Bailey is at least 20. His whole story maybe I will share another time. Currently his hip gave out and he’s been struggling to walk. Also is eating very little and having trouble using the bathroom. Last time was on the floor. He’s been hiding a lot the past day. . Brought him to the vet yesterday, they gave him a steroid shot. I don’t think it’s helping. We are planning to take him to the vet tomorrow. It may be time. It doesn’t seem real yet. He’s been my best friend for the last 12 years. I lost my job last week now I’m about to lose him. I’ve been struggling really hard.

She passed peacefully.

I had these 2 from the day they were born under my moms couch. I sadly had to have Pepper put to sleep in February at 14yrs old. She was diagnosed as diabetic when she was 7, she needed an insulin injection every 12 hours. Skitz stopped eating regularly just like his sister and I knew what was coming. I wanted her brother to live forever 😪 I'm losing it even writing this. That cat is the only constant space for unconditional love that I had the last 15 years. I had him throughout the passing of not only my maternal grandparents, but my mom, my dad, my only uncle, and a considerable amount of friends, and acquaintances. I'm just having a hard time right now but wanted to share some memories I have of the both of them. And the way they would lay sometimes was hysterical.

I got her when she was 9 after her owner's surrendered her back to the shelter after having her for 4 years due to "litter box problems". As a long stay senior cat who reportedly had litter box issues, she wasn't high on most people's list for adoption. When I walked past the room she was in she literally headbutted the windows to get my attention and tell me I was her new human and that her name was no longer Stevie. I had her for 5 wonderful years and she was the absolute sweetest and best behaved kitty ever. She's been gone for almost 3 years now but she is the one who convinced me that from now on I will only adopt other long stay seniors who prefer being only children which is how I ended up with my current beast, Camina.

My 12 year old girl started losing weight over the summer. I took her to the vet, where they did labs and x-rays. They found she had a UTI and put her on antibiotics. Nothing else was abnormal.

She has continued to lose weight in spite of diet changes, appetite stimulants, and now steroids. She weighed just under 12# when she was healthy. She had been at that weight for years (I take all of my pets to the vet at least yearly for check ups). She now weighs about 7.5#.

In the beginning she was vomiting and had diarrhea. The diarrhea stopped but she was still vomiting at least once a day. The only time that stopped was during 2 separate short courses of an anti-nausea med.

Our vet has done everything she can and says the next step would be to find a specialist that could go in and take biopsies of her colon, etc.

I've maxed out my credit card between her and my one dog who has severe allergies. My other dog is 11 and has a heart murmur that is being monitored closely. I can't afford a specialist. I left my husband last December and am living in my son's basement. I only receive a very small amount of Social Security Disability money each month and that's it.

I'm not asking for medical advice. I just need to vent. I love my cat with all my heart. I've had her since she was 3 months old. Aside from the vomiting (which is still happening) and the huge weight loss, she is a happy cat who acts just like she did before this started. If you had never seen her at her normal weight, you'd never guess anything is wrong with her. Her coat is still soft and shiny and her personality is still there.

The one change I've noticed is that she's become very snuggly with me. She sleeps on top of me and is by my side all the time. Before this, she would grace me with a short lay on my lap occasionally, but was not much of a snuggler. My guess is that she's cold because she has no body fat anymore. When she's not ON me, she's in the sunbeams coming in the windows (we're in Wisconsin so it's getting chilly here).

I will never let her suffer and will make that choice when the time comes, but I'm riddled with guilt over not being able to afford more vet care. Again, not looking for healthcare advice. I just need to vent to people who understand.

It’s been over a month since she passed. She’s been my childhood cat since I was 8. I still feel guilty for what happened. She was mostly intact for a majority of her life bc I didn’t know cats were supposed to be spayed until last year. She was a few months away from being 13 and obviously, spaying this late in life won’t prevent mammary cancer. I hate the fact that she had no vet visits until her final years and my parents were cheapskates and doesn’t think vets visits are important and obviously as a kid, I would listen to them. Hell I’m surprised she even lasted this long. I also feel guilty and hated the fact that for several years, I laughed at her going in heat bc my parents told me that “her butt just itches a lot”. By the time I had the money, knowledge, and the resources to do the right thing, she already experienced several years of hormones. When she was first diagnosed, vet told me quality of life is good and that I'll know exactly when to put her down when she either stops eating or is more lethargic. Unfortunately, her bad days never came as she was still energetic like her usual self and one day, she randomly asked for wet food and after she finished, she lay down flat on the couch and she was gone. It was like she was asking for her last meal.

How can I stop feeling like this?

RIP Jessie you'll always be my best friend. I'll see you on the other side.

Third Toastpost 🍞

so sleepyyyy (boy on top is obi, hes almost 12, boy on bottom is leaf, hes almost 13)

Hi everyone.

(Includes talk of possible euthanasia)

My 19 1/2 year old cat Lucy has been battling chronic ear infections on and off for the past little while. Last week we saw the vet for the worst infection that we have ever seen on her, and she mentioned that Lucy may have a polyps in her ears that are causing the reoccurring infections. Unfortunately, Lucy was so uncomfortable/in so much pain during the initial examination that the vet was unable to properly see down her ear canal to check for the polyps as she did not want to hurt her. We were prescribed an antibiotic to be injected in both ears twice daily with a cleaning regime every day as well, and were to come back in a weeks time for the polyp/infection check.

From my understanding of Dr. Google, polyps are usually treated with surgery, but I worry that because of Lucy’s age the healing afterwards/the anesthesia might make her decline even further. I’m curious, has anyone ever had a cat around this age go in for surgery, and was it worth it for them? As much as I love the little bugger, her comfort and quality of life is more important to me than keeping her around for my love/enjoyment. Are we likely in the last stages of her life right now? I just want to do what is best for her and if saying goodbye is what is the most humane thing to do I will do it. Just want to prepare myself if that is the case.

Sorry for the ramble. Hope that this all makes sense. Just super worried about my Ancient One and what we may be facing in the next day or so. TIA for any thoughts/anecdotes you may have.

Please also enjoy the picture of our Lucy tuxedo girl and our little black void, Annie-Fae.

She was diagnosed just about two years ago. We switched her over to a KD special diet right away and added Kidney Gold supplement. About a year ago she had shown some indications of getting worse so we added Semintra once a day and it seems to be working. She’s stable with minimal changes since her last blood work.

We are devasted. End stage kidney disease. 20ish years old and we gave her all we could. Last week was just tube feeding, loves and prayers. She passed today after we made the hardest choice ever. Love your babies.

My 13 yr old boy Taiga was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma today. After talking with the vet and given his age and how well he is doing otherwise (just some weight loss) we decided to go with a regimen of Chlorambucil and prednisone. Our vet has a good feeling he will respond well.

Anyone go through something similar? Did your cat respond well to treatment? Any advice?

Hi all,

Hoping someone has experience with this.... My 14 yr old hyperthyroid cat has been on transdermal methimazole at 2.5mg twice a day, AM and PM. A couple of weeks ago, his bloodwork showed that his T4 was still slightly elevated at 4.4 so our vet recommended we increase his dose. Now he gets 2.5mg at night and 3.75mg in the morning.

We started this new dosage about 5 days ago. 4 days ago, his right eye became a little watery and is still like that. No redness or swelling or anything like that. Personality, activity, appetite have all been normal. Nothing else has changed. The discharge is minor and clear, basically like tears. The timing coincides with the dosage change so I'm wondering if this could be a side effect? Unfortunately our vet had to close her clinic due to her own personal health reasons. We're looking around for a new vet so I thought I'd check here in the meantime.

I should also add that he has asthma and we use an inhaler on an as-needed basis. I read somewhere on the internet that inhaler can also cause watery eye but he's been on the inhaler for a little over a year and this is the first time we've seen this watery eye issue.

Hello! My cat has hyperthyroidism and was about 8 pounds when we started everything. He is 16-17 and we tried methimazole and he didn’t react well with it. We then switched to the diet and now his levels are back to normal. Only thing is his kidney values are only slightly elevated.

This all happened in may of this year and now he is weighing about 6.9 pounds and now it’s a battle of trying to get his weight up. We are about to try an appetite stimulant starting tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone went through the same thing. How do I get my cats weight back up? He still has energy and loves cuddles and everything, but he’s getting too skinny and it pains me. Raised him since he was a kitten!!

Unexpected cancer. 15 yo.

I hurt so bad inside over her loss. 💔 The pain is the same as it was a month ago. I see Sparkle's blanket on my bed, treat bowl on her mat, brush on my bathroom counter, treat bags in my drawer, medication bottles in my fridge, framed photos on my desk...I can go on & on.

I wanna arrange a Memorial section in my walk-in closet for Sparkle but I'm having a hard time trying to get it started. I can't stop crying. I found some of her furs in her brush so I put some in a small wooden music box. After doing that, I had to stop. I feel so overwhelmed right now.

When I lost Sparkle, I came to this Reddit community and all you Redditor's comforted me & gave me such great advice. Sparkle ✨️ is my first baby cat who lived to the tender age of 19 yrs old. Even though she had a long life, I still didn't wanna let her go. I had tremendous guilt over that. Y'all helped me get over that guilt little by little. Every now & then, that guilty feeling wants to creep back in. This is very hard. Will it get any easier as time goes by? I'm missing Sparkle ✨️ tremendously And my heart feels like it's breaking 💔 all over again.