Deciding when to euthanize a furbaby...?

[lauraelmore1033]

We are in exactly the same situation with our 20 year old Mamma Kitty. She neverr was a big fan of using the litter box in the first place, but now the free range peeing is getting really bad. But...
She seems happier than she ever has been in her life! The other kitties seem to know that something is up with her, and they are extra lovey dovey with her and she seems to be enjoying that in spite of the fact that she had never been a cat-social kind of ca before. The weather has been nice, so we've been able to corral her in the front yard, and she's really enjoying that too, since she started out as a feral, outdoor kitty who didn't like having to stay inside.

a couple of times, on her bad days, I found myself thinking that it was time for the last trip to the vet, and she suddenly sat straight up from a dead sleep, made eye contact and began to purr like I've never heard before. Clearly she doesn't think it's time. I have to confess that I have moments of resenting the mess she's making of the house, but I sure couldn't look into those intelligent eyes, knowing that she wants to live, and have her put to death. It's a really tough choice. and it really sucks.

[Biciclista]

One of the issues with these kitties is that their kidneys are shutting down which makes them have to urinate more, and ah, gee whiz what a hassle when you are old and weak and sore, and yes, this is not quality of life. It's also one thing when it's you taking care of your kitties, but when it's someone else; you KNOW the time is coming, do you want her to decide to die while your m-i-law is taking care of her?
That JUST happened to me, Barbie died 2 days after my guests from Italy came. I had to reassure them that they did NOT cause her death, that she had been failing..
Cats are fortunate.. we don't have to make them suffer. Good luck.

[Owlie]

I have no experience in this area, but ((zoom-zoom)).

[zoom-zoom]

One of the issues with these kitties is that their kidneys are shutting down which makes them have to urinate more...

Lola just had bloodwork done on Monday--kidneys are still good, which surprised me. My childhood cats both died around age 16, but both had failed kidneys.

[zoom-zoom]

So maybe it was just a temporary illness? That would be wonderful for all of you.

The only thing that the vet found "wrong" with her was a mild UTI (which she didn't think explained the urination outside the box), a slight amount of blood in her urine (perhaps from the UTI), and some dehydration (which is one reason we've switched her to wet food...she's never been a good chewer and ends up doing a lot of puking of solid pieces of food). Other than that she's just an arthritic old cat with well-managed overactive thyroid who pees where she shouldn't.

[zoom-zoom]

Oh, and she's very sneaky. She's always been good about taking her thyroid pill in a Pill Pocket, but isn't doing as well with the small antibiotic pills--she's eating around them. I tried mashing it in her food, but she won't eat the food. (her sense of smell and taste still seem very good...perhaps even better with her somewhat decreased eyesight). We may try pulverizing the pills and mixing them with tuna juice in a syringe.

[Biciclista]

oh wait, she has a UTI?? of course that would cause "inappropriate" urination! that's the first thing most vets check for.

Give her her medicine, maybe that is the biggest issue. when i had a UTI i always felt like i had to go too.

[indysteel]

One of the issues with these kitties is that their kidneys are shutting down which makes them have to urinate more, and ah, gee whiz what a hassle when you are old and weak and sore, and yes, this is not quality of life. It's also one thing when it's you taking care of your kitties, but when it's someone else; you KNOW the time is coming, do you want her to decide to die while your m-i-law is taking care of her?
That JUST happened to me, Barbie died 2 days after my guests from Italy came. I had to reassure them that they did NOT cause her death, that she had been failing..
Cats are fortunate.. we don't have to make them suffer. Good luck.

Mimi,

I'm having a hard time remembering if you posted about Barbie at the time. Sadly, we've lost so many pets on TE of late that I can't recall, and my search didn't reveal a thread about it.

In any event, I'm so sorry. You've had so much on your plate; I hope you get a big break soon. A really big break.

[Biciclista]

Barbie decided to exit the earth plane a couple weeks before Donald got his bad news. IMHO, Barbie timed it very well. I would have been a wreck dealing with a failing cat right now. She gave VERY clear signs about it being her time. (I did post about it, but really it's ok if you can't keep track of a kitty that you never met )

[jessmarimba]

(((zoom-zoom)))

I found one way to keep mine hydrated was to add water to her wet food. I have no tips with the pills though.

[PamNY]

Zoom-zoom, my heart goes out to you.

I've nothing to add to the very insightful comments that precede mine. I have been through this numerous times and, as we all know, it's never easy. Sometimes it's clear when the time has come, but not always.

You have given your baby a life filled with love, and that's the most important thing.

[zoom-zoom]

oh wait, she has a UTI?? of course that would cause "inappropriate" urination! that's the first thing most vets check for.

Give her her medicine, maybe that is the biggest issue. when i had a UTI i always felt like i had to go too.

That's what I thought, too, but the vet said it was such a mild infection that she really didn't think that was the cause. We're going to try some other litters, too. The vet really believed that a change in litter might be our best option.

Has anyone tried that Cat Attract litter?

[smilingcat]

+1 with Mimi regarding UTI and urinating out of the box. Blood in urine could be from crystals. Some cats are prone to it as one of my cats. He's not crazy about litter box as he associate it with extreme pain when he goes to urinate. So he likes to piddle here piddle there and piddle everywhere. I can't get mad at him.

Another symptom of painful urination for cats is that they will hold it as long as they can. Bad for the kidney and overall health but if it hurts you would also hold it off as much as you can. Our cat with the problem, when he goes, he goes. Volume he urinate is probably close to 150ml-200ml range about 1/2cup to full cup. And he isn't a big cat.

If your cat urinates that much each time, then you may want to have her checked for crystals in her urine and it may be one of the reason why she doesn't want to use the box.

I wish its just a temporary blip in her health.

[zoom-zoom]

She's not peeing much when she does...maybe a quarter cup, at most. I wonder if this is all due to the UTI. I hope so. Getting the antibiotics in her is the hard part.

[zoom-zoom]

You might try getting an entirely new litter box. Especially if the cat has associated pain with unination. A new box plus new litter won't have that association.

We have a couple of small ones that we don't really use, so we're trying one of those. Otherwise we have 2 MASSIVE ones downstairs...equivalent to 4-5 standard boxes.