r/SeniorCats

I’d like to share my cat Winter (AKA Winnie, Weenie, Queenie, Fudge Stripe, and Winston J Pettigrew the Third) with this community. I wish I had done so sooner and under better circumstances.

Winnie was born in my FIL's backyard, and we adopted her when she was around 6-7 weeks old. She was part of a lot of wonderful transitions in our lives and brought immense joy to our household.

She was the first being I'd go to when I'd come home and I'd track her down throughout the day to play with her and snuggle with her (I loved huffing her fur, she smelled like a stuffed animal). She'd call for my attention and I'd always answer, and she had her favorite places to sleep and would bask in any sunny spot she could find, and she loved when I built her blanket forts for her. She was a wonderful companion. She would have turned 15 next month. 

A few weeks ago, we brought her to the vet thinking it was something minor, and instead found out that she had aggressive intestinal lymphoma. Winnie deteriorated very quickly and she let us know she was ready to go. We helped her pass peacefully at home in the place she loved most, with her people. Her physical absence is heartbreaking, and I look for her everywhere. I know her spirit lives on. We are left with a large hole now that she's gone.

I have always been a lurker on this subreddit, occasionally leaving likes on adorable seniors and comments on equally lovely cats who have passed. I don't know why I started doing that, but I think somewhere deep inside I knew I'd have to deal with the same thing eventually. I want to thank the people of this subreddit community for helping me build the courage to help my own cat pass peacefully when it was her time.

Safe travels, my sweet lady Winnie. I’ll find you in every warm patch of sunlight. Paraphrasing from much wiser people than me: I am sad that you are leaving, but I am so happy that you were here. You will always be in my heart, buddy.

I lost my baby, Maui, overnight and woke up to her lifeless body on Tuesday morning. It’s was absolutely searing pain and grief at finding her like that, and I am wracked with guilt and shame and a feeling of failure—on top of missing her like crazy.

Maui (age 13 or 14) had intestinal lymphoma with symptoms starting last Christmas and a mass identified by ultrasound/palpation more recently—about a month ago. With the help of my vet, we were going the palliative care route, since it was likely so far along and too costly for me to get a biopsy done in another city. Maui responded better to a long-acting injection steroid rather than the oral one. But this last injection didn’t even last one week before she was having diarrhea again. I was also giving her fluids at home when possible (difficult to do with her), and bupenorphine, and opioid pain med. The vet who prescribed all this had told me to think about euthanasia back when she was getting her first shot. I told him I wasn’t ready yet that day, although he said as gently as possible to consider her best interests and how sometimes pet parents can hang on too long. But her health rebounded after that steroid injection. I was shocked at how well she was doing for almost 2 weeks! At that point I made appointment for another steroid injection as she was feeling bad again and needed the pain med 2x a day.

The second shot went okay and she hadn’t lost that much weight at that appointment. But she didn’t rebound like she did last time—the cancer was winning. On Monday she was feeling pretty horrible and the pain meds and fluids didn’t seem to help. Heartbroken and vacillating, I called the vet and made a euthanasia appointment for the following morning, but wondered if she should be euthanized that very day. When I woke up Tuesday morning she was gone already, and it didn’t look very comfortable at all. She looked like she passed in misery.

Trying to find comfort in other posts here but most cat moms made the decision in time and are praised for doing right by their babies. Yknow, “better a day early than a day late”. I am crumbling inside knowing I failed to do the right thing, and it’s too late to change that. My intentions were good but that means nothing to my poor baby cat. I was probably selfish and lying to myself about it. I thought I was doing palliative care but I was prolonging her suffering.

I loved her so fiercely—I’m so very sorry, my sweet girl. I wish so much I could have held your paw as you drifted away. The reality of her death is much harder. 💔

Last photo of my 19 yr old. Today I had to make that hard decision. Will miss you Emmett

He has become such a cuddle bug over the recent years 😻

She used to be by my place and we called her spot, later on a neighbor grew fond of her and she moved to their place and they call her manga. I think through it all she might be 17 years old

I’ve posted about my elder statesman cat (18) here a few times. Overall his kidney disease and HCM are stable but I have no idea how much time he has left with us. Right now he’s happy with a good appetite. But I am feeling very guilty I haven’t gotten as much quality time with him lately. I’m pregnant (28 weeks), work a lot (hybrid in office 3 days a week) and have a 3 yo. He’s well taken care of, of course. We take him to his vet appointment monthly, he gets his daily meds, and I do subq fluids every other day. He’s been on fluids for 13 months.

It’s probably the pregnancy hormones and anticipatory grief messing with my head. I know we’re very lucky considering his age. I just want more time with my sweet little dude.

Edit to add: I’ve had some pregnancy complications that force me into bed and my cat doesn’t want to join me in there, his favorite spot is couch or kitchen. I’ve been working 50 hr weeks so after toddlers bedtime I do 2-3 more hrs of work sometimes.

She's been having seizures and just overall struggling and we have yet to figure out the cause of them. Just trying our best to keep it together and be strong for her.

October has elevated blood pressure and has early CKD, they don't think that's the cause of her seizures though we will need to run a few different tests but it might be a tumor.

How do you know when it's their time? My girl has had two seizures over the weekend I'm having such a hard time with it. Nobody will cover the vet bill, we're low on money, and I don't want her suffering at all anymore.

We had to let our other cat go only 8 months ago and losing her babygirl so close together feels like a punch in the gut.

I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around this. My 9yo male kitty was having chronic vomiting that seemed to progress and he started to lose weight. After multiple trips back and forth to the vet thinking it’s anxiety or something he ate to irritate his stomach, I was thinking maybe it was his food or a lodged hairball, but started to get severely concerned when he all of a sudden lost weight. I took him to the ER where they ran all the tests and said he has LCL and gave him weeks to months to live…. I’m so heartbroken and confused. Other than the vomiting he’s acting normal eating,drinking, playing, using the litter box, begging for treats. They gave us Cerenia and omeprezole until we hear from oncologist about their thoughts. I’m just so confused,heartbroken, and scared. WEEKS?! Is going to go downhill quickly? Since the meds he’s basically back to himself (no vomiting since he’s been on the regimen). Can someone who’s gone through this shed some light on their experience? I know you can’t give me a complete timeline but it’s very shocking and I’m just having trouble coping with losing my baby. Other than this he’s a very vivacious boy. 😣 I just feel like I missed something and I failed him in his care. I’m so heartbroken 💔 he’s my soul cat

I'll miss him forever ❤️

Today 8/17 Eddie let me know he was ready to lay in sunshine always and be with his siblings . He was 19 1/2 and he was loved everyday since i found him in some bushes💔I’ll look for him everyday , cry a lot and smile thinking of the joy he gave me . I miss you already buddy

Cat had pancreatitis a month ago which healed, she developed breathing issues such as fast breaths and sounded congested 2 weeks into pancreatitis diagnosis, brought her in for a Xray few days ago for breathing and they see her rib cartilage is broken and looks like some lung inflammation. Vet says if this is not caused by trauma then it may be cancer. Can anyone help out has anyone experienced something similar??

We thought Lolo Coco was sleeping. 💔 We didn’t realize he had already passed.

Today, we lost one of our very first rescue cats. 🌈🐾

Lolo Coco was part of our rescue journey from the beginning. We rescued his pregnant mama, and Coco was one of her kittens. He grew up with us and became part of our family.

Today, we found him curled up peacefully, looking exactly like he was sleeping.

But he wasn't sleeping anymore. 😭

He had quietly crossed the Rainbow Bridge.

Lolo Coco, thank you for all the memories. You were deeply loved, and you will be missed more than words can say. 🤍

It hurts so much to lose one of the cats who has been with us since the early days of our rescue journey.

Rest peacefully, Lolo Coco. 🌈🕊️

You were loved. You mattered. You were part of our family. And you will never be forgotten. 🤍🐾

Please keep our sweet Lolo Coco in your thoughts today. ❤️

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