Some of you may recall, grandma died last year. Her kitty, jacob who is 17 or 18 years old has been slowly declinging. He is blind in one eye, has a fatty tumor on the side of his face, has horrible arthritis, and, though he eats, looks emaciated. The vet told me there was nothing to be done. Either put him down or let him live until he dies. I decided against putting him down, because when he is on his meds for the arthritis, he is a fairly happy little man. Even chases AND catches birds still. He still pulls his fur out occasionally but not nearly as much as when grandma first died.


Today though, he was fine until about an hour ago. He started panting really bad. Laying on his side, then he tried to get up and walk, and he walked sideways, crying the whole way with that deep 'howl' like cry cats get when in pain (or getting a bath lol)

He pooped on his self, but I'm not sure if it is just an old cat with bad bowels, or if his body is trying to expel everything for his death. He seems to hear me when I love on him and hold him.

I gave him his baby asprin that the vet gave him for his arthritis. But he is all out of his narcotic pain meds :(

Can anyone think of anything else I can do to make him feel better. The poor baby is crying :(

*update* I thought I had posted this already and then left the computer to sit with him. That was an hour ago :( it was asking me to choose a topic. So it wasn't posted.

He has passed on :( he panted and breathed very heavily, didn't cry too much more after he had his asprin, did some coughing. Then he had what I think was a seizure, or a spasm or something, and then his breathing slowly got slower and shallower, and then he passed.

He didn't cry at all near the end, I think he was OK. I brought him outside because that was his favorite place to be, and he kept hurting himself trying to get outside.



A light moment was when aylas kitten Sweety (who her and jacob NEVER got along, and were always grumping at each other and staying away from eachother) came over and laid next to jacob and just laid with him until he passed. It was so sweet. :( it was sort of bitter sweet.

Thank you for listening. Sorry to have wasted your time when it didn't even post!

So sorry to hear of the loss of your pet.

I wanted to put him down when it first started happening this morning, but when I called around, its expensive to put an animal down (a couple hundred at least) and I didn't have it :( if jacob could have waited just another week, I would have had it :(

He didn't seem to have a lot of pain near the end. I hope the asprin I gave him helped.

Ayla is painting a wood cross for his burial. Poor baby was in tears, but was 'OK' with it, she said grandma can have her kitty in heaven now, and she was happy about that.

I can tell you my last dog story - the vet said cancer everywhere and said 'why not go home with some painkillers' so I did, for 3 days, and took him back to be put down when I was ready. I only lasted 3 days because I got so little sleep. Sigh sigh sigh!

I'm sorry to say though that lack of crying doesn't mean lack of pain, it can mean so much pain that they can't make a sound. Much like people...

It was VERY expensive, X-rays, diagnosis, drugs, large dog, winter time - I couldn't even bury him, which I wanted to do, back to the earth.

I'm so sorry joy :(

In that case, then I am glad he did not last long after the crying stopped. It was only maybe another 10 minutes of him breathing before he passed.

I too am sorry to hear about Jacob. My oldest cat (Rasputin) turned 19 in April, has a fatty tumor on his back, is skinny as a rail, but eats, drinks, and faithfully uses the litter box. He still seems to enjoy life watching us humans and the other cats romp around and still likes to lick the gravy off plates. I hope he goes as quickly as Jacob did.

Ooh I hope so too carol, he sounds just like jacob. Full of life and happy, just old. I hope when its his time to go, he won't go too painfully.

He died with his people around, outside where he could watch the birds and enjoy the air, and a friend to keep him company. There's really not much more anyone, human or animal, can hope for. He was taken care of and loved till the end.