cestlavie

I have an ailing cat. He's 15. He's had diabetes for three years and
used to have seizures when his sugar got too high. There's a mass in
his chest - either cancer or heart disease; the operation to find out
would finish him off.

His heart has been slowing down - which, apparently, is unusual for cat
heart disease; usually they speed up.

Two weeks ago, I took him to the hospital where they found fluid in his
chest (not in his lungs). They took out 300 ml and he was a happy
little guy for about a week. He's on a daily diuretic now.

Doc said there's no knowing if or how long it would take to build up
again. Well, he's having trouble breathing again. He mostly sleeps
and actually breathes fairly easily while asleep. His appetite is
still good and he still uses his box but he comes back from either
venture all worn out and sits with head down breathing heavily for a
bit until he gets his wind back. Then he's back to sleep all day -
which he's been doing for a while. He's an old man.

He's skinny - I can feel his bones in his spine and where they shaved
him to take out the fluid, I can see his ribs under his skin.

I'll pick him up sometimes or lie with him and pet him. He'll purr his
little head off.

Most of the 'quality of life' questions are still 'yes' - does he eat?
Does he lie peacefully? etc. But I can't keep schlepping him back to
have fluid withdrawn - he hates trips in the car and the anesthetic
left him stoned and very unhappy.

Now here's the thing. I would like to have some tranquilizers or
something to knock him out for the last trip to the vet. I want him
untroubled and unstressed. I do not want the last thing I do to him to
be bring in a stranger or to cart him off in the car yet again. I
want him to be stoned to the gills and sound asleep so he won't know
what's up.

No vet will do this! Not his vet who knows him nor any other. How
badly does that suck? And why the hell not?

I do have some tranquilizers that I used for his plane trip here but
they are 3 1/2 years old and I'm not sure they'd work.

He's a great cat. He must know that the pills he takes for his
diabetes help him because he has never ever fought taking pills! So I
could easily give him a couple of pills and let him fall asleep in his
little bed under my desk and then take him when he's zonked out.

So why on earth, do you suppose, will a vet not do this? What could
hurt when he's already terminal?

I will leave it a few more days since his only negative sign right now
is his difficulty breathing and it waxes and wanes but it will
definitely get worse and all I wanted to do was let him fall asleep and
it would be over.

And while I typed this, he reached out of his nest under my desk and
grabbed my foot I believe he agrees.

So anybody know why nobody would give me a drug for my boy so that he
could be spared any stress on his last day?

karen

I would see if a vet will come to your home. Many do for last services. This
might be a better option. I'm sorry he is doing so poorly.

maryl

This is only a *guess* on my part, but it may be that tranquilizers could
have an unforeseen effect, considering your cat's illness. In other words,
vets may fear that the tranquilizer would make your cat's final hours more
painful instead of less painful -- tranquilizers (and other drugs) sometimes
have an effect that is the reverse of what is intended, and your cat's
illness combined with tranquilizers might exacerbate the situation.

As I said, this is purely a guess.

MaryL

juls

I think this is a great option. I also think it's really nice that
you're trying to avoid the stress of travel at the end.

The next time I have to make the decision, I will choose home care if
at all possible.

Godspeed to your boy.

Juls

--
To email (remove annoying hyphens)

j-u-l-i
at
e-c-t-dot-o-r-g

maryl

This is an excellent idea. Many vets offer this service, especially for
long-time clients.

MaryL

spot

If your local vet won't come to the house I would find another. If you
can't find any small animal vets that will come to the house then I would
call a large animal vet and ask if they could put him to sleep for you.
They are used to traveling around from farm to farm and probably would come
to the house.

Celeste

cestlavie

Thanks, people. I didn't really want a stranger coming here either. I
don't have people over much so that will also be a disruption/stressor
to him. I finally found some references and read up on the sedative I
have, though, and found that it's not good to give cats who've had
seizures. So I suppose you're right that there may be reasons to not
give him one.

I've also read up on signs to watch for when making the decision to
euthanize and I guess he's not too badly off yet. He does get out of
breath, but usually it's for a few moments after eating and then he's
deep in snoozeland and pretty peaceful.

So I have another short while, I guess, to ponder the best way to go
about this.

I truly appreciate the kindness of everyone who took the time to reply.

rhonda

Hmmm. Our rabbit vet did that. My rabbit had terminal cancer, and the
vet gave us a syringe of tranquilizer to use to relax him on his last
car ride.

I like the idea of having a vet come over. I think that would be much
less stressful in the long run. The tranquilizer relaxed our rabbit, but
I thought he would be more out of it. He was awake the whole time.

Rhonda

cestlavie

Thanks, Rhonda. It took a while to find a vet who would do what I
needed - she will come and tranquilize him, then help him pass, and
then take him to arrange the cremation.

It was arranged for tomorrow afternoon but he had a couple very bad
spells today and fortunately she agreed to come this afternoon and will
be here in about an hour. I managed to get him calmed down after the
last spell but he was pretty bad - he started to pant the way his
sister did when her spleen burst and that decided me - I don't want him
to go into crisis and have to be rushed to the hospital the way she
was. So best he should go today.

Thanks for your time and ideas, folks.

maryl

I'm so sorry to hear that the decision had to come so quickly, but I am
pleased that you were able to make these arrangements. This will be much
less stressful for your beloved cat -- and for you.

MaryL