Advice please

Here is some of Zi's background (along with the others)

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=212255

We have had a bad weekend, and I just dont know what to do next. She has been grumpy for the past couple of days, which sometimes is just her, but sometimes that things are hurting a bit. Since last night, she keeps losing her balance and stumbling/falling over, even if she is sitting down. I don't know if it is arthritis or kidney related - I think her arthritis is fairly bad, she doesn't often stand/sit/walk on her front paws, she walks on the bit between her paw and the first joint (managed to get a pic of it last night) I really don't know whether to put her through more tests to see if it is something we can treat (bearing in mind she has other conditions that impact on her quality of life, so I could put her through pain/stress of tests and treating one thing for her to decline anyway with something else), or accept she is 20 with multiple issues and has defied both mine and the vets thoughts of how long she would have, and that she has had enough of fighting. The other thing she did last night that concerned me was something she has done randomly for a few months, but never in the same room as me - she normally makes an awful yowl when she is upstairs and I am downstairs, but last night she did it when we were both in the front room. She had her back to me, was in front of the water bowl and just looked at it and yowled about 3 times, before shutting up and having a drink, so now I don't know if that is what she has been yowling at the last few months and what that is a sign of. She has also decided not to bother eating this morning, she looks at the food bowl, and then decides to ignore it, even when I put it in front of her.

Oh gosh, this is tough to hear. IMO, I would look honestly at the quality of life issue. I think there is a tipping point, a place you come to in your own mind, of when to say enough.

I hate getting to that point, we all do. 20 years! That's such a milestone. I have worked in a nursing home and people are so much like animals when they are ill. Going off food is, in the human world, a sign of the body having had enough. It is nature.

I know how much you love your guys. I have agonized way too many times over the same thing you are going through.

There is something to be said for "comfort care". No more needles isn't a bad thing.

I send you prayers,and hugs. Zi is certainly a lucky gal to have you at this time in her life.

Thanks very much, it has been a very hard day. There are things it could be that could be treatable, but I have to decide which way to go - i was in the same position last year, and opted to go for the tests, and we have spent most of the last year battling to get meds down her throat, I have nearly stopped so many times this year, and that is what is making me wonder if putting her through more tests and poss more medication is the right thing for her. If it is something like low potassium, we could go through the bloods and trying to get supplements into her, but her mouth is definitely getting worse, so I could be putting her through things ultimately for nothing.

i absolutely hate being in this position, and am just praying today is a bad day and we are back to normal tomorrow, but I know we are running out of time, we have run out of options on all of her health issues, and I think the vet is surprised she is still here, she made me think about quality of life 3 months ago.

I know things have been really tough. And as our oldest turned 8 this year, I haven't had to face this yet. But what stands out in my mind is Momofmany's "Love and Cheese Danish" approach to disease when there's still quality of life, but the process of testing and treatment is really just too much.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...05&postcount=7

Well, she has eaten a bit more today and stopped preventing me from stroking her head. Her legs have been fine since, but I did see her yowling at the water bowl again last night, I know her kidneys are worse than her last bloods 6 months ago - the irony is that I was going to make an appointment last week to have her bloods rechecked, but now it doesn't seem worth it. I have made an appointment for tomorrow just in case, as I can always cancel if she continues to perk up, unfortunately the vet I prefer is off till the New Year.

Thanks for that LDG, it is a tricky situation though as to stop all her renal food (although she does enjoy the dry), means things would speed up even quicker - I did give her some cat pilchards on Sun though, but she barely touched them either - she has been enjoying the extra cat treats though. What I would love to be able to do the most is stop her meds, as she hates them, but to do that means we would have 2 days max before I would have to let her go.

I'm just so sorry, hun! And for strength for you.

No words can bring comfort at these times. But you are not alone.

Sweet Zi, my goodness, you have certainly done right by her. She is touching people all over the world by reading these posts.

We all love her.

God bless.

Thanks - didn't get on the PC at all yesterday as I had a nightmare day with Clyde, who I had to have pts.

Zi seems to be better, she is eating (although it seems less than she used to, but then she is 20 and not very active), her legs seem better and she hasn't yowled since the other night. I have also changed her biscuits and she seems to be managing them better, even if she does eat them one at a time!! I have cancelled today's appointment, and hope that she can cope over Christmas.

I'm sorry to hear about Clyde. that Zi continues to do fairly well over the holidays.

I am sorry to hear about clyde, for zi

I am so sorry to hear about Clyde. God bless him.

for Zi to rally and get through Christmas OK.

Thanks everyone

have had a really good morning with Zi, she has had two lots of wet, is on her third lot of dry, and has also had a few temptations and a bit of my cereal milk. She sometimes looks slightly unsteady on her back legs, but then she is 20 with arthritic hips, so think she is entitled - and it didn't stop her moving quickly and swiping Buster earlier!!

A bit of feistyness in an old cat is a good thing. I hope it goes well for you and Zi.

She is a trooper!!

It's good to hear she's eating better and still has attitude!

hmm, thought i had posted on here yesterday!! She has been resisting meds since Christmas Day night, and last night was a really bad night, I had to climb under the computer desk again, and tried to fuss her first, she was fine with that till she saw the syringe, and immediately moved her head to make it awkward to get to her mouth, clamped her mouth shut, and kept moving her head away from me. While i eventually managed it, I have decided to accept she has had enough of me syringing it into her, i wont give her any tonight, which means I have to let her go tom/Thurs. She hasn't eaten that much overnight or this morning, unless you give her treats, which she can't live on (and they are 10% higher in protein than her renal food, so will put her kidneys under a lot of pressure). She was limping again yesterday too. It is a year tomorrow since we saw the nice vet, although i had suspected it prior to that, so I think we have done amazingly well to get this far, there have been so many times i have thought that I wasn't being fair to her.

Dear Zi, I will be praying for her and you. You have fought the good fight. Be proud.

Thanks - she is fairly bright and interested in food this morning, so I am going to monitor her for now, and probably make the appointment for tomorrow.

for a good day!

I let her go this morning - while she had been fairly bright most of yesterday, her limp started really flaring up in the evening, and I had to shut her in the bathroom with her tea for an hour to get her to eat something, so I made the appointment this morning. As soon as the vet shaved her leg, he said her tendons were collapsing, which explains why she has been walking funny - he also managed to get a look in her mouth, and it was incredibly red - but she has had no Metacam for 2 days, so the inflammation was getting worse. She went part way through the injection, so very quick, so i think I got the timing right. RIP little one.

God bless sweet Zi, a trooper kitty if there ever was one. But even the mightiest oak falls, and she is now flying with the angels.

You can look back and know that you did all and more for her.

She was one lucky gal to have you, and you her.