My cat is getting old

S

Stop Laughing

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My 14 year old cat, Dolly, is now a diabetic, and I had to give her her first shot tonight, it almost made me sick to my stomach. We have to give her 2 shots a day at 12 hour intervals. :( We may have gotten lucky when we went to St. Louis a couple of weeks ago that we had the vet board her for the week and they noticed that she drank water like crazy and they discovered she was diabetic rather than have us try to figure it out later.
 
Not to be all insensitive and uncaring (ignore me if you think I am), but have you stopped to think if this is causing the cat pain? She's 14, that's 98 in cat years. That's a full life. Is it really worth it for her if you sit down and make her live any longer? Maybe it's a sign that she's not supposed to live anymore or something. I don't know. My dead cat, Ashley, had an eye infection about a year or so before she was put to sleep and that was one of the first signs that she was getting on in age and had to go.
In my family it's a belief not to try to do anything to invoke pain into a pet.
Of course I could also be reading into this too deeply so yeah.
 
Wacky Nacky said:
Not to be all insensitive and uncaring (ignore me if you think I am), but have you stopped to think if this is causing the cat pain? She's 14, that's 98 in cat years. That's a full life. Is it really worth it for her if you sit down and make her live any longer? Maybe it's a sign that she's not supposed to live anymore or something. I don't know. My dead cat, Ashley, had an eye infection about a year or so before she was put to sleep and that was one of the first signs that she was getting on in age and had to go.
In my family it's a belief not to try to do anything to invoke pain into a pet.
Of course I could also be reading into this too deeply so yeah.
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my dog is about 18 years old. we havent put her to sleep for the same reaosn im sure SL hasnt(im not speaking on your behalf SL) is cause we dont want to. and no its not insensitive. it shows you dont want the animal to suffer. animals can suprise you by how long they can sometimes live. but i like your familys motto. very loving. and respectable for a family t have that
 
Once you get more expert at giving the injections it will be easier on her and you... my cat just takes such things in his stride without flinching. Diabetes is no reason to have a cat put to sleep if it's otherwise healthy, my mum's cat Thomas lived until he was 18 with it.
 
I agree with Aunty, diabetes is quite common and no reason to put a cat to sleep. Is it more common in cats than dogs? I never seem to hear of a dog having diabetes. I knew someone who had a cat with epilepsy. She had to give her "peanut butter balls" (phenobarbitol) every day.

How far you go with meds and surgery on a pet all has to do with the owner. I wonder about that myself when Rusty and I become pet owners, after watching Emergency Vets on Animal Planet so much. I get very attachd to pets, and see them as a part of the family rather than just an animal.
 
My cat needs his teeth descaling and cleaning, although it isn't crucial yet, the vet reckons it should be done in the next 6 months or so or he may start losing teeth. I think it's probably down to the fact that until he came to live with me he only had soft canned food, never biscuits which help to remove plaque and tartar from the teeth. I've never had this problem with any of my previous cats.

Under 10 they don't usually do blood tests etc before hand so he reckoned it would cost about £80 - £120. Over 10 they do it automatically so it could be £150 - £180. He did say however it was up to me if I wanted him tested and on a drip for the op. I think in view of his age (9) and because he's not really had that much to do with the vet before, I'd like to make sure there are no underlying problems so I will probably have the tests done and the drip. He said after christmas would be fine. If I can afford to do it before then I will.
 
He doesn't now, he gets a mixture of canned and dry foods.

He only came to live with us in 2001 and my sister looked after him while I was away last year, but she died in January (he was originally her cat), so he has to go into a cattery while we're away this year as there's no-one to look after him that I trust, and I feel much happier knowing he's safe and well cared for while I'm gone.

So he went to the vets for his flu and enteritis jabs - he can't go into the cattery without them - and he gave him a check up as well. Generally he's in very good health.

He went to the vets for the first time since he was neutured as a kitten last month when he got into a fight with another cat and injured his eye, but fortunately he healed very quickly with some antibiotics and careful cleaning. He's was totally unphased by it all and the best behaved cat I've ever had. :)
 
Having had put a cat to sleep in the past, I have to say I don't think it's the best in these situation. Instead giving her medication can actually ease her pain... Good luck SL!
 
Yeah, usually the only time you want to put a cat to sleep is when you can't make it stop suffering by other means. What's really sad is when someone who's poor has to have the cat put to sleep because they can't afford to fix it.
 
I know sometimes, if the procedure isn't too costly, they can give their cat away to the ASPCA type organization and they take on the cost of treating the animal and then putting it up for adoption. Unfortunately, that's usually in cases where the animal has already been mistreated and it's seized by them because of neglect. But some of the success stories are really heartening on those Animal Cops shows.
 
It's only been a few days, and she takes injections better than I do, that's for sure. I got nauseous giving her the first one. :eek: She's almost lost all of her teeth and we decided to just quit the dry food now and give her the canned stuff, she goes so crazy for it, she tries to meow while purring when we're about to give it to her, it ends up being a very weird sound as she doesn't do it well. Other than the diabetes and earlier this past winter when she had a bad skin infection, she's had no health problems.
 
The skin problem was probably related to the diabetes. You have to be careful of bumps and scrapes and make sure any injuries are properly cleaned with this condition as with humans.
 
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