Here again about my cat Hannah (16 yo)

It's been about 3 weeks since I had Hannah into the vet and she pronounced her "fit as a fiddle" according to bloodwork. As things stand now, she is eating well, drinking TONS (abnormal amounts) of water, no longer climbing and is wetting the bed in her sleep on an almost nightly basis.

I spoke with my trusted vet tech and she's totally stumped at what the exact cause of Hannah's issues are, but suspects age and perhaps stroke/seizure events are the immediate cause of the incontinence. She encouraged me to "keep on trucking" until I decided otherwise.

I'm reaching a time for a decision. The daily search for urine is really a chore. Hannah more or less ruined the leather sofa last weekend, with a poo and pee incontinence episode. The expensive pet beds were this week's victims, altho the covers are washable and I'm soaking the stained filling with pee removal liquid. Hannah refuses to lie on incontinence pads. My house is beginning to stink and it's depressing to have our furniture covered in plastic. We have hardwood flooring and it's been receiving the overflow. Sigh...

When is enough enough? The vet tech said in all likelihood these episodes would simply become more and more frequent until either a "big other event" occurs or until her skin begins to break down. Hannah, as I've mentioned before, is not a friendly cat in any sense of the word. She's also almost unmanageable as far as handling her goes. I've thought of caging her nightly, but knowing her, she'd go absolutely berserk, and I doubt I could cage her more than a night or two before she'd learn to outwit me or do some real damage (she's a biter/scratcher and I'm on immune suppressing drugs for an autoimmune disease and must avoid infections).

I discussed the unmanagability of Hannah with the vet tech, who has known Hannah since I adopted her from the shelter when she was 6 weeks old. She said when the time came, she'd simply put Hannah, carrier and all, into a large bag and use anesthetic to anesthetize her, then euthanize her. She said she didn't want Hannah's last memory to be one of struggling with a human.

So there you have it. Any words of wisdom or support for me? I'm alone in my decision as Hannah is my cat, and my dh would love to be done with her at this point, but is leaving it all to me to decide "when."

Thanks for reading,

Cally

I'm so sorry.

I´m feeling with you , poor little Hannah!

The suddenness of the drinking a lot seems to me like it might be a medical problem. I know you just had bloodwork done, but since it sounds like she developed the problems since then (correct me if I'm wrong), it might be worth having a mini-panel that checks her kidney and possibly thyroid values done again. In the meantime, you may want to see if you can get pet diapers to protect the furniture and floors and to help keep the cat dry (they can get urine scald otherwise). If you feel her quality of life is sufficiently diminished, then you may want to think about whether euthanasia is the most appropriate choice. I know that if it were me, I would try to determine whether there was any hope of recovery first be ensuring there isn't a new medical problem that could be treated.

I know how tough these decisions can be--I'm going through a constant battle of trying to determine when to let my cat go. Right now, I'm trying to buy her time for the treatments to work if they're going to before I ease her suffering by helping her to pass. It's a daily struggle where I question whether I'm doing the right thing, but most of the time I can still see the spark and awareness in her eyes, and I know it's not time yet.

Please know that I'm not encouraging you to euthanize Hannah, as that's your decision. But should you decide to, when we euthanized a beloved family dog, we did it at home--the vet was kind enough to come there, with us there petting Lady until her last breath. However, I know people who have done this in the vet's office.

That was her last memory. Yes, she felt the pin-prick of the shot, but she also had us all around her, showing her love. There was no struggle. We didn't have to hand her over to someone, crying. Of course we cried, but we were there with her, and she was peaceful.

Just a thought, should you need to come to that decision--talk to your vet about your options.

Hi,

First, thanks for the well wishes and support. It really helps.

Hannah has been drinking a lot since right before she went into the vet. She had the kidney panel done and a bunch of other bloodwork done and she looked perfect--right down the middle of the reference range. Sigh...

Pet diapers are an impossibility. Hannah will not let me handle her. She hasn't been bathed in 10 years and I can only run a zoom groom over her a few times before she goes ballistic.

Yes, home euthanasia would be best, and my vet would accomodate. However, as stated above, Hannah cannot really be handled. It was all I could do to slip her into the carrier quickly to go to the vet's a few weeks ago. We have to dismantle the crate once we get there as there's no opening the door and just reaching in for her. It's been like that for years. In fact, she hadn't been to the vet for 10 years prior.

I did an online assessment for deciding if it's time to euthanize. A score higher than 8 indicates "euthanasia is recommended." Imagine my shock to find Hannah got a 21! Have I been letting this go on because of something inside ME? Have I been ignoring signs? When the cat still eats, still crawls up on my lap for a brief pat (before hissing, swatting and going away) and has no obvious disease process, it's just so hard. Still, what quality of life is it when you go from food bowl, to water bowl, to litter pan, to bed, to waking up wet---just to repeat the cycle???

I had a good cry this evening. It was the first since this started and I'm sure it won't be the last. I'll call the vet tomorrow to discuss things with the tech. Meanwhile, all the bedding downstairs is cleaned, and Hannah's turning in for the night. So hard and so sad.

Thanks again for reading.

I am crying for you right now. This is such a hard decision. We know inside what is the right decision, but don't want to admit it to ourselves.

I have been in a similar situation as you are now. Trust your instincts, that will lead you to make the right decision for Hannah.

I will keeping you in my thoughts.