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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Fjolnirsson on July 18, 2005, 10:16:57 PM

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Fjolnirsson on July 18, 2005, 10:16:57 PM

My cat died tonight. Just about ten minutes ago. We'd noticed he hadn't been around much the last couple of days, but he was always a loner, and several days without sight of him wasn't unusual. He was an odd cat, and would find a new hiding place under a piece of furniture and disappear for days at a time, coming out to eat and poop while we slept. I saw him yesterday, and he was running and playing with the other cats. This evening, my wife heard him throwing up, and she asked me to come downstairs because she thought he might be dying. He had a baseball sized lump where his intestines should be, and was weak to the point of being unable to walk. He wouldn't (or couldn't) drink water. Within hours, he was gone. We considered a vet visit, but it really isn't financially feasable right now, and I've always hated it when people stretch their pets lives into agony. We knew he was going. I'm glad he got to die at home with his people, rather than some strange kennel. He didn't seem as though he was hurting, he just stopped breathing. He was only 6. Sucks.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: RevDisk on July 18, 2005, 10:21:37 PM

My deepest sympathies. Sad

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Schuey2002 on July 18, 2005, 10:46:38 PM

Sorry to hear about the loss of your cat, Fjolnirsson. Sad

Title: My cat died.
Post by: BillBlank on July 18, 2005, 11:26:29 PM

Aah man, always sad to hear. My sympathies.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Guest on July 18, 2005, 11:57:46 PM

I'm sorry. Sad

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Sindawe on July 18, 2005, 11:59:57 PM

My sympathies on the death of your cat, loosing a pet is never easy. However...

Quote

We considered a vet visit, but it really isn't financially feasable right now,...

If seeing a vet when a pet is in distress is not a viable option due to $$$, then you really should not have pets at this point in your lives. Not saying this to be cruel, but when we take these creature into our care, we are responsable for them for their entire lives, good or bad.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: kayak bum on July 19, 2005, 12:24:36 AM

Sorry.....

Title: My cat died.
Post by: mfree on July 19, 2005, 03:45:36 AM

"If seeing a vet when a pet is in distress is not a viable option due to $$$, then you really should not have pets at this point in your lives. Not saying this to be cruel, but when we take these creature into our care, we are responsable for them for their entire lives, good or bad."

Responsible sentiment with piss-poor timing. people do *become* downtrodden, you know, and you just don't dump kitty somewhere when you suddenly can't chance to drop a thou or so anymore on surgery.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: BryanP on July 19, 2005, 03:59:10 AM

Sorry to hear about your loss. As you say, at least he died at home and not long after he was romping and playing with his buddies.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: BobCat on July 19, 2005, 04:43:44 AM

Fjolnirsson,

Please accept my condolences. It is never easy - but at least he did not suffer a long decline. He sounds like a great cat - one with dignity and willfulness. Chose his own time and place. May his memory be a blessing.

I won't post the Rianbow Bridge poem here, but you might check out http://www.petloss.com - or find it on the web somewhere. Time helps. Hang in there.

Regards,
Andrew

PS my two "lap cats" - Captain Midnight and RedFang O'Feral - died within two months of each other, earlier this year. Time does help.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: grampster on July 19, 2005, 04:54:58 AM

Fjol,
sorry to hear about your loss, friend. Keep your eyes peeled. I have a feeling another little critter that needs you will happen by your place soon.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: K Frame on July 19, 2005, 05:12:02 AM

Very sorry to hear that. I know what it's like to lose a beloved companion animal, both cats and dogs.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Fjolnirsson on July 19, 2005, 07:36:06 AM

Quote

I thought about my post as I lay in bed last night, and figured somebody'd say this. I misspoke myself a bit. It wasn't so much the visit that was unfeasable, as the thousands of dollars in treatments vets like to recommend for anything from hangnails to itchy coats.
The vet visit was a brief idea, quickly discarded. We knew he was dying.
Thank you everyone, for your kind words.
Still strange to think he's gone.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: InfidelSerf on July 19, 2005, 07:49:50 AM

Quote

I completely disagree.. since when is outrageously high and often unnecessary veterinary care a responsibility?
We are responsible for feeding them and ensuring they have a healthy environment.
I have had pets all my life and would NEVER spend thousands to keep a pet alive. They are animals. call me cruel if you want..
but I would sooner put a great pet to sleep myself than prolong their pain and make them suffer by taking them to a vet. Where they are going to feel forgotten and lonely.
All the little guy wants is to live and die in your arms. Taking him/her to a strange place and leaving them there until they are well or they die would be worse than holding them and giving them love until nature took its course.

My brother would probably disagree since he sold a car he loved to me in order to put their dog through a $2000 surgery. Granted his wife probably had more to do with that decision than him. But if it were me.. I would have put the poor guy out of his misery and remembered him with pictures and stories. I would not subject them to a surgery that he could easily die from in the first place. Only then he would die away from his greatest love... their owner.

I guess that statement makes me think if you couldn't afford the unforeseeable then you shouldn't have children either?
Obviously a human life IS vastly different from an animal and I would pay whatever it took to care for a loved one. But animals are just that.. animals. Their value is lower than that of a human.
Call me a cruel bastard.. but that's just my view.

With that said I agree with your decision Fjolnirsson and feel your loss. I am a cat lover with 4 of them in the house.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: garyk/nm on July 19, 2005, 07:59:13 AM

Fjolnirrson;
Sincere condolences from my family to yours. We have 6 of the furry little buggers and I would be heartbroken should anything happen to any of them.

For those who recall, Samantha survived her abandonment and is doing fine, although she is semi-blind due to cataracts. Funny to watch her chase things that aren't there.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Brrlgrrl on July 19, 2005, 08:02:08 AM

I offer my condolences, very sorry to hear about your loss.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Sindawe on July 19, 2005, 08:29:01 AM

Quote

I completely disagree.. since when is outrageously high and often unnecessary veterinary care a responsibility?

The responsibility come when one accepts an animal into their lives as a pet. The responsibility cover the basic health care (checkups, vaccines if called for, etc) AND finding out whats going one when the animal is ill or failing. If the cost of curative treatment is too high, then maybe all that can be done is ensure that animal does not suffer needlessly. Perhaps that calls for euthanasia on the spot, perhaps just a regime of pain killers until the time comes. The huge expense in critical and chronic care is something not everyone can afford or justify, which is something I understand. What I can not comprehend is not even finding out whats going on. (granted, there may be more back story with the cat than was presented here)

Quote

He had a baseball sized lump where his intestines should be, and was weak to the point of being unable to walk.

THIS is the part that bothers me. Cats do not normally have baseball sized lumps in their abdomens. This could have been anything from a tumor, a blocked intestine (both of which can be expensive to treat) or something as "simple" as a blocked urethra and a bladder full of urine, leading to renal failure and death as the toxins accumulate in the body. That can be as easy to treat as catherizing the cat and a change of diet, to full blown "sex change" surgery at many thousand of dollars in cost. Until the cause of ailment is known, it kinda hard (in my eyes) to make a determination regarding the proper course of action.

Quote

I guess that statement makes me think if you couldn't afford the unforeseeable then you shouldn't have children either?

I have no desire for any, no plans for it, and have taken the surgical steps to ensure that it NEVER happens.

Quote

Obviously a human life IS vastly different from an animal and I would pay whatever it took to care for a loved one. But animals are just that.. animals. Their value is lower than that of a human.

That is a value judgment, and frankly, not one I concur with. But that is another topic.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: BobCat on July 19, 2005, 08:40:00 AM

Since I am not a Vet, my opinion on this may be worthless - but having just lost a cat (April 4) to intestinal lymphoma, it sounds like Fjolnirsson's cat might have had such a tumor. Can be fast-growing, often do not respond to chemo, and might not respond to surgery (if they can take the tumor, ok - but if the tumor is in the lymph node, it is sometimes not operable).

Sometimes you go to the mat to get them the best treatment possible. Sometimes you don't - cant afford it, or don't want to put them through it (since they often do not understand what is going on - sometimes they do). And sometimes, there simply is no treatment option - all you can do is make them comfortable for as long as they are not suffering, and then send them on ahead when their burden is too much to bear. People have asked me how to know when it is time. You know - it is in their eyes. I think Fjolnirsson saw it - and did the right thing.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Unisaw on July 19, 2005, 09:01:43 AM

My condolences. We lost a Bernese Mountain Dog two years ago and still miss him dearly, but time does help.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Robert Sears on July 19, 2005, 09:32:02 AM

My condolences. Losing a pet is never easy.

Bob

Title: My cat died.
Post by: duck hunt on July 19, 2005, 09:35:10 AM

I am so, so sorry for your loss.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Sylvilagus Aquaticus on July 19, 2005, 10:33:54 AM

I'm sorry for your loss. I have...uh...lessee...a bunch of cats myself. I understand.

Lo, there I see my catnip...lo, there I see my rubber squeaky mouse, and my ball of yarn, and my crinkly foil and all that have come before...

I'd gladly share one of mine if it is of any help.

Regards,
Rabbit.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: roo_ster on July 19, 2005, 10:55:08 AM

Sorry 'bout your bud.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Fjolnirsson on July 19, 2005, 11:49:48 AM

Quote

Lo, there I see my catnip...lo, there I see my rubber squeaky mouse, and my ball of yarn, and my crinkly foil and all that have come before...

LMAO! Thanks, I needed that.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: grampster on July 19, 2005, 05:30:04 PM

Swmbo and I spent $700.00 on Tubby a few months ago. I posted his pic on THR Roundtable cat thread awhile back. He looked like his name, but one day he seemed to be not so tubby.
We began to notice he was not eating nor was he pooping. We have another cat,Gizmo, so it was not evident for awhile. Started taking him to the vet, jumped through hoops, cha ching. Xrays, medicine, special food, etc, back and forth, cha ching cha ching. He was not getting better, actually worse. Staggering around, hiding under the bed etc.
Finally, on a Saturday we were going to pick him up once again and I had determined to tell the Vet to put Tubby down when I got to the office. I was going to tell swmbo that he had died while we were enroute to the vet so she would not feel like we had done the deed. When I got there, the vet told me that she gave him an enema and he had pooped as a result, and that it was hard, and he had a hard time, but that he seemed to have been bound up, but he was also interested in food. I changed my mind on the needle and we took him home, and he went again. It was hard and black and I found 1/2 shell from a pistachio nut. Come to find out, 3 weeks or so back, one of the g'kids had dropped the shell and Tubby had ate it and it lodged in his gut and he was blocked up as a result.

I don't know why I'm talking about this other than the fact that sometimes you do what you can, if you can. Sometimes you gotta make the hard decisions. I did not particularly care to spend the money, but I could, so I did. If I did not have the resources, I may have had to make a hard decision. I guess I needed to verbalize my wonder about why the vet didn't give him an enema right off the bat and save me $600.00?
Fjorn, you were confronted with a large growth and sick behavior and you did what you thought was right. I empathize with you. If you did not have an emotional reaction and attachment, you would have never posted the account. I am sorry for your loss.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Fjolnirsson on July 19, 2005, 05:54:55 PM

Thanks, grampster.
Yeah, the strange thing was how fast it happened. He was fine the day before, playing and running like a kitten, nothing to make us think illness. Didn't see him all day yesterday. Still normal for him. By the time we knew something was wrong, it was evening, and as I said, we could see he was going to die. He didn't seem to be in any pain. Buried him this morning, under the flower bed.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: P95Carry on July 19, 2005, 06:02:29 PM

Sorry to hear this Fjol' - our cat died last August IIRC - a slow ''fading away" which we feel was down to someone poisoning him. I t was sad to see.

Thx (I think) to my step daughter we have two youngish ones now - PITA some of time, plus obstacles to trip over but - characters nonetheless.

Six is no age at all - ours last year had barely made four!!

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Larry Ashcraft on July 19, 2005, 06:17:35 PM

Fjolnirsson,

Sorry for your loss. The last time I got attached to a cat (black, my favorite), she got run over by a car. I had a hard time with it.

Since we moved to the farm, I try to regard my cats as "disposable". The coyotes and owls do take a toll. However, my buddy "Clyde", a black, half Siamese tomcat has been with us about 6 years now, despite a run-in with an owl a couple years ago (5" gash down his back, vet fixed him up good as new).

Clyde is begging for loving right now as we speak. I'm not so sure I can regard Clyde as disposable.

Sorry for rambling, I know how you feel.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: XLMiguel on July 20, 2005, 11:44:03 AM

Sorry for your loss. I hope he/she didn't suffer badly. We lost one of ours a while back to some sort of bowel obstruction. We paid $400 for a CAT scan (no pun intended) to find it was inoperable and out he had to be put down, it was very tough, but we didn't want to make a decision like that on a guess, and he was miserable, wasting away. It was the right thing to do, but still very hard. You do what you can, and sometimes it's a blessing when they pass quickly.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Lennyjoe on July 20, 2005, 12:28:53 PM

Sorry to hear of your loss. Cats are cool. I have 3 of them and all have different personalities. The oldest (10 yrs) is the king of the house.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: vernal45 on July 20, 2005, 01:18:16 PM

Sorry to hear about that. Know how you feel. We had to put down our maltese last week, we rescued her from a puppy farm about 7 years ago. Old age. We decided to put her down instead of letting her just go to hell in front of us. I dont cry much, but cried over this.

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Moondoggie on July 20, 2005, 04:32:13 PM

Very sorry for your loss. We have 5 cats, all foundlings plus one Lhasa Apso. We have had many cats over the years....the loss of some gets to you more than others, but they all matter.

We had to put a beloved dog to sleep in March...I still haven't gotten over it; don't know that I ever will.

Individual responsibility towards your pets and financial considerations is an individual matter. As long as you provided a good home and did your best under difficult circumstances (and I'm sure you did) that's good enough for me.

You definitely qualify as an animal lover in good standing!

Title: My cat died.
Post by: Gewehr98 on July 20, 2005, 05:26:47 PM

My sympathies.

We lost our Maine Coon Cat, "Gizmo" aka "Gizimodo" from Feline Infectious Peritonitis, at age 11 months just over 2 years ago. We still miss him, and his absolutely fearless disposition. Best retriever and guard dog I ever had, although he looked a little funny...

Armed Polite Society

Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Fjolnirsson on July 18, 2005, 10:16:57 PM