Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Bad news for Mr Cat

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Bad news for Mr Cat

    A few of you will have met Mr Cat, who used to live outside Tubby Isaac's flat. (S)He moved in with me a couple of years back, and was quickly discovered to be female and so renamed Beth. And was also found to be quite an old feline, with an age estimated at 11 or 12.

    Today Beth received a diagnosis of an inoperable tumour in her bladder (I don't think there are many operable kinds of bladder tumours in cats). She is currently on antibiotics and paliatives, as she seems to still have a decent quality of life at the moment, not obviously in discomfort and was still quite lively yesterday. However, this is a short-term measure and her time will come very soon.

    For those who met her, raise a glass sometime for a friendly moggy.

    #2
    Bad news for Mr Cat

    Sad, Janik. About the life expectancy you can expect of a cat, so Beth hasn't done so bad. But still, sad. I remember having to take the family cat, Siouxsie (originally Susie - we inherited her from an old lady) to the vet's when she was failing to take on board food and wasting away. It was simply a case of total organ failure. She had to be put to sleep, there was nothing for it. My last glimpse of her was giving the vet a defiant scratch as he examined her. Then I went across the road to the cafe for a cup of tea while he tried to find out if there was any hope but of course there wasn't, and when I went back, there was nothing to be done but hand over the money for the inevitable. Then the walk back home, carrying an empty cat basket. Pet mortality truly sucks.

    Anyway, here's to the friendly moggy.

    Comment


      #3
      Bad news for Mr Cat

      One summer Mrs. Ant and I house-sat for my brother in Brighton while he was away for six weeks, and we looked after Jim The Cat. We became very fond of the old bugger, which surprised us, as we (have) had no experience of any other pets. Self-seeking as cats appear to be, it charmed us when he would seek our attention.

      We were a bit worried, then, when we discovered he had fleas, but thought not too much more about it other than getting him some stuff from the vet's. We had also noticed him behaving a bit strangely, like lying still for ages, then jumping about wildly.

      My brother duly came back from his holiday, and we were truly sorry to relinquish the care of Jim.

      Well, my brother was also alarmed by Jim's behaviour and took him back to the vet.

      Sadly, it turned out that Jim had fleas as a result of a degenerative nervous illness, and he often suffered terrible bouts of pain. The kindest thing in the circumstances was to have him put down.

      I found out about this months later when I returned to meet my new nephew, and the news upset me more than I could have ever imagined.

      Here's to you, and to Mr. Cat and Siouxsie (originally Susie).

      Comment


        #4
        Bad news for Mr Cat

        That's shit. We've got four cats buried in the garden of our current house (we've been here thirteen years; there are another three at our previous home), three of whom were put down due to illnesses aged 12, 12 and 15. The other was hit by a car aged about 4. It's always a shame though and especially after the last one went (she was put down on the 23rd December - the following day my grandmother died in the room I'm typing this in right now. As you can imagine that Christmas was a barrel of laughs in our house) the house has been a much quieter place.

        I never met Mr. Cat or any of the others on this thread, but I shall drink to them in a short while (I've got a very sore throat and have discovered that a shot of fernet before bed is a good treatment for it).

        Comment


          #5
          Bad news for Mr Cat

          I really love cats, and I'll be raising my next few glasses of Adlerbrau to the forementioned felines

          Comment


            #6
            Bad news for Mr Cat

            I will happily raise a glass to all felines past, present, and future.

            When I fed the cats this morning, a quick count revealed 13 of the buggers (with at least two breakfasting elsewhere). Six of those are 8-week-old kittens, soon to be donated to organ science or something, but that still leaves a shed load of (mainly) black pussies. The oldest is Nick (so called because he has a nick in his ear), who is about 11, while the others range in age from three down. One (possibly two) of the females is preggers again, but the remainder are going to get speyed over the next week or two, as will the expectant mothers once their broods have been weaned.

            So, anyone want a kitten?

            Comment


              #7
              Bad news for Mr Cat

              I do.

              Comment


                #8
                Bad news for Mr Cat

                What's your address? I'll drop one in the post.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Bad news for Mr Cat

                  Sorry to hear about Beth, Janik. I think it's been well established by now how I feel about cats.

                  Boris: You just love babies of any species, don't you.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Bad news for Mr Cat

                    Well, she raged on for another two weeks. Yesterday she seemed fine. This morning, however, was another matter. Her story ended at the Vets just over an hour ago.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Bad news for Mr Cat

                      Very sorry. I had to have my little cat Brisbane put down a month go (threads ago, passim) and I'm still not sure I've really got over doing it. I still miss her.

                      Hope you know you did the right thing.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Bad news for Mr Cat

                        My condolences, Janik. I'm sure that if she could have said so, she would have thanked you for giving her a loving home for the last months of her life.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Bad news for Mr Cat

                          I'm taking a little RIP sip of wine right now.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Bad news for Mr Cat

                            My condolences Janik, I'll shed a little tear for her tonight when I look at ours.

                            We've two elderly cats (13 & 16) and a similarly aged dog (12). The younger cat is fine. The older one is too in most respects, remarkably so in fact, except she's started pissing in places she shouldn't. As she lives entirely in our bedroom this is both unpleasant and inconvenient. I don't know if the cause is incipient feline dementia, stress or something else. I'm going to try a pheromone based diffuser, I've used one with some success on on the Dog, but I'm shooting in the dark really. If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate hearing them.

                            And the Dog. About 80% deaf, with chronic pancreatitis and arthritis in her back legs. She trails around after me all day and paces the house looking for me when I'm not at home. She does the same thing at night so I'm giving her diazapam so she (and I) can sleep. She is quite unsteady walking, trips and falls fairly regularly. I'm wondering how long to let things go on? She still has an appetite, and enjoys going for increasingly short, slow walks. But a few times recently she's fallen over when squatting for a pee or a crap. I guess I'm thinking that might be the key sign. I mean if I couldn't have a shit without falling over I'd probably want out I reckon. I dunno. What do you think?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Bad news for Mr Cat

                              AdC - That's typical of cats with urinary tract infections. Have you had her checked out by a vet since she started doing it?

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Bad news for Mr Cat

                                Yeah, very sad. I'm glad that I managed to get up to Janik's to say goodbye a week and a bit ago. She was looking fine then, and still as friendly as ever. Lovely cat who had a lovely home for the last 2 years.

                                Alice is doing OK after a spell of peeing everywhere except the litter tray. She's not said anything comprehensible about Mr Cat's passing but they had a reasonable relationship, sitting outside and looking at each other suspiciously, with just the odd hiss.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Bad news for Mr Cat

                                  My cat Missy is 14 and getting a bit confused, eyesight failing, arthritis in her back legs...yet she still managed to go absolutely mental when we had prawns for tea last night.

                                  Janik, I will have a RIP sip of coffee (a bit early in the day for booze)....actually it is lunchtime, on the other hand.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Bad news for Mr Cat

                                    AdC - That's typical of cats with urinary tract infections. Have you had her checked out by a vet since she started doing it?

                                    No, that's a good thought. She'll be off there instantly. Thanks Marian.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Bad news for Mr Cat

                                      Gutted for you, Janik.

                                      I took our beautiful tabby boy (17) to the vet yesterday as he'd stopped eating and I thought he might have problems with his teeth. Turns out he's got a huge lump in his intestines. I'll be taking him back on Thursday to let the vet know what we want to do. It's operate or...well, you all know the other option.

                                      There's no way I could put him through an operation like that at his age...

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Bad news for Mr Cat

                                        Amor, that was exactly what my little Brisbane started doing. Repeatedly. I put up with it for 6 months, but ultimately the vet said there really wasn't a lot more he could do, as her instinct with kidney/genitourinary problems was just to, well, go where she woke up. Which, on occasion, was all over my bed. She was crying before and during peeing, too, which he said was her way of saying "I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I can't help it", and her crying was an indication of her physical and - inasmuch as casts have "emotions" - emotional upset. He said I could put up with it until she finally died from kidney failure (possibly another 2 years) or ...

                                        I'm afraid to say I took the "other" option. I hope you have better luck.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Bad news for Mr Cat

                                          Oh dear, that's so sad.

                                          She's not behaving quite that way, peeing on the bed or arbitrarily around the room. She's doing it close to, but not in, her tray. At first we thought she was missing it by accident — she always tended to use one particular corner of it — but now it's obvious it's deliberate.

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Bad news for Mr Cat

                                            When Mrs WOM took our cat to a faith healer (when he kept scratching his head open), the cat told the woman that one of his sources of stress was that fact-man (me) wasn't keeping his litter clean.

                                            I wish I could say that this post was fictional.

                                            Comment

                                            Working...
                                            X