We have an 18-year-old indoor cat, and we are all very attached to her - we've had her since she was a kitten. Lately, she has been showing her age, and when I took her to the vet today, he suggested that we consider euthanasia at this point. More details inside.
Over the last couple months, our 18-year-old cat has been showing some decline - lots of weight loss, throwing up more days than not, not always making it to the litter box, howling at night, and just generally more tired. On the other hand, she's still affectionate, wandering all over the house, likes to be pet, and is pretty feisty. Last night, she was making a lot of noise so I got up and investigated and discovered drops of blood all over the house, as well as some accidents / vomit that happened since we went to bed. I think some of it was pink-tinged, suggesting blood, but it's hard to say. I stayed up all night with her and took her to the vet this morning. He suspected a UTI and confirmed blood in her urine ("off the charts" level). He did not feel any obvious masses in her abdomen but said she could have cancer or tumors - we wouldn't know without more tests. His feeling is that in a cat this age and with these symptoms, we are only looking for "bad diseases" (cancer, etc). Of course, he can't tell me what we should do, but he said if it were his daughter's cat, he would suggest thinking about euthanasia.
A complicating factor is that we're supposed to leave town for 2 weeks, starting tomorrow. Clearly, she can't be left alone for that time, but it's clouding our judgment and pressuring us to make a decision faster than we want to. We have a tentative appointment to have her put down on Monday... but something about it feels too rushed. If I'm being honest, she's been in poor health for a long time (asthma, seizures, diabetes in the past), but her "attitude" (or, perhaps, cattitude) just doesn't seem to warrant putting her down. After all, what if she really just has a UTI? On the other hand, all the vomiting...
We want to do right by this animal, who we love dearly. We don't want her to suffer, and we don't want to end her life a moment sooner than necessary. We're too upset to make a rational decision... so now I'm asking the internet what to do. |
Video
Web
Image
Music
BlogU
