Is it time to say goodbye

Westywoodpecker

I'm also having to face the same difficult decision with our cat Smudge who's 22. She's just seen all aspects of our life. She's not eaten her breakfast or tea this evening & went blind a couple of weeks ago. I always said when she stopped eating it was her way of saying I've had enough. It's just so hard though.


Your poem made me cry Froglet, but has helped me to come to the right decision, thanks.

Littleredhen, my thoughts are very much with you. x

skintchick

Blimey Froglet that poem made me cry!

littleredhen, I was in your situation in March, with my beloved cat, and in the end I paid for the vet to come out to our home and put her down in her favourite place, on the ottoman by the radiator. It was so so hard, but when I posted on here for advice, like you, people said if I had to ask the question I already knew the answer. THey were right.

You know what you have to do. It's hard, awful, but the last kind and loving act you can do for your cat.

huge hugs. Been there, know how it feels. xxxxxx

EmptyPockets

Hi Littleredhen,

How is your cat today?

rugbygirl27

I had to make the same tough decision yesterday for our beloved Cwtch. She'd been unwell for just a short time but had gone downhill rapidly. On being admitted to the emergency vets on Satuday her red blood count was only 10 (normally around 30) so the vet gave her a haemaglobin transfusion. Unfortunately that didn't work so yesterday we had to let her go.

In a way it was both the hardest and the easiest decision to make. I told the vet I wanted to be with her and when I saw her I knew that all that made her Cwtch had already gone. She was in no pain and the actual process was very fast. The vet left her in the cage rather than distress her by moving her and I stroked her head as the drug was administered. I told her how much we loved her and that we would always miss her and that she had made us so happy.

I am heartbroken at losing our beautiful girl. We only had her for 4 years (she was 6 when she came to us) and it wasn't nearly long enough. But we always said that if she was suffering we wouldn't prolong her life. She'd not been herself for a few days and she'd gradually distanced herself from us, perhaps she knew the end was coming.

I have my good moments and my bad. I'm in floods of tears now and at 4.30 this morning I was wandering the house in floods too. The house feels very empty without her but I know that we did the right thing. I forced myself to come to work, rather than stay in the empty house and it was the right thing to do. I'm dreading going home to the empty house tonight but I'll deal with it when the time comes.

Only you can know what's right for your cat. I knew Cwtch had had enough so in the end it was an easy decision. You'll know what's right.

RIP Cwtch, you were a brilliant friend and companion and I will miss you every day.

SnowyOwl_2

Rugbygirl - bless your Cwtch - she must have been so happy to have had all that time with you.

Littleredhen - the question to ask is any further medical intervention for the sake of your cat's health and wellbeing, or for your own sake to simply postpone what must happen.

I had to ask myself this question when my Tabitha was ill - it was clear she had had enough. It hurt me to release her from her pain but to stop a pet's suffering is the ultimate act of love and kindness you can show that pet.

littleredhen

hi all - thanks for asking how my cat is today - the reason i haven't been on to report is that i was trying to have a normal day for my kids - take them swimming and catch up with friends as we have spent all weekend looking after our cat - anyway she improved over the day yesterday and was trying to eat and lay on the bed with me all afternoon and seemed to be perking up so i phoned the vet this morning to say look even if she is perking up how do we get medication into her to relieve the pain etc and she said she had ordered an appetite stimulant for us as she had seen it work brilliantly in other cats and the bottom line was that if she started to eat again then fantastic - if not its time to say goodbye - she said cats only stop eating if things are bad so she was worried when i said she wasn't eating but she also said they need to be reminded how to eat and i said i had been hand feeding her over the day on sunday and although most of it was the jelly off cat food some of it was fish poached in milk - so we are blessed that she seems to be happier - she is now sitting in the back garden watching the world go by - i am taking each day as a blessing but if she stops eating again or looks unhappy then i know what i have to do
thank you all so much for sharing your stories no matter how painful and thank you all for your words or encouragement - you have helped me through a dreadful time -
funnily enough she was sleeping under the clothes horse at night but last night she went back to her normal bed downstairs beside her sister so i do feel as we may have turned a corner but as i said i know in the long term her life is now limited so we give thanks for each day we have her - will update this thread if there is any news - good or bad:)

littleredhen

thinking of you rugbygirl and sending you a hug for when you get home tonight

madget_2

shezmit wrote: »

hi ya

i just wanted to say i know how you feel i really do.

my cat Psycho is 11 and he has been losing weight and constant meowing and eating loads we have kept a eye on him and 2 weeks ago i took him to the vets has he was starting to look down in the dumps and they said they wanted to take some blood, so on wednesday we took him and we got the results back on friday and i knew straight away what it is CANCER gutted, i told them straight i am not going to let him suffer as he has been through enough and we both decided (me and the Vets ) it was time to let him go and we decided we wanted to spend the weekend with him and let him go on tuesday,

so what should i do, let him be put to sleep on the table with someone else holding him or should i have him on my lap and let him go that way, i don't know what to do??

shelley

Shelley, I made an appointment for the vet to come to our house as going to the surgery used to stress my little cat terribly. I'm glad I did and that she fell asleep in her own home with me, rather than somewhere else.

madget_2

rubygirl - My heart goes out to you. I'm sure you made your Cwtch's life a very happy one. I know how hard it is when you miss them so much, though.

littleredhen - That's heartening news. She obviously hasn't given up just yet, and all of your loving care over the weekend must have really helped her. I hope the appetite stimulant is successful and that it will give you more happy times with your little girl. Keeping my fingers ever so tightly crossed for her.

littleredhen

thanks madget