If I were at home, I'd be in Tiny Boy's room, reading on my iPad, until 9, at which point he's either asleep and I sneak out, or he's still awake and I remind him I need to leave. Right now I'm at the emergency vet with our old kitty, who has been steadily declining. I didn't think it was quite an EMERGENCY but also I didn't want that to happen in the middle of the night or tomorrow during my teaching day.
She's had weird open mouth/panting episodes for eight years. She's had chronic heart issues (valve problem) since around then. More recently she's developed worsening kidney function. And chronic congestion, also for no clear reason. And she's down to about 6.5 pounds (at one point when she was younger and healthy she was about 9.5-10). She's likely not going to make it much longer. We're at the point, or will be soon, that we need to think about euthenasia. But how soon is soon? I'm not sure. They're sending her home tonight with antibiotics....but I'm not sure it makes sense to give them to her. Will they improve her quality of life right now? I'm not convinced.
Tiny Boy, much as he loves her, is sold on the idea of the new kittens I've promised we can get. Two kittens. So they can each name one, and they have each other as company. He wants a white one to call Snowball. And I'm sort of smitten with that idea myself. But I've had our old cat for 13+ years (we got her when she was around 2). And she's been one of the good ones.
She's had weird open mouth/panting episodes for eight years. She's had chronic heart issues (valve problem) since around then. More recently she's developed worsening kidney function. And chronic congestion, also for no clear reason. And she's down to about 6.5 pounds (at one point when she was younger and healthy she was about 9.5-10). She's likely not going to make it much longer. We're at the point, or will be soon, that we need to think about euthenasia. But how soon is soon? I'm not sure. They're sending her home tonight with antibiotics....but I'm not sure it makes sense to give them to her. Will they improve her quality of life right now? I'm not convinced.
Tiny Boy, much as he loves her, is sold on the idea of the new kittens I've promised we can get. Two kittens. So they can each name one, and they have each other as company. He wants a white one to call Snowball. And I'm sort of smitten with that idea myself. But I've had our old cat for 13+ years (we got her when she was around 2). And she's been one of the good ones.
I'm sorry to hear about your kitty's poor health. I am not a vet, but the symptoms remind me of a cat we had with congestive heart failure. It sounds like you've done well by her and are thinking about the right questions. Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dame Eleanor. Neither regular or emergency vet suggested heart failure (lungs and heart sound fine) but she hasn't had a chest x-ray...
ReplyDeleteI've declined to pursue CT scan and other procedures that would require anesthesia. They can only tell me she's got cancer...
We ended up getting cats after our last dog had lived out his life. Parting with a pet is sad and I send you my best wishes.
ReplyDeleteWe decided on a cat as they don't need as much of a schedule.
I wished we had gone with two kittens to start. When our cat was 2 and a half we added in another cat - it was a couple of weeks long process. The second cat was 1 and a half. That was six months ago and they are buddies now and often sleep together. It was a few months though to get them fully bonded.
I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. We went through a similar situation with our last dog, who died in July 2018. He was in a slow decline over a couple of years, and it was hard to judge when it was the right time for euthanasia.
ReplyDeleteS, may I ask what the determining factor was?
ReplyDeleteOur vet has said that cats will often hide, stop eating, and stop grooming as they near (natural) death.