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Cat Forum / General Topics / April 2004congestive heart failure
We have a soon to be 12 year male cat with congestive heart failure. He is on lasix. The last couple of weeks, he seems to be pretty listless and hasn't eaten much of anything but continues to drink. He get around well and still loves human contact (especially sitting in a lap). He is a long haired cat so it's hard to tell just how thin he has gotten until you realize how light weight he now is. My question to the group is how do you know when it's time to let him go? I don't want him to suffer. He doesn't appear to be in pain but has no energy. Last night he had a dirty rearend which is unusual for him. I tried cleaning him up and about got myself killed in the process. I noticed to white protrusions on either side of his anus that would come out when I wiped him and go back in. I don't believe they are tapeworms as he's never had them before and I have seen them as one of our other cats is bother with them. Our local vets are not small pet oriented and more or less just tolerate them. I am calling them today, however, about the rearend problem. My questions to the group are: Have any of you had experience with the protrusions I speak of and how do you know whether or not they are suffering? We've had to have a cat and a dog put down over the years and it's always such a hard decision. We now have 3 cats, one age 15, the other two siblings going on 12. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. >My question to the group is how do you >know when it's time to let him go? I don't want him to suffer. Talk to your vet. A good vet will tell you what they would do if it was their cat and help you through the process. When it came time to do it for my cat a few moths ago the vet was a great help. > Our local vets are not small pet >oriented and more or less just tolerate them. I am calling them today, >however, about the rearend problem. Sounds like it is time to find a new vet. Please when it comes time to decide whether it is time to put your cat to sleep find a good vet who will be able to better advise you than a usenet newsgroup can. After all on a computer we can't see the cat, touch the cat, interact with the cat. When I had to do it recently the vet was very helpful, they handled the whole thing very well and very senstively. > We have a soon to be 12 year male cat with congestive heart failure. He is > on lasix. The last couple of weeks, he seems to be pretty listless and [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > know when it's time to let him go? I don't want him to suffer. He doesn't > appear to be in pain but has no energy. i put a cat to sleep 2 yrs ago, had heart and kidney trouble, all i can tell you is that it became very apparent when it was the right time..it's almost as if he were asking me to do it on the last day, saying he'd had enough of this world..he didn't appear to suffer, except being listless at the last 2 days. bob A good vet will help you make the decision. What they may tell you is do you feel the cat still has a "good quality" of life? If they stop eating completely and I've run out of options (that are within monetary means) I decide then. I just lost one in July to liver disease, I tried to treat him for a week and he went downhill in that week. And I lost another a month ago - he was at the vets for a week, he was up and down, wasn't eating so they were force feeding him which made him sick, I finally said it was enough. the last day I went to visit him and he was just miserable, I knew I was doing the right thing. And it's never easy. Many times I wished I would wake up and find Tyrone had died in his sleep so I wouldn't have to make the decision, but I had to. Just know that when you do decide you are doing the right thing. I wish you all the peace in your decision, whatever it may be. JoJo > We have a soon to be 12 year male cat with congestive heart failure. He is > on lasix. The last couple of weeks, he seems to be pretty listless and [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. >And it's never easy. Many times I wished I would wake up and find Tyrone >had died in his sleep so I wouldn't have to make the decision, but I had to. >Just know that when you do decide you are doing the right thing. Actually you don't want that. I had a cat who died, I found her lying on the floor at about 4 in the morning. (Probable heart attack?) That was alot harder to handle then putting one of my cats to sleep a while back. Letting go & deciding when to help our friends pass over is a hard hard thing to do. You must decide when your friend has no quality of life left, when there is no enjoyment left...when he can't eat anymore, when the discomfort/pain level is stopping him from being the cat you knew him to be. I found petloss.com to be a wonderful place of support when I had to put my 18 1/2 year old sweetie to sleep last year. The people there are so understanding; the site has a lot of links to support areas, too. Best wishes. >We have a soon to be 12 year male cat >with congestive heart failure. He is on >lasix. The last couple of weeks, he seems >to be pretty listless and hasn't eaten much >of anything but continues to drink. Before you decide it's time to let your cat go, you need to take him to the vet and have a full blood workup done including a T4 to test thyroid function. A 12 year old cat is not that old and it sounds like there is something secondary to the heart issue going on. Even if it's hyperthyroid or kidney disease or something else, it's by no means a death sentence and most of these things can be treated in conjunction with the heart issue and your cat can have some quality time left. Please get him to the vet right away so you can find out the cause of the inappetance and weight loss. Megan  Signature"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray Worming is never wrong! | We have a soon to be 12 year male cat with congestive heart failure. He is | on lasix. The last couple of weeks, he seems to be pretty listless and [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] | | I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.
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