We rescued our (now 6 months old) kitten, Hershey, 2 months ago from a local marketplace.
When we first brought him in, he had mange (a kind of skin disease) and a serious hairball problem. We took care of him, with frequent trips to the vet, cured the skin problem, had him vaccinated twice, even had him tested for FLV and FPV. Everything turned out negative.
We were sure that we’d done the best we could for him to be healthy.

Then we tried putting him up for adoption (something we do often, we rescue lots of kitts), but no one wanted him. And then we made the final decision, to keep him, as part of the family.

Things seemed fine until a few weeks back, when I noticed that his breathing was getting harder than usual. Took him to the vet, and they suspected a respiratory infection, and recommended antibiotics.
But as time progressed, Hershey’s condition only got worse. He started breathing HARD, with his mouth open…and his belly started to look bloated. Nothing seemed normal.

Two days back, we brought him to the vet again, and after an x-ray, our vet told us that Hershey had fluid all around his lungs and abdomen area.
To get a clear idea of what was causing it, we took him to another vet for a Ultrasonography test, after which they confirmed his current condition, HCM.

His ventricles were huge and swollen, pumping blood twice as fast. And a back-flow of bood was occuring, causing tension to the arteries and lungs. This in turn, was causing fluids to ‘diffuse’ out into his body and tummy, because of the extreme pressure to the walls.

The vet drained the fluids by getting a needle into the chest and tummy (no sedatives, and Hershey remained quiet…i’m not sure if he was in pain). And prescribed a few pills, which he’ll have to take twice a day, for the rest of his life.
He told us that the fliuds will keep building up, and that Hershey would have to keep coming back for needle draining (this is what bothers me the most, he’s got pierce marks around his tummy and chest…i can’t imagine how it would feel to have a needle stuck into your chest without sedatives etc).
And the last thing he told us was the possibility that Hershey may not live past the age of 1. That this condition was a birth defect and has taken over him at such a young age. His arteries are so small that chances of blood clots are high too.

Hershey returned yesterday. He seemed happy to be back, ran around for a bit, with his playmate of the same age. It almost made me cry to see him so happy, knowing that it was only temporary, and that the condition would return.
Today, I noticed him getting a little quiet and sedentary again. Not as bad as he used to, but it’s starting again…and his tummy’s swelling again.

This is all to painful for me to watch and handle.

People never wanted him because the other kitts were much more beautiful. But this fella had the sweetest personality out of them all. He even made the vet smile, kept rubbing his cheeks on the vets face while he was busy checking the ultrasonography results.

This is just HARD.

For me to handle the medical expenses on a long term…and to wait for him to eventually die. He hates meds, and it really bothers me to think he’ll have to go through the same procedures again with the vet.
The vets suggested that we’d probably want to consider putting him to sleep, to relieve him of this condition. But it was only a suggestion, and they said that the decision making was up to us.

Help me…do I wait for signs of him suffering before relieving him…or do I take action now, knowing what lies ahead for him? My heart feels torn in two.
Is euthanasia painful? What will he be feeling when they do it? I don’t want him to feel ao much as a needle prick on his body when they do it. Do they sedate kitts first before putting them down?

And will Hershey forgive me?

I need support from all of you, I need to know that I can forgive myself if I ever proceed with this decision…please help??

Here a picture of him from back when things were alright:

http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz1/Vee20/DSC02070.jpg

Do you know of any herbal remedies that might help with this? I am giving her medication that the vet prescribed twice a day through a syringe.. She hates it even though it has been compounded with chicken flavor. She drools most of it out. I could use any advice.

My tears keep running. I can’t stop crying. I found a stray dog and kept the dog for a month. Well, the dog has severe heartworms. We took him to the vet and they said he was going to die and should put him to sleep. However, I sad is there anything we can do to save his life. The vet suggested giving him med such as high blood pressure med, heart disease, and antibiotics. The dog was on the med for about 1 1/2 weeks. There is no progress. Well, today the dog had trouble breathing and had a temperature of 93. We rushed our dog to the vet and suggested from a different vet to put him to sleep. I feel sooooooo guilty that I gave up. I didnt want to see him suffer. I do not know if that was the right thing or not. I know my question is a bit late, but I am curious if there is a cure. I was told by 3 vets that the answer was no. I pray that Chico is in a better place and God is taken care of him.

My grandma is 77. When she was in Cambodia before living in the U.S, the pul pot(the Vet that practically destroyed Cambodia) was there. they killed my grandpa and my uncles. only her and my mom survived. now, she is very sick. everyday she says shes "really" sick. she complains everyday. shes so annoying now. she always goes in my room and starts to be nosy. my mom takes care of her everyday. more than she takes care of my family. and if you dont listen to my grandma, shell start crying and say your mean and a bad person. she is sooo selfish. she likes to play slots a lot. she has a gambling problem. A BAD ONE. The doctors cant cure her sickness. She has leg cramps, high blood pressure, and if she smells any chemicals shell get sick for almost a week. lately, shes been coming up with excuses. like now she cant sit in teh back of the car anymore because of the material on the chair and stuff. she is giving me stress everyday freaking day.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER? =[

My cat, the love of my life, is not doing well and I have to make the horrible decision of whether to put her down or not.

She’s old. Her age is unknown (adopted 2 yrs ago) but it’s estimated to be around 14. She has kidney failure and has been receiving treatment for about 9 months. The kidneys are really bad and the treatment has not “fixed” it but it has been effective in the sense that kidneys have been stable.

Problem: about two weeks ago, her right eye started getting bloody. The doctors said it’s due to high blood pressure. After all the treatments, the eye got worse and now my poor baby has developed glaucoma. The blood pressure came down a little but it’s still high.

Decision

Option 1: Removing the eye: given her physical condition, her chances of surviving the surgery/recovery are 50/50 %.
Her vet said she may have about six months to live after the surgery.
Option 2: Putting her to sleep.

I cant decide. Please help, SOON.
What makes it hard for me is that she’s still eating and enjoys her tummy rubs and purrs when I hug her. If she was in a lot of pain she would stop eating and go hide is some corner….I keep asking what if she were to live another year or more if I do the surgery? Kindney failure is actually not painful; it’s more like a silent killer. It’s just the surgery may have complications. But it may not. I just don’t know what to do.
I have got 4 opinions. Glaucoma in cats is not treatable like it is in humans especially when the cat is already blind (mine was blind when I adopted her). The eye has to come out because it’s pain if it doesn’t. So it’s either risk the surgery or let her go.
My problems is that I do know if SHE is ready to leave. I’m willing to do whatever she wants only if she could talk and tell me. I would never keep her alive if she is suffering and I know she would tell me if she was ready to go. I don’t she’s ready to go yet because she’s eating, purring, using her litter box…it’s just that the outcome of surgery may not be good.
Oops, I meant "my problem is that I DON’T know if she is ready to leave"…

I have an 18 yo cat. He has serious hyperthyroid, high blood pressure, arthritis, and his vision is bad. His kidneys are OK but on the downward slide, and his liver is iffy.

Every time I go to the vet they say, "Well, he’s not getting better. Let’s adjust his medications, and bring him back in 3 weeks–plus I’d like to add another medication." These visits and tests run me close to 0, and of course they never have a clue what the medications cost. I’ve been through this several times now.

Well, he’s not going to get "better"–he’s 18! What will all these adjustments really achieve, besides costing a fortune and denying me the chance to really deal psychologically with the fact that my cat is slowly dying. But they only write the prescriptions for a few weeks at a time, so I have to go back.

Can I/should I say I don’t want to do any more blood panels, and insist they just renew the prescriptions he’s on for some reasonable period like 6 months?
How can I say this? His quality of life is still OK, I just want to pick a medication level and stick with that until it’s time to put him down, and just monitor things like his weight to see how it’s working.
I didn’t say I wanted to put him down, I said his quality of life is OK now. But they’re talking long-term treatments on a cat who doesn’t have a long-term ahead. His numbers don’t have to be perfect if he’s not going to live long enough for it to matter.