Should I but my cat to sleep? The aftermath?

Question

I asked a question about putting my 13 year old cat to sleep. He has a kidney disease and an abscess tooth they need to take out. Well the next day they call me and said his kidney counts were down that they wanted to keep him another day on fluids. I said yes but i wanted to see him. Well they couldn’t get him to eat but when i came he ate for me, so they called me the next morning and told me that they though he would do better at home. I took him and he had an appointment the next day. I took him and his counts were up. They told me they are going to keep him for four days on fluids and see what happens from there. I have decided that if his counts don’t go down than i am going to go a head and tell them to do the surgery and try and take the tooth out and well go from there if he lives through it than i am going to do what it takes to try and help him i will not put him under unless i feel he is in a lot of pain and cant be help(so he don’t have to suffer)

Answer 1

put him to sleep pain is horrible to watch a cat go thourgh
its saving you the watching him die

Answer 2

Once they stabilize his kidney numbers, go ahead and have the abcessed tooth extracted (and any other teeth that are not good anymore so he does not need to have these extracted at a later date). Ask for the safest anethesia (Isufurane?) and full organ monitoring while he is under. They will also give him a drip to support his kidneys and other vitals during the (short) dental surgery. I really think that your kitty will bounce back after he gets that painful tooth out of his mouth (that's the reason he isn't eating). My 9 yr old cat had 4 extractions a few months ago and now he is now as active as a kitten. I congratuate myself for investing $600.00 to get his teeth issues fixed.

Give your kitty a chance - cats are remarkably resilient and since your kitty has reached the grand age of 13 (not realy that old yet), I suspect he is a fighter!

Answer 3

What a sad problem. I think you are doing the right thing, give the cat a fighting chance. His infected tooth might be the cause of his kidney problems. A 13 year old cat has been your friend for a lot of years, it's time help him out, without letting him suffer. Good Luck!!

Answer 4

I think you've made a good decision. If you have an animal you should do whatever it takes to keep them alive and not take the easy way out. If he is suffering though and nothing can be done then it would probably be best to put him down.

My dog had a some problems due to old age and stuff but we didn't put her down and she lived another few years.

I think if your around your cat and are caring for him instead of someone else he will get better faster.

Answer 5

i know how hard it is to lose a pet my cat got hit by a car and all i could think about is how scared he must of been that night, he was all alone and all that i could imagine is what he suffered the death, what they hit him on pupose, and how lonley he must have felt when he was lying down in the street suffering. so i would tell you try to fix it first or else you could just be giving him an earlyer death than you or your pet can handle mine died at 2 at it was sooo sad i odnt want anyone else in the world to feel that way about there pet so always try to fix it first and then if they cant fix it or if they do and he isnt doing well later than take back in and double check. but its a 50/50 thing here. if you dont try to get him fixed then he could die early and suffer or if you do get him fixed then you could have a longer time to say goodbye. so after the surgery wait about two weeks and if he seems in bad condition then make sure you say good bye before you cant help it anymore, like if you go to bed without saying good bye he could die while your slleping and then you would never get too. it alwas better to not have them suffer but it is always important to check if you can fix it.

I hope this has helped you in your desision and best of luck to you and your cat.

Answer 6

I've put two cats to sleep, one eight years ago and his littermate six years ago. It's a horrible thing. Fortunately my vet and his staff were very good to me and were very supportive. Looking back, I feel I made the right decision and that I did what was best for my pets. Shortly after the second one was put down, I read something that was somewhat comforting. The article said that part of what makes you so miserable is that you feel as if you have failed to take care of the pet, that you did not live up to the commitment you made when you adopted the pet. But you are taking care of him. You are considering his quality of life and doing what is best for him. Cats simply have shorter life spans than humans.

Answer 7

To bad there aren't more pet owners like you out there!
I agree with what you have said, if he is not suffering then I would do what I could. At the first sign of suffering you need to rethink and do what's best for the cat.
I have a friend with a cat that is 19 years old, so your guy COULD still have some years left in him.
Good Luck, hope kitty gets better.

Answer 8

Bless you for caring so much about your cat. What you plan to do sounds exactly right to me, it's what we would do under the circumstances - if there's a chance of some good quality of life following treatment and if the treatment doesn't traumatize the cat beyond what's OK (and you seem to have a really good suss on what that would be) plus if you can afford what needs to be done - then go for it.

We'll be thinking of you, good luck to you and your cat.

Answer 9

I went thru the same thing with my cat a year ago. He had liver disease. I nursed him - with fluids; he did well for about a month, then "crashed" - but eventually he just stopped responding and basically died on his own. Not sure if you want to spend hundreds of dollars on surgery especially at its age. Do what is right for the cat.

Answer 10

it's hard to put a loved pet to sleep. i had to do that with an old stray i had taken in. i only had him a couple years, but soon found he had untreated hyperthyroidism that had already damaged his kidneys. he was on medication to help prolong his life, but it was just a matter of time. he seemed really happy and ate well, purred a lot, played a bit. until one day he started to lose interest in eating, wouldn't lay down and relax, and kept looking at me like he was miserable. his breathing was labored and he stopped eating all together, and i knew i had to take him in. i held him while the shot put him to sleep and knew he was gone because he stopped purring. it was so hard.
good luck to you, i hope your kitty can pull through this one & have a few more happy years with you!

Answer 11

mate im pleased it your decision and not mine,its easy for us to answer and give our two penneth but its in the end got to be a decision made as to what is in the best interests of the animal concerned,if there is a fair chance of it being successful take the chance,if not and theres a chance it could prolong a life of poor quality then i would advise against.animals are the most adept of things to hide pain and suffering and one that looks comfortable can actually be in a bad way and feel terrible.all the best whatever the decision.