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.
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.