Did I put my asthmatic cat with Diabetes and IBD To sleep too early?

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Angelbaby

Angelbaby

Member Since 2019
Please help.

I am having guilt over putting my 14 year old cat asleep.

My Angel was diagnosed with chronic asthma 1.5 years ago. He was prescribed prednisolone 5 units for a year until it stopped working. During this time he was not active but could move from room to room. After that he started to lose weight. I took him to the vet and he was tested for Diabetes. I started giving him on one unit of insulin and a inhaler since the prednisolone wasn’t working anymore but he continued to lose weight. His severe IBD was off and on and I bought probiotics and digestive enzymes and that helped him for a month but the weight was still dropping. I also lowered his pred dosage to 2.5 and one day it got really bad when he’d get out of his litter box and cry in pain. After things took a turn he had watery diarrhea for 5 days, could barely eat but lick his food, stumble when he walked. He slept and was listless all day. I would try to regulate his insulin but his sugar was always high especially with the pred. dosage. He was clearly stressed out with meds and me pricking him from testing. I eventually had to force feed him but I hated doing it and he hated it, too. One day when I walked over to give him the pred. he’d would walk away and that’s when I knew he had enough.

I am now reading others people’s struggle and feel like I lacked knowledge and resources to help my poor Angel. My vet didnt know how to treat all three diseases at once and was no help but recommended euthanasia a month prior but I kept wanting to try to stabilize his weight as much as I could. I also hear that the drug budesonide has had some success and now wish I had known about it and perhaps saved my baby.

I felt it was best to say goodbye he had enough and his life lacked a year of playtime and running and as things got worse I felt his dignity at stake and wanted to save him from further medication and testing.

I hope I did right? Was there more I could do? :arghh:
 
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You did right.

You cannot live in regret. You did right with all of the knowledge you had at the time you made the right choice. Your kitty wasn’t happy.

Yes, sometimes when we know better we do better, but that doesn’t mean we did wrong when we didn’t know better. You still did right.

Hugs. It’s hard. But don’t beat yourself up.
 
I think you did everything you could for your kitty. He told you he had had enough and was ready to say goodbye.... and you respected that and gave him the ultimate gift.
It is never easy to make that decision and I think most of us question our decision afterwards and beat ourselves up about it.
Sending hugs as you mourn your previous kitty:bighug:
 
With IBD - you are in for a very rough time. I know, I did it for 2-1/2 years with Jones. He was FD, IBD and chronic pancretitis.

With IBD they say it isn't a matter of if but when it will turn cancerous PLUS that whole time he is losing the ability to absorb the nutrients he needs as more scarring will occur.

You did the right thing. Better a day too early then a day too late.

Sending you peace and acceptance.:bighug::bighug:
 
Yes, this was one of my main reasons seeing that it was going to manifest into something uglier was not an option for my Angel. He was already dealing with some major diseases. Why add a forth?

Thank you.
 
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I think you absolutely made the right call. Three difficult to control chronic illnesses at 14 is an awful lot for a little cat. You respected his wishes and took care of him one last time. I’m dreading that day but hope I can be as brave as you.
 
eleutherium said:
I think you absolutely made the right call. Three difficult to control chronic illnesses at 14 is an awful lot for a little cat. You respected his wishes and took care of him one last time. I’m dreading that day but hope I can be as brave as you.
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I hope one day I feel different but for now I feel awful for ending his life. It makes me endlessly sad to know he had unfortunate diseases that couldn't be managed and the stress alone was too much for him and his weak body.

Thank you for reaching out with your considerate words.
 
I know this heartbreak all too well, and I am telling you, absolutely, you did the right thing. It’s a hard thing to do, but the greatest gift of love, to release your beloved kitty, with dignity, from an aging or broken body so his soul can fly. He is now at the Rainbow Bridge, where he is young and whole again, and where he’ll wait for you to join him someday.

Please don’t beat yourself up. You did all the right things. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Angelbaby said:
Please help.

I am having guilt over putting my 14 year old cat asleep.

My Angel was diagnosed with chronic asthma 1.5 years ago. He was prescribed prednisolone 5 units for a year until it stopped working. During this time he was not active but could move from room to room. After that he started to lose weight. I took him to the vet and he was tested for Diabetes. I started giving him on one unit of insulin and a inhaler since the prednisolone wasn’t working anymore but he continued to lose weight. His severe IBD was off and on and I bought probiotics and digestive enzymes and that helped him for a month but the weight was still dropping. I also lowered his pred dosage to 2.5 and one day it got really bad when he’d get out of his litter box and cry in pain. After things took a turn he had watery diarrhea for 5 days, could barely eat but lick his food, stumble when he walked. He slept and was listless all day. I would try to regulate his insulin but his sugar was always high especially with the pred. dosage. He was clearly stressed out with meds and me pricking him from testing. I eventually had to force feed him but I hated doing it and he hated it, too. One day when I walked over to give him the pred. he’d would walk away and that’s when I knew he had enough.

I am now reading others people’s struggle and feel like I lacked knowledge and resources to help my poor Angel. My vet didnt know how to treat all three diseases at once and was no help but recommended euthanasia a month prior but I kept wanting to try to stabilize his weight as much as I could. I also hear that the drug budesonide has had some success and now wish I had known about it and perhaps saved my baby.

I felt it was best to say goodbye he had enough and his life lacked a year of playtime and running and as things got worse I felt his dignity at stake and wanted to save him from further medication and testing.

I hope I did right? Was there more I could do? :arghh:
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You did right!!! Keeping our fur babies alive for ourselves is selfish. I feel the same about my boy, Dexter. But, I knew. He let me know. He wasn’t going to rally. The meds would make him feel worse. You did what was best for HIM. That was the best thing you can do. Sending love....
 
Jill & Jade said:
You did right!!! Keeping our fur babies alive for ourselves is selfish. I feel the same about my boy, Dexter. But, I knew. He let me know. He wasn’t going to rally. The meds would make him feel worse. You did what was best for HIM. That was the best thing you can do. Sending love....
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Honestly, it didn't take long for me to decide. Two weeks of him slowly deteriorating, becoming weak and barely eating, especially eating on his side, and licking food and not really eating made me really sad. His asthma was pretty bad for a 1.5 years and now the meds were no longer working and we have his severe IBD and Diabetes to control. As much as it breaks my heart-- I carry the pain for the both us. I knew things were not looking up after his watery diarrhea episodes outside the box and we'd both expect more challenges ahead. At that point I would have had to hospitalize him and get him on an IV since he was at some point dehydrated and maybe worse signs of Lymphoma were looming since clearly he had symptoms of liver failure. I really didn't want to put him through more. His breathing was more labored with even the inhaler. Poking and probing him with tests and needles looked like a stress nightmare. He told me he had enough and walked away from his meds one day. I said okay, we are done, no more medication. The last day I spent the morning with him. He did whatever he wanted and I just combed him one last time. :arghh:

It's such a heavy sadness to carry and I am working through the guilt of not treating him more aggressively the best I can.

Thank you for your support.
 
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Angelbaby said:
Honestly, it didn't take long for me to decide. Two weeks of him slowly deteriorating, becoming weak and barely eating, especially eating on his side, and licking food and not really eating made me really sad. His asthma was pretty bad for a 1.5 years and now the meds were no longer working and we have his severe IBD and Diabetes to control. As much as it breaks my heart-- I carry the pain for the both us. I knew things were not looking up after his watery diarrhea episodes outside the box and we'd both expect more challenges ahead. At that point I would have had to hospitalize him and get him on an IV since he was at some point dehydrated and maybe worse signs of Lymphoma were looming since clearly he had symptoms of liver failure. I really didn't want to put him through more. His breathing was more labored with even the inhaler. Poking and probing him with tests and needles looked like a stress nightmare. He told me he had enough and walked away from his meds one day. I said okay, we are done, no more medication. The last day I spent the morning with him. He did whatever he wanted and I just combed him one last time. :arghh:

It's such a heavy sadness to carry and I am working through the guilt of not treating him more aggressively the best I can.

Thank you for your support.
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You have to let go of the guilt. It is a heavy weight to carry. The grief is heavy enough, you have nothing to feel guilty about. You said he let you know. My boy let me know as well and I also have guilt moments. But we know. And they know. You did right by him, and when you see him again, he will let you know. :bighug:
 
It never feels good and it never feels like anything we do is enough. I think we tend to underestimate what kind of pressure having to make that life or death decision is. At some point, it is more about suffering vs. peace. They trust us not to hurt them, sure, but not letting them suffer is part of that. It is the last kindness you can give to a sick companion. As long as that decision is made with love and the best interest of your friend in mind, that's the important thing.
 
You said "I feel awful for ending his life" but that's all wrong. You did everything you could to give him life, all you took away was unnecessary pain. I've done this too many times and learned long ago that guilt is one thing none of us deserve. Be kind to yourself as you were to Angel, he would want that for you. :bighug:
 
I’m slowly coming to terms with it more everyday. And it’s transformed, from him in mind the most when I made my decision. Being in between wanting him with me from having to say farewell is strongly what makes it all the worst part about coming to terms with it.

Plus, I thought my care as a mommy wasn’t enough having read other people who were able to manage symptoms. I thought I gave up too soon. But, I remembered he’s been like that for a year and it was just getting worse.

Thank you everyone who reached out.
 
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It's never fair to compare yourself to what other pet owners have done. I'm one of the lucky ones, two diabetic cats that were low maintenance. No seizures, no HYPO episodes, just test measure and shoot.
We made a super human effort for Jasper many years ago that ended with an MRI but in the end there was nothing we could do. I think we learned a lesson from that, not that life is cruel or anything about money, just that there are times when an outcome is out of your hands.
We had a beautiful dog that had been diagnosed with cancer but we were spared having to consider chemo or surgery because the cancer was untreatable. In the end everyone got it wrong, there never was cancer and finally it was dementia that took Hannah from us. Because she was otherwise healthy we could have let guilt overcome us but we weren't doing Hannah any favors and on a Sunday morning she had her last walk and then we released her from a life of fear and confusion.
I hope that helps you a little bit. We all do what we can and learn something from the ones we love who can't talk to us but I'm sure if Angel could talk right now he would tell you he knew you loved him, he might even say thank you. :bighug:
 
Noah & me (GA) said:
It's never fair to compare yourself to what other pet owners have done. I'm one of the lucky ones, two diabetic cats that were low maintenance. No seizures, no HYPO episodes, just test measure and shoot......
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I understand. Every case is different and I have thought about it. I just wanted to be the one to save him and cure him.

At the moment I am just going through waves of grief. I can go about my day but when I am home I feel the overwhelm hit me hard and I feel really crappy. It is almost unbearable. I cannot do anything with it but feel it course through me or else my mind wanders and I get caught up in the thoughts. I question why cats get IBD and where does it come from? Reading about it isn't enough. It's a mystery and this one eggs me on to solve. Is it hereditary? Is it the commercial food that slowly poisons our furr babies immune system? I feel helpless and that's why is makes it so much harder to accept.

When our human love ones get sick, we give them pain killers, we make them comfortable, we then watch and wait. I know why it's different for an animal. Their primary lives are playing about, looking forward to a good meal and waiting for a warm purr session when we come home. When those areas fail they lose a big part of being cats/dogs. But, why shouldn't that apply to humans, too? Is it unethical to euthanize a human?

I just wanted my love for Angel to move oceans. Maybe I am still trying to figure out what love really means. When the pain overcomes me it's difficult to know what is what. I feel for everyone who has endured the pain of a special friend or family member they loved and lost. I know everyday someone is going through what I am. We live beyond or fury babies and anyone who wants to live for eternity must be kidding me---too much pain!

Sorry for my ramble.
 

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