Putting Down A Pet

[rdd1952]

We have an outdoors cat that is approaching 17 years old. He was our daughter's before she got married and moved out and we inherited him. He has some health issues and in the last year has developed a growth over his eye that the vet says is cancerous. I'm pretty sure that he is now blind in that eye also. His nose also is affected and seems to be getting eaten away and he sneezes a good bit. He has also lost some weight and has a small sore that won't heal on his side.

Having said all that, it sounds like he is in miserable shape but in actually, he still eats good (don't know why he's losing weight) and seems to feel fine. He gets around good and apparently killed a bird in the back yard yesterday (it's fenced in and I doubt any other cat got in there to do it). He never was a very friendly cat but we have had him so long that my wife and I are struggling with what to do. I said that when the food we had run out, I was going to take him in and have him put down but I couldn't do it and bought more. Anyone with similar experiences?

 

[Bloo]

In my personal opinion - and most people will have a different one: when you have done all you can presently and the pet no longer has quality and enjoyment of life.

I will not put my beloved pet through months of agonising treatment (such as chemo therapy) even though I know my pet my "live" through it for a few more months - knowing full well that it's a downhill road with only one relatively short term end.

It's not just about living and surviving. It's a very very difficult decision to make - and almost impossible for most people to do so rationally.

What makes it even more difficult is that there are countless vets who will keep treating an animal and play on the owner's emotional weakness at the detriment of the pet - just because they can rake in the insurance - or rich owner's money. Sadly - there are many of them around.

Quite often we rely on the vet to give us that answer. Asking the quetion, hoping that they'll say there's more time left, though they are understandably unsure how long. We seek that hesitation to grasp onto.

In this day and age when modern medicine can often prolong a life - the decision is an even tougher one. Because at what point do we draw the line?

In a chronic case, I draw my line when in a relatively short term I have done all I can for my pet and it will not longer get quality of life.

All the best during the tough decision.

 

[venom2112]

you got to think of the animal, if its suffering let it go, don't keep it going for your benefit, feel sorry for you, we had to do it twice within 10 weeks last year, ( see cats or dogs thread!)really hard, good luck & chin up

 

[catxx]

that sounds similar to how my best friends cat was, he was about 18, had some form of cancer which had eaten away part of his nose, and was painfully skinny. he still ate and managed to get about (they had a huuuge house and garden), when he was feeling frail he would get carried around on a pillow. he did seem very poorly though but i didn't feel it was my place to tell my best friend to put down her cat she'd had her entire life. he eventually disappeared, we presume he went away to die and was never found. sad story sorry.

but either way your kitty is never going to really get better, it's up to you when you decide he is definately showing signs it's time to go.

 

[Tolak]

That is a tough call to make, I am at that point right now with my 15 1/2 y.o. cairn terrier. I think when you get to know an animal, you can sense when it isn't happy, and its quality of life is really declining. When the bad times are starting to outweigh the good times, it's time to start having a serious family discussion, and make plans. Thankfully, my vet is a realist, and not a capitalist.

 

[WILDER]

Bless him his bodys shutting down now if a wound won't heal.
You usually know when it time, sounds like he hasn't long to go bless him.
Remember bonnie my cat she was 20 came in one night and she look disorientated knew she was dying, she didn't know where she was, let her out for the toilet she never came back.

 

[PlecMama]

I am sorry, everyone and every thing should just go to sleep one day in peace with it's loved ones close by. But you know part of the responsibility is the last journey and if you are thinking it's time, then maybe it is. You know him better then we do, if you don't think he is happy any more then it's time to let him go. He sounds like he's a trooper, but you know if he is the same animal in himself as he was a few weeks ago. If he's going downhill then maybe it is time to say goodnight.

He's lucky to have you, you're looking out for him, that's much more then a lot of people and animals have.

 

[matt295]

i had a dog once and she died in her sleep which i think is the best way to die

 

[rdd1952]

Thank you all for the replys. It is a hard decision and I feel for all of you who have had to make that decision already. He really does seem to feel good still. I live next door to my parents and he sleeps in a box in their carport most of the time. When I came home about 8:30 this evening, he came running over to get fed so he still has plenty of energy. But he does look bad. He is so skinny compared to what he has always looked like. The vet did cut his hair when we had him in the last time. It was hard to believe he was so small under all that fur.

Fortunately, the vet we go to (actually 3 in this office) are all realist too and they pretty much told us that it wasn't worth going through the treatments, that they couldn't cure him. They discussed putting him down when we had him in a month or so ago for his rabies shot. I know we are going to have to do it. It's just finding the courage. I actually pray every night that the Lord will let him pass peacefully in his sleep and that he won't let him suffer.

Once again, thanks for the replys and thoughts.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh what a tough call to make, my thoughts are with you.

just to put a different spin on things (i don't mean to make this any harder, the situation is different so may not apply) our kitty from home was a similar age and having all sorts of problems health wise, loosing weight and seemed to loose his bladder control. My mum was seriously considering this descision along with the vet and the rest of the family and like you had set a cut off point whereby if he wasn't improving she would then make the call. Somehow about a week before that date he started to come round, the vets don't know what changed but he put weight back on and generally became much healthier. He never got back to his former glory (although i remember him as a kitten when I was about 8 so he's unlikely to get back to that!!) but he lived on another 2 years after that in reasonable health then passed on in his sleep.

Obviously the medical condition is different though, I can welll understand you not wanting to put him through months of torment with treatment to simply gain maybe 6 months extra life. In a younger cat perhaps it's different.

thinking of you

 

[KathyM]

i'm very sorry about your situation, it's a very hard time as a pet owner. we went through a long time where we knew our old boxer ruby was dying of cancer and we had to watch for her quality of life. it was incredibly difficult, but we decided we'd rather put her to sleep a day too soon than a day too late, that was an important part of how we came to the decision to let her go. it was still incredibly hard for us to decide when that time was, but when the cancer spread to her brain we knew the decision was imminent. she wasn't suffering physically, but she got to the point where she began to get confused and very frightened with it, and one day we got up and she didn't know who we were. at that point we knew it was time, although technically she could've gone on for a bit longer physically, but it was a fine line from where she was emotionally to the cancer beginning to have much more physical effects such as fitting and a lack of coordination - we didn't want her to get to that point as she would've suffered. after months of hearing other people say "you'll know when it's time, she'll tell you" and not believing that, i took her down to the vets for a check and she looked at me and i knew it was time and that she had had enough. it was probably the hardest decision i've ever made, and the hardest to get over - three years on and i'm still not there yet, but i can say it wasn't a day too late, and that's a huge comfort. we're thinking of you here.

 

[rdd1952]

Sorry to hear of your loss Kathy. The quality of life is what I keep looking at with Minus. As I mentioned, he seems to still feel fine and comes running when he hears the door open and knows it's time for food. I guess we will also know when it's time.

 

[h@g]

oh so sad to hear, good luck to you! thanks

 

[Amerce]

Was in your situation earlier on this year, we had two old dogs who were now 17 years old (couple of months diff only in their ages), they had been together since they were 3 months old and Zack had a kidney problem and was losing weight no matter what we did, he had started to sleep a lot recently and wasn't eating so he looked like a bag of bones and he was passing blood when he went to the toilet, Barney had a large growth on his back leg which meant that he couldn't walk around very well cause it pushed his joint out of position... walking any distance for him was exhausting.

He also developed a bladder problem and couldn't hold water so well, not a problem when he was out but in the house it was a nusiance but we coped (bought a carpet shampooer). Also had arthritis and was in pain lying down so getting up to go to the toilet would need us to help him sit up.

But we sort of put it off last year and kept a close watch on them this year but realised that nothing we did would get them any better so we came to the decision this year to have the vet put them down at home to cause them less stress.

A very gutting decison but one that had to be made, it wasn't any easier having them put to sleep at home but far less stressful than taking them to the surgery.

Miss them terribly but we know we came to the right decision, neither of them were enjoying life and we hated watching them go downhill.

 

[l.michelle]

It is an extremely difficult and stressful situation. Having to come to a decision like that is one of the worst decisions anyone could make. Some people may not understand it, but those who have had pets and who do have pets truly understand and feel the pain others are going through. I know it is hard to make like of anything like this, but to look on the bright side, you had 17 amazing years with your cat, and Amerce, with your two dogs, you both are so lucky. We lost our dog at 8months.

Amerce, I am sorry to ask, but were they put down at the same time? Or on the same day? If so, I am so sorry. It must have been truly difficult for you and your family. But I suppose that in that case, then at least neither was heartbroken over the other not being there. We had two dogs when I was younger that were brought up from pups together. One died before the other, and we think that the other died from heartbreak. It was very sad to see the one dog sitting at the door all day and night not eating, sleeping nothing waiting for his friend to come home.