r/seniorkitties

My heart is in pieces, she was diagnosed with bone cancer last Friday and rapidly started to deteriorate this week and I made the decision to end her suffering today.

Words cannot express how much I loved her, she'd been with me since she was 8 weeks old and we'd been through so much together. 16 years isn't enough time no amount of time would ever be enough but I will forever cherish the love, the giggles, the company she gave me all these years. I only hope in her final moments she could hear me telling her what a good girl she was and how much I will miss her and how much I loved her. I knew this day would come and I thought I was prepared but it hurts so damn much, I just can't stop the tears from coming, it truly feels like a part of my soul has left my body and I am struggling to come to terms. She was my only consistency in my life for a long time, I had a very difficult teen years and she was always there for me when I was alone in my bedroom, she was there for me through many heartaches and trials in my later teens and early adulthood. I'm just so incredibly grateful I had her in my life and she brought me so much joy and she showered me in love. Sleep well my beautiful girl you will be in my heart and my mind forever.

As the title says two weeks ago today, we had to make the heartbreaking decision to let our boy Arthur go. He was 10, almost 11 and for the last two almost three years he had lived with Feline Acromegaly which had brought on insulin resistant diabetes.

He had been doing so well. We were managing the diabetes the best we could, although his numbers were never low due to the insulin resistance, but he was on a med called Galastop to try and help the acromegaly, which in all honesty is what I think gave us another two almost three years because our vet has said that cats who are diagnosed with acromegaly usually only last a few months.

But, he went down hill pretty much over night. The day before had been completely normal, a part from he had had a poop in my bedroom during the night, which he never did and the next morning he hardly ate his breakfast, which again he loved food and would usually gobble it down. He went into hiding and we found sick where he was hiding and then upon trying to drink he immediately threw it up. We went straight to the vets and he was admitted and put on fluids, as he was dehydrated. It turned out he was in diabetic ketoacidosis, which had never happened to him before. It was a shock. He spent the night in the vets on fluids, but by Wednesday morning he was getting no better and his numbers continued to climb. We had always said we would never just keep him going if he was suffering, which he was.

So, off to the vet we went, we took his brother with us so that he wasn’t wondering where he went and the vet nurse brought him in wrapped in a blanket and a bandage on his leg to protect the catheter that was there. We loved on him, we fussed and stroked him, told him over and over how much we loved him, how thankful we were for him and how he has been so brave and fought for so long how thankful we were for him and how he has been so brave and fought for long as he could that we knew his body was tired and that he could go to sleep now. How we would miss him, but we knew he would always be around watching over us and his brother. He purred his loud purr that we now miss so much and then as the vet injected the medicine he slowly laid down upon the table and laid his head on my hand and I broke all over again.

So, now two whole weeks without or boys physical presence have passed and there have been ups and downs, going over every single moment; could we have saved him? Should we have brought him home? Does he know we would have done anything to save him? That we did all that we could. The guilt in grief hits like a mac truck, you go over every little decision and blame yourself for every little thing even if you know you did all you could, grief is a bitch and makes you doubt every little thing.

Then we brought home his ashes and it hit all over again that he was gone.

Two weeks with a new routine. Two weeks without hearing his voice. Two weeks without stroking his fur and kissing his head. Two weeks without his purrs of delight. Two weeks without him begging for food. Two weeks without seeing him. Two weeks some days it feels like forever, other days it’s like it was just yesterday.

We miss you our boy. We miss every single thing about your presence in our family and in our home. There is a big Arthur shaped hole in our lives and in our hearts. Thank you for the ten, almost eleven years of unconditional love. We will miss you forever. Rest easy our sweet boy.

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 had to say my final goodbye to my baby cleo today.. she's been with me through literally everything since i was a kidd.. and coming back home to an empty room just feels completely wrong.
everything went downhill so fast over the las couple weeks and my heart is just broken into pieces. she was the sweetest, most gentle cat and used to sleep right next to my head every single night
im so grateful for the 17 years we had together, but man this hurts so much.. rest easy my little angel, i'm gonna miss u forever ❤️ 😿

He has become soo cuddly when turning older.. He's so cute and amazing and I hope for many more healthy, happy years with him 😻

Missy Cat doesn’t get far from her mansion too often (other than in the middle of the night when she wants food) .. but tonight, she’s up in my lap letting me give her all the love!!!

I wish to seek opinions from fellow senior cat owners.

Had a long-distance call with my mom yesterday who updated me that my senior cat (16) vomitted and started to eat and drink much lesser since Saturday (it’s Wednesday now). He was diagnosed with renal CKD stage 3 last month and successfully went on a renal diet (Royal Canin) and was on miralax, high BP med, and a gut motility med for his health issues. He has been doing VERY well until Saturday, when he puked and started hiding, and didn’t want to eat much.

He apparently has high calcium in his blood. Could have been from a few issues, but currently I’m at a loss of how to proceed. Vet tells my mom to mentally prepare, and I am also doing the same, from a long distance away. I’m tense, and going through anticipatory grief. It seems like we cannot do much about it, and the vet gave my mom IV to administer to him, plus appetite stimulant meds. Simply to extend his life.

Are there any other things we can do? I read on Gemini Google that we can change his diet.. add fiber, something, to flush the calcium out.

If you know anything, please advise. I don’t want my cat to leave so soon, when I’m overseas and cannot hug and smell him before he does.

Thank you.

I love Mr Whiskers with my whole heart

Our beautiful boy passed away peacefully in his sleep. We are heartbroken, he was one of a kind, and our home feels empty without him.

He’s had this toy since he was a kitten. I was a child when I got him so I innocently called it his “mother”. Once I got older o realized my mistake and decided either Ribbon had an oedipus complex or I had been mistaken. I’ve only ever touched the toy a handful of times and it’s mainly been when we’ve been moving. I hid it once to get a break from the nightly yowling but Ribbon looked depressed so he got it back.
Anyways, here’s to the happy couple.

My sweet baby boy is almost 15. He is the best part of me🤍

He’s so thin now but I think he is still really beautiful! I love him so much

Shouldn't have went out like that. Bye my little ginger. 🥺

She's a dwarf kitty, about the size of a 6 month old kitten. I've shared my life with her for the last 15 years.

Eddie has been limping for the past week and I am starting to get concerned. Now it’s more “sliding”. My callous husband (his original owner) insist on not taking him to the vet.

He’s been more reserve than usual and my husband response is, “He’s getting old.” Not shit Sherlock.

My concern is that he might be in pain. He’s walking, eating, drinking water, and will fight me to the death for his treats.

It frustrates me so much because I wish he could tell me if he is in pain or not.

Take a look at his back leg. When he walks, he is “sliding” his back leg.

My old girl was an only cat for a long time. She was originally a feral who my family caught as a kitten (along with many half siblings and one full sibling over the years before we were able to catch and spay the mother) and she loved her brother and one half brother who was blind/probably brain damaged and hated all of our other cats. Her bother ended up getting coyote-ed when she was only 2 and she took it really hard. We ended up moving and she was chosen to come with us (the rest staying with my moms ex) and, because we thought she would get lonely, we later brought one of her older half brothers as well. She decided she hated his guts and didn’t want him in her house, and eventually managed to chase him out into the woods.

So she was an only cat, less because we only wanted 1 cat and more because we were worried for the safety of any cat we brought into the house. Almost 3 years ago a stray kitten ran into our house and we took him in. He is a little monster- sweet but destructive, and probably extremely inbred. It’s taken a couple of years of very reluctant tolerance but in the last 6 months I think she has really started to love him. My camera roll is now filled with pictures of her using him as a pillow and I’m just so happy she has a friend again.

I love my cat so much we’ve had him since I was 2-3 years old. I don’t even remember the day we got him, I’m not sure if I was even conscious.

Lately he’s been having a lot of congestion and a snoring sound to his breathing, I’ve spent so much time and money at the vet and it seems like things only improve temporarily. I hate that he’s uncomfortable, I’m the only one willing to give him his meds so I just feel like he hates me, it breaks my heart having to restrain him and give him meds I just feel like his little body is so sensitive and it hurts me to do something to him that I know he hates but I know he needs it I just wish I didn’t have to be the one to do it everyday

Maybe it won’t be this month or the next, maybe it will be. Maybe it won’t be this year, maybe it will be. I know it’s just a small matter of time before I end up having to say goodbye and it kills me. I genuinely cannot even picture what the day I say goodbye to him will look like. I feel like I’ll have to drop out of post secondary and I feel like I will lose my job because I will be so depressed. It is already affecting my work because I can’t stop crying over his discomfort.

He still begs for food all the time, but I can tell that he’s not the same and that he’s a little more reserved. It’s probably because he’s scared I’ll give him more meds but I have to. This is the most miserable feeling in the world and I hate seeing him uncomfortable.

I have so much guilt that I should’ve done more when he was younger to avoid this but I was only a child too

The vet said his quality of life is probably 2.5/5. I want to enjoy my last time with him but I just don’t know how to. I find myself thinking about it all day, I don’t like to go enjoy myself because he’s not enjoying himself. I’m scared I’ll miss something or I’m scared he’ll pass when I’m not home. I’m so heartbroken and he’s not even gone yet I can’t imagine how I will be when I lose him. This is already hell for me

Update: saying bye tomorrow, he will be with our entire family and put to rest in the comfort of his home surrounded by everyone who knew him well❤️ I am a wreck but it’s harder to watch him suffer than to part ways

I've had Karl since I was 19, so 20 of these 21 years. He's my baby child and Idk how I will do life without him eventually. But today, we celebrate his 21 years of life! That's 100 in human years! Happy birthday buddy!!!

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