What do about my old, sick cat

[Faithr]

We have a cat, 15 years old.  She's crazy.  She's always been an indoor/outdoor cat.  She never was 100% housebroken.  If something happened to stress her, she'd have an accident somewhere.  As she aged she got worse, so I relegated her to our big screened in porch out back.  She's got her cat house out there and things were good for the past few years.  When she wanted to come in, I'd let her because she would go up to our linen closet and sleep there and then come out when it was dinner time.  If it got too cold or too hot I let her in as well.  She's got a thyroid condition so she's on meds.  But she won't let me give her anything. She becomes this ball of fur and fangs.  First I started with this cream I was supposed to wipe in her ears 2x a day, but I could never administer the right amount, so we went to pills I crush up in her food. This is harder because I have to watch like a hawk to make sure the other cat and dog don't eat the food.  And she often doesn't finish the food anyway, so she still isn't getting the proper dosage.  In fact she's barely eating anything.  In the meantime she's stopped cleaning herself and her fur is falling out in clumps.  She's hideous looking, poor thing.  The past few months she start peeing or pooping every time I let her in the house.  So now no more house.  Now instead of going to the lawn though, she is going all over the back porch.  I put a kitty litter box out there and she refuses to go in it.  She has literally ruined the wood floor of our porch.  Apparently it can take rain, but not cat pee.  It is really gross out there now.  I resent not being able to use my porch.  On top of all this, our old Sheltie died this summer and on an impulse we rescued a puppy who is taking up lots of my time.  I feel my pet life has gotten too complicated.  LOL.  I am not even telling you everything!  

Anyway, as I write this I am thinking maybe it is time to put her down.  But then I think, if I just had my act together, like I could actually get the medicine in her, she'd probably be better.  But I just can't figure out how to do that.   I mean I could do like the vets do and have one person wrap her in a towel while she's screeching and scratching and the other one tries to administer a shot or give something by mouth.  But to do that 2x a day?  She'd just run away I think.  It would be too stressful, don't you think?

Thanks for reading this.  LOL.  I think I'm just venting.  I don't want to do what I think I have to do.  

 

 

 

 

[catz]

Poor baby, it does sound like it’s time.  I had to make a similar decision a few weeks ago that had both thyroid and kidney issues.   ?. I’m sorry.  

[Pawz4me]

Have you tried putting the medicine in a very small amount of something yummy--chicken or turkey baby food, tuna, tuna "juice"? So that she thinks it's a little daily treat? I'd be inclined to try that before I gave up on her. But it also could be something (or somethings) more than thyroid. More likely than not there's some amount of kidney disease in a cat that age.

[Faithr]

She actually does have kidney failure too.  But that's a good idea, trying to put it in something yummy.  I'm thinking with the kidney issues, I probably want no salt.  I mean with people it works that way!

[ktgrok]

I don't think her thyroid is the main issue, if she's not eating. Cats who are hyperthyroid, without other issues, usually are starving all the time and eat a TON. I'd guess there is something else going on as well, kidney disease or cancer are the two most common reasons she'd lose her appetite. That plus the random peeing makes me think kidney, or possibly a UTI. If you could get her to the vet, and have the money to spend, some bloodwork and a urinalysis would tell you if it was a UTI versus kidney disease. A UTI is  fairly easy fix, they could even give her an antibiotic injection that lasts two weeks so you wouldn't have to be shoving pils into her. But, on the other hand, given how long this is going on, I'd guess it's something else, kidneys or cancer. 

As a formerly certified Vet Tech and life long animal lover I think you are well within reason to euthanize her at this point. Cat's don't just keel over of a heart attack like people, usually. They have long slow declines and too often people wait way too long to put them to sleep. I think a cat that is 15, not eating well, having constant accidents, losing fur, and having behavior changes, AND who is very difficult to medicate even IF you had a fixable problem, AND who would be stressed out and lose any quality of life if you tried to force medication into her...well euthanasia seems the best thing right now. 

Edited after reading more: Okay, so she does have kidney failure? What you are describing sounds like end stage kidney disease to me. It's time. No guilt. 

Edited September 6, 2018 by Ktgrok

[Shoeless]

Another CVT here saying it sounds like it is time.  I'm so sorry. ?   

[Faithr]

Thanks all.  Just had a visit from the vet and she found the cat had ulcers in her mouth (hence the tiny appetite) and constipation, hence the problem with the litter box.  She gave me more meds for the thyroid, an antibiotic for the mouth and recommended miralax for the constipation.  She also recommended getting another kind of litter box and litter to put in it.  She did bloodwork, if it turns out to be more than this, then we'll talk.  She super didn't think it was time to put the cat down.  Honestly I am so overwhelmed by all the other crazy stuff going on in my life now . . . but i guess I'll try.  I don't have confidence I can actually get the medicine in the cat but we'll see.  I'll give it my best.

[prairiewindmomma]

It sounds like you're giving it a faithful go, but I wouldn't be hesitant to send her along the rainbow bridge either. She's had a good run, and seems in the middle of a slow decline. ((Faithr))

[catz]

You are a good cat mommy!  ?  My aging cat was super easy to pill.  He did pretty well with thyroid except for being skinny until his kidney function went down.  He had a great 18 months on thyroid meds and good quality of life until his last couple weeks when he was pretty up and down.  We let our last kidney cat suffer for too long and his last month was so heart breaking for all of us and I felt like a hospice nurse.

[Faithr]

Sad update.  The next morning after the vet's visit, my cat was even worse.  I talked to the vet and she was absolutely sure my cat could be cured.  I took the cat into the hospital for IV antibiotics, then had to rush home and be super busy all day.  I knew I was saying good bye.  I knew the cat could never handle the stress.  Welp, next morning very early they called to say Thumbelina had passed during the night.  My dh was so mad.  He has a phobia about dying the hospital anyway.  He's like I want to die at home!  He was so mad that the cat wasn't allowed to just fall asleep on her couch on the porch, surrounded by all that was familiar to her.  It was obvious to us she was going to die a day or two anyway.  

I have to take my puppy into today for his next round of shots.  And then he needs one more round next week, but after that we are changing vets.  I just don't like how aggressive and interventionist these vets are.  

Rest in peace, Thumbelina.  She was such a high strung cat.  She sensed my father in law's grief when my mother in law passed away.  She was absolutely terrified of him when he came to stay with us after her passing.  And she was used to him because they visited several times a year anyway.  It was spooky how she could just sense his grief and how it freaked her out (her way of freaking out was peeing all over the nice dining room carpet!).  We named her Thumbelina because she had six toes.  The extra one looked kind of like a thumb.  She once fell into one of our deep window wells and I didn't know where she was until almost 3 weeks, when a workman found her.  She was skeletal!  We nursed her back to health, even though we thought she would die.  But she came back just fine.  She was a beautiful tortoise shell cat.  When she was hungry, she'd come up to you and put her paw on you leg and mew softly.  But if you didn't respond fast enough the claws would start to come out, just lightly on your leg.  LOL.  You knew you'd better move fast!  

Anyway, didn't mean to write an ode to my old cat, but she's gone now.  

 

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I am so sorry you have to go through this, and I'm sorry about the heartlessness of the vet. I have been thinking about you and Thumbelina, wondering how she was doing, and whether she really was getting better.  

I have felt that pressure from the vet, making feel like I'm a horrible person if I don't do everything (and spend thousands of dollars) to save my pet.  We changed vets for the exact same reason.  DNR is a thing for pets, just like it is for people, only it's called Intentional Neglect. Our new vet says that it's totally fine.  I hope you  find a vet like him.

[unsinkable]

(((Faith)))

I'm so sorry.

[lavender's green]

I'm sorry. ?

[umsami]

I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty.  FWIW, I think you were a good Cat Mom and did everything you could. ❤️  

[happi duck]

Sorry for your loss

Many (hugs)

[GailV]

I'm so sorry for your loss.  I think it's sweet that you shared a little of her earlier adventures with us -- that's a natural way to process things.

 

[catz]

I'm so sorry.  She sounds very sweet.  ?❤️ 

[TechWife]

Did you have the vet demonstrate how to get the gel into her ear? I do this with my cat and it's super easy, but she doesn't fight me on it. I give her an "ear rub" twice a day. If your cat doesn't like being handled, I can see where it would be hard.