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http://kittenplay.net -> Kittenplay Forum now at http://kittenplay.net -> Off Topic aka the coffee lounge -> A tough subject, and a long story, but it involves a kitty.
Post Info TOPIC: A tough subject, and a long story, but it involves a kitty.
kitten130


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A tough subject, and a long story, but it involves a kitty.
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So I've got an "middle-age" cat, about 9 years old this year. He's not old, but he's certainly not young. Milo is his name.

Here's the story -

Two kittens were found out on a docked boat, with no sight of the mother. Milo, and his brother, Tiger. They were very young and certainly not of weaning age, so my aunt brought them in and gave them to my mother and me, and we bottle fed them. (We've raised a lot of orphans). Tiger soon passed away by accident - he ran under the car when my family was coming home from church and we couldn't stop in time, tried as we did. We went on and gave Milo to our aunt, as her son was wanting a cat, and had grown of Milo. He would ride home on the bus with me after school and his mother would pick him up after he got off. So that's allright and all, as we had many other cats.

Well, during his lifespan, Milo has had some issues. He has had chronic diarrhea. The owner before me, my aunt, has taken him to the veternarian repeatidly for this - had his bloodwork sent off, set up medication, tried different foods, and found one brand taht he did good on, but then as you would know it, they stopped making it. Well Milo's "roomate", Matthew, went off to college and couldn't take him with him. He was very close to Matt, and this seemed to send Milo into a spiral. He started having accidents all over the place - on the bed, on the rug, etc. Now, my aunt loves this cat to bits(as far as I know) and also has very nice things(and money!), but she couldn't take him pooping on her $1000 rug anymore, so she opted for someone to take him in, or have him put to sleep.

I immediatly jumped on this, as I couldn't stand the thought of Milo dying. Well, the first few night were hard, as I found myself waking up to doodoo on my blanket or under my feet. I never got mad, I knew he couldn't help it. At the time I was working at the vet clinic so I used my discount and got some more visitations for him, meds, etc, trying my darndest affordably. Well he has no disease or anything, but we suspected possible food allergy, so I got him on a prescription diet. It never made the problem go away, but he did go a little less and seemed to feel better.

Well, I'm no longer at that clinic with that nice discount, so I no longer can afford the prescription food.  So I opted on IAMS and Purina for sensitive systems. No help. I went to Tractor Supply(a store for farm animals, equipment, etc.) and found a bag that has no by products or gluten, supposidly. Well, he STILL didn't do any better.

I have tried special food, I have spent half my paycheck on meds and checkups, combined with what my aunt did, everything under the sun has been tried and failed, and we simply dont know what's going on.



Times are getting tough and its getting to the point that, bad as I hate, I may have to give away some of my little ones. It would simply be more sensible, because I'm feeding 8 mouths not including my own, and I'm extremely limited. The thing with Milo, it would take a special person to take him in with his problems. My aunt said she would take him back, but given her lifestyle and what's happened before, I dont think it'll be a good idea. Oh, and I forgot to add, her other cat tortured Milo to death. Neither her or her son even check on Milo anymore, so in a way, I dont think they care that much anymore.


I'm beginning to think I may have to make the worse decision in the world, and have him put to sleep. I've talked to a lot of people, (mom especially, who's as bad an animal lover as me), and they all agree it may be for the best. I know his tummy has to hurt all the time, he doesnt even let me scratch his belly anymore, he acts like it hurts him. I can't give him pepto, because the ingrediant is fatal to cats, but not to dogs. I've gave him famotadine, which is the cheapest medicine they would give in the vet clinic. I've gave him the most expensive meds, food, etc. and nothing has fazed. I have a strong thing about exhausting all options, within reason, even the point of sacrificing groceries down to the bare minimum to try something.

It makes me cry just typing this and thinking about it, but at the same time, I hate the thought of anything suffering, and at times, by the way he looks at me, I wonder if he's asking me for relief.

I've never had an animal put down, and mine are like children to me, and it hurts just as bad as it does losing a family member(because I AM!)



My other cats dont have issues like this though, they can eat table food and the worse they have is a slightly runny stool and really bad gas. (Not that I give it to them myself, they are very sneaky!)



Does anyone have any words of advice or stories to share? I know I kind of rambled in this one but I felt I had to get the whole story out so everyone can have a better understanding.


The only thing I'm afraid of is finding out something later that might have worked, or some new revolutionary thing coming out afterwards...


<hugs her kitties>

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Angelbelle


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thats so sad. i hope he gets better.

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tigrenpanthera


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best of luck to you, i know you'll make the best decision for you and your cats.

as a matter of fact, i do have a story to share.

when i was in 7th grade, my family decided to get cats. we went to PETSMART and adopted the two cats that we could see having the most potential to get along with our family. the one i liked the best was a beautiful long-haired cat named Socrates. the first night he was in our home, he just sat on my lap and purred. he shed his long hair constantly. when he played with the little toy rattle-mice, he would chase after them and run into walls because his fur covered the pads of his paws, and then eat the little tails off! when the door rang, he would run for the door, and when the phone rang, he would run for the door. for a cat named after a philosopher, he sure was stupid!

a few weeks later, the family was moderately concerned about the two cats. one of them had a small infection from being declawed. socrates, though... it turned out he hadn't been neutered like all of the adoption facility's cats are supposed to be.

well, about 2 years passed, and we noticed that Socrates was gaining a lot of weight, and he seemed to be in pain. he couldn't clean at the base of his tail because of his girth. my parents took him to the vet, and he was diagnosed with cancer. they did a minor exploratory surgery, and wanted to do a biopsy of everything, but my parents said no.

my junior year of high school, in february, socrates was looking really bad. he couldn't walk very well, wasn't eating or drinking, and was much more rotund than a cat should be. my family decided that it was in his best interest to end his suffering and put him down. we wondered how we were going to fit him in the carrier, but when we put him down, he just walked right in.

so we put him down that day. he was about 5 years old, and weighed far more than he should have. the vet's office gave us a plaster mold of socrates's paw (it's even got a bit of cat hair in it!) we still don't know what the cancer was, but we made the right decision.

after we came home, the other cat, Smokey, became depressed. he didn't eat much, and we figured we'd give him a mourning period, then get another cat. a few months later, we adopted a kitten who we fell in love with almost immediately. her name is Fyre, and she's still really little (despite being about 4 now!) and she's so cute. even smokey has grown to like her!

we still all really miss socrates, and nothing can ever replace him in our hearts. i'm sure it will be the same with milo, but if he's really in pain, and nothing you've tried will help... maybe the kindest, most loving act you can do for him is to end his suffering. i think socrates is thanking us most sincerely from his giant catnip field in the sky, and he'll be a great playmate for milo!

again, best of luck.

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Voshra


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what tigrenpanthera described is very similar to what happened to my cat Whisper about two years ago, over a period of 6 months she began to *lose* alot of weight but not hardly anything, we had to force feed her and she started to get a large tumor (infected) on her underside, it just kept growing and growing, almost like it was sucking her body dry of all its immune system, we spent much money on her trying to save her, and after awhile it did appear to have worked but she ended up going straight back to her stage of sickness and in the end she could hardly walk and was sleeping close to 34 hours then waking up for a period of 2, maybe 3 hours then repeating, we could tell she was in extreme pain and decided to put her down around September 2007, we took her to the vet and I held her and looked into her eyes all the while until she was gone. it took me about a year to "get over it" (not really, but enough so that i had come to terms with it), she had been the second cat we ever owned (she was a stray we found in my home town and had been with us 11 years, we didn't know how old she was either, so she likely had a lengthy life) and I will always miss her.

I am sorry to hear your misfortune in helping to save one of the most beautiful things on earth (a friend, a pet, and a family member, all in one) and wish you all the best in making your decision, whatever it may be.

Voshra.

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kimonokitty


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Here is a group that may be able to help you. They specialize in taking in all kinds of animals like Milo. They've become more popular, so now they take in less, but they have a special softness for "sick" animals. Take a look around their site... especially check out their sick kitty section. I'm guessing Milo may enjoy his time in the "incontinental" suite (ha ha, that's really what they call it). They have a round-the-clock fully staffed medical team, and it may help ease your mind to know he's well taken care of. Problem would be getting him there with your current situation.

www.bestfriends.org
(seem to have a problem connecting currently, hope it still works)

Also, if you get a chance to check out the book from the library about this organization, it's a helluva read. Such great, cute lil' animal stories.

Milo may be sick. He may just have a problem (like a kitty crohn's disease). He may need to be put down, or he may be able to have some good life left. Either way, your love for Milo is going to help you make the right decision, whatever it is. Good luck, and our paws are with you.



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kitten130


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Thank you for that link - thats awesome that they have that, but Utah is a bit far lol...


Im just going to have to think about all this...if I can stay in the house I'm in now I can keep him and keep trying my darndest. I know there's gotta be something out there...


Thanks for the stories and kind words everyone..

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