Putting the Cat Down

We're going to be putting down our cat tomorrow afternoon. My girlfriend is taking it really hard. He's an incredibly sweet cat.

Last week, we discovered he wasn't eating and had gotten really thin. It turned out he was severely anemic. Two blood transfusions, several tests, and a couple of medications later, he's not making any steady improvements. There's a good chance it's cancer in his bone marrow.

We're going to put him down at home while he's still doing pretty well.

Tonight will be devoted to giving him good-bye cuddles.

godspeed to the little kitty.

As I said in another thread, we lost one of ours last fall. Make sure you take photos with the cat, you will end up cherishing them.

does anyone want to borrow a cat, we love cosmo but have no where for him to go during my impending deployment.

Blossom, my cat, is staring at me while I read this... I'm sorry.

Joey

Yeah that's a hard thing to do.

wherethefmi, if you can't find him a home, bring him to a humane shelter and donate a few coins their way. they'll find him a home. We got our cat from one.

We have had two cats go down from liver failer. It dosent get eny easyer sorry.

yeah but we want him back after I get home, unfortunately the Mother in law has 2 cats and 2 dogs, and cosmo is older like 11ish. I'm sorry that your cat is sick by the way sorry for not mentioning it in my previous post.

wherethefmi, You're in WA right? I'm sure I could convince the miss's into fostering Cosmo. Boy or girl and does he/she get along with other cats?

Salanis,

It's tough man, it really really is. Just enjoy him all you can right now and hold him to the end. We had to put Dude down (18 years old!) 2 years ago and it was really tough. We took a video of him in the back garden hanging out with Nibbler and Einy. That video is doubly special now.

I've been there, it's really hard. My siamese, brothers, lived to be 18 and 20, it was gut-wrenching to make the decision. But both of them were on my lap when they went. It sucks that we can put a man on the moon, create cars that can parallel park themselves... but still can't figure out a way to make our pets live longer.

P71 wrote: It's tough man, it really really is. Just enjoy him all you can right now and hold him to the end. We had to put Dude down (18 years old!) 2 years ago and it was really tough. We took a video of him in the back garden hanging out with Nibbler and Einy. That video is doubly special now.

Yeah, reading your post about your new kitteh made things start to sink in a bit. It'll be hard, but ultimately for the better. He'll go when he's still comfortable and happy and doing reasonably well. We're not going to wait for things to go downhill to the point where we're just putting him out of his misery.

I was listening to NPR the other day and they had a lady on talked about making medical decisions for their pets. We have two kittehs one is 14 the other is 11, so we know there are things comming up that we cannot prevent.

One thing I got out of the interview is to see if they can come to your house for the procedure. Evidently this is getting more popular, and to me it makes sense not to have the last moments of a pet's live be traumatized by having to go to the vet (most cats don't like that). For dogs she talked about doing it in the car, since a lot of dogs consider that their second home anyway.

Enjoy your time together and good luck.

We're not sure exactly how old the cat is. She's had him for 9 years, and the estimate when she got him was "Anywhere from 2 to 8 years old". He's not young. He's already gone through chemo for one bout of cancer and has a congenital heart murmur.

He is getting put down here at the apartment. We booked an appointment with a vet who does house calls. The dog is staying with a friend so that the cat can have the run of the place without stress.

After the procedure we're taking him to a pet cemetery. I guess one of the things they do is give you a paw print to remember the pet by. We're planning to have one taken of his 3-toed back foot that had a toe amputated because of the cancer.

Feline leukemia is really common, unfortunately.

Slanis, my condolences to you and your partner. It's never an easy choice.

He is getting put down here at the apartment. We booked an appointment with a vet who does house calls.

That's really awesome. You guys are doing the right thing. So sorry you have to go through it though.

You'll love the paw-print. We didn't have a chance to do anything like that so I mixed up some plaster-of-paris and we did it ourselves before bringing Nibbler to the Humane Society for cremation. Now she lives in a box.

Bastard pets. What kind of friends go off and die on you? I've got an old dog who will be sorely missed when his day comes.

Sorry to hear about it Salanis. The good ones, of which the ones we talk about on here, are hard to say goodbye too.

All of my pets are young, but they're all within a year or two of one another. I already know there will come a time when they all go one after another, and I already dread it.

My condolences.

We just went through this with our 8month old kitten - also feline leukemia....

Wifey and my thoughts are with you.

Very sorry for your loss.

Tim Baxter wrote: All of my pets are young, but they're all within a year or two of one another. I already know there will come a time when they all go one after another, and I already dread it. My condolences.

We're going through that right now. No more for us. It's way too rough.

I always take some comfort in the fact that cats and dogs appear that the couldn't care less that they will die someday. My buddy had a beagle that seemed to embody the whole "just happy to be here" mentality. Just enjoy them, as they seem to just enjoy us!

Once my cats pass ten years old, we will get them a new kitten to whip things up a little around the house. Keep em young.

Best, Joey

Hope you're doing OK buddy. Tesla and Eistein are sitting here with me and Nibbler's box thinking about you and your significant other.

We put the cat down. He was happy and comfortable to the very end. Purring while we petted him less than an hour before he was gone.

The vet said that we were definitely doing the right thing, and that it actually would have been the right call when it was time for his first transfusion.

There was a lot of crying afterward, but we went out to dinner with some friends and are both doing a lot better now. We can talk about him without crying at this point.

Good. Avoiding his sufering is the best thing you could give him.

Joey

He's keeping Nibbler company now, he's got a good friend

We didn't realize how much pain Dude was in until he started purring when they injected him. It was still tough, but it made it a lot easier knowing he wasn't in pain anymore.

I will hug Spyder extra tight tonight.