My mom found my current cat under the dumpster at her work, saved her, and we've be inseparable ever since. Vet records show that we took her for her first check up around 17 years ago, but she had already had a litter of kittens when we found her and was pregnant with her 2nd so she's older than that. I put her around 18.
She's definitely showing signs of her age- losing eyesight, hearing, wobbles a little when she walks, she seems to get lost and confused easily (especially if she can't see/sense me). However she seems as healthy as any other normal indoor cat- she eats regularly, drinks plenty of water, uses her litter box without issue, even jumps up on my bed okay (she misses/falls occasionally but then I help her up and she's fine). She purrs frequently and doesn't seem to be in any physical pain.
My question is when is the appropriate time to let her go? I work at an animal shelter and had a customer once tell me that he put his 15 year old cat down when he started to lose his sight/hearing because he was "suffering". I've thought about that a lot. My cat is having trouble with both those things but I truly don't think she's suffering. Last time I took her to the vet (fall 2018 for a cough) the vet said I should keep an eye on her because she may start having kidney issues as is common with older cats, but like I said I don't get the sense that she's in any kind of pain. I don't know if the eyesight/hearing loss/possible dementia is making her suffer.
I've had her since I was 6 (I'm 24) and I'm very attached to her. I don't want to be selfish and keep her around only because I couldn't handle letting her go, but I don't want to put her down if she's happy and doing well. I grew up with pets and they lived long lives, but ultimately ended up passing/being put down because of a specific medical issue. As far as I know my cat doesn't have one right now. Could someone with similar experience share some advice? Is it her time and I'm just blinded by how much I love her?
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/c1ax8c/not_sure_how_to_move_forward_with_aging_cat/
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