Worried about my cat

[dianna11]

My kitty Alice is 16 years old - and in pretty rough shape.

He's part Maine Coon and was a big cat most of his life - about 20 pounds!

Immediately after DS was born, Alice dropped 10 pounds! He lost weight faster than I did! I thought it was just stress from the home birth and a new baby in the house, but it turned out to be a sudden thyroid problem.

I started giving him vet prescribed meds and the weight loss stopped - and he never really gained it back.

2 1/2 years later, he's still about 8 pounds, his back legs aren't working well, and just lies there most of the day. His fur is coming out, and when he does walk over to eat, he lies down in front of the bowls, instead of standing.

My mother thinks it may be time to put him down, but I'm just too close to it. How do you know? I know 16 is a good long life for a cat, but I wouldn't want to do anything rash prematurely.

What should I do?

[Mom2M]

I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty! Have you taken her to the vet recently? What does the vet think? Maybe she just needs her thyroid medicine adjusted.
I hope she gets better.

[dianna11]

He's already on a pretty high dose - I'm going to give the vet a call this week, I just want to arm myself ahead of time with mulling over emotionally what to do.
Is it best to put the cat down, or let him go when it's his time?

[womenswisdom]

When was the last time you had a full blood panel run, including thyroids, kidney, liver and blood glucose? My suspicions would be either he needs a higher dose of methimazole for the thyroid or he has another concurrent problem going on. Sometimes when a cat has kidney disease, hyperthyroidism can "mask" it because it keeps the blood flowing at high rate through the kidneys, making them more efficient. When the thyroids get under control, you start seeing an increase in the kidney values. That's what I'd be checking first, and then also making sure he isn't diabetic. Hope you figure out what's going on!

[PGTlatte]

I have a 16 yo dog who I check to make sure she's still breathing every time she sleeps for a long time, and it's been almost three years since I had to let a very special 15 yo dog go. I knew it was time after our vet had done everything she could do (including chiro, acupuncture, and several holistic supplements), and things that used to help didn't help anymore...and my sweet dog was struggling to eat, drink, get up to let me know she had to pee, and needed help standing up to go potty or she would end up falling down and peeing on herself. (BTW I came back to add she was not at this point for long - she was doing fine with the treatments for a while and then took a turn for the worse over a couple days. IMO it would not be kind to let an animal go like this for very long.)

She was a smart dog with dignity and this was no way for her to live...hungry and thirsty, waiting for me to help her take care of these things, and needing assistance to accomplish the most basic bodily functions. She was tolerating life, not enjoying it. It was time.

We made one last day that was set aside just for her...held her, petted her, talked to her, fed her treats, took lots of pictures, laid her in a sunbeam and rubbed her belly - everything she loved that she could still enjoy. There were lots of doggy smiles and tail wags. It was a good day. Our vet came to our house and she went to sleep peacefully in my lap. It was hard to let go but really a relief for everyone, especially her. We all felt good about doing this for her.

I know it is very hard, but you will know when you have done everything there is to try, and it is time to let you furbaby peacefully go on his way.

[stardogs]

SundayCrepes started a great thread about knowing when it's appropriate to euthanize - I highly recommmend reading through it.

I personally like to list out all the things the pet enjoys and keep an eye on how able to do those things they are. The fewer things they are able to enjoy that they loved previously, the closer the decision likely is, assuming the vet has done all they can.