![]() I always go back to what I learned at a seminar on grief and pet loss I attended at least 31 years ago (about the time I had to make the decision to euthanize my very first cat, who had intestinal lymphoma). I wish I could make it easy for you, but it never is. Your question: is it “time”? Answer: Only you can decide. Your question: is the cat in pain? Answer: I don’t know. Your cat never plays, explores, or interacts with others. Your cat has lost sixty percent of its body weight. Your cat has lived to an above average lifespan of 15 years. Since most cats don’t live to be 15 in the first place, and many owners will not go to the trouble to treat diabetics (and it IS some trouble, I know), you could hardly be thought to have cut any corners in the cat’s care. Ironically, you are afraid someone might think you were considering a “convenience euthanasia”. In your case, you are concerned about whether you are condemning the cat to slow death. In 31 years, nobody has ever used this word unless they were looking for the way out. Whenever a client uses the “S” word (“Do you think he’s suffering?”), I know it’s over. Which brings me back to my opening statement: No pressure, huh? She begged me to smother her with a pillow. When asked how it felt to be 100, she would reply, “I’m just surprised every day when I wake up.”Ĭontrast this with an experience I had with a relative dying with cancer in a hospice environment. She didn’t feel bad, but she had trouble getting up and walking, even around the house. If not, the conversation would be lively for as long as you could stay with it.Īunt Clara was rather feeble physically in the last ten years. If you were boring her, she’d just go to sleep. You could tell pretty quickly how interesting your conversation was. She retained her mental faculties to the end. Old and wasting away (at least not this lifetime). One of the few ways that I know to assess this is to give a trial therapy of pain medication, such as buprenorphine, and see if there is improvement.Īnother criterion that I use is to think to myself, “If this were me, would I be in pain?” This is less useful here, as I’ve never been 100 years ![]() Even when you know your pet better than anyone else, this can be a hard call. Is she in pain? This is a very hard question to answer, particularly with cats, as they are very stoic and famous for concealing signs of illness. This means that she isn’t getting much good out of her food. With this pet, we know she won’t have any energy - she’s wasting away, burning up her body fat and muscle tissue just to stay alive. She still eats and is interested in food, but just sleeps the rest of the time. No playing, no exploring, no interaction with other pets or people. You don’t really see obvious signs of pain (screaming, moaning, writhing, restlessness, etc.), but you never see what you consider the normal activities. But what about the patient who just never feels good? If one is sure that a patient is in constant pain which is NOT going to get better, then the decision is pretty clear. They are more than just buzz-words, though. “ Quality of life” and “ quality of life issues” are the buzz-words. ![]() In fact, it is almost always a difficult decision, even when the situation is prettyĬlear-cut (as in the dog caught in a combine harvester header who had all four of his legs cut off: the owner wanted me to “fix him”. The decision to provide euthanasia is often a difficult one. I don’t want to euthanize her just because she is no longer a charming little kitten or because she has health problems – she has definitely earned her retirement, but I also don’t want her to suffer through a terrible existence because we haven’t got the guts to make a decision. How do we know when it’s time? We keep taking her back to the vet every 3 months for an assessment to see if she’s in much pain and they Mealtimes get her excited but that’s it the rest of the time she spends asleep. Zoe’s quality of life seems to me to be poor – she will accept petting but is not the affectionate lapcat she used to be she has always lived in a multicat household but now HATES the other cats and she’s occasionally incontinent. We know she has some arthritis (she gets chondroitin) the vet thinks she may have a tumor of some sort, possibly even/as well as a brain tumor. Even when her diabetes is stabilized, she’s so skinny! She has gone from a big 12 pound Maine Coon to a weeny 5 pound Maine Coon.
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