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[Mason]

My cat is 20 years old, much older than most cats live to see. She's a siamese and a complete trooper. My grandmother found her when she was a kitten and took her in. When my grandmother died several years ago, my family had to take her in because nobody else would, and since she met so much to my grandmother, we couldn't just put her to sleep.

A couple of years ago, she lost her eyesight and started developing kidney stones. Our vet has been telling us to put her down for a year now, but since she didn't appear to be in any pain, we couldn't bring ourselves to do it. She has slowly gotten worse for the past few months, with one physical ailment after another developing. In the past couple months, she has lost her ability to control her bodily functions and sometimes goes on the floor. Now in the past couple of weeks, she has gotten even worse.

She has taken to sleeping all day in the kitchen, next to her food and water, because it pains her to walk all the way to it from other rooms. The past couple of days, she has been trying to seek out members of my family to sit on their laps, which is something she hasn't done in a long time.

Now tonight, she is so sick she can't get up off the floor. She is laying there completely flat and can barely muster a quiet meow. After a while, she tries to get up but doesn't make it very far before her legs buckle out beneath her.

We're most likely going to have to put her to sleep tomorrow, something we probably should have done a long time ago. I took a picture of her earlier tonight but she looks so incredibly sad I feel bad for doing so. When she dies, my family, especially my father, is going to be incredibly upset. We're not thinking she's even going to make it through the night. Tomorrow, I'm probably going to have to stick around the house for a while instead of going home (to my apartment).

I've never had to deal with the death of a pet on this level before. A hamster I didn't really even like when I was 8 isn't really the same as a 20 year old cat with a lot of family history. I'd really like to hear other people's stories of dealing with the loss of a pet and how they coped.

 

[Wolfy]

My deepest sympathies We had to put down our last three cats. Our current one is 10 years old, and our best friend.

 

[Dyne]

I'm sorry. I hope you get through this ok. I was so sad when I lost my dog.

 

[Mason]

And the thing is, I never understood how people could get so upset when their pet died. I was like, "It's a pet, bury it and get over it." But now I'm starting to understand.

 

[Invader Zim]

Should have listened to your vet and put her down 2 years ago.

You could be enjoying a real pet, like a new dog by now. But now you just get to live with the guilt of causing her suffering.

Enjoy.

 

[Lil' Dice]

I have two cats that both me and my gf are very close to, and i would put them down as soon as i notice they're in constant pain and cannot function normally. Remember, animals have a different understanding of life/death and can will themselves to die if they feel useless. They also don't convey pain the same way humans do, they can be under excrutiating agony and not make a peep.

 

[Claus]

Never felt sad over the death of any of my pets. Don't know why but it doesn't phase me.

 

[Kuramu]

losing a pet hurts more than anything else i've ever gone through. My last cat had FIV, which i didn't know until it suddenly took him into a painful place. I had to put him down that day...while he seemed so happy the day before. I think about that frequently with my 2 current cats... i can't stand the thought of them going, but years pass so quickly, the time will come

 

[Lil' Dice]

Should have listened to your vet and put her down 2 years ago.

You could be enjoying a real pet, like a new dog by now. But now you just get to live with the guilt of causing her suffering.

Enjoy.

Why get a dog, when you can just have a kid and spend as much time caring for it's helpless ass...

 

[Invader Zim]

I already have 2 kids. Dogs are just better pets, plain and simple.

 

[Lil' Dice]

I already have 2 kids. Dogs are just better pets, plain and simple.

Some people like needy animals, personally, i don't have the time nor patience for them....

 

[miyuru]

Should have listened to your vet and put her down 2 years ago.

You could be enjoying a real pet, like a new dog by now. But now you just get to live with the guilt of causing her suffering.

Enjoy.

STFU jerk, you're not helping any.

***

Sorry to hear about your cat man :-\ I have two cats...and though they're relatively young (6-7 years-ish), I wonder what that day will be like for me, when the first one goes. They're so sweet, and one always finds me when I go to bed, and the other notices the car whenever I pull up and waits for me on the walkway.

Rough stuff man, I wish you the best with dealing with your cat. Try to be happy...

:-\

 

[Invader Zim]

That's why cats are known as the lazy persons pet. Why even bother if all you're going to do is feed it and leave it alone, and maybe pet it once and awhile when it rubs up against your leg?

 

[Mason]

Should have listened to your vet and put her down 2 years ago.

You could be enjoying a real pet, like a new dog by now. But now you just get to live with the guilt of causing her suffering.

Enjoy.

My family never would have gotten a pet if it weren't for my grandmother's death and her having nowhere to go. We are allergic to cats and especially to dogs but we put up with it because of what she meant to my grandmother.

 

[Guzim]

We had to put our cat down last year too, he had kidney failure. He was only 7. It was the saddest day of my life because he was my best friend.

I'm sorry about your cat

 

[Crazymoogle]

Have I heard of and personally seen worse? Definitely. But sympathies all the same. :-\

 

[Mason]

Have I heard of and personally seen worse? Definitely. But sympathies all the same. :-\

I'd be interested in hearing the story. That's kinda why I started the thread; to hear other people's stories.


BTW, I'm not INCREDIBLY upset over this or anything. I'm not a particularly emotional person, in fact, I'm probably a little too un-emotional. It's just sad and kind of has me in a downer mood.

 

[Flaming Duck]

The day before my birthday this year, my two or three year old cat died out of nowhere. She just had kittens three days before. I saw her the morning she died, and she seemed absolutely fine. She let me pet her for a while and then decided she wanted to go outside, so I let her out. A few hours later she came back in, went behind the couch, and... died. I don't know if she had a disease or something or if she choked or what. She was making a kind of hissing/meowing/weird sound kind of like she was trying to get something up, but she laying down as she was doing it. I watched her as she died

If I thought seeing her die was horrible, it was nothing compared to her two kittens... They were just days old and didn't have a momma. So we tried to take care of them. They lasted two weeks exactly, but I guess they got too could or something. They were real lethargic and could barely meow, and when they did, it was the most hearbreaking sound I have ever heard. It sucked. A lot. The worst part was I felt as if I had somehow failed her by letting her kittens die She was always a good mother to her kittens.

Death sucks.

 

[Lil' Dice]

That's why cats are known as the lazy persons pet. Why even bother if all you're going to do is feed it and leave it alone, and maybe pet it once and awhile when it rubs up against your leg?

I'm a working professional, and so is my gf. If we had a dog we wouldn't be able to work 50hr weeks, go on vacation at the drop of a dime, and leave town for the weekend.....Lazy?

 

[Claus]

I'm a working professional, and so is my gf. If we had a dog we wouldn't be able to work 50hr weeks, go on vacation at the drop of a dime, and leave town for the weekend.....Lazy?

Why keep a pet at all then?

 

[Ecrofirt]

Our cat died last night.

Pretty much the same senerio as yours, with the stopping of walking, and then barely moving. She ended up having a stroke or something later last night, and then she was catatonic and gastping for air and twitching for awhile.

It was very sad to watch.

 

[Pachinko]

I had a cat from about 1988 till 2002 , it was technically my uncles but over the years I looked after it quite a bit. I still miss that cat, I mean I was barely 6 years old and then it basically goes and dies when I was 19 and a half. Best damn cat in the world I tell you, really passive animal so long as you werent a dog or a vet.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I'd be interested in hearing the story. That's kinda why I started the thread; to hear other people's stories.
BTW, I'm not INCREDIBLY upset over this or anything. I'm not a particularly emotional person, in fact, I'm probably a little too un-emotional. It's just sad and kind of has me in a downer mood.

Well that's just the thing, a lot of people grow strong underlying emotional attachments to their pets. My current cat is a surly, disastrous, Bart Simpson sort of fellow, but if he runs out the door for a couple of days, it would be distracting if not upsetting.

When I was growing up in BC, we owned a couple of outdoor cats (this was a small town, lots of trees and brush), but through all of the years we dealt with probably 20-30 in total.

Our first cat was the smartest. For reasons I still can't decipher, the cat (originally owned by a friend) managed to travel between cities at least 50KM away to settle at our new place. Probably the only one I remember dying of old age - he just passed away in a sleeping pose at about 10+ years old.

The second cat was a siamese, not a pure bred but definitely not one you mistake for anything else. She was basically the family grandmother of them, but died on her own after being hit by a car. Pelvis fracture - died from internal bleeding a few hours later. I've had to deal with enough cat deaths from vehicle impact to almost be considered a form of veterinarian, but it's almost always instantaneous so there's not much to say.

The worst story was also the scariest - a second or third generation fellow managed to sneak into the garage and drink some anti-freeze. Unfortunately, anti-freeze seals the throat, so the cat basically ran wild (basically rabid), attacking anything for about 30 seconds before the oxygen ran out.

 

[MassiveAttack]

I'm a working professional, and so is my gf. If we had a dog we wouldn't be able to work 50hr weeks, go on vacation at the drop of a dime, and leave town for the weekend.....Lazy?

Virtually all Americans are "working professionals" - what the hell is your point?

 

[Socreges]

My cat died in January. I had her nearly my entire life. As far back as I could remember. One day we noticed that she wasn't eating as much and tried to find out what was going on. Our vet suggested that we put her to sleep because technically her kidneys were failing. My mom came in and told me this one morning. She said it was my decision. I held the cat in my arms and cried (not bawling, but tearing... you know, how men cry!). I thought about it for the next hour and struggled to make a decision. Eventually I decided that the cat was still happy and I couldn't justify putting her to sleep. Partly it was because I didn't want to lose her, but still... at that point she was a content cat and barely suffering. That night, I watched a movie while she slept on my chest. I'll always remember that. Because that one moment justified keeping her alive. The next few days were both great and difficult. She spent a lot of good times with us, but we could see her slowly deteriorating.

Then one day she suddenly hit a wall. I came home from school and saw her sleeping. I came back later on and she was still sleeping. I thought I should check up on her. Well, she could barely lift her head and her eyes were glazed. It was really unexpected. We immediately set an appointment to have her put down ASAP. Which was for the next afternoon. That night was really tough. I desparately that she'd go in her sleep, but that never happened.

Finally we got her to the vet. It was really difficult for us, knowing that we'd never see her alive again. But at the same time, as she drifted into unconsciousness, I couldn't help but notice how she seemed comfortable. The peace came before death, and that was big for me.

We're most likely going to have to put her to sleep tomorrow, something we probably should have done a long time ago.

To be honest, yes. Just please make sure that you put her down tomorrow. Put her to peace. Even if it means you're sadder because of it.

 

[Mason]

The worst story was also the scariest - a second or third generation fellow managed to sneak into the garage and drink some anti-freeze. Unfortunately, anti-freeze seals the throat, so the cat basically ran wild (basically rabid), attacking anything for about 30 seconds before the oxygen ran out.

Wow, that is really horrible.

 

[SKluck]

I usually get a new pet when my current one is on its last legs. So like 2-3 years before it dies. By the time the old pet dies I end up hating it because it is so slow, senile and smelly unlike my new puppy, and end up being happy when it finally dies.

I must be evil.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

I'm sorry man. Earlier this year my 7 year old persian, Boo, died from what seemed to be heart disease, or a stroke. He was my best friend, and was a big part of the family. I was a wreck for months. I still get depressed everytime I see his picture on my desk. I now have two little persian kittens running around that are awesome as hell though

 

[tenchir]

I usually get a new pet when my current one is on its last legs. So like 2-3 years before it dies. By the time the old pet dies I end up hating it because it is so slow, senile and smelly unlike my new puppy, and end up being happy when it finally dies.

I must be evil.

Yes, yes you are.

 

[AniHawk]

Our last dog, Megan, a German Shepheard mix was 10 when she died. We got her as a guard dog (and was pretty successful at it, managed to scare off a couple people more than once). We moved from Fontana to the city where we live now (still in SoCal), and she basically retired at the age of 8. We were able to take her on walks, and she spent most of the day inside the house, sleeping. At night, she'd still walk the backyard and be our nightguard.

Last September, I left to pick up my sister from school. She didn't get out until an hour later, and when I came back, Megan had gone into my parents room and lied down, breathing heavily. A minute after I got home, my parents got home. She wouldn't drink, wouldn't eat, didn't even react to the question, "do you want to go for a walk?" We ended up taking her down to an emergency pet hospital, and they X-rayed her, and found out she had a large heart. They told her we'd probably need to give her medicines and that they'd watch her overnight, and that she had had a heart attack. Later that night, my dad called back they said she was breathing much easier and we could pick her up the next morning.

The next day my dad called the place at 5:00 AM to ask if he could pick her up. They said she had another heart attack, and they couldn't revive her. Woke up that morning with a knock on the door and my mom explaining what happened, and my dad saying he already moved all her toys and items into the garage.

A couple weeks later we got the bill, and on it was the final hospital notes.

4:35 - collapsed

4:36 *some injections of some sort*

4:37 - unable to revive

Hit me hard. It was so sudden, and there was no sign of her being slowed down. She still got hyper for walks, running around the house for walks, managed to sneak out of the backyard, etc...

I knew it would happen eventually, but not for another three years at least, how healthy we thought she was.

 

[Escape Goat]

My basset hound died about 3 years ago. I'd lived with that dog about most of my childhood. I couldn't bring myself to go wth my mom to put her to sleep. Her kidney was failing and she needed to be put down. I miss her

 

[Rocket Punch]

I am in utter amazement at the lack of sympathy from some of you people, it's just ... disgusting.

Mason, I am very sorry about your pet. Whatever the circumstances, the death of a pet you love it never is easy. It helps to know you did everything you possibly could to make their lives as happy and pleasant as possible. Pets, unlike people, never judge you and are always there when you want a friend. They never ask you why, they ask for very little in fact and can bring great joy into your life. I truly believe that the way you treat your pets and the love you share with them is not wasted.

We had to put down my family pet, a toy sized poodle names Peggy when she was found to have liquid in her lungs. You could see she was in pain and it was hard for her to breathe. The vet told us they could make her better temporarily but we knew that if we chose to keep her alive we'd be doing it for us and not really for her, so we decided right then and there to let her go. Is was one of the saddest days for us as she truly was part of the family. She was 18 at the time and I think about her often. I remember when I was playing games I'd sit on the floor, she'd lie in between my legs and fall asleep belly up. It was so cute. She really was the best dog.

 

[ManDudeChild]

My cat Frisky died about 4 years ago. It was June 2nd 2000 that we found her dead, she was hit by a car and just left there. I'd had her since I was 9-years-old, and she was my best friend. I never had many (or any for some years) friends as a child, usually teased by others, so I took her death pretty hard. It wasn't until I got my two new cats a couple years later (named Rufus and Seabastin) that I stopped getting misty eyed about her death. I find its harder to lose a pet than a human friend.

I don't think a person really fully gets over the death of a loved one. I mean they get over it, but sometimes a smell, a sound a sight, and all the hurt and pain on the day they were lost comes back. It's a sad thing really

 

[Docpan]

Poor cat.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Sorry to hear that. I lost my cat, my best friend, this year. My cat had FIP, it was sad seeing him suffer, I lost it when the vet told me it was inhumane to take him home. Having to put him down with no one with me to console me was very hard.

 

[Spike]

Sorry to hear about your cat, mate. I had to put my 6-year old Beagle down in November because he had come down with Acute Pancreatitis. The day before I was playing with him, he seemed fine, but then the next morning I saw that he couldn't keep his food down, so I took him to the vet. The vet decided to keep him overnight to examine him, but his condition was getting worse instead of better. I went into the vet's office to see how he was the next day, and I could see his stomach had basically caved in, and I knew at that point that there was nothing that could be done. Pancreatitus is one of those diseases where the vets don't have any knowledge on how animals contract it. So there was nothing I could do.

I comletely broke down in the office when I saw the sudden change in the way he looked. I looked into his eyes and I could see he was in pain. The vet asked me to try taking him for a little walk in the back lot so he could do his business, and it was devastating to watch him walk a little, then stop and lie down, all the while his tummy breathing heavily. I was then told that he was on morphine and that all we could do is keep him on morphine, but that the vet was pretty sure there was nothing else that could be done. Then came another shock, the vet had just developed the xrays that he had taken before we got there. Febo also had cancer of the liver, his liver was 3x the regular size. I knew there was nothing else that we could do, so I signed to have him put down. As I was walking him to the room where he was to be euthanized, he saw my car and walked to the front door, wanting to go home. I couldn't get him to leave from the door, so I had to pull him to his death. I couldn't handle seeing his life slip away, so I left the room.

This haunts me every night. I still cry daily, because he was like a son to me. I miss him greatly, but I find that it helps a little if you look at pics of your pet. I enlarged two photos of Febo, one in the family room, one in my bedroom, and I also have him as my desktop wallpaper. It helps a bit because you'll tend to remember the funny stuff that your pet did.

 

[wandering goat]

My first pet was a dog that I had in Poland called Barri. He was a German Shepard that was a bit older than I was (we had him since I was born) and absolutely loved me. Every morning he'd run up to my room, open the door (it had one of those lever doorknobs) and jump into bed and wake me. When I was a baby, he might have saved my life several times. I had trouble breathing for my first few months and whenever I would choke and my parents were in a different room, he'd run to them and practically drag them there. He was as good a pet as I can possibly imagine.

I left Poland at the age of 5 and only saw him once afterwards at 7 when he was living at a relative's farm. Some years later he was poisoned when some burglars broke into the house and died.

I had two cats in Canada, one of which must have ran away when the door was open and I guess was picked up by someone (he had no collar) and the other one which we gave away about two years ago to a friend who lives in the country as my mom was quite allergic to it. While she was fine there for several months and I often saw her there, she eventually dissapeared to somewhere. Either someone picked her up like they must have with my first cat or she died.

 

[suikodan]

I'm one of those who thinks that a cat or a dog is more than a living toy.

I had (well, my parents) a Shi-tzu dog since I was 13. She had quite a temper but we followed a training course and that dog became a very docile dog. We had a lot of fun with her, you could walk on the street with no lease and she would follow right by the foot.

It was funny, we walked with her then we stopped and stood still while she continued to walk. We would say "Hummm hummm" (Clear the throat) and then she would notice and be back by the foot the next instant.

And since I was a bit of a lonely kid, I was often alone with the dog and she was the only thing I could talk to. Of course, I changed but it was appreciated that she was there on those moments.

Then my parents moved and I went into an appartment. Cool thing, my parents were 5 mins away from my place and were always out, so I would pick up the dog and bring her home with my gf and her two cats. My gf instantly fell in love with the dog.

Then came novembre 2003, she was already 12 and got a illness which would increase the size of her stomach while decreasing the size of her legs. Then she got an infection in the right eye which caused her (hard thing inside the eye) to come out. She was suffering because she was always barking. My parents were away and when they came back, they took the decision to put her down.

We went on our way to the vet and we were (my parents, me and my gf) crying like babies. When we arrived there, it was so obvious why we came that another woman with a baby dog started crying too because she went thru that not long ago. The vet injected something into the dog and she went away. We brought back the body and buried it in the backyard. It was out of question for me to throw the body away or have it burnt with a bunch of other animals.

My parents felt so alone after that moment that they decided to get a new dog. What's funny is that this dog is huge compared to the toy-sized dog we had. At first we wanted a different name for the dog (that wouldn't end with i or y) because that would remind us too much of the other dog but my mother thought it would be ok, that we shouldn't be ashamed of calling by accident the current dog with the dead dog's name.

So Mason, it's really normal that you feel bad about the cat that's about to die. My thought was that it would be useless though to mourn too much about one's death while you could give love to another animal in the same time. It took two months for my parents to get the other dog because they were feeling lonely in their big house, so they bought the other dog and while we still want to remember the old dog, we also want to enjoy what the new one will give us.