Pinky's not doing well...

Poor Kitty....and poor Thack.

She's lived a long long life, Thack. She's filled your life with love and you've filled hers with the same.

If she's in a lot of pain and it is only the drugs and chemicals that are keeping her comfortable, it might be time. It sounds like she's having a very rough time of it.

Aww, poor wee thing. These little fellas give us so much and it's so hard to let them go. You have my condolences, this is a day I fear.
Go with grace, Pinky. You were loved and loved well..

My heart goes out to you, it's a day all us pet owners dread. It's obvious the love you have for Pinky so I'm sure you'll make the right choice.
Best Wishes.

Honey, she's had a good long life.

If you don't have the money, you don't and it doesn't sound like she's getting a lot out of life. You have no reason to feel guilty that you don't have the ability to prolong artificially the life of an animal you have loved and cared for and given the best life you could. She is obviously in great distress.

You can do a better thing for her than you can for any human you love in similar circumstances.

It is always very, very hard and my heart is with you.


(((((((((((((((((((Thack)))))))))))))))))))))

Sounds like a serious bladder infection, thack.
I've had cats who have suffered from it, too. (a reaction to particular types of dried cat food.)
Very uncomfortable & quite distressing for them, the endless attempts to wee, etc.
Have you contacted the vet again? Sounds like the treatment provided is not working & she's having a tough time of it.
Sounds like she could be becoming dehydrated, too.
I'd have the bladder infection seen to again (& possibly a change of diet) before considering more serious action.

Oh, poor kitty.

Thanks all for the replies. She'll be off to the vet in a bit. She did use the box a little and ate a little but she's since back to pacing about.

I'll talk to the vet about other options, but if he treats me like an asshole for it...

Thinking of Pinky and you..

If he does, Pinky becomes someone else's patient. Period.

What the Rat said. The nerve!


Any news?

So Pink has CRF, which the vet actually told us at a prior visit, but for whatever reason the severity and finality of her situation didn't register with us. Anyway it's not great. She got a couple of shots (cerenia for nausea and convenia) and they gave her some iv fluids.

She's since come home and for the most part has been laying down (either on her ottoman or in front of the fireplace). She has on occasion greatly enjoyed her Iam's salmon mixed with some bumblebee solid white albacore and/or oscar mayer carving board turkey. I'll need to talk to the vet again, but in the short term we'll likely be trying at home administration of sub-Q fluids. Factoring all the circumstances though, it looks like we'll have to let Pink go fairly soon.

Thanks again to everyone for the replies. This is the first time we've gone through this and it's nice to have some people listening

I lost a cat to kidney failure. Much of the time, he wasn't in distress and didn't seem to know he was not his normal self. When the time came when he couldn't get up on the chair to sit next to me, I knew the time had come. Maybe his condition advanced much more quickly than Pinky's, but the trips to the vet with repeated blood draws were more stressful than he needed. In any case, I insisted on being with him when he died. That was the last thing I could do for him, and I wasn't going to come home from work to find he had died in some hidden place of his own.

For what it's worth, he had a serious loss of appetite. The vet had prescribed Hill's Science Diet KD. I tried it for several days and he completely rejected it. My decision was to feed him anything he would accept, including chicken liver and tuna. He was already dying from kidney failure, and I just couldn't stand to add starvation to the mix.

I'm so sorry to hear about this.

Thack,

Animals are like your children. They are excited to see you, show you love and affection and the love we have back for them is immense.

Remember, Pinky knows she has had 16 good years with her dad..

I have a 16 year old pomeranian. Four years ago, she had liver failure.. I spent 3 months nursing her, a syringe with water to keep her hydrated and same with the food mixed in water, she wasn't meant to survive, she did.

I also had a 13 year old little boy, Sam... Black and white fluffy cat, who merrily came up the stairs and had his dinner to then, going into convulsions and being unable to use his back legs in minutes... He kissed me, when they took him away to put him down, he was in a lot of pain.. It is so hard, I understand that.

I have a diabetic dog. Husky. Kia, white with one brown and one blue eye, she's adorable around 8. They told me she would be on insulin for the rest of her life, 6am wake up to give it to her, 6pm at night, daily.. The cost as well, on the vets to get the right dosage took me 3 months and the insulin $50 a fortnight and the sleep ins? Never.. At that time, I didn't have the money, it was scary, but I just believed and worked somehow and was able to get a sale and it covered those 3 months... I am only sharing that fear you have of how.

All I can suggest is all the love you actually are already giving her.. Buy a syringe if you can and hand feed her with water slowly throughout the day so she remains hydrated, and hopefully can pee better and give her food she likes, a little chicken if you can... And, see if she can jump over it.

Sometimes just being that nurse and giving out all that love, gets them over the edge.. If not, there really is nothing or was nothing you were ever going to be able to do.

Missy, my pomeranian had a mini stroke 3 months ago, I nursed her back, after 3 weeks she can walk again just not up or down stairs.

If your cat doesn't want to live anymore, she will just throw in the towel anyway... It's her time and she's okay with that.

If she does and you nurse her, she will try to jump it enough to keep going another year or so, without all those vet bills.

I hope for you ... I know what it's like.

Before you put her to sleep, try a few more things. I know she's old, but maybe she's just restless. If a cat becomes too restless, it can fall into a depression. Try to play with it every day for a couple of weeks, and have a positive vibe around her. Then, if she still is acting strange, it may be time.

I'm sorry.

It’s always hard to lose a pet, I lost one cat and the other one isn’t doing well, I believe this will be her last year. Sometimes I don’t think I could ever get another one but then I think if I do I’ll just give them a loving home and make their short life as happy as I possible can.

I doubt they think of their lives as short.

That's the beauty of animals....they just live in the moment. Think of the sum of world cat happiness you and Thack have contributed to!



I hope Thack updates us on Pinky when he feels ready to.

Many good thoughts here for you thack....I'm echoing them.

It's never easy losing a beloved pet, but the first time is a new experience.

Pinks's been doing better every day. She loves all the people food - mixed with her own (I understand that weight loss is detrimental and if kitty won't eat cat foot, she should eat whatever she will take). Couple of nights ago she couldn't get enough little pieces of some fresh bread I was having with dinner.

We went back to the vet today where mrs45 and I successfully gave her some IV fluids (training for in home treatments). She did pretty well and was ready to eat as soon as she got home. So we'll see how doing it ourselves goes...

We gave Lulu IV fluids for awhile.
It's really quite easy, she didn't seem to mind one bit.

We'd just stick her in the nap of the neck, and hang the saline bag for a few minutes.
The saline would just gather under the skin, you could see it swell. Then it would disperse itself into her system.