@littlek,
Quote:he is nearly comatose. About two hours ago he'd wag when I pet him. Now, nothing. If I lift his head he wobbles it back down to resting on something. wasn't able to jump up on low end table yesterday, tonight he couldn't walk. I guess I wanted to ask you if you thought I should bring him in or if it's ok to let him die here (if he's dying either way). Should I worry about pain? doesn't seemto be in any, but it's hard to tell with cats.
thanks for coming by, pdawg
Wish I had an easy answer for you, Kris.
It does sound like he's probably on his way out. If I was there, I'd be looking to see if his pupils still responded to direct bright light, and if they were symmetrical. Mismatched pupils at this point usually means the brainstem is starting to lose function. Body temperature is a reliable indicator, as well. If they can't maintain body temperature above (to pick a fairly arbitray number) 96 degrees, they're unlikely to turn around on their own.
As far as pain goes -- it's hard to say. A lot of cats will start to vocalize a lot near the end, but I can't say I'm really sure they're especially painful at this point. Generally they seem to be pretty out of it, and it's similar in some ways to the vocalizing that sometimes happens when they're coming out of anesthesia -- disturbing to people around them, but hard to say if they are suffering in any conscious manner.
In my position, when I'm sure they're not coming back, I go ahead and help them along their way. But it's an easy thing for me to do, and doesn't cause any stress to the animal. To take him and drive him to the vet to be under bright lights and so on and so forth might rouse him enough to suffer more than he would have otherwise.
Honestly, when it gets to this point, if you're in the air as to whether to take him in or not for his sake, make the decision based on what makes the transition easiest for you -- knowing that you can never know for sure how the experience is going to be for either one of you. You're certainly in a position to know better than any of the rest of us if this is the end for Screech, and it sounds like you're sure that it is. If he's not in obvious, ugly pain, there are advantages to letting him go at home -- no strange environment, no dealing with relative strangers, no stress of trasnportation -- and to taking him in to be euthanized -- a (usually) smoother transition, a sympathetic shoulder, a quick exam to be sure that he's really on his way (more a reassurance than anything else).
Good luck, Kris. I'm sorry you have to go through this right now (or at all).
