Cat on her last legs

Soldato
Joined
19 Jul 2005
Posts
7,069
Location
S. Yorkshire
It looks like my cat maybe reaching the end of her days.
She's 18 and up until a couple of weeks ago was still kittenlike and ultra-active. Since then she's spent more time sleeping than normal, and has lost a lot of weight.
Yesterday I noticed she wasn't reacting to sound unless it was very close and she fell a couple of times when climbing up to her water dish. Today she's even worse and is just following me around the house and bedding down near me with her nose on the floor and dribbling slightly.
I've got a vets appointment later today but think they are going to say it's her age. My only hope is that maybe it's a gum infection that means she can't eat that if they cure will let her eat again, but I'm not holding out too much hope. She still purrs when I fuss her, but she's not really reacting to anything.

So now I'm planning for after her demise (which I hope isn't quite yet).
I've checked the local council site and can legally bury her in the garden, but I'm likely to move in 6 months so son't think I want to do that. I've seen some pet cremation services but wonder what other people have done when a cat which is/was a real part of the family dies?
 
Caporegime
Joined
8 Sep 2005
Posts
29,917
Location
Norrbotten, Sweden.
Shame to hear but it happens.

Not a cat but my dog got cremated at the vets and i told em to do whatever they wanted with the ashes. As symbolic as it is my 18 years of memories of that dog are not going to be enhanced by a cup of ash.

Cat, i buried in the garden - rumour has it - my neighbours told me, its like a pet cemetery and there are 2 Afghans and a few more cats buried there..
 
Associate
Joined
11 Jul 2003
Posts
386
Location
Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Our cat's kidneys started going just after Christmas, she showed many of the symptoms you described. We had her cremated, but were charged A LOT for some fancy wooden urn. I know it may seem a little harsh, but all we really wanted was a plain pottery/wood urn as we were going to bury it anyway and it just seemed a bit wasteful. You may want to check your pet crem isn't running this kind of racket.

Mikey
 
Man of Honour
Joined
17 Aug 2007
Posts
28,937
I remember when my old cat died very well, her kidneys gave way eventually. It was 5 years ago now, one thing which will stick in my mind was the "miaow" she did one morning. My wife said, is she hungry? and I answered, "no...she will go tonight, I can tell from that miaow"

It was something in her "voice", I just knew that day was going to be her last. That evening she had some food and then sat with me for a bit. Her eyes kept going to a distant stare and her head would droop, then she would snap her head back up and her eyes would light up again. It was like someone turning a switch on and off over and over in her head.

The wife and I went to bed as normal that night, I carried our cat up to bed with us and she lay next to me. After a few hours she gave a miaow, then laid down and just went. That was it. I think it was quite a nice way to go, together in bed.

We buried her the next morning in a pet coffin in our garden, along with her favourite toy, blanket, bowl and a photo of us :)
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
19 Jul 2005
Posts
7,069
Location
S. Yorkshire
Our cat's kidneys started going just after Christmas, she showed many of the symptoms you described. We had her cremated, but were charged A LOT for some fancy wooden urn. I know it may seem a little harsh, but all we really wanted was a plain pottery/wood urn as we were going to bury it anyway and it just seemed a bit wasteful. You may want to check your pet crem isn't running this kind of racket.

Mikey

No, doesn't seem harsh at all. I'm not keen to line the pockets of a company preying on the distress of others. I don't want any overblown symbolic gestures, but don't want to bury a carcass in a garden that will likely belong to someone else by Christmas.
 
Associate
Joined
13 Aug 2004
Posts
1,485
Location
Hampshire
Me and my ex lost one of the cats about 7 years ago now. Chased by a dog into the road and hit by a car unfortunately. We had her cremated but instead if putting her into an urn, we had a local artist paint a ceramic cat using pictures of her provided and put her ashes into that.

We used this place as it was fairly local to us at the time.

http://www.dignitypetcrem.co.uk/hand_painted_ceramic_cats_opte2b.html

Funny, as before it happened I used to think it would be quite morbid and a pointless exercise but it sort of helped having her in the house with us, forever asleep on the cabinet where she always used to sit.
 
Joined
1 Oct 2006
Posts
13,853
Sorry to hear about your cat chap, I'm dreading the day one of ours goes. Oddly enough my brother and I were talking about this a couple of weeks ago over a few beers and it cropped up about getting the cat stuffed and mounted a la Scrubs.

Not sure if I could go through with that mind, I think I'm mental enough talking to a live cat let alone asking a stuffed animal how's it day was every time I get in from work...
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Jun 2006
Posts
3,900
Location
Swindon
I'm afraid the symptoms sound exactly like our cat shortly before she passed :(

Ours just about made it to 22, but her last month and a bit she was thin (used to be a big cat too so was sad to see) and quite a while before that it seemed her hearing failed. She did purr when fussed near the end too, which was odd as we thought she couldn't purr anymore for many years.

On her last day, she kept moving about the house. It was sad because she was being told off for not staying still as we were worried she was going to pee in the house as she had done a few times recently so wanted to know where she was. Really, she was probably trying to avoid us as cats like to go away from thier home when they think they will pass. In the evening she looked at me and my brother and we both commented on how we'd never seen her look like that before, she was looking right into us with a strange solemn expression, but somehow we didn't pick up on what it was. We found her in her bed in the garage the next morning :(

We decided to bury her in our garden. Spent a few hours digging a deep enough hole through our clay soil, but you don't want to dig a shallow grave or other animals may dig at it.

I reccomend you spend lots of time with her and comfort her. I still feel bad about the last few days we had ours, but you have a chance to make the most of them. Hopefully it might be something cureable, but expect the worst :(
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jun 2005
Posts
8,401
Location
United Kingdom
I remember when my old cat died very well, her kidneys gave way eventually. It was 5 years ago now, one thing which will stick in my mind was the "miaow" she did one morning. My wife said, is she hungry? and I answered, "no...she will go tonight, I can tell from that miaow"

It was something in her "voice", I just knew that day was going to be her last. That evening she had some food and then sat with me for a bit. Her eyes kept going to a distant stare and her head would droop, then she would snap her head back up and her eyes would light up again. It was like someone turning a switch on and off over and over in her head.

The wife and I went to bed as normal that night, I carried our cat up to bed with us and she lay next to me. After a few hours she gave a miaow, then laid down and just went. That was it. I think it was quite a nice way to go, together in bed.

We buried her the next morning in a pet coffin in our garden, along with her favourite toy, blanket, bowl and a photo of us :)

Sad story, quite moving.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
19 Jul 2005
Posts
7,069
Location
S. Yorkshire
Back from the vet. Suspected renal failure and if so it's game over.
I'll hear back today or tomorrow. I've had to leave her there on a drip due to dehydration.
 
Soldato
Joined
31 Oct 2004
Posts
8,649
Location
London
I remember when my old cat died very well, her kidneys gave way eventually. It was 5 years ago now, one thing which will stick in my mind was the "miaow" she did one morning. My wife said, is she hungry? and I answered, "no...she will go tonight, I can tell from that miaow"

It was something in her "voice", I just knew that day was going to be her last. That evening she had some food and then sat with me for a bit. Her eyes kept going to a distant stare and her head would droop, then she would snap her head back up and her eyes would light up again. It was like someone turning a switch on and off over and over in her head.

The wife and I went to bed as normal that night, I carried our cat up to bed with us and she lay next to me. After a few hours she gave a miaow, then laid down and just went. That was it. I think it was quite a nice way to go, together in bed.

We buried her the next morning in a pet coffin in our garden, along with her favourite toy, blanket, bowl and a photo of us :)

:(:(
 
Associate
Joined
6 Nov 2006
Posts
393
Location
Derby/ Notts
Sorry to hear of your troubles OP. As a cat lover reading some of the stories in this thread really tug at the heart strings. I've grown up with cats (am now 24) and am waiting to move into a house in 6 months so I can rescue my first kitteh. I'd already have one but I live in a 1st floor flat and don't feel its fair to do so. I know i'm going to really struggle when I have my own cat and lose him/her though :(

Good luck OP, give your cat all the love that she deserves to help her through.
 
Back
Top Bottom