Have you been the sole caretaker of a senior pet? Have you struggled in knowing what to do or how? No doubt at a certain point in a pet's life they will contract some kind of illness. As they become elderly these tend to be chronic conditions and sometimes can be managed and sometimes they can't. This of course happens to any pet at any age so not just seniors, but I find people are more willing to go the mile for a younger animal. Well I haven't had a pet reach senior status in years as unfortunately most of mine have died far too young for illnesses that could not be managed.
The role of the caretaker can be exhausting, physically, mentally and financially. Many people wrestle with when to stop trying anymore and perhaps have the animal euthanized. This is an extremely hard decision, one I have had to made several times. I don't like that is an option but at the same time there is so little we can do when an animal is clearly suffering. My 14 year old dog started to have regular collapses where she'd have a seizure. It wasn't a seizure disorder but speculated to be a heart condition. Every time she'd collapse she'd wet herself and when she woke up she looked like she felt miserable. It was hard. She was my last pet to live to old age as 14 for her breed was old.
I've had many cats over the years and only one lived into seniorhood and died at home on his own without anything seemingly to be wrong with him, he was 19. My other 3 cats were between 5 and 10 years old with different issues ranging from kidney failure, heart issues and cancer. 2 of those cats were euthanized while one died at home. None of their issues were easily managed or treatable. The kidney cat rapidly declined and he was the 5 year old. Not normal in a cat so young. He was a victim of a large food recall where MANY cats suffered the same fate.
My current elderly pet is my 16 year old cat who has been relatively healthy most of her life. In 2018 she had an issue with her bile duct. That should have been a clue to the vet of something else, but since she recovered we just carried on. In 2021 she had the same symptoms but they didn't see anything wrong so said it wasn't that and we just carried on as she eventually got better. In 2024, this time, she was the sickest I have ever seen her. She just laid on the bed, not moving. She wouldn't get up, she wouldn't eat, she wouldn't drink, she was groaning, and looked exhausted. It was a holiday weekend and the emergency vets were slammed with patients. It was a hard time for me. I finally got her into a local vet clinic who takes emergencies. It's not where I wanted her to go because I have had bad experiences there, but I didn't think she was going to make it so I was desperate.
They misdiagnosed her. They actually didn't diagnose her with anything. At my request they kept her overnight to hydrate her and try to get her eating. I was able to bring her home the next day and as her bloodwork and urine were normal (well, her urine wasn't normal as it turned out) they just sent her home with appetite stimulant and antibiotics but couldn't tell me what they were treating. "Just some virus" they said. Well you don't treat viruses with antibiotics. Well it was only a couple days later and she was vomiting and not eating and very unwell. I took her back as they were treating her for this. This time I was told she was just "hot" because it was summer.
Long story short, I took her to another place soon after. They did bloodwork and xrays. Didn't find anything. But the Dr there decided to give her a steroid injection. This actually was what she needed. 2 weeks later FINALLY at her own vet we discussed getting an ultrasound. Which she had then and what did they find? She had an inflamed pancreas and signs of inflammatory bowel disease. The pancreatitis is why she was so sick and that steroid injection probably saved her life.
Leaving out a lot of details, let's just say it's been a rough road. Nothing about this illness has been easy. She's probably had it since 2018 or maybe 2021 at the least but it wasn't diagnosed. She's been on an oral steroid since 2024, every day. She recently had an inflamed bladder. We don't know why. That seemed to then put her into another crisis but not as bad as the first because now I have the medications she needs. The 4 weeks of antibiotics she just had is probably what actually put her into an IBD flare. They were treating her inflamed bladder but there was no evidence of bacteria. Dr's love to give out antibiotics. All of them destroyed her gut. In a cat with a gut that already doesn't work correctly. She had a bout of gastritis because of all this.
So, to be a caretaker for an animal also means you have speak for them. You can't know exactly what's wrong because they can't tell you. Sometimes you see clues, sometimes not. I knew her abdomen was in pain so I took her in 2 weeks ago. They didn't notice any pain and blamed all her symptoms on her arthritis. Though they did at least hydrate her and give her anti-nausea meds.
I haven't slept through a single night since July 2, 2024. She wakes me to eat in the middle of the night. This is due to the drugs, or the IBD itself. I have to feed her several small meals throughout the day because of her poor digestion. I'm also always trying to combat constipation, which is either from the drugs or the IBD (she never had this before). She's on daily medication twice a day and herbals that I give her to help with nausea and her digestion. She was pretty good for 6-8 months until this all happened this year where it almost felt like i was starting over.
I've joined an IBDkitties group and it makes me sad so many people and their cats are going through this. Many are elderly. There really is no one thing that causes inflammatory bowel disease in cats. It's nearly impossible for me to find the cause of it for my cat. It could be diet related but she's been eating the same food for almost her whole life, so why now? I believe her issue is multiple organs; her bile duct/liver, pancreas, and her intestines. Some speculate this is due to bad bacteria built up in the system. I could see this as the reason, but why is a question I don't have the answer to. It's clear my cat has slow motility in her system. Maybe decreased digestive enzymes are contributing. I don't really think it's her food, but her system that isn't processing her food correctly. Then food sits there and causes issues. I don't know, but I know I get frustrated every time I have to go to the vet and don't really get any answers. They are more interested in selling me overpriced junk food or more tests or medications. Now, I will give her meds if they help in an acute situation. I really want her off the long term steroid but I will give it if it's helping her quality of life. (every visit is at least $300)
What I do know is that I have wrestled with the idea of euthanasia for her because this has been a huge undertaking to be her sole caretaker. It's been expensive and exhausting for me and miserable for her. But, I'm committed to doing what I need to do because that's what we would do for our human family members. I will decide on ending her life when things become a lot more grim however, for her sake, not mine. If you have a pet like this, you understand. If you do, I'm sure you're doing the best you can. There's a limit to how much, even if it was my own self, there's a limit.
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