My cat is sick and dying :(

[notfred]

Not my cat Perl that I usually mention, but my old cat who lives with my parents. I've had him since I was a kid... he's about 16 years old now, and he's gotten sick. My parents say he's lsot a lot of weight and doesn't have any energy anymore. He spends most of his time asleep or laying on the back porch. He's been sick for a few weeks now I guess, and just keeps spending more time sleeping.

My parents took him to the vet, but they said there's really not anything they can do, but at least he's probably not in pain, jsut tired. Looks like he's going to live out his last few weeks lying in the sun on my parents back porch, which isn't such a bad way to go I guess. Still makes me sad, though

 

[Renob]

Very sorry to hear about your friend.

 

[dinde]

sorry to hear it, i know its not the same thing, but when i was 8 i had to put my hampster to sleep because she had a tumor. i was crying every night for weeks, even more

 

[jlee]

I'm sorry..

We had to put my cat down a couple of months ago...he got feline leukemia somewhere, and wasn't getting better after three months. We have two other cats, so we couldn't keep them apart forever..and he wasn't happy to stay inside.

 

[CrazyPerson]

:brokenheart:

 

[Iron Woode]

Originally posted by: notfred
Not my cat Perl that I usually mention, but my old cat who lives with my parents. I've had him since I was a kid... he's about 16 years old now, and he's gotten sick. My parents say he's lsot a lot of weight and doesn't have any energy anymore. He spends most of his time asleep or laying on the back porch. He's been sick for a few weeks now I guess, and just keeps spending more time sleeping.

My parents took him to the vet, but they said there's really not anything they can do, but at least he's probably not in pain, jsut tired. Looks like he's going to live out his last few weeks lying in the sun on my parents back porch, which isn't such a bad way to go I guess. Still makes me sad, though

That is basically the way my old cat died at 15. She just laid down and went to sleep and never woke up again.

 

[BillGates]

Poor kitty.

 

[ohtwell]

Sorry to hear that! It's very sad when this happens to an animal that you are so close to and have spent most of your life with.


: ( Amanda

 

[ScottMac]

Find out if they did a Lab panel.

I have a ~15 year old, 20 Lb male cat. He was coughing and seemed to lack "wind" ...walk a few step and lay down, etc. He was normal in all other respects (eat, dump, drink, pee, play...follow me around, etc)

I took him to the vet, they did X-Rays, and found fluid in his lungs, and his heart was roughly twice the size it sould have been (classic hypertension / congestive heart failure). The vet pretty much said he was a goner. I asked about meds so I could relieve the symptoms somewhat, bring him home and let him die here (not in a panic at the vets office).

He gave me a cardiotonic, an anti-hypertensive, and a diuretic. They were gonna let me go with that, then I asked if it would be a good thing to do LAB, so they could track the effectiveness of the drugs. The vet said, "Yeah, OK, might as well......'

I found some treats to bury the pills in so the cat would take 'em, and after a few days, he was getting perky again, and his lungs were clear / nearly clear.

Then the Vet's office called in a semi-panic: They said it wasn't Congestive Heart Failure, it was HyperThyroid. The hyperthyroid jacked his hormone levels to a high enough level (13.2, normal high is 4.5) that it caused all the other problems. They said to immediately stop the other meds and to instead give him an anti-thyroid. I picked up some anti-thyroid from the vet, put the cat on 'em, and in a day he was his old self.

According to some information on the Internet, hyperthyroid is very common in cats over eight years, is usually treated with pills, though there is a radioactive iodine treatment (~US$ 1000.00, and one to two weeks at the vet), and surgical options.

It's now been about a month on the anti-thyroid, he's playful, lots of energy, and by any visible measure, as healthy as he was ten years ago (he does still have the enlarged heart, and may need to go back on the cardiotonics later).

Anyway ... see if they did Lab, and if not have 'em check for hyperthyroid. The older the cat gets, the more likely the cat is to have it.

Good Luck, sorry to hear about your critter.

Scott

 

[Harvey]

I had a 15 pound, 15 year old black tom, Eli, who I lost to feline leukemia. On a cold winter night, his favorite trick was to dive under the covers and full length body snuggle.

I know how you feel about this one. My sympathies. :brokenheart:

 

[BillGates]

Good info Scott, thanks for posting that.

 

[Mill]

I am sorry to hear that. My cat Mikey died a while back. I still miss him.

 

[Geekbabe]

I'm so sorry

 

[Turkish]

My sympathies man Poor kitty

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: Renob
Very sorry to hear about your friend.

 

[UglyCasanova]

 

[Dedpuhl]

I lost my favorite cat last week to Diabetes of all things. It still chokes me up when I think about it...

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: ohtwell
Sorry to hear that! It's very sad when this happens to an animal that you are so close to and have spent most of your life with.


: ( Amanda

For me, the hard part is watching it and feeling powerless. Sorry to hear about that.