Random Thread

[Civil War Bugle]

Your cat reminds me of one of the cats my family had when I was a child. I'm sorry this happened.

[bradrn]

She reminds me of mine too, back home in Australia. My condolences.

[Man in Space]

My condolences.

[Glenn]

I’m very sorry to hear that; my condolences. My brother and his family had to say goodbye to their own cat a week ago.

[Starbeam]

I'm sorry about your cat, Ahzoh. I've been there myself and know how you feel right now

[Ahzoh]

Unfortunately and frankly, what is more upsetting than contending with the cat's absence is the learning that she did not pass peacefully nor painlessly and that we may have inadvertently and needlessly prolonged her suffering in various ways because of our desperate but ultimately futile hope that we could get her kidneys to work again so she could hang on just a little longer.

We should have put her down on Wednesday instead of trying to get the kidneys working again. But we didn't.
We could have gone to an emergency vet on Thursday and put her down there. But we didn't.

We gave her a good life but we couldn't give her a good death.

[bradrn]

Unfortunately and frankly, what is more upsetting than contending with the cat's absence is the learning that she did not pass peacefully nor painlessly and that we may have inadvertently and needlessly prolonged her suffering in various ways because of our desperate but ultimately futile hope that we could get her kidneys to work again so she could hang on just a little longer.

We should have put her down on Wednesday instead of trying to get the kidneys working again. But we didn't.
We could have gone to an emergency vet on Thursday and put her down there. But we didn't.

We gave her a good life but we couldn't give her a good death.

It’s always difficult with animals since we can’t communicate with them as easily as we can with a human. Judging from your posts here, I think you did the best you could under the circumstances.

[WeepingElf]

My condolences, too, Ahzoh.

[Raphael]

Unfortunately and frankly, what is more upsetting than contending with the cat's absence is the learning that she did not pass peacefully nor painlessly and that we may have inadvertently and needlessly prolonged her suffering in various ways because of our desperate but ultimately futile hope that we could get her kidneys to work again so she could hang on just a little longer.

We should have put her down on Wednesday instead of trying to get the kidneys working again. But we didn't.
We could have gone to an emergency vet on Thursday and put her down there. But we didn't.

We gave her a good life but we couldn't give her a good death.

Don't be too hard on yourself. You were desperate.

[malloc]

Condolences as well. Pets leave us all too soon.

[Raphael]

Unrelated: Earlier today, I bought stuff in a shop that cost € 5.34 , and I paid in cash, and I actually paid the exact amount I had to pay, without any need for the cashier to give me anything back. That was a bit weird.

[Ahzoh]

Unfortunately and frankly, what is more upsetting than contending with the cat's absence is the learning that she did not pass peacefully nor painlessly and that we may have inadvertently and needlessly prolonged her suffering in various ways because of our desperate but ultimately futile hope that we could get her kidneys to work again so she could hang on just a little longer.

We should have put her down on Wednesday instead of trying to get the kidneys working again. But we didn't.
We could have gone to an emergency vet on Thursday and put her down there. But we didn't.

We gave her a good life but we couldn't give her a good death.

It’s always difficult with animals since we can’t communicate with them as easily as we can with a human. Judging from your posts here, I think you did the best you could under the circumstances.

It's just that, from what mum said, cat kept being uncomfortable with the liquid food and she kept messing up with the administering of the morphine (not going where it's supposed to go) and that the poor cat would just make these painful pitiful meows and look at her as if she was begging mum to help her. The cat stopped bothering to go the litterbox and just went where she laid in mum's closet. She seemed to go between states of unresponsive not-there-ness and states of pain. She said that sometimes petting her would rouse her from her unresponsive state and she would be in pain again making those awful meows.

But she did go to pet the cat one last time and it would seem she stopped the meowing and then start again when she goes to leave.

But my mom was exhausted and had not slept since Wednesday and needed to sleep but she hated that her ears plug up whenever she sleeps/lays down and cannot hear the cat anymore. But she also can't sleep on the floor near the cat because she is old and it hurts. So she went to bed for a couple hours hoping the cat would be all right and then she woke up either a minute before or after the cat had passed.

We will never know if she ultimately fell asleep and passed or if she was "awake".

It sounded like an all-around horrifying and tragic experience for both her and the cat. It upsets me to imagine and it wracks her with guilt.

[rotting bones]

I can already feel myself folding in on myself because of the complexity of this conworld again, even with an enslaved editor to help me. I haven't even posted much of it yet.

[rotting bones]

It's just that, from what mum said, cat kept being uncomfortable with the liquid food and she kept messing up with the administering of the morphine (not going where it's supposed to go) and that the poor cat would just make these painful pitiful meows and look at her as if she was begging mum to help her. The cat stopped bothering to go the litterbox and just went where she laid in mum's closet. She seemed to go between states of unresponsive not-there-ness and states of pain. She said that sometimes petting her would rouse her from her unresponsive state and she would be in pain again making those awful meows.

But she did go to pet the cat one last time and it would seem she stopped the meowing and then start again when she goes to leave.

But my mom was exhausted and had not slept since Wednesday and needed to sleep but she hated that her ears plug up whenever she sleeps/lays down and cannot hear the cat anymore. But she also can't sleep on the floor near the cat because she is old and it hurts. So she went to bed for a couple hours hoping the cat would be all right and then she woke up either a minute before or after the cat had passed.

We will never know if she ultimately fell asleep and passed or if she was "awake".

It sounded like an all-around horrifying and tragic experience for both her and the cat. It upsets me to imagine and it wracks her with guilt.

It's over now. Why torture yourself with what could have been?

[Flau]

@Ahzoh: That sounds really awful, and I am sorry. To second what others have said, you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. You did the best you could given the situation, and those decisions are never easy to make.

[rotting bones]

If you had put her out of her misery, you would have regretted not trying to help her more. Since we are not omniscient, some of our mistakes are causally necessary.

[linguistcat]

I had a similar situation with my cat Sam. I'm sorry you went through that. As much as I think hope is important, sometimes it's the cruelest thing of all.

[Lērisama]

My cat-shaped condolences for you.

[Ahzoh]

If you had put her out of her misery, you would have regretted not trying to help her more. Since we are not omniscient, some of our mistakes are causally necessary.

We wouldn't. Especially not if we had decided to go to an emergency vet on Thursday to get her euthanized. We had long ago decided her quality of life was worth more than trying to keep her alive and by that point she wasn't really living anymore and was beyond any further help.

[rotting bones]

If you had put her out of her misery, you would have regretted not trying to help her more. Since we are not omniscient, some of our mistakes are causally necessary.

We wouldn't. Especially not if we had decided to go to an emergency vet on Thursday to get her euthanized. We had long ago decided her quality of life was worth more than trying to keep her alive and by that point she wasn't really living anymore and was beyond any further help.

You kept her alive because you still had some hope for her. Either way, she is not suffering anymore. May she rest in power.