Hi reddit,
I'm writing here today as my childhood cat of 20 years has, over the past year, been bringing me to the point of going crazy. She has had a broken tooth for little over a year now and has been to the vet about 15 times since her tooth was discovered broken. Since the tooth, a back molar, has been broken she's had blood works done showing that she has elevated liver enzymes and unfortunately, do to her age, is not a good candidate for going under anesthesia for the tooth removal. Too high of a risk. So, for the past year, she's been on a monthly dose of antibiotics and steroids to remove the infection that unfortunately keeps returning.
Each month she starts having clear discomfort while eating, which, after a few days, will result in obvious pain that keeps her from having much of an appetite. She'll eat really quickly and end up throwing up her food while also losing weight. Upon bringing her to the vet's office, they'll prescribe her with antibiotics and steroids which allow her to start eating, drinking etc as she normally would. She's on a strict wet food only diet and fortunately I work from home so this hasn't been too much of an issue to feed her multiple times a day. However, it's been making it extremely difficult for my partner and I to do anything outside of the home together. Even taking a simple day trip is out of the question as we are unable to leave home for more than a few hours. We have people in our lives to take care of her while we'd be away, but I know my cat gets separation anxiety when I'm gone and I'm not sure how that could effect her health.
Aside from the tooth pain, she's extremely vocal. She yowls REALLY loud randomly at ALL hours of the day AND night. Often disturbing my partner's and I's sleep which has been effecting our relationship and our performance at our jobs as we're both very tired and on edge. We wear ear plugs to bed and also keep the door shut but we can still hear her through all of that and it's disturbing our rem cycles. Her cry is so alarming that it makes my heart skip a beat as if I'm having a fight or flight response. Having guests over is very awkward and avoided at all costs as the random yowling often startles them and makes the visit clearly uncomfortable for their stay. Whenever my partner and I are having a serious or casual discussion, our cat will butt in and start crying profusely which completely throws us out of sync and the attention is then drawn to her, which makes paying bills, going over finances, bonding together, etc difficult. Even watching tv or reading is distracting as you can always expect her to start yowling. We haven't gotten a for sure diagnosis on why she cries so much but we suspect she may have dementia as she'll cry and sound confused after waking up. Walk around our home and start crying looking for us. Once we call her name, she breaks out of the confused yowl and cry calmly and break out of the stance.
How much longer will this go on for? A few months, a year, a few years? By then, I'll probably be in a loony bin as I don't know how much more I or my partner can take. This is MY cat. My childhood friend that I've had for years. We've always been through thick and thin together. And I feel like I'm just giving up on her. I know it's not her fault but I feel so... so helpless...
I'm left with feelings of guilt, depression, anger, selfishness and have no clear path on what to do. If it were up to me I would make the decision of putting her to sleep, but her veterinarian assures my that she still has good quality of life. Where does this leave me? Am I cruel for feeling this way? Am I wrong to want to make the decision of putting her to sleep early? Is this considered early? I honestly don't know and I feel so sick to my stomach. I love my girl so much. I just wish she could tell me what she wants...
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/cj6y4z/senior_child_hood_cat_and_broken_tooth_when_to/
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