Quality of life for the last days of my Cat with FeLV
March 7, 2020 4:23 PM Subscribe
My dear little 7 year old Carioca is dying of FeLV.
Commonly called Cat Leukemia.
All very sudden. Red blood cell count at Zero.
We are feeding her high nutrient paste through a cake decorator type syringe and also water by hand as she has no interest in her food.
Moves from bed to veranda to steps to garden quite easily so
not in pain. Then just sits and vedges for hours.
All we want for her is to have to no pain and highest quality of
Life until the inevitable awful day comes.
The vet says max two months and I think it might well be much sooner. Vet mentioned Chemo which I am not sure I want for her having seen first hand what it does to humans.
Your suggestions please to help my dearest little monster in her final days.
Please understand that you are probably not in my country so anything mentioning brand names is useless.
Thank you.
All very sudden. Red blood cell count at Zero.
We are feeding her high nutrient paste through a cake decorator type syringe and also water by hand as she has no interest in her food.
Moves from bed to veranda to steps to garden quite easily so
not in pain. Then just sits and vedges for hours.
All we want for her is to have to no pain and highest quality of
Life until the inevitable awful day comes.
The vet says max two months and I think it might well be much sooner. Vet mentioned Chemo which I am not sure I want for her having seen first hand what it does to humans.
Your suggestions please to help my dearest little monster in her final days.
Please understand that you are probably not in my country so anything mentioning brand names is useless.
Thank you.
Best answer: In my experience once the thought crosses your mind, kitty has nothing to gain from spending more time not enjoying being a cat anymore. This cat quality of life scale might help.
posted by bleep at 4:42 PM on March 7, 2020 [9 favorites]
posted by bleep at 4:42 PM on March 7, 2020 [9 favorites]
Best answer: If you needed any further excuse to let her eat only delicious things then bear in mind that they might help her eat more than she would of bog standard cat food.
posted by biffa at 4:51 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 4:51 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Your cat does not have a good quality of life right now.
The kindest thing you can do is to let her go now rather than later. You know it's coming. Help her pass before there's pain.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 5:26 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
The kindest thing you can do is to let her go now rather than later. You know it's coming. Help her pass before there's pain.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 5:26 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Pick a date. Make the time between now and then real quality time. And take into consideration anything else that might be going on - if there's going to be some kind of upheaval like you're going to be away at length or visitors that might make her uncomfortable, it is okay to pick a date before that.
They don't know what "tomorrow" is, time doesn't exist like that for most animals. A cat only feels now, plus some instincts and some sense of history. A cat isn't doing the math of good days vs bad days, and a cat isn't showing you how bad they feel - when you see it, it's already terrible. It doesn't feel good to have no red blood cells, and it will feel worse when organ failure begins.
Maybe the date comes and you're not ready, and that's okay if that's what happens, but I have found that once the date is picked and the appointment is made, it frees my brain up to see the situation for what it really is rather than my hopeful rose-colored version. I waited a little bit too long last time, just a week or two in a fairly slow decline, and my regrets in that case are minor but I do recognize now that those two weeks we were failing to get anything resembling enough calories into him and I don't feel great about that. Once a long time ago I waited way way too long, and I don't ever want to see that again if I can help it.
Make some good memories in the time between now and the date, take some pictures (together!), offer indulgences. Take a day or two off work, if you can, just to hang out.
I'm sorry, this sucks.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:31 PM on March 7, 2020 [6 favorites]
They don't know what "tomorrow" is, time doesn't exist like that for most animals. A cat only feels now, plus some instincts and some sense of history. A cat isn't doing the math of good days vs bad days, and a cat isn't showing you how bad they feel - when you see it, it's already terrible. It doesn't feel good to have no red blood cells, and it will feel worse when organ failure begins.
Maybe the date comes and you're not ready, and that's okay if that's what happens, but I have found that once the date is picked and the appointment is made, it frees my brain up to see the situation for what it really is rather than my hopeful rose-colored version. I waited a little bit too long last time, just a week or two in a fairly slow decline, and my regrets in that case are minor but I do recognize now that those two weeks we were failing to get anything resembling enough calories into him and I don't feel great about that. Once a long time ago I waited way way too long, and I don't ever want to see that again if I can help it.
Make some good memories in the time between now and the date, take some pictures (together!), offer indulgences. Take a day or two off work, if you can, just to hang out.
I'm sorry, this sucks.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:31 PM on March 7, 2020 [6 favorites]
Best answer: I missed that her red blood cell count is at zero. My hubby dealt with having a low red blood count recently. Whether or not there's any acute pain (and there might be) I guarantee she feels like garbage. I'm really sorry this is happening.
posted by bleep at 6:03 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by bleep at 6:03 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Make sure you have arrangements for the vet or someone else to come to the house to administer euthanasia so your cat doesn't have to travel and can be at home. We did that for the family dog and it was so much nicer.
posted by brookeb at 7:17 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by brookeb at 7:17 PM on March 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I'm sorry about your cat.
I did chemotherapy for one of my cats. It doesn't have the same effects as human chemotheraphy; for example, he didn't lose any fur or seem greatly distressed beyond the usual annoyance at being put in a carrier. The process was pretty low-key: drop him off in to the vet, get his white blood-cell count checked (if it was too low, no treatment that day), and then pick him up later. But it was expensive, and required many visits back-and-forth. That was OK because the vet was nearby and I worked from home anyway.
I've also gotten home euthanasia for a cat. It did make things significantly easier, since you avoid the stressful process of bringing the cat to the vet.
posted by amk at 4:23 AM on March 9, 2020
I did chemotherapy for one of my cats. It doesn't have the same effects as human chemotheraphy; for example, he didn't lose any fur or seem greatly distressed beyond the usual annoyance at being put in a carrier. The process was pretty low-key: drop him off in to the vet, get his white blood-cell count checked (if it was too low, no treatment that day), and then pick him up later. But it was expensive, and required many visits back-and-forth. That was OK because the vet was nearby and I worked from home anyway.
I've also gotten home euthanasia for a cat. It did make things significantly easier, since you avoid the stressful process of bringing the cat to the vet.
posted by amk at 4:23 AM on March 9, 2020
Response by poster: Thank you to all who have replied here, I appreciate it very much.
Here is some closure. Last Wednesday Selminha and I took the little cat to her vets appointment. The downhill slope had been very obvious to me over the last days.
We had the conversation and I drew strength from your insights.
We took her home for the day and she sat in the sun and we sat with her and then we took her back to the vet in the evening and she died in my arms.
Yesterday evening I collected her ashes and tomorrow I will dig them into the ground at the foot of tree in the yard outside the window.
The very small apartment has a very large presence missing.
But memories, oh yes we have memories, so many good memories in these times of plague.
posted by adamvasco at 12:24 PM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
Here is some closure. Last Wednesday Selminha and I took the little cat to her vets appointment. The downhill slope had been very obvious to me over the last days.
We had the conversation and I drew strength from your insights.
We took her home for the day and she sat in the sun and we sat with her and then we took her back to the vet in the evening and she died in my arms.
Yesterday evening I collected her ashes and tomorrow I will dig them into the ground at the foot of tree in the yard outside the window.
The very small apartment has a very large presence missing.
But memories, oh yes we have memories, so many good memories in these times of plague.
posted by adamvasco at 12:24 PM on March 17, 2020 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
That's really about it.
posted by Autumnheart at 4:29 PM on March 7, 2020 [5 favorites]