Absolute mess...
Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:37 pm
About this time last week my beautiful black and white boy Thomas was put to sleep.. He was just 6 years old and I had been told the previous Thursday that his blood results for his kidneys were extremely bad and that he needed urgent IV fluids for at least 2 days to have any chance...
The issue unfortunately was that he was a real stresshead at the vets, usually lashing out at anyone that came close if they tried anything too intrusive. I asked for them to try the IV because I couldn't do nothing, but within an hour of leaving him back at the vets she rang me to say he had really freaked out and that she didn't think it was fair to him to try again, bearing in mind his stress at being kept in and having any procedures done, with there being no guarantee that the fluids would help beyond his time in clinic. To add to this he would need to be sedated to even get the drip in which would impact negatively on his kidneys, plus he also had heart issues so they wouldn't be able to flush the fluids as vigorously as they would really need to. We discussed it at length and I brought him back home to think about whether to try again in the morning but she said that without treatment he probably had about a week... I read so much about kidney issues that night and over the next few days and all the success stories were for cats who had had the fluids. I just couldn't put him through that, and I couldn't just keep him hanging on bearing in mind he was off his food and I couldn't tempt him with anything, just to have a sudden and awful decline that would have caused him suffering and more stress within just a few days.
I lost my two previous cats in their teens to cancer and I had always told myself I would never put Thomas through the chemo that they had because of his temperament and the stress it would cause him and so after an awful night and another chat to the vet in the morning (she was so kind) I booked him in to see my usual vet on her return from holiday on the Monday evening to be put to sleep. She had treated him for all sorts of issues - we were already trying to balance his fussy food habits with his need for food that would reduce his high calcium levels so he was a regular visitor to her and she has known me and treated my previous cats for years - and I just needed to hear it from her too.
This has been so hard to deal with. He had been on and off his food for a couple of weeks, which had led to having to bloods done, but apart from that I wouldn't have known there was anything wrong. I am absolutely wrecked with sadness at missing him and this awful fear and guilt that I have done the wrong thing, even though I trust my vet 100% - she had always recommended trying something if there is any way she could see it would help and she said to me before he was put to sleep last week that whatever she does it has to be to give a quality of life that they wouldn't have without treatment, and with Thomas the stress would have meant he didn't have that quality.
I took so many photos over that weekend and he looks so perfect it is breaking my heart. I picked his ashes up two hours ago and he is back on the kitchen window sill which was his place.
I am sorry for the rambling long winded post. This site helped me so much after my persian was put to sleep back in 2009 - that broke me too but at least he had reached to good age of nearly 18. No-one at home seems to understand how I feel.
RIP Thomas. You really were a cat in a million
xx
The issue unfortunately was that he was a real stresshead at the vets, usually lashing out at anyone that came close if they tried anything too intrusive. I asked for them to try the IV because I couldn't do nothing, but within an hour of leaving him back at the vets she rang me to say he had really freaked out and that she didn't think it was fair to him to try again, bearing in mind his stress at being kept in and having any procedures done, with there being no guarantee that the fluids would help beyond his time in clinic. To add to this he would need to be sedated to even get the drip in which would impact negatively on his kidneys, plus he also had heart issues so they wouldn't be able to flush the fluids as vigorously as they would really need to. We discussed it at length and I brought him back home to think about whether to try again in the morning but she said that without treatment he probably had about a week... I read so much about kidney issues that night and over the next few days and all the success stories were for cats who had had the fluids. I just couldn't put him through that, and I couldn't just keep him hanging on bearing in mind he was off his food and I couldn't tempt him with anything, just to have a sudden and awful decline that would have caused him suffering and more stress within just a few days.
I lost my two previous cats in their teens to cancer and I had always told myself I would never put Thomas through the chemo that they had because of his temperament and the stress it would cause him and so after an awful night and another chat to the vet in the morning (she was so kind) I booked him in to see my usual vet on her return from holiday on the Monday evening to be put to sleep. She had treated him for all sorts of issues - we were already trying to balance his fussy food habits with his need for food that would reduce his high calcium levels so he was a regular visitor to her and she has known me and treated my previous cats for years - and I just needed to hear it from her too.
This has been so hard to deal with. He had been on and off his food for a couple of weeks, which had led to having to bloods done, but apart from that I wouldn't have known there was anything wrong. I am absolutely wrecked with sadness at missing him and this awful fear and guilt that I have done the wrong thing, even though I trust my vet 100% - she had always recommended trying something if there is any way she could see it would help and she said to me before he was put to sleep last week that whatever she does it has to be to give a quality of life that they wouldn't have without treatment, and with Thomas the stress would have meant he didn't have that quality.
I took so many photos over that weekend and he looks so perfect it is breaking my heart. I picked his ashes up two hours ago and he is back on the kitchen window sill which was his place.
I am sorry for the rambling long winded post. This site helped me so much after my persian was put to sleep back in 2009 - that broke me too but at least he had reached to good age of nearly 18. No-one at home seems to understand how I feel.
RIP Thomas. You really were a cat in a million
xx