goodby Albert kitty

scubadude · Jan 19, 2007

it's just not fair. Albert was such a good kitty and he was only 2 yrs old. we had to euthanize him last night. he acted weird for a couple of days then just couldn't walk and howled in pain when he tried. he kept wanting to sleep in the litter box. ???????? it was about 10 pm when he really started to go downhill. he kept getting worse by the minute. it was unbearable. at about 11:45 we couldn't take it anymore and i decided that if i really loved him i shouldn't be shelfish and put him out of his misery. i grabbed some 22 hollowpoints and we took him out to my girlfriends parents house. (i live in town and have no shovel) Katricia (my lovie) took it real hard. i tried to be strong for her but broke down eventually. it was the most difficult and painfull thing we have ever gone through together. when it was over there wasn't any blood at all. this leads me to believe that he was bleeding internally somehow. i don't believe there is any way he could have made it through the night........goodbye Albert, you were a great companion. we miss you and pray that we did the right thing.

FishGeek · Jan 19, 2007

Why didnt you take him to the vet when he was starting to show signs of being sick??? Sry I just dont believe that you did the right thing by shooting him with a gun without knowing what was wrong. Im sry you lost him but....

angelmom · Jan 19, 2007

I'm sorry for your loss also but had you taken him to a vet before he was doing the death howel you might have been able to save him, in the slightest it would have been one of those things you did what you could but int he end it wasn't good enough.

My Middle cat was sick not to long ago. Come to find out she has a problem with her kidneys. She was sick to her stomach and wouldn't eat, drink, go to the bathroom or get off my bed. I broght her to the vet he gave her some pills for the nausea and said as long as she continues to eat and drink and with some meds she could live years longer. I could have just watched her die but I pissed off my husband and spent $200.00 we don't have to make her better and she is for the most part.

Please don't think I'm belittling your loss...any loss of a pet is hard I just think you could have done more when he was first acting unusual.

Hope you get pass your loss soon.

scubadude · Jan 19, 2007

we thought he was just being weird by holeing up in the litter box. he was always hiding in cupbards and such all his life. he didn't act like he was sick untill last night then all a sudden he couldn't walk anymore. i have never heard a cat or any other animal make the noises he was making before.

angelmom · Jan 19, 2007

I unfortunatly had a cat that by the time I knew he was sick (he was not living with me my brother was supposed to be caring for him, very long story bahind that) was doing a death howel...horrible sound. My vet did tell me that a cat hides thier illness better than dogs too. Soo please don't think I was trying to make it sound as if your an Jack A for not taking him to the vet but the way you made it sound there were other things he was doing other than hanging out in the litter box.

again sorry for your loss.

scubadude · Jan 19, 2007

no hard feelings angelmom. it happend so fast it dosen't seem real. he used to sneak into the closet while it was open. one of us would close it not knowing he was in there and he would just sit in there all day without making a sound. he did it all the time, and the cupbards too. it was like where is the kitty? we would search the whole house and had to scold him to get him out. but he never hid in the litter box before. he always liked closed in places for some reason. i do wish i had thought more of it.

angelmom · Jan 19, 2007

My oldest cat banashed herself to the basement for 3 months during the summer. If you brought her up stairs she would run like something was after her back down stairs. I had to put a litter box and food down there because she started to lose weight from not coming up stiars and was going to the bathroom down there. Now that she is back up stiars she won't go down stairs. Cats are weird animals, if other than sleeping in the litter box he was acting fine then how would you have known until you did.

My vet told me that if I hadn't brought my cat in when I did she probably wouldn't have made it because cats can go down hill very fast once they start. I actually have to bring her to the vet weekly just to be weighed to make sure she is eating. Once I prove to him she is eating he is going to put her on meds for her kidneys but he said she need to be eating first. At least he doesn't charge me to weigh her weekly.

Katome556 · Jan 19, 2007

I'm sorry for your loss,i've heard the cat death howl, it's a horrible thing to hear.

christinap · Jan 19, 2007

I'm sorry for your loss.

I lost my kitty "baby" in Feb last year. He was my baby before I had my baby. 4 years old. By the time I realized he was sick, he was too far gone for the vet to save him. We sent his body off and they said he had a blockage in his bladder. He died in my arms, and I know that death howl and there is nothing like it.

Again, so very sorry for your loss.

dogdoc · Jan 19, 2007

Scubadude, your cat had a urinary obstruction. Male cats (especially neutered males) are somewhat prone to this condition. Essentially a small plug of crystalline material will obstruct the urethra making it impossible for the cat to urinate.

They will go into the litter box and try and try to go, but they can't. The bladder fills up and becomes painful, so they howl. (Think 10 hour road trip with no rest stops).

Usually a little sedative, a urinary catheter, and some IV fluids will fix the problem. And a diet change will keep it from happening again.

I'm trying hard to keep a civil tone. I'm having a hard time because I don't believe that the .22 caliber solution was very fair to the cat. Especially since he was probably suffering from a very treatable condition. I realize that you feel bad about his loss. But I think that taking responsibility for the lives of pets should mean more than shooting them at the first sign of illness.

f8fan · Jan 20, 2007

Are you serious?? As well as everyone else, I'm sorry for your loss. I read that, however and do not agree with your method at all. That's why there are vets out there - they know how to diagnose and treat (if possible) our pets a little better than the average Joe with a .22.

Next time take it to a vet. And if financially there were issues, then talk to the vet. For $25 you could have given the cat up to the local humane society and then possibly it could have had a chance of getting treated and healed and given to a home where they take their animals to vets when needed.

Brinny-chan · Jan 20, 2007

dogdoc said:

I had a cat recently go through the same thing, but he didn't start doing the howl until it was too late to save him. We took him to the vet, and she said that if we had noticed within the first 24-48 hours it would have been simple to save him, but from his symptoms she said he had probably not used the bathroom in a week, but he never gave us any signs. He was a tough kitty, and yes, cats hide their illnesses very well. We thought it was simple constipation, so we waited an extra day to take him in. His litterbox was in a secluded place so we didn't notice that he hadn't been using the bathroom, also we have another cat so the litterbox WAS being used.

I don't quite agree with what you said about it being a simple thing to fix. The vet showed us that the bill for the treatment would be over $700 and he had a very small chance of living a normal life after that. My mother's friend's cat underwent the treatment, and every year since she's been spending thousands of dollars keeping the cat alive; EXTREMELY expensive foods, and once or twice a year he would have to have the procedure done again.

The problem is, after they've had the procedure done they have permanent damage inside their kidneys.

In my opinion, if that is what is going to happen, it's not fair to the cat to live such an unnatural and painful life. I agree with you for putting your cat down, but personally I would have done a lethal injection, it's a much more peaceful way to die.

I'm very sorry for your loss, I'm still grieving over my poor lost Frodo. In the future, I will always take my cats to the vet at ANY sign of odd behaviour. I think you should keep that in mind for yourself as well.

Again, very sorry for you, it's always hard to lose a loved pet

dogdoc · Jan 20, 2007

Brinny, I hate to argue the point with you, but you have some misinformation.

Typicallly, if noticed in the first 24-48 hours, FLUTD/FUS (the medical term for this condition) does no permanent damage to the kidneys at all. And many live perfectly normal lives afterward with little or no problems related to the urinary tract. A few are more difficult and may have future issues to deal with. It may have been to late to help poor Albert. I don't know, I wasn't there. But the only way to find that out was to take him to his doctor. At the very least he could have had a less traumatic end to his life.

Yes, the catheterization, hospitalization etc. can be expensive. And I can understant that not everyone can afford to have the treatment done.

I don't have an issue if my clients elect to have their pet euthanized after finding out what the problem is and discussing the possible treatment options and their outcomes. But let's not call .22 slugs to the skull a euthanasia.

If this thread started out with " I took my cat to the vet, he had a problem and we had to put him down." All you would have seen me post was my condolences. I was trying to gently point out that if given the chance, he may have had some options.

If he had posted that he had a case of ich so he just flushed all of his fish and was going to start over, what would your response be?

amystours · Jan 20, 2007

DogDoc, I too, had an almost identical problem with my Sullivan last year. I had read about the bladder blockage that was common in altered males, so I took him to a vet that my in-laws always took their dog to. She kept him all that day, that night, and most of the next day. She called me and said that he did pee, so I could come get him and take him home. I went out there, paid my bill and got some antibiotics with him, and needless to say, he died the next morning, under my bed. When I found him, his heart was doing the last little flip-flops of irregularity before he finally went all the way down.

This may not be very proper or ethical, but I ran that vet's name into the ground. Everybody who comes in PetSmart with their precious pets, I tell Sullivan's story, and warn them to stay as far away from her as they can.

We have a much better kitty vet now, and our KitKat has an appointment to be spayed on the 29th...I'm scared stiff!!! I have class that day, so I can't stay and watch like I wanted to.

Fishckabibble · Jan 20, 2007

dogdoc said:

this is the same reason we have our cat today, some one had brough a cat into the vets offica i worked at saying she was old and sick, the vet took a lok at her and decided he would not put her to sleep (on the owners request) and they did not want to keep her, so he kept her at the vets for a while and i decided to take her home, all she had as a urinary tract infection, she still has problems with the litter box (she has accidents alot because she thinks the litter box = pain) a few antibiotics did the trick to cure her, but she still pees in weird places, like the laundry baskets or on blankets.

FishGeek · Jan 20, 2007

My older dog (she will be 10 May 31) has had quite a few urinary infections in the past 1.5, somewhere around 4 or 5. But each time I take her in to the vet and she is fine afterwords, with fluids and meds. She had one so bad once that she was pretty much just peeing blood. The sample they took was useless, just to give you an idea. But I cant imagine loosing her to something that simple. Im still at a loss as to why you ended such a young cats life over something that was treatable. And honestly after you read all of these posts I hope you feel like an *** for it too.

f8fan · Jan 20, 2007

dogdoc said:

I've thought about this thread most of the day and poor Albert kitty. And like dogdoc, I kept comparing this situation to other situations: (If you get a cut on your leg do you amputate the leg because it *might* get gangrene?? If your "SERVICE ENGINE SOON" light came on, would you just up & push your vehicle off a cliff?)

My cat Daphne did the howling you spoke of. She lived to be 15 years old & the last two years of her life had to take medication 2x a day for her hyperthyroidism. For her last two weeks she lived I had to administer SubC fluids to her (and I'm possibly the biggest chicken in the entire world when it comes to needles). As well as use a blender to mix food, vitamin gel and artificial kitten milk and force it down her throat with a syringe so she would get nourishment. Finally I knew she wasn't going to get any better and I did the hardest thing I have ever done in my 34 years of life - I took her to the vet to have her euthanized. I was with her until the last beat of her heart (and I'm not ashamed to say I brought along my mom and my best friend Carla to be with me). Here is her online memorial: ILovedMyPet.com - Online Memorial for Daphne

My point is, unless you are willing to go to those lengths for pets, then don't take one into your household and have them reliant upon you for their well-being and livelihood. In the end I probably spent about $1000 between her medication, allllllllll her tests and recurring vet visits. That's what pet ownership means - it's not all fun cuddling and cute and fun and having them fit into "your lifestyle"

I really wish I never read this thread, scubadude. I wish you had never posted it.

I don't want to get in trouble with the MODS so I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and my fingers away from the keyboard in this thread from now on cos I could go on and on and on....

EDIT anyone thinking about getting a cat for "fun" should read this link "Free Kittuns"--->Free-Kittuns

Brinny-chan · Jan 20, 2007

Maybe I should revise my statement. What I meant to say is that if you don't catch the problem of a urinary blockage early enough (due to your own lack of knowledge OR a cat who hides everything), and go through with the surgery, you will have a cat with some permanent damage. The vet said to me that if i caught it sooner it would have little reprocussions after the surgery, but given the circumstances (about a week of blockage) she recommended euthanasia (which she VERY rarely does). Yes, it is treatable within a short time span of the problem starting, but it is a very expensive procedure.

Just my two cents. I'm still very sorry for your loss.

usacutie81 · Jan 20, 2007

I can't believe what I'm reading. Did you even call the vet at all? As soon as you noticed your cat acting odd, you should have brought it into the vet. If it was after hours, you could've just called to see what they reccommended. Almost all vets have after hours care, even if you aren't a regular customer. If nothing else, they at least could've said "I'm sorry, it sounds like there's nothing we can do" or "well it sounds like this simple problem, a few shots and pills and the cat will probably be feeling normal in no time." All you had to do was call and ask. DID YOU EVEN CALL?!?!?!?

I am sorry that your poor cat had to die when there is a possibility that it wasn't dying. Because no matter what, unless you are a vet, you can't say that the cat was going to die. You might have been able to take it to the vet and everything would've been fine. I'm with f8fan, I wish I'd never read this thread. It's terrible and has put me in an awful mood. I'm going to stop now before I say something I'll regret.

Fuzz16 · Jan 20, 2007

this thing you did almost sickens me. when you take a pet into your home, i dont care what it is and what you think it is, it is a part of your family; PERIOD. would you shoot your mother if she broke bother her legs and could never walk again?
that cat trusted you with its LIFE. something your betrayed when you couldnt do something so simple for him as take him to the vets and help him. were you just lazy or cheap? he deserved so much better than you.

this is why i think that people should be tested before owning an animal...even something so common as a mouse.

you should be ashamed of yourself.

goodby Albert kitty

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