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Martha Anne...so sorry to hear about your kitty! When one of ours stopped eating I picked up some KMR (Kitten formula) for him. It got to a point where he wouldn't even get up to eat so I had to use a syringe to feed him several times a day/night. Although this was for a young cat that had just come down with a bug of some sorts I think it's worth a try for you and your kitty. This way your cat won't become dehydrated either (if he isn't drinking as much water now too). The other idea that another poster had about using baby food might be good too. When we had a sick dog dying from liver disease we gave her baby food when she refused everything else.
Prayers for you and your family during this difficult time!
Martha Anne...so sorry to hear about your kitty! When one of ours stopped eating I picked up some KMR (Kitten formula) for him. It got to a point where he wouldn't even get up to eat so I had to use a syringe to feed him several times a day/night. Although this was for a young cat that had just come down with a bug of some sorts I think it's worth a try for you and your kitty. This way your cat won't become dehydrated either (if he isn't drinking as much water now too). The other idea that another poster had about using baby food might be good too. When we had a sick dog dying from liver disease we gave her baby food when she refused everything else.
Prayers for you and your family during this difficult time!
Hello Raleigh Mom,
We are experienced with giving subcutaneous fluids to cats and so our vet asked us to do so with this 14 and 4 months old beloved dying cat, and we are giving 100 cc every other day. Our first one at home was yesterday and he also got one at the vet's office a few days before that. So, we are able to help him remain hydrated.
I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I really don't wish to force fluids on him. He is dying anyway and I want it all to go without struggle. I do hand feed him all kinds of cat food as well as freshly cooked chicken and raw meat, but he can only tolerate about 1/2 oz per feeding and only eats maybe 4 or 5 times a day.
We purchased Gerber at the drug store (being in a hurry, cannot make it to the supermarket right at the moment and they only had chicken and gravy and he refused it, but then he accepted my old Friskie's Turkey and Giblets (yes, a lower grade food but he wants it so I will give him whatever he can take).
I so appreciate your prayers. It's hard - for all of us when this transition is taking place. We keep in touch with our vets on a daily basis.
Reading this helps me with the miserable decision I have made to take my girl to the vet's today. She is 12 and a half years old,has spiral cell carcinoma tumors on her back and has slowly stopped eating. First, she just stopped eating cat food but would eat tuna. Then she stopped eating tuna but would eat cat treats. Now she has stopped eating treats too. She is grooming herself, drinking water and still interested in jumping up on a chair (how I do not know) and watching birds and squirrels. However, I know she has lost weight and I have been syringe feeding her. I decided last night that today will be the miserable day I send her on--hopefully from my hands to God's. If anyone thinks I am jumping the gun, please let me know.
Reading this helps me with the miserable decision I have made to take my girl to the vet's today. She is 12 and a half years old,has spiral cell carcinoma tumors on her back and has slowly stopped eating. First, she just stopped eating cat food but would eat tuna. Then she stopped eating tuna but would eat cat treats. Now she has stopped eating treats too. She is grooming herself, drinking water and still interested in jumping up on a chair (how I do not know) and watching birds and squirrels. However, I know she has lost weight and I have been syringe feeding her. I decided last night that today will be the miserable day I send her on--hopefully from my hands to God's. If anyone thinks I am jumping the gun, please let me know.
I am so very sorry. No, I don't think you are jumping the gun. If she is not even wanting treats anymore, she is telling you something. *A big hug to you*
OP, I am guessing you have tried Fancy Feast? Or perhaps Hills A/D?
Reading this helps me with the miserable decision I have made to take my girl to the vet's today. She is 12 and a half years old,has spiral cell carcinoma tumors on her back and has slowly stopped eating. First, she just stopped eating cat food but would eat tuna. Then she stopped eating tuna but would eat cat treats. Now she has stopped eating treats too. She is grooming herself, drinking water and still interested in jumping up on a chair (how I do not know) and watching birds and squirrels. However, I know she has lost weight and I have been syringe feeding her. I decided last night that today will be the miserable day I send her on--hopefully from my hands to God's. If anyone thinks I am jumping the gun, please let me know.
This is a tough call. I did a little syringe feeding, and that is not fun. Basically, when you're already doing that, some might make the argument that you have already reached a quality of life point that would make euthanasia the right option. And yet, it would be hard for me personally to make that decision with your description that she grooms, drinks, jumps on a chair and watches the birds and squirrels. Probably the cancer or something else has affected her mouth or digestive system in such a way that eating does not feel good.
I really don't want to belabor your decision, which I'm sure comes after lots of deliberation. You might consider those things though, and how well she is taking the syringe feeding. Is the syringe feeding an ordeal that she fights the whole time? This is what happened with my cat, and what ultimately happened is she took the hard decision away from us by dying on her own more quickly than I expected from some heart-related complication. (She did not have cancer, had kidney disease and congestive heart failure.) To me your description puts your cat in a better light than I remember our Amber's last days. Amber was not really interested in looking outside anymore at the birds and chipmunks, and she had started to show real signs of feeling poorly most of the time. We would have been up against this decision very soon had she not passed on her own.
There's quite probably no right or wrong answer to whether you are jumping the gun. You have confirmed she has cancer. Sooner or later she will likely reach a point where her quality of life declines more than it already has. Whether you wish to reach that point first or make this call before she reaches that point is really a personal decision more than it is a definitive specific point of too soon or too late.
Whatever you decide now, I wish you well. It's a tough thing to go through.
I have tried canned kitten food, some sort of nourishment paste that neither she nor my healthy cat will eat, canned tuna, hard and dry cat food, some food from the vet called C/D that states it is for cats "in crisis" and every treat that I could find.
I have made the decision to euthanize animals before but their situations were very different. One was a 7 year old cat who had had a thrombosis and one was a 19 year old dog who had several ailments.
This cat has been a puzzle because despite eating practically zero, she still shows some interest in playing. I guess I am looking for reassurance that there is not something else I should have done. Maybe gotten a second opinion?
This is always such a hard decision, but when she's refusing any food, I would think she is ready to go. It is sad, difficult work nursing a pet through their last days, but it sounds like you have made them as good as you could for her. I'm so very sorry.
Thank you Rene S, Greg 42 and subject2change for your kind and thoughtful replies. If you are prayerful people, perhaps you will say one for me tonight. Our appt. is in a few hours.
I have tried canned kitten food, some sort of nourishment paste that neither she nor my healthy cat will eat, canned tuna, hard and dry cat food, some food from the vet called C/D that states it is for cats "in crisis" and every treat that I could find.
I have made the decision to euthanize animals before but their situations were very different. One was a 7 year old cat who had had a thrombosis and one was a 19 year old dog who had several ailments.
This cat has been a puzzle because despite eating practically zero, she still shows some interest in playing. I guess I am looking for reassurance that there is not something else I should have done. Maybe gotten a second opinion?
If she won't eat, it's time to let her go. She can probably sense some of her body functions shutting down, and knows she's near the end of her life. She loves you, so she finds the energy to do normal kitty things like playing, but if she's stopped eating, she'll just waste away until you decide it's time.
My mom had a cat with cancer. They'd had surgery done on the cat twice to remove the cancer, and it kept coming back. My mom loved that cat so much she couldn't let her go, and by the time the kitty died, she was down to about three pounds.
I think you're doing the right thing, and I'll be thinking of you and your cat this afternoon.
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