So my 18 year old childhood cat has always been addicted to water. He was the type of cat that would jump in the shower, the sink or even his water dish to get his fill of water. My family and I thought it was just his little quirk. I mean, what kind of kitten loves water this much? Obviously a special one is what I thought. Well, years pass and his love of water never went away. His drinking increased. He still would jump, play and all that but if one of us used the sink he would jump right up and drink out of it. A few years back my other cat had crystals in his urine so we were prescribed prescription food that helps stop UTI and kidney problems. My other younger cat recovered and to this day still eats the same food because he has to eat it for the rest of his life. My water addicted cat also eats the same food because he really likes the flavor. More years pass and now it’s 2021. This year I noticed something different in my water addicted elderly kitty. He walked slower, would sit slower and sometimes lose his balance a bit and wobble. My mother told me that this is just him getting old. He IS 18 years old after all. We believed that it was just arthritis for months. He still could jump, run and play.
Last week everything changed though. I noticed his back legs were pointed inwards when he walked. He still ate, drank, walked, snuggled and all that but his walking was off. I wanted to take him to the vet to get to the bottom of this but my family’s financial situation is extremely bad right now. My mom said it was probably the arthritis progressing and if we take him to the vet we’re not getting a diagnostic, we’re just going to put him down immediately to save on cost. And I panicked when she said that. I didn’t want my cat to be put down if he was still eating, playing, cuddling and living a happy life. I didn’t want to put him down because he was an inconvenience. I took an animal’s quality of life quiz and he still scored in the range that was good. He’s my little buddy and I didn’t want to end his life too soon if it was just some arthritis in his legs. So we gave him some CBD oil (I take CBD oil myself because I developed arthritis very young) and it seemed to help alleviate what he was feeling. He continued to eat, drink, cuddle and jump on shelves. He was still a happy kitty.
But then a few days ago it happened. He was chilling on the windowsill when all of a sudden he didn’t land on his feet when he jumped down. He landed on his side as if his legs were so weak that he couldn’t stand. But then he just got back up as if nothing happened. I thought that maybe it was just a freak accident. But then it happened again when he jumped down from the couch a few hours later. He walked it off and acted as if nothing happened. So from then on out I helped him down places any time I saw him try to jump down. He still ate, drank, walked around but was going to need a little help getting to his favorite places and I was okay with that. But Friday was the point of no return. I went to take a shower and came out to find my cat’s paw stuck in the litter mat. His nail had gotten stuck and he looked too weak to pull his paw from it. One leg was out of litter box and the other leg was in. He had peed because he couldn’t get himself free from the little mat. He looked at me with so much shame that I knew it was his time. He told me in his eyes that he wanted to go. I went to put him in his kennel when I saw the time. 6pm on a Friday. All the vets in my area were closed until Monday. My heart sank. I’ve been watching him deteriorate ever since. He can no longer jump. He can no longer get into the little box on his own. He refuses to eat and stopped drinking yesterday (Saturday). Now it’s Sunday and I’m watching my best friend die like this because I was was too stupid to put him down early. I was too selfish to end it. I didn’t want to cut his life short. I wanted to spend as many days as I could with him and then euthanize him when he let me know it was his time. But at what cost? I got to spend an entire week more with him snuggled into my lap but at what cost? He’s had to endure two days of suffering. Now he’s slipping away from me in pain and it’s my fault.
And according to google, his symptoms all his life were not because he was “quirky”. It’s because he most likely was born with kidney issues which was why he was addicted to water. And the reason he probably lived this long was most likely because my other cat share the same UTI/Kidney prescription food with him. So my poor 18 year old cat has been sick all his life, undiagnosed this entire time. I’m taking him to the nearest vet Monday morning to put him down (if he survives that long). So to anybody reading this please listen to me when I say this; It’s better to put your pet down a little early than put them down a little too late. Please don’t do what I did. Look at the signs and don’t assume it’s something minor because it could be something very bad.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/q578xk/i_didnt_euthanize_my_cat_fast_enough_and_now_he/
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