How do you know it is time to consider putting a pet down?

I would like to start saying I never thought I would consider this. We have 3 pets; a dog and 2 cats. The cats are 14 years old and from the same litter. One of our cats is sick. She lost a lot of weight and was throwing up frequently about a year ago we took her to the vet and did a bunch of lab work and xrays. The vet said she either has irritable bowl syndrome or lymphoma. I can’t totally remember but the diagnostic test to figure out if it was lymphoma was really expensive and the vet said either way the treatment to address the vomiting and help her put weight back on was the same. So we didn’t do the diagnostic test to check for lymphoma and started treatment.

Treatment is a steroid compound in the ear every day and a vitamin shot weekly that we administer. She stopped puking and put some weight back on. As time went on the ear steroid spaced out to every other day and the shot on a monthly basis. This is where we started missing meds. I’m not just a lazy jerk. During this time we built and sold a house and I just gave birth to our second child plus we both work full time so we are busy. Anyways, she’s throwing up again and skinny again.

We are going to make a vet appointment to discuss. I should add that the doc said that if it was lymphoma the treatment would help her but then eventually she would take a turn for the worse again. At this point my thought is it is because she is not getting the meds the way she should and it isn’t at all consistent.

Being honest here, she cannot feel well and we truly do not have the time to give her the care she needs. We have had her for 14 years but the last 4 years has greatly changed our lives. At what point do you consider putting down a pet who is ill knowing you don’t have the time to devote to their care?

Please be kind. I feel like a gigantic failure asking this but I would be lying if I just said we’ll get her back on track. I’ve said and tried that a few times already without success.

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/djqw9c/how_do_you_know_it_is_time_to_consider_putting_a/