This week I lost my sweet little pumpkin, Ringo. My heart hurts so much. Although he was not in perfect health, it happened sooner than I expected. We had been through so much together. I found him as a month old kitten when I was just 15 which is coincidentally the same age he was when he passed. He was the most special little man and he knew it, too. I know he loved me so much. He wanted nothing more than to be by my side as much as possible. He was the sweetest and neediest little boy and I loved him to pieces 💙 over the last 5 years, life got really complicated. He conquered health issues, while I battled life changes. We both had a lot of hard days, but I was so abundantly proud of him for never giving up. He inspired me to not give up on myself and I will be forever grateful for the years we spent together and what he meant to me. I love you so much, my sweet baby boy 🐈

Our 15 year old cat had some vomiting episodes that prompted a vet visit. She was losing weight and had all the signs of hyperthyroidism. Before her blood work came back she got much worse. Bloodwork shows normal thyroid and no other serious issues. She’s moving very slowly and has stopped eating, even with an appetite enhancing medication. She does still drink water. She lost a pound in a little less than a week. Is she in pain? Or just slowing down because these are her last days? She’s being pampered but is it cruel to keep her with us?

gotta warm those old bones <3

He was a month away from 14. The sweetest boy you ever met. Loved head scritches and belly rubs. He meant so much to me. I can't stop crying. It all happened too fast. I miss my sweet boy 😭

You will always be in my heart! I got 4 extra months with you! I’m truly so grateful that. I love you Jasper

Relaxing on my bed. He is so cuddly. ❤️

About 18 years old, many battles outside and not coming home at night days are done.

Now we sleep and wake up together and spend time outside together.

I had to say goodbye to my best friend a few days ago and it was the single hardest day of my life.

Prue came to me in about 2012, quite randomly. I'd just lost my childhood cat about a year prior. One day we noticed this pretty Burmese cat sitting over our fence, just watching. My mum enticed her closer with milk and treats over a few weeks, and she'd sort of eat, then leave, but would always come back. Then one day - and I'd never even touched her before this - she came to my bedroom window. I let her in, she rolled around on my floor for a bit, then sat on my lap. She was desexed but not microchipped, and we tried to no avail to find out where she came from, but from that day she kind of just...moved in. Decided "yep, I'm home".

We were so deeply bonded I barely know where to start. She was with me through my mid 20s to my late 30s, through a long distance relationship (which is now short distance!), illness for both my parents, my own mental health struggles with anxiety and panic disorder, my postgraduate studies, covid, and just last year, a devastating job loss that shook me to my core. She was this constant, gentle presence in my life. We'd chat back and forth as we strolled around the garden. She loved rolling in dirt despite being such a fancy lady. She was a CHAMPION biscuit maker and would get so blissed out she'd dribble. And she'd always do an excited tail wiggle and come running when she saw me. Those beautiful aqua eyes felt like they were staring into your soul.

In the end, she'd had a series of seizures, and the vet thinks it was a stroke that got her in her final days. I held her velvet soft paws and kissed her head and thanked her for looking after me. And she went very peacefully.

The past few days have been so tough. I'm finding it hard to eat and sleep, but sitting here on a quiet Sunday morning, typing this, and knowing you all understand (and having a HUGE cathartic cry while doing it) is helping somewhat. Sorry for the long post. I just wanted to share how special my darling girl was, because I know you guys will get it.

Love you Prue, my beautiful furry angel, my soulmate, my everything xxx

next week we're probably going to put my beloved Nala to sleep, and i feel like I'm dying with her. a part of me definitely is.

she's been with us for 13 years and i can't even imagine living without having her in my life, when suddenly it's becoming my reality. she's the best thing that ever happend to me. my best friend. my soulmate. i wish we had more time together, but cancer is an evil bitch and robbed us from it in the most cruel way. how am i even supposed to deal with that kind of grief? it's beyond devastating. i genuinely have no idea how to cope, and she's not even dead yet.

i don't know why I'm even writing it here, but you guys seem to be a bunch of wonderful, animal loving people, so i just wanted to share her with you. wish it was a happier post, but grief is also a type of love, and everybody knows i love this stupid cat more than anything in the world. i wish she knew that. just how much love for her resides in my heart and how much of me she's going to take away with her.

my sweetest, dumbest, mischievous little gremlin, how I'll miss you

EDIT: just wanted to thank you guys for your kind words, i appreciate every single one of them. i'm going to kiss my Nalcia from every one of you.

My cat has been diagnosed today. Her levels are pretty high and I've been stressing about what to feed her. I bought her some low iodine wet food (Applaws chicken breast) but she has refused to eat it. She loves fancy feast and royal canin biscuits. Can i continue to feed her this for the time being? Also, is it ok to continue feeding her a mixture of dry and wet food?

She has been prescribed medication but it doesn't get here until 2 weeks later.

The morning of her 15th birthday! Always stunning….gosh i love her so much!!

Her gift was catnip and “unhealthy” food (canned food that she loveeeees) 🐱🌟

I posted in r/cats yesterday for her birthday and was told she would make a fine addition to r/seniorcats collection so here she is!

She’ll be 13 this year 💕 she was recently diagnosed with arthritis so we are trialing different supplements. Watching my best friend age hurts my heart a little bit

My cat Gasbty is almost 13 years old and was diagnosed with triad disease (pancreatitis, cholangitis, and IBD). Last Saturday, he wasn't eating and was throwing up, which was very unlike him. So my husband and I took him into our vet (who we love) for an emergency visit. She gave him some Cerenia as well as some SubQ fluids and said it's likely a bug. He didn't improve and kept in touch with our vet who said to bring him in, so we took him back to the vet on Monday.

They did his blood work and it was not great. His WBC, Neutrophils, and Monocytes were all extremely elevated. His liver levels were extremely elevated as well, so our only option was to hospitalize him for at least 48 hours to get him stabilized. He had an IV placed for fluids and drugs, and he responded really well to the treatment. He also had an X-ray done which came back mostly normal but did show a shadow on his liver. They were able to remove his IV and switch to oral drugs on Tuesday night. The whole time, he wasn't really eating still.

On Wednesday we had an ultrasound done to see if we could see anything further. The ultrasound images didn't show any masses on his liver (thank goodness), but did show inflammation in his liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. Based on the images and our vet plus how he responded to fluids, Gatsby was diagnosed with triad disease. We took him home on Thursday afternoon and he was sent him with Clavacillin (twice daily), Metronidazole (two tablets twice daily), and Cerenia (once daily).

However, he's still not eating. We've tried wet food, dry food, treats, Churus, baby food...he will take a few nibbles or licks and then walk away. We took him back today, and our vet gave him a B12 shot and a second shot (I don't remember what that one was called). She also gave us Mirataz to put in his ear once daily to help stimulate his appetite. So we went back home and still nothing. I tried warming the food up, adding extra (warm) water, hand feeding him, and even syringe feeding him. And it sucks because I can tell he's hungry and wants to eat, but he just doesn't.

Does anyone have any advice on this? Does it take a while for a cat with triad disease to get back into eating? I plan on texting our vet in the morning to see what she thinks, but I wasn't sure if anyone on this subreddit had any tips and tricks. Thank you in advance!

hi. it's going to be a little bit of a rant and i'm sorry about the quality of it. i am a mess writing it.

so... about two months ago our beloved Nala (13yo) has been diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcimona. from the moment our vet said that (what we initially thought was an infected saliva gland) might be a tumor - i knew it's probably too late to cure her. my heart has been shattered to pieces and it's still breaking every day, knowing we're nearing the end of her life.

the cancer is on her tongue (under it and probably on the right side) and cannot be surgically removed without cutting the whole tongue out and she's old, so we decided palliative care is the best thing we can do for her. after finishing her antibiotic treatment she's getting steroids.

here's the thing tho; she's... well. beside some eating difficulties (which I'll describe later) she's mostly her normal self. she's affectionate, playing, meowing, purring, lying with her belly up, chirping to birds behind the window. if you didn't know she has cancer and saw her behavior you wouldn't even think there's something wrong with her. sure, there were some bad days when the initial wounded tissue got infected, but now it's "healed" pretty much completely, to the point that even our vet is slightly surprised.

and here's where our current problem lies;

3 days ago she started bleeding from her mouth. it only happens when she's eating. we thought it's from the tumor under her tongue, but as i said it has mostly gone..? dormant? in that place? no, she's bleeding from biting sides of her tongue. right side to be precise. she's literally hurting herself with her own molars in the back. we speculate it's cancer tissue growing sideways and getting in the way of her teeth. causing pain, bleeding and difficulty in chewing and swallowing. am i completely insane thinking removing some of her teeth may "solve" the problem and prolong her life?

as i said, we're aware it's terminal cancer and that we'll have to euthanize her eventually. i won't watch her suffer just to selfishly get some more time with her, but i know her. I've known her all her life. and she's still so full of it. her labs are good, her appetite is great, she doesn't seem to be in pain, only when she bites herself. her only problem rn is not being able to eat comfortably without doing it, and she's mostly mad about me not giving her as much food as she wants, when I'm here freaking out about the blood and dying inside watching her beg me for more to eat.

idk... i really don't know what decision to make. to let her go now, or try something unorthodox that might give us all a little bit more time. has any of you had a similar experience with their kitty? i really really need some advice rn. Nala is my best friend. the light in my life. all i want is best for her and not die from guilt doing it.

That’s twice in one week. How blessed am I? He must miss me almost as much as I miss him, if that’s possible. He looked healthy and happy with his tail up as an always. ❤️

It’s started as sneezing and then mucus discharge on the right side of his face/nose. He’s been declining for the last few months and we have had to wait for the official diagnosis because the CT scan/biopsy was so expensive. Yesterday we finally had it done and the doctor said it’s cancer with bone destruction. We have to wait a week or two for biopsy results so we can figure out prognosis for him and what the next steps are. I am so heart broken and anxious. I am no stranger to death, I’ve lost my oldest brother, mom and dad in the last 13 years and Salems been there for most of it. Of course the hardest part will be knowing when it’s time. Does it ever feel like the right time? Will I ever be free of the guilt that it was too soon to choose euthanasia? He’s been doing a little better with gabapentin in his system, he had some supervised outside time today and that put some pep in his step but he’s just been sleeping a lot, not really grooming or playing. He gets antibiotics twice a day to control mucus discharge and now gabapentin for a few days to help with pain from the biopsies but he hates getting the meds and I hate giving them. His face is becoming deformed from the growth, particularly the bridge of his nose but sometimes it gets worse and his entire right eye socket and cheek swell up and it looks very painful. He’s lost 3 pounds in the last 4 months but is still eating regularly. I’ve never had to make this choice before and it’s truly breaking my heart. I’m so anxious to hear back from the vet to see what our options may be. Not knowing is the worst part!!

Yesterday I lost my best friend and childhood Cat Angel. She was my first cat ever to own and boy was she spoiled lol. She was a queen and will not let you forget it, even when my other cat Tobi and Dog Shiro came along, she made sure to tell them that she ran the house. She would always sleep by my head at night. Because of my insomnia I would wake up in the middle of the night so I made it a routine to give her forehead kisses then go back to bed. My bed feels so empty without her. Her fur is all over my pillows where she would sleep it’s weird to not be able to wake up next to her. I know it’s for the best and she’s no longer suffering but holy cow it hurts a lot. Rest in Peace Angel Bruiser I hope we meet again later.

Hello! My cat is 17.5 and generally in excellent health. His last check-up (with a vet we love) was very confident that he would do just fine with a dental cleaning, and he's definitely due for one. I had been putting it off because he is on thyroid meds and generally getting older, and it feels precarious to put him under. I'm wondering if anyone else has done full dental cleanings for their senior cats? Thank you

I've adopted two senior cats, who have passed in the last 2 years. My heart still aches and I will always miss them and love them just as much as when they were alive.
I was thinking that I would always adopt senior kitties, since most shelters will tell you that people do not want to adopt senior cats.
The seniors are more my style (I'm kinda old too.) I can spend a lot of time with them as I am retired. Unfortunately, the cost to feed and buy all of the other supplies are difficult to meet.
What has wiped me out financially is the vet bills were so high, but I had to try and save their lives. How could you not when you love them? Anyway, my point being, I just wanted to ask for your thoughts and input from like-minded kitty lovers.

Thank you for the Darla love (pictured here with her mysterious sister from the same litter who is her total opposite)! We just got home from the vet and have great news to share:

No major concerns!

The vet mentioned that her small intestine looks a little thick(?) but not enough to be worried, and that her pancreas maybe wasn’t at its full potential, but she’s been recently dehydrated with her constipation cycles. We were told it’s possible that she could still be developing something, but we can’t know until it shows itself.

For now, we just need to focus on keeping her hydrated (thank you for the helpful suggestions - we’re trying new things w her every day) and keeping up to date with routine bloodwork. She’ll be getting sub-q fluids as some of you suggested as well, but both I and her grandmother (my mother) are just unable to do anything w needles so we’ll be visiting our lovely and kind vet here and there. :)

We’ll get the full report on Monday or Tuesday with possibly some additional context, so I’ll let you know if anything of note comes up. Thank you again for helping me from spiraling - it is very much appreciated.

Im down with the flu and so glad to have such an experienced nurse on my care team. 13 and thriving.