📸 Photography Official post your pet thread

Spivitz

The Throttle is ur friend
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Jon01

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SpeedSpeak2me SpeedSpeak2me that really sucks man.
Don't blame yourself, without your caring and actions her life would have been much shorter and more painful.

We just had to put our cat of ~16 years, Boo down on Thursday.
He just plain got old, eventually his body was no longer able to produce enough red blood cells to replace natural attrition. He got to the point he just wasn't enjoying life and pretty much became a hermit in the basement. We were able to sustain him for a while with Prednisone but it was just a temporary fix.
RIP Toad, you were a very cool cat.

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SpeedSpeak2me

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My intuition has been pretty good for Maia’s care, making calls that the vet didn’t agree with, but I was right and it was proven.

The latest lab results 100% indicate renal failure, as does some of her symptoms. She’s been this bad before and managed to pull through it. So my intuition keeps telling me it’s the wrong call.

When the vet arrives tomorrow they will do a full exam. If there is any indication we do not need to proceed then we won’t. Right now she’s having labored breathing but that is also the #1 side affect of her latest medicine. We stopped the medicine but need 72 hours to see if it helps.

So do I delay what might be the inevitable, or go through with it having the possibility her life can continue without sacrificing quality of life? That is some guilt that will be difficult to live with.

It’s an incredibly hard decision. She’s been my companion pretty much every day since January 2019.
 

SpeedSpeak2me

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I'm an eternal optimist, I say delay and see what happens. If you're right then excellent, if you're not then what have you lost in taking that course?
Just her suffering, which we really don’t want. She’s not eating the last two days. Her body can only take so much before the organs will start shutting down, which would be bad, and her symptoms will worsen.

I’m not sure it would be a hard if we didn’t have her brother, as he reminds us of her.
 
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Jon01

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We were at a similar point with our dog Bear, he had spent almost a week at the ISU vet med hospital with some kind of GI thing going on. To the point they literally had his intestines in their hands trying to find a blockage or source of inflammation.
Post op they found him to be septic so we had to make a call, open him back up and try to find the source, hit him with some antibiotics or just stop and let him go. We chose to try the antibiotics and it worked, and we had 4 more years with him.

I guess my stance is, you don't want to look back and say you didn't give up on them until they gave up. They know when they've had enough and are done and they will let you know.
 
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SpeedSpeak2me

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We were at a similar point with our dog Bear, he had spent almost a week at the ISU vet med hospital with some kind of GI thing going on. To the point they literally had his intestines in their hands trying to find a blockage or source of inflammation.
Post op they found him to be septic so we had to make a call, open him back up and try to find the source, hit him with some antibiotics or just stop and let him go. We chose to try the antibiotics and it worked, and we had 4 more years with him.

I guess my stance is, you don't want to look back and say you didn't give up on them until they gave up. They know when they've had enough and are done and they will let you know.
She’s been on antibiotics since December 2020. It’s the latest one that seems to be doing her in. We’re doing two concurrent to help with the CKD. Short of dialysis or kidney transplant I think we’re out of options.

We have her brother who is a match as a donor, but financially we can’t support it.
 

Thirdgen89GTA

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I debated for well over a year with Tiger, my first cat. Since the first scare with a urinary tract infection where he started peeing blood and I then spent 3 days in intensive care. Same thing, Kidney failure. Tried the KD foods, tried subcutaneous fluids, etc. Eventually, his arthritis is what got him, he just couldn't walk anymore. he still wanted cuddles, he still wanted to sleep right next to me. But in the end, I didn't cry much when it was time, I had watched him decline and the lack of difference anything we tried made.

Nikki I tried, but it was a very sudden change, it was basically 3 weeks from her stopping eating, and the daily battles to get enough food in her, to her stopping completely thats when it was time.

Maia is getting better care than most, most pet owners simply put them to sleep at the first big vet bill. If there's a guarantied fix, a light at the end of the tunnel, the suffering is worth it. When the outcome isn't known.

If she's still happy to cuddle, and has an interest in life, then its probably worth continuing. Eventually she'll make the decision.
 

SpeedSpeak2me

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I debated for well over a year with Tiger, my first cat. Since the first scare with a urinary tract infection where he started peeing blood and I then spent 3 days in intensive care. Same thing, Kidney failure. Tried the KD foods, tried subcutaneous fluids, etc. Eventually, his arthritis is what got him, he just couldn't walk anymore. he still wanted cuddles, he still wanted to sleep right next to me. But in the end, I didn't cry much when it was time, I had watched him decline and the lack of difference anything we tried made.

Nikki I tried, but it was a very sudden change, it was basically 3 weeks from her stopping eating, and the daily battles to get enough food in her, to her stopping completely thats when it was time.

Maia is getting better care than most, most pet owners simply put them to sleep at the first big vet bill. If there's a guarantied fix, a light at the end of the tunnel, the suffering is worth it. When the outcome isn't known.

If she's still happy to cuddle, and has an interest in life, then its probably worth continuing. Eventually she'll make the decision.
She’s not eating or drinking. Only intake is with syringe and water. Just got her last SQ fluids. 12 hours till she goes into a warm permanent sleep. ☹️
 

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