Wow! it's been almost 2 years since I posted on my blog. Shame on me!!
Life has been good. Since I last posted, I've been to Mexico and, more recently, Italy. They were both adventures - some good, some not so good. I think I'll save talking about the trips for another blog.
This blog is a woe is me blog so if you don't want to read on, I'll totally understand.
I have just found out my 14 year old cat may have cancer so I have had a heavy heart trying to decide if I should euthanize her. The decision isn't so much if I should, but when - should I do it before she gets to the painful and vomiting stage or wait.
Having this decision on my mind, makes me also think about the pets I/we have euthanized in the past and feeling guilty. Should and/or could I/we have done more? Was I being selfish and just thinking of own needs and wants? I'm at least partly guilty of the last statement at least as far as it concerns the last pet I had euthanized. This may be why I'm questioning my motives so hard this time - I want to make sure I'm doing it for the right reasons.
Misty is diabetic and 14 years old. She has always been a very loveable right from when I gave her to my late hubby for his birthday. She loves to sneak outside (although she is supposed to be an indoor cat) and to cuddle with anyone willing to give her some loving. Her favourite toy is the red dot and she learned quickly that whenever I picked up the laser, it was play time.
She grew up in a house with multiple other 4 legged critters. We always had at the least one dog and another cat for her to play with and family members were always encouraged to bring their pets with them when they visited. Dogs were pretty much ignored as only a cat can do.
As I said, she loved to sneak outside whenever she got the chance and often did this just as we were leaving for work. When we got home in the morning, she would greet us at the door to be let in. If the weather during the night was nice, she would give us a pleasant commentary of her adventures, but if the weather was cold or rainy, we would get a few choice words in Catonese and a tail gesture that strongly resembles someone sticking their middle finger up at us.
Then I moved and she was an only pet. That was remedied with the addition of another kitty about a year later. During this time she only snuck out a couple of times and came back in quite quickly. Then the addition of a dog to the family meant the dog door was always open. It didn't take her very long to discover how to use the dog door to get out to inspect the yard.
A suspicion of diabetes was confirmed and then the challenge of trying to find the right dose of insulin ensued. She then started to gain weight again and was more like her old self. Unfortunately this didn't last long so it was back to the vet to change her insulin a few more times. This last visit the vet felt her insulin shouldn't be changed as she was mostly in the safe zone (although this fluctuated to very low at times). As she was still losing weight (presently she is pretty much just a fur covered skeleton) despite eating and drinking copious amounts, we did some blood work to rule out kidney disease. Her previous blood work had shown no abnormalities and this new one was much the same although there were a couple of slightly elevated levels (not enough to cause concern). The vet then suggested that the most likely option for her is cancer. This is causing her body to use up muscle mass for energy despite her eating enough for 2 cats. The prognosis - she will likely continue to lose muscle mass until enough is lost that she has even less energy than she now has. At around this point, she will begin to vomit and likely have seizures.
Yesterday, Misty was very affectionate and cuddled with me for quite some time. Today I noticed that she was having trouble getting up to the food table. She is presently cuddled up in me and purring. I really do love this fur ball!
I don't really expect anyone to read this but if you do, please leave your thoughts in the comments.
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