Put Cat To Sleep - was it too soon?

nicknack

ItchyFeet wrote: »

I think if you're wondering if it was too soon, it was exactly the right time. That way you can know that your poor baby didn't suffer any more than was necessary. Imagine if you had waited until you were sure - that would mean that her suffering would have been really apparent and in my opinion that would have been too late!

You need time to grieve now and i think questioning that you did the right thing is natural. We always want more time with the ones we love.

Totally agree with the above post - please don't feel guilty for making this really difficult decision. You did the right thing. x

January20

I haven't read what other posters have said, but I believe it's better to do it too early than too late, when the cat has suffered and you haven't been aware of it. The treatment and the visits to the vets were only going to prolong her life a little, but what kind of quality of life would she have had? How disturbed would she have been by it all. Our pets are animals and they don't understand the treatment that they sometimes undergo is to help them.

Reading your post, I think you did your best for your cat when she was alive and living with you, you looked after her and loved her, and when the time came, you ended her suffering, because you had her best interest at heart. Nothing to regret as I see it.

lisawood78

After having my beautiful angel PTS on Friday morning I have had this thought a few times but I will impart what the vet said to me a few hours before, before she went downhill fast.

'You will know when it is time, the best way is not to let their last day be their very last day'

I took that to mean let her go before nature would take her because natures way would not be as kind and clean (for want of a better word) If I had left her any longer she would have suffered just for us, as it was she went to sleep peacefully and surrounded by love.

Don't beat yourself up, allow yourself time to grieve.

Run free at Rainbow Bridge precious one.

Pollycat

I'm sat here looking at it from the other side.

My big old boy had recently (weeks ago) been diagnosed with kidney failure and was losing weight.

As a kitten, he'd had cat flu and pneumonia and was ill for almost 2 weeks and the vet couldn't say if he'd live or not.

Well, he did but it left him with stiff joints which turned into arthritis in 2 of his legs.

He was also hit by a car when he was 3 years old.

He still insisted on going out (he was a farm cat and still had feral tendencies) and last week we noticed that his tail was hanging straight down when he came in.

Up to the vets and they found a large abcess on his tail, which we were bathing and draining.

By this time, he'd decide to become an indoor cat so had his litter tray but we noticed Thursday afternoon that he didn't seem to be that interested in eating or drinking.

We finally took him to the vets on Saturday morning and they said he was dehydrated and would try to get some fluids in him but it might not work.

This morning, we had a call to say he died in the night and I've just come back from saying 'Goodbye' to him.

I really, really wish that I'd decided to not let him suffer (hopefully he didn't) through the weekend and had decided to let him go on Saturday morning. I would have wanted the last face he saw to be mine.

So, OP, you did the best you thought for your girl at the time, just the same as we did for our boy.

I'm piling guilt on me because:
I didn't catch his kidney problems earlier
I didn't take him to the vets for rehydration on Friday
I didn't realise that it 'was time' when I left him at the vets on Saturday.

I know I gave him the best life he could have had.
He was ill within 18 hours of us collecting him and we had him straight up to the vets, I'm sure that all the other cats in the litter would have died as the woman at the farm wasn't interested in them, just getting rid.

He had over 11 years of hunting, sleeping and loving - that is what I need to think about.

Sad times.

Sorry to hijack the thread, I just wanted to put the other perspective over.

bugslet

I've had to put a number of dogs to sleep over the years and only one of them I wonder if it was too early - he had haemangio (sp) sarcoma and could have died from internal bleeding had the disease run its course. For various reasons that I won't bore you with, I took him in to the vets at the point I thought that if he carried on, he would be suffering more.

The point is that you do your best at the time for the best of reasons. I'm with the rest of the posters, better a bit early than seeing him suffer and feeling guilty that you didn't do it earlier. It isn't a right or wrong situation, only the best that you can do and I know you did the best, so try and not dwell on it but remember the good times you gave.

FabSascha

Thanks so much everyone, you've all made me feel a lot better about it. It's so good to get a completely impartial opinion as even though you've been saying similar things to what others around me have said, I know that they all want me to feel better and therefore will say what they think I need to hear rather than what they genuinely believe, so this has been incredibly helpful.

I was totally unprepared for the grief I'd experience from losing a pet; which might sound a little strange but as I have quite a few pets (now down to five cats and 1 dog) I thought that the fact that there were a few of them would mean I wouldn't notice the absence of one so much (sorry if that sounds cold - I do love them all very much so maybe it's just a strange logic) but I was completely floored by the grief and how out of control it was.

Sophie is the one who passed last week but it was easier with her as she slowly got unwell and we knew that it was a matter of time; we had time to prepare ourselves and accept the inevitable whilst she was still around to love. With Cookie it was a real shock as I'd kind of concluded that he'd be around forever (again, weird logic) as he'd been a fairly poorly cat since I had him - for six years - and he nearly died twice, but always bounced back. When I say poorly, I mean that he had various ailments, but wasn't uncomfortable; still ate like a pig and was an incredibly happy and joyful cat that could win over even cat haters! You just had to look at him and he'd start purring. He was one of a kind, so when I took him to the vet the last time I assumed it was just another one of those visits where he gets a bit of TLC for a day or two and then off we go again. It was such a shock to get the call saying that I had to come in and say goodbye and the sight of him lying on the steel table looking so close to death will always haunt me.

Anyway, I've gone off on a tangent, but what I really came to say was that you've all made me feel a lot better and I really appreciate it. Thanks so much xx

rising_from_the_ashes

FabSascha wrote: »

Sophie is the one who passed last week but it was easier with her as she slowly got unwell and we knew that it was a matter of time; we had time to prepare ourselves and accept the inevitable whilst she was still around to love. With Cookie it was a real shock as I'd kind of concluded that he'd be around forever (again, weird logic) as he'd been a fairly poorly cat since I had him - for six years - and he nearly died twice, but always bounced back. When I say poorly, I mean that he had various ailments, but wasn't uncomfortable; still ate like a pig and was an incredibly happy and joyful cat that could win over even cat haters! You just had to look at him and he'd start purring. He was one of a kind, so when I took him to the vet the last time I assumed it was just another one of those visits where he gets a bit of TLC for a day or two and then off we go again.

I know just what you mean ... with Smudge I knew it was time (he wasn't suffering) and had around a week to say my goodbyes, do some "extra spoiling" and come to terms with it.

Ben was a very sudden (and horrible) situation and I'm having a much harder time coming to terms with that as I still feel I didn't have time to say goodbye.... He too had several "moments" previously that he'd always bounced back from and it just didn't seem possible that it didn't happen then too.


Pollycat ..... I'm so, so sorry hun (((hugs))) - please try to think of all those good, happy years....

hethmar

Fab, I can only agree with everyone on here. Every pet Ive had to have pts (and always at home) Ive tormented myself about whether I should have cancelled the vet. But its only because we love them so much that we feel like this. You made the right decision. xxx

Yolina

I'm probably going to have to face making that choice very soon - I have a 14 year old rescue moggy who lost a lot of weight in a matter of days and is eating very little, took him to the vet yesterday and she could feel lumps near his stomach. Waiting for the results from the blood test but I'm not really expecting good news. Given his age, I don't think I'd want to put him through a battery of pills and other treatment just to give him a few more months. I had another rescue moggy who had renal failure at only 11, given how advanced the failure was (I wish cats weren't so bl**dy good at hiding illness) the pills would have given him another 3 months at best, so not much point really. He was quite happy to be syringe-fed so I did that for a few weeks and when he refused it all together, and went into hiding under the bed, I booked him to be PTS - as it happened, he peacefully died at home a few hours before I was due to take him to the vet.