she's suffering, but I'm wondering if I should start considering to put her to sleep. I've had to make this decision on numerous occasions. This time, I'm just not sure though. She is still being sociable, still wants attention, is eating, drinking and going to the bathroom. She is just getting really bony and wasting away. I'm not really sure about what to do this time.

Any advice would be appreciated. This whole situation just hurts. I lost both of my parents in a short period of time, and I took in their cats. I had to put one of them to sleep, and now I'm most likely going to have to do it again with their other cat. It's awful. My cats name is Annie by the way and she is 11 years old. I was really hoping to get a few more years with her. That's not going to happen unfortunately.
Meri07
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Re: Cat is slowly dying. When should I put her to sleep?

Post by Meri07 »

I forgot to mention that my cat isn't even on the meds anymore? Yet shes not throwing up, wants to eat, and doesn't have diarrhea. I really don't know what to think?
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Ruth B
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Re: Cat is slowly dying. When should I put her to sleep?

Post by Ruth B »

You have my deepest sympathy, it has been a hard couple of years for you. I know a bit of how you are feeling, I lost my Father last year, my Mother is unwell, though trying to hide it and one of her cats is definitely in its twilight weeks, like Annie, it's just a matter of when.

All I can say is the same as I told my Mother, if the cat is active and interested in life then let her keep going on, when the day comes and she isn't interested in what is going on around her and the light has gone from her eyes then the time has come to contact the vet.

On the other hand as far as Annie is concerned, we had a Ragdoll that for the last 3 years of his life seemed to be just skin and bone, but he was happy and his weight had settled at about 3.4kg, he had been close to twice that in his prime. He wasn't as agile and needed help with his coat, but he still enjoyed life and would spend hours happily sat in the garden in the sun. Then one day he was dull, the life was gone from him, we took him to the vets hoping there might be some treatment to find that in a couple of days he had dropped to 2.6kg (I was weighing him regularly at the end) and we decided to call it a day and let him sleep. So if Annie isn't vomiting and doesn't have the runs, particularly if it has stopped and she isn't on medication then I would say take it one day at a time, monitor her weight regularly, and while it might be low if it's stable and she is still interested in what is going on around her, listening and watching what is happening then I don't think its her time. If she loses a lot of weight suddenly, if she stops being interested in her environment, stops eating and drinking, becomes too weak to move as she wants, or if her diarrhea returns with a vengeance and she can't manage to keep herself clean even with your help (a cat that can't get clean is a depressed cat) then the time has come to say goodbye.

Big hugs to you and a fuss for Annie.
TheCatsMum
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Re: Cat is slowly dying. When should I put her to sleep?

Post by TheCatsMum »

My thoughts are with you. Whatever is causing the weight loss, don't knock yourself for not getting further advice. I felt my boy should be allowed to have his last days being able to relax at home without the constant stress of vets visits.I recently had to have him put to sleep due to kidney disease, so I know what you're going through.

He'd been slowly losing weight over a long time and was skin and bones as well. On the Tuesday the vet was prepared to put him to sleep, but I still felt he had a little life in him. That week he'd started sleeping in the bathroom away from us, which I think it quite common towards the end. The next day, he enjoyed sitting out in the sun, sat on arm of chair with me as normal, eat ok. However, on the Thursday he still went outside (would never toilet inside), he eat less and was quieter. Other than going through the motions I'm not sure what he got out of that day that was pleasurable for him, so that's when I made my decision. He had me up during the night and was just like his old demanding self, but the next day I just knew it was the right time - he went out early, come in and was sick and just looked sorry for himself. Normally if he'd been sick he'd have been looking for food, but he didn't want any and just went off to sleep. We left him there to relax before taking him to the vet.

All cats are going to be different, but hopefully there's something from the above that'll help you know when the time is right.
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