Revolting Uniting

[VonMudra]

So my cat of 16-17 years is on his deathbed, curled on a bed made from a box and my robe.  Over the past week, he has deteriorated quickly, and now has lost the ability to walk.  He refuses food, and barely drinks water.  He seems generally confused and scared....  This morning he's started to feel cold, and his breathing is getting shallower.  He's, thankfully, not in any pain, and is just quietly lying on his bed beside me, looking up at me.  I'm afraid to hold him anymore because his body is so limp I have to hold him tight to keep him on my lap, but his breathing is so weak, that holding him tight might suffocate him....


I really need some support..... v.=.v...

[LHeureux]

I have 7 cats.

Had 4 cats before, all dead. I lost 4 cats, I know how it's like 

[THeTA0123]

So my cat of 16-17 years is on his deathbed, curled on a bed made from a box and my robe.  Over the past week, he has deteriorated quickly, and now has lost the ability to walk.  He refuses food, and barely drinks water.  He seems generally confused and scared....  This morning he's started to feel cold, and his breathing is getting shallower.  He's, thankfully, not in any pain, and is just quietly lying on his bed beside me, looking up at me.  I'm afraid to hold him anymore because his body is so limp I have to hold him tight to keep him on my lap, but his breathing is so weak, that holding him tight might suffocate him....


I really need some support..... v.=.v...

man i am cat person myself and i feel your pain .My condolences

[VonMudra]

Here's a photo of Logan..an old one, when he was at his peak (30lbs...he slimmed down after that, but now is very very thin, from detoriation plus barely eating/not eating over the past couple weeks):



He is my 3rd cat, and the 3rd to die...we already have decided we'll get another cat, but not until the grieving process is over for Logan....

[Zoologic]

Looks like he had a happy life.

Is he a British Shorthair?

In my life, I only had 1 cat and 3 dogs. A random domestic cat which simply came to the house and we feed him and then lived with us. He is semi-feral, so we let him to roam free and return by himself. He died from traffic accident. I was too young to feel sadness at that time.

Our current dog is adopted by my Mom, and also nearing his end, his right eye is already not working. This time I think I'll feel the loss, he grew old with me, from my high school years up to now. It's been 14 years already. I rarely took him outside, since he is a very very small fragile Chihuahua. So we let him play all around the house and the backyard.

[VonMudra]

We think he's a chartruex, but can never be certain.  He was a rescue cat, found on the porch of an adoption agency with a litter of kittens.

And   Many hugs for you Zoo....  Logan seems to be slowly slipping away...he is feeling colder, and his breathing seems to be getting shallower.  I put a towel over him, and slipped a heating pad under my robe for him.  He just lies there constantly looking up at me, and I'm powerless to help him.... 

[Smiles]

Good luck, every passing is hard, especially with one of your friends.

[Fuchs]

Don't try to extend his life Mudra, that will only be worse for the old boss. Just be with him.

Our cat died aged 19 last year. She used to be fat but still always lived outside and the last 2 years of her life he was getting slim, still nice and was always around the garden. Last 2 months of her life she was like.. gone. Saw her rarely and she didn't seem to recognize any of us. We think it was dementia. One day we caught her and she looked terrible, lost so much weight that she was a walking skeleton with fur. And there was puss coming out of her mouth too. That turned out to be a loose teeth (those where falling out too the last couple of years) that got an infection. Then we got the choice to lock her up, give her medication and feed her special food or to put her down. My father wanted to try that at first but luckily I convinced him not to, this cat had always been outside. Locking that old lady up would've made her the most unhappy cat on the world. And she was old enough.

This is Saab, named after the car since she loved sitting on chairs warming them up for us. Back in the day that was mostly a Saab thing. We cut her ears off because we didn't like the ears on the cat (She actually got skincancer there so they where removed, I liked the seal-look though).



'Twas a really special cat. Dumped very, very young in a bag at the side of the road, my father found her. So she was never properly raised by mother-cat. She didn't have a cat-nav in her head so she used to get lost and then decided not to go further than 50m around our house 

[VonMudra]

Daw...she was a cutie....

And don't worry...we refuse to take him to a vet.  All that will buy is maybe a day or two of miserableness.  We have just been trying to make him as comfortable as possible, with lots of petting, scratching, and a warm place to rest.

He's still hanging in though.  Such a trooper....

[Fuchs]

Don't be fooled, that was the most grumpy and evil cat ever.

[th_battleaxe]

Sorry to hear it old chap, that's a really sad situation, having that cat for 17 years as a close companion. Our first cat died after 3 days, it was a little white kitten with blue eyes. We called him James. We picked it up fom the asylum and started learning it to take the stairs, two days in, he started throwing up yellow-green slime. The next day, he was totally apathic. We took him to the vet's and it was toxoplasmosis, 100% death rate with kittens.
Still get tears in my eyes when I think of him.

Now we have a new cat for 3 years already, we called her James as well, and she's the nicest cat you could wish.

[VonMudra]

I can't stop crying....

Logan just passed away in my arms, about 10, 15 minutes ago.  We were sitting here at my computer, when he suddenly starting moving around, trying to get out of the box.  I thought he wanted some water, so I picked him out and sit him down by the water dish, and he immediately collapsed down, unable to get to the water.  So I held him up, holding his head over the water, but he didn't drink at all.  At that point, I took him into my arms, and he started mouth breathing, gasping for deep breaths.  I walked out to my mom, and she (having had our other 2 cats die in her arms) immediately knew what was happening.  So we walked outside (Logan was an indoor cat, but the past few days, the he started begging to go outside, and we couldn't say no, so we took him on guided walks around the backyard.  He loved it.) and sat down on chairs, with me holding him in my lap. 

We sat for a long time, when he suddenly started twitching, little twitches like muscle spasms in his legs and neck and tail.  This went on for awhile, and his pupils started getting really big.  We brought out his fave toy (a little chew toy turtle stuffed with catnip, we got it for him for x-mas last year, and he loved it).   My mom picked a flower from her garden, and held it in front of his eyes, so he would have something to look at.  We talked and sat and petted him for awhile, soothing him through the occasional convulsions.  Me and my mom started talking about past memories of him and such, periodically checking to make sure he was still breathing, which he was, but just barely.

Then, after an hour or so, my mom looked at him (we hadn't checked in few minutes) and noticed he had stopped breathing.  We moved him around a little, trying to get any response at all, and my mom and I took turns holding him and the other putting an ear to his chest to listen for a heartbeat.  But there was nothing.  Logan passed away, quietly, peacefully, on my lap and in my arms.

This is the last picture we ever took of him, from yesterday.  He had managed to walk almost the whole way from the hallway (he had collapsed there earlier from trying to walk) to the den just down the hallway, and in to his spot we always have for him at the window (he likes to lay there in the afternoon sun).  He collapsed just before reaching it, and I had to pick him up and lay him down onto the blanket.  He curled up into it and looked so relaxed, almost normal, like nothing was wrong.  So I went back to my room, got my camera, and snapped this photo:




Rest in Peace my dear, sweet Logan....

[Dukat]

16 to 17 years sounds like he had a happy life.
My girlfriend and I had a cat. Was a citycat. Life in the city is hard for cats. Cars, children, people, asshats. After a couple of years he didn't come home. We were looking for him, but of course we didn't find him. So, compared to ours, yours probably had a really great life.

And then there was his companion, a female cat. She was the smartest cat I've ever seen. Very adopted to city life. She could sense danger from miles away. But she also loved attention of peaceful crowds. She was a real star. When we found her at the age of 6 to 8 weeks on a cold february evening, she was almost dead. Only half the size of what cats are used to be at that age, having worms and kitten flu. She greatly recovered, but never grew beyond the size of a 5 or 6 month old. She also loved to go for walks with us. When a leashed dog passed, she was so cool. She simply sat down and looked elsewhere. No situation hard enough for her to deal. When my girlfriend and I parted, my girlfriend moved down the street to another house and the cat decided to stay with the neighbours. She had her own mind we let her have her will.

So, What I wanted to say is that I'm sorry for your upcoming loss.

[Flippy Warbear]

Lost many pets during my life and still got one dog that has reached the age of 14, I know he wont be around for that long anymore so I try to be prepared for when that time comes and Im certain it wont be easy for me. I know how you feel bro, strength to you.

[Flyboy1942]

That made me tear up Mudra, I hope you can find some peace yourself. Seems like you gave your cat a home he was happy to stay in for years and years and years. His owners should take some consolation from the happiness he left this world with.