Our large male housecat (almost 14 now) suffered from a fall about 4.5 weeks ago and lost the use of his rear legs after a spinal injury. He isn't showing any signs of recovery and can only move by dragging himself along the floor with his front paws.
The vet told us it's important for him not to try and walk while his legs heal so we've had him staying in a closet (where he liked to sleep anyway) for about 18 hours a day, taking him out a few times a day for (monitored) time with the other cats or to sit on the couch with us. We've been feeding him canned food (which he normally devours) but he only eats a bit of it eat night, and we have to heat it up so he smells it for him to eat even a little. He is on an anti-inflammatory and a pain medicine for the injury, but recently has not been showing any signs of pain (he used to screech when you touched his back).
He lost control of his bladder, so we padded the closet where he sleeps with pads. We express his bladder (pushing under his stomach) to get him to pee into a litter-box about twice a day. I'd feel terrible about euthanizing him when he doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but the poor cat has become a massive burden. I'm also not sure what my cat's quality of life is. I don't know if he is in pain or not and if he feels unhappy being trapped in the closet for most of the day. The vet told us that infirm animals can really overpower people's lives and (very gently) suggesting euthanasia. Does anyone have any suggestions?
[link] [comments]
from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/c35pu8/my_13_yearold_cat_became_rearleg_paralyzed/
No comments:
Post a Comment