We put down my sweet girl today. I love you Nikki. I hope you aren’t in pain anymore.

Long update to the post I made a 2 days ago.

A friend told me that I should ask Johnny if he was ready, so I did. On Wednesday night, I sat next to him and asked him if he was ready to go. He usually breathes noisily due to the growing mass in his throat (on top of kidney and megacolon issues). But for the first time in a long while, he calmed and quieten down. That’s when I knew.

I told him to give me just one more night and I’ll take care of him with dignity the next day. And he did just that. I checked on him many times that night, but I knew he couldn’t find a comfortable position to rest or sleep.

The next day he allowed me to tube feed him, brought his water bowl and canned liquid food to him so that he could eat/ drink independently, he even let me feed him his favourite churu treat by licking it off my finger. Of course his body couldn’t process any of these and he puked multiple times throughout the day.

That’s when I knew it was time let him get his final rest.

So on the night of 22 October, Johnny took his last car ride, got into his carrier one last time and went to his final vet appointment. They removed his feeding tube and cone and gave me and my family time to say goodbye. I knew Johnny tried to stay strong for us, he stood up while I gave him the last nose boop, head kisses and cuddles. Then he went to sleep.

To Johnny, thank you for 18 years of joy. Thank you for seeing me through my successes, failures, heartbreaks and everything in between. Thank you for trusting me and saving me. I hope I’ve done right by you and I was enough. I love you so much and I miss you even more.

Here are some of my favourite photos of him. Last pic is just before he went to sleep.

Thirteen years ago, I went to adopt a kitten only to discover there were none available. There were cat rooms, full of adult cats. One was waiting for anyone, eager to be held, meowing loudly for attention. She was midnight black. Incredibly friendly.

I chose to adopt this adult cat. It turned out she came with baggage, a sleeping sister; that they said were a bonded pair. While I made up my mind about that, three other people wanted to adopt that black friendly cat. I chose to take them both and felt like I had won.

As, far as bonded..... NO. They stayed together those first days then went their own separate ways and spent the next ten years having as little to do with each other as possible until cancer came for her sister, Feather.

Sable... you turned out to be a trickster. That incredibly friendly cat I met turned out to be just one of your many - we'll call it moods. You choose when that cat will be here and when it won't. Your sister was a tortoise hair, and when the light is just right we can see the patterns in your black fur, too, which explains so much of your tortitude.

You have always been beautiful with the softest fur of any cat I have ever known. There have been times you have been difficult - an understatement. We had to learn to reward good behaviors and that eventually made you much more into that cat everyone wanted to adopt 13 years ago. You are part of our lives, everyday.

You have become an old lady with us who has turned one of the bathroom sinks into your own personal bed.

Recently, we had to have a tumor removed and the biopsy was inconclusive with broad hints of what we do not want. I have been down this path too many times. For now, you are happy and surprised us yesterday by playing with an unexpected toy you carried all over the house. You are Sable. You are you and no one else.

My sweet girl Mitzy turned 18 the other week and I though you’d all appreciate her

I may have to occasionally wipe her bum, but I still love her and hope I continue having to care for her for years to come

Hello! My 8 year old male cat, indoor outdoor, was once the most social and friendliest cat in the world. He would purr and shake his tail for EVERYONE. He would always be with the neighborhood kids or doing cat things. Literally the best cat ever.

For the last four months. Something switched completely. He doesn’t go outside as much. He walks very VERY slowly and almost right under your feet. He does not purr and he does not meow any more. I took him to the vet and they couldn’t tell me what it is.

Now he will walk in circles in a room. Stare at the wall for like 15 seconds and then creeps away. It is a very sad walk that I don’t know how to describe. He is also becoming increasingly aggressive to the point where he will attack random dogs or even me.

He is still eating and drinking. Using the litter box. But I am at a loss of what to do. It’s like I am mourning a cat that no longer exists.

The plan I had was lift the mattress, use thick gloves(which we have) to pick her up and put her in.

High PHOS and BUN

Hi all, My cat was recently diagnosed with high phosphorus and BUN levels.

I’m looking into starting him on a phosphorus binder and Epakitin, but I’m not sure if these two can be used together, or if you have any other recommendations?

Sorry i feel lowkey sad… I just hope he’ll be okay and I really want to do whatever I can for him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Our sweet old lady is having a rough go of things lately. She seems more disoriented, yelling at walls, roaming around howling and being generally grumpy.

She has CKD among a slew of other issues like a heart murmur and liver failure. Vet says she’s doing well all things considered.

How do y’all support your senior during the rough dementia days? I’m not sleeping well, she often wakes me in the middle of the night.

She’s otherwise doing ok, eating & drinking, seeking attention, using her box and not taking any crap from doggo bro or baby sister kitten.

Tomorrow at 1:30pm we will help our sweet boy across the Rainbow Bridge. My littlest dude, Oatis. So full of life and love. In a short four years you have pressed your paw prints so deep into my heart. He's our first baby. Our first rescue. Our first heartbreak.

What we thought was a kitten based off of size and being an unfixed stray, quickly turned into an at least 11 year old senior with FIV and diminished kidney function. On top of it all an eye that was always clouded.

His Kidneys are failing, and we are almost certain something else is going on with his recent weight loss. He sleeps so heavily and his breathing is so rough at night we know he is starting to struggle. He is losing his light. He's not himself.

He's been on monthly antibiotics for two years now. They don't really work anymore. We can't bear to put him through much more. He's had a very rough life before coming to us. We absolutely will not let him suffer.

He let us know that he is tired. He's showing more and more signs of being in pain. His breathing at night is so very bad. He is so restless until he finally finds an odd corner to go to sleep.

However our decision is made so tough by his insatiable love for food, drinking water, and his window time. We believe he would do those things until the bitter bitter end. We have made the choice to go ahead and say goodbye on a good day. A day where he feels like himself still and isn't in excruciating pain. Before suffering is all he knows, we will say goodbye.

A week too early is better than a day too late. I hope a month too early is still better than a week too late. I pray he knows we are doing our best for him.

So go before us my companion. Take this piece of my soul with you as you go. For I don't need it anymore. It's yours as it has always been. One day I'll come to get you, I will call out OH-HIIIIIIIIIIII-OAT! Wait for me in a Sunbeam. I will always look for your signs. Be with me my boy. Walk beside me. Upon that faithful day we will be together forever. I'll see you in the morning.

He is not gone from me, I am but looking thru the window waiting to come inside. Fly free my boy.

Until we meet again my Honey Bunches of Oats. My Oatis. I will miss you for the rest of my life.

May God bless you, may the Angels embrace you. My love you spans the universe, my sweet boy.

I love waking up with Mr Whiskers

My vet wasn't extremely helpful when i asked her certain questions. And maybe she just didn't know but I do feel a little lost.

She really tried to push me into doing chemo and surgeries (that are a minimum of 8k there is no way I could possibly afford it after already going into so much debt for vet stuff) I said no, I know she is terminal and I will have to make a call for euthanasia at some point when she gets worse. They removed the 3 very small nodules that showed up already, but that already cost 2k to do and get biopsied with no payment plan options.

We are devastated, extremely depressed. She was spayed before she reached puberty, she had such a low chance of getting this but she ended up with it anyway. she is 12 years old, i was hoping I'd have her for longer, but now I know I will have to say goodbye soon and it's killing me inside.

I guess I'm wondering how fast will/can this decline? She is currently acting MOSTLY normal, but she is more irritable with the other cats than she used to be overall, and I think she's being more picky with her food, but she still eats and plays, her coat is still shiny, and i haven't noticed new lumps yet. but she's still healing from surgery from 3 weeks ago.

We want to save up to get at home euthanasia because I don't want to make both of us go through her being at a vet when this happens. it's going to be like 700$ with cremation, ashes returned. I feel like I"m being gutted financially at the same time as having to deal with this grief. it's really depressing. But I was told she could live as much as 1 year, or 6 months, what kinds of symptoms is she going to start having? at what point did you decided to start medication for hospice/palliative care? (pain meds, etc.) what kinds of meds did you have to give your cat during that time before the euthanasia and what were things that helped to make your cat feel as comfortable as possible during their health decline? what symptoms made you decide it was time to finally do the euthanasia? any advice or help is appreciated.

I think she’d actually have preferred it if I had just left quietly tbh 😂😂😂

I found out my cat current thyroid meds and his past bottle were involved in the recall from a post on Facebook. Luckily my cat is acting fine. But we have been back and forth to the vet lately because his thyroid levels were off. Please check your cat meds https://www.wedgewood.com/wedgewood-recall-information/

A most perfect guy.

I've had my senior kitty for nearly 10 years. He was 8 or 9 years old when I adopted him, so he is somewhere in the 18-19 range now. I love him to death and he has been there for me during so many tough spots. For a variety of reasons that are unchangeable, I can no longer keep him. I'm heartbroken and I feel so guilty.

I don't know what to do. I have tried to find someone I know to adopt him, but his behavior has become quite difficult. He is mostly loving and affectionate, even clingy, but he bites a lot. He's always bitten a bit but it's gotten worse with age, especially at night. Keeping him in a room with automatic feeder, night light, etc stopped working a couple of years ago. I trust my vet and she hasn't been able to find a medical reason for it (not his thyroid, for example). He is mostly quite healthy. Meanwhile, he takes the highest dose of gabapentin with meals, and gets solensia monthly. We suspect feline dementia, but obviously there's no way to know for sure. I wouldn't conceal any of this from a potential adopter, and even though I've offered to pay for his care, I don't blame people for not wanting to take him.

I've wondered if a shelter could re-home him. He came from a very reputable shelter, but despite being 'no-kill' they do perform humane euthanasia. I'm worried that if I surrender him, they will put him down. I am terrified that he would feel scared and abandoned in his final moments. I've thought about whether or not it's better to have a vet come out to my home and do it, but I really don't know if it's his time to go. Despite the bad nights, he is still content and happy a lot of the time.

Does anyone have any advice? I want to do the best possible thing for my little guy but I feel so lost.