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My awesome cat is dying. Last week, the vet found a large mass on her spleen, confirmed via ultrasound as a tumor, almost certainly cancerous. She's been eating less and less and losing weight for weeks, and on Saturday, she stopped eating completely. She drinks water very occasionally (maybe once or twice per day), but that's it. The vet told me that around day three with no food is kind of the threshold where we can assume she's in her final day or hours. In the past 24 hours, she also spent a significant amount of time just lying under the bed, which she normally doesn't do unless she's hiding. It's my understanding that this hiding behavior is typical of cats near the end of their lives, although I can't be sure that's the reason here. The vet has given me mirtazapine to help stimulate appetite and liquid buprenorphine to help with pain. She doesn't appear to be in any pain, but I know that's hard to judge in cats. She and I have spent most of the last few days in my bedroom. It's been her favorite place to sleep and hang out for a long time. I have bowls of water and food available for her in the room in case she feels like eating or drinking. I'm trying many different kinds of food, treats that she loves, etc, but she's not interested in any of it. I've moved one of her litter boxes into the room, away from her food and water. She has soft blankets to rest on, and I put a blanket under the bed for her. While she spends most of her time sleeping, she does wake up and move around a bit occasionally. She still comes to me and lays down with me on the bed from time to time. I've spent most of the last few days keeping her company, petting her, and talking to her softly. Once or twice a day, I pick her up and hold her while I walk around the house. I carry her outside for a few minutes per day and just walk around the yard. She seems to enjoy this. She's very calm and quiet while I'm holding her. Can anyone think of anything else I can do to keep her comfortable as she comes to the end? I've tried to cover everything, but people with more experience might have other ideas. She's about 15-16 years old. I've had her for about 11 years. She's moved with me through two apartments and to my house. She's my best friend, a very good cat, and I love her dearly. I tell her those things every day. Thanks for reading.  
BeanBandit fucked around with this message at 03:15 on May 23, 2017 |
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May 23, 2017 02:51
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 21:58 |
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I'm so sorry. Tuna juice is my go-to for sick kitties. Drain the liquid from a can of water-packed tuna into the cats bowl, throw the meat into your own bowl for a sandwich, and then mix the little tiny pieces of meat on the bottom of the can with the juice. Even the sickest cats will generally have a lick or two, and they'll get some good nutrition of it, too.
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May 23, 2017 19:04
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I'm so sorry; she seems like a very good cat. I've also used tuna water, but canned salmon and sardine water work well too. Baby food can help, but it gives them really gnarly gas and runny poops. Make sure you get the kind that is JUST pureed food, with no other additives. The next few days are going to be very hard, so remember to take comfort in the long time you had with her and that she was treated well.
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May 23, 2017 19:52
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Thanks for the kind words and the advice. She licked at a bowl of food for a minute yesterday evening, but didnt really eat much, if any of it. I picked up a can of tuna today, and I'll try giving her a little of the liquid and smaller bits in a short while. She's never been big on tuna, but it's worth a try. The vet also gave me another appetite stimulant to try (cyproheptadine). If she doesn't eat anything by Thursday morning, I think it'll be time to do what's necessary. Thanks again.
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May 24, 2017 00:03
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I'm so sorry, Bean.  Your kitty sounds like an absolute angel, that loves you as much as you love her. I don't have too much experience with caring for sick cats, and so I don't have much advice to offer, but it seems to me that you're doing everything right and you've given her nothing but happiness -- both now and in the past eleven years you've spent together. There are few things harder than saying goodbye. I hope knowing that you made her as happy as a kitty could be brings you some comfort when you need it.
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May 24, 2017 02:18
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Sounds like you are doing everything you can for your old kitty. Working as a nurse, many times families think that if their end-staged loved one doesn't eat they will be in a lot of pain and this is simply not true. I'm sure your vet already told you, but I just want to reinforce that there is no pain associated with not eating. Offering stinky delicious food and appetite stimulants are absolutely fine, but if kitty does not eat, that's okay too.
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May 24, 2017 16:58
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She ate something! It wasn't a whole lot, but last night, after I gave her the new appetite stimulant, she ate some bites of her normal food. Then, I drained the water and some of the meat from the can of tuna I bought, and she licked most of it up! Later that night, I gave her a few pieces of a veggie burger patty I was eating, and she even ate those. I don't know if she's just feeling a bit better or if the appetite stimulant is working, but I am so happy to see her eat something. I'll buy some more tuna and some other foods tonight. I know the prognosis is still very bad for her, so I'm not deluding myself into believing she's going to make it another year. However, if I can keep her comfortable and eating occasionally, and it gives me another week with her... well, I'd do anything for that.  Thanks so much for the kind words and especially for the advice about the tuna! Ferryll posted:Working as a nurse, many times families think that if their end-staged loved one doesn't eat they will be in a lot of pain and this is simply not true. Right, I misinterpreted what the vet originally said before about my cat not eating. She meant that if a sick and old cat doesn't eat anything for three days in a row, that's typically a sign that they're not going to get significantly better and that it's time to start thinking about euthanization. The alternative is almost always a protracted death by starvation, which would obviously be inhumane and unnecessary.
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May 25, 2017 04:19
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BeanBandit posted:Right, I misinterpreted what the vet originally said before about my cat not eating. She meant that if a sick and old cat doesn't eat anything for three days in a row, that's typically a sign that they're not going to get significantly better and that it's time to start thinking about euthanization. The alternative is almost always a protracted death by starvation, which would obviously be inhumane and unnecessary. Yes, this is a major difference in philosophy between human and veterinary hospice/end of life care. In a human they'll do some more invasive things often to supplement so people don't die of starvation. We can certainly do these types of things in dogs/cats but typically it's not the best option for long-term if the animal isn't going to improve on its own, since we have the option of euthanasia.
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May 25, 2017 17:01
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So glad to hear she's eating! 
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May 26, 2017 01:42
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How is your cat?
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Jul 3, 2017 12:38
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Echoing ^; I'm in about the same boat as the OP except with a young cat and it's comforting to read about other people going through the same thing
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Jul 8, 2017 18:00
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Just found out today that our 14 year old Bengal has lymphoma. He's not had much of an appetite for the past week or so and we've been giving him subcutaneous fluids and just got some prednisone to try to help the inflammation and to stimulate his appetite. I don't know what to expect or do, I know his time is limited but I don't know if we should try the steroids and see if it helps or if we just need to say our goodbyes and not prolong his discomfort.
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Jul 31, 2017 22:47
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Huge_Midget posted:Just found out today that our 14 year old Bengal has lymphoma. He's not had much of an appetite for the past week or so and we've been giving him subcutaneous fluids and just got some prednisone to try to help the inflammation and to stimulate his appetite. I don't know what to expect or do, I know his time is limited but I don't know if we should try the steroids and see if it helps or if we just need to say our goodbyes and not prolong his discomfort.
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Aug 1, 2017 09:22
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Huge_Midget posted:Just found out today that our 14 year old Bengal has lymphoma. He's not had much of an appetite for the past week or so and we've been giving him subcutaneous fluids and just got some prednisone to try to help the inflammation and to stimulate his appetite. I don't know what to expect or do, I know his time is limited but I don't know if we should try the steroids and see if it helps or if we just need to say our goodbyes and not prolong his discomfort. Survival times are going to depend a lot on whether the lymphoma is large cell or small cell. Small cell is more common and is the slower progressing form of lymphoma in cats, usually. You usually can get months of happy, comfortable life with prednisone alone, and remission is not unlikely with oral chemotherapy drugs (usually a pill taken once a week or several times a week). Large cell is much more aggressive and may require specialist care if you want to try to treat it. My previous cat had large cell and my partner and I probably spent around $10-15k on visits to a specialist veterinary oncologist, chemotherapy, and the initial diagnosis, none of which were financially easy at the time. We put him to sleep less than one month from presentation of initial symptoms (vomiting and bloody diarrhea) because the cancer had migrated to his lungs. Looking back I am not sure I wouldn't have put him to sleep at the initial diagnosis, it might have been kinder. My current? cat had small cell lymphoma and we controlled it for a couple months using prednisone because we initially thought it was a eosinophilic form of IBD. When that didn't help her gain weight back (though it got her eating and playing again) we added a chemotherapy drug. All in all it was nearly 5 months from start of treatment to yesterday, when we put her to sleep. We probably could have kept her alive longer, but she was just so skinny and lethargic that we felt that putting her to sleep was the right thing to do, and she died purring with a big smile from all the wonderful happy drugs they gave her. Personally I think you should give prednisone a chance because, like Booty above me said, it can give you some more good time with your kitty and in rare cases can allow a complete remission with small cell cancers. That being said, you are not a bad person if you decide to put them to sleep at any point following their diagnosis, because this is sometimes the right thing. Only you and your vet can say when it's the right time. Personally I like the phrase that I've heard here at PI: 'better a week too early than a day too late.'
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Aug 1, 2017 17:42
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Amberlyn posted:How is your cat? Hi, sorry for the long delay. I don't read the forums much anymore, and I forgot about this thread. A few days after my last post, my cat stopped eating again. She wouldn't come out from under the bed for anything, and when I peeked under to look, she was always lying on her side, which she almost never did. The following morning, I carried her outside and just walked around the yard for awhile so she could sniff the flowers and glare at the squirrels one last time. Finally, I took her to the vet where she died peacefully in my arms. My cat had a long, happy life. As painful as it was to let her go, I wouldn't trade my time with her for anything. It was all worth it. take me to the beaver and Huge_Midget, I'm sorry to hear about your cats. Choosing the right time to mercifully end the life of a beloved pet is an impossible duty, but it was part of the deal when we agreed to take them home. If you did what you thought was best given the experience and knowledge of a trained vet, then I don't think you have to worry that you did it too late or too early. I had done most of my mourning and crying in the couple weeks after the vet gave me the bad news. After she was euthanized and I took her empty carrier back out to my car, I felt relief more than anything. I miss her terribly, especially every time I think I see her out of the corner of my eye, but the days and weeks after her death weren't filled with endless stretches of sobbing like I expected. That's okay. There's no correct way to mourn. Whatever you feel after the death of a loved one is okay. Take care.
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Aug 4, 2017 01:51
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We put our cat to sleep today. The steroids weren't helping all that much and he just didn't want to eat much of anything anymore. All he did was lay in the sunshine and sleep, and last night he started vomiting bile and just seemed like he was done. We took him outside today and gave him catnip and just let him lay in the grass one more time. I buried him at my parents place close to where my first childhood dog was buried. I think it was the first time my wife actually saw me cry, and I was trying to hold it together for her sake. Farewell Caesar, you were a great cat and a Bengal through and through.
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Aug 8, 2017 04:37
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I'm so sorry for both of your losses. I hope knowing that your cats had full, happy lives, where they spent every moment of their days being loved, will eventually bring you peace. Your kitties will always be there in your hearts.
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Aug 9, 2017 19:24
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 21:58 |
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RIP Kitty
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Aug 10, 2017 15:43
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