Is it time to have my cat killed?

Hello,

I'm in this sad position as to wonder wrether it's time to euthanize a cat or not. This is a cat I was nourishing in my backyard and end up taking inside for winter, in a place separate from my other cats (I couldn't find the owner, and that's the reason he stayed outside so long: I have other cats). He was fine for a while, though he appeared slow: he looks to me like an old cat (the vet gave him at leas 8 years old).

A couple weeks ago, he started sneezing and, sort of like a big cough. It might have been longer than that. Maybe something has been going on and I didn't realize it was an urgent case. Nevertheless, 8 days or so ago, the cat began to make a heavy breathing sound. Brought it to the vet, and they reacted like he was in his final hours. The scans didn't give much more info. They said there was no pneumonia, but maybe there was something in the throat, and that they would need to go see there, but that the cat was too distressed to suffer anesthesia at the time of exam, so they suggested a couple days in oxygen tent and antibiotics to see if he was getting better. In the meantime they discovered he had FIV, and that wrether the cat remains alive, he wouldn't last for over a year. Basically it was "you should have it euthanized" from the start, for them.

Eventually we paid over 2000 dollars of treatment for a couple day for no results.

The vet than suggested they open the throat to see if he had inflammation or cancer (a surprising extra 600$), but that if it was cancer they would not be able to surgically remove it,

so to consider if it was worth it (as in: "come on you guys, you need to have this cat killed").

I asked if, in the case of inflammation of throat due to a cold, if that would go away in 3 days or if that could take a week or more. They said, it can take a week. So I left with medication and the cat being on Cantovonia (or a name like that) antibiotics, hoping that would be enough to cure him. It's been 5 days since the vet, and the cat doesn't breathe better. He eats his food, in fact more than usual (empties the bol), he goes to toilet, he comes to get petted (obviously not a feral cat, this cat was lost or abandoned), and looks out the window. So..He's like in pain but manage to do standard living things.

Oh, I forgot...A doctor in my family looked at the scan and think it's the ganglias which are large due to an inflammation, and prescribed penicillin (here, doctors are allowed to prescribe medication for animals). So I started with that too (hard to give... The other pills he eats them with the food, but this is a liquid that smells banana, and he has to take a lot...I have a syringe but it's a total mess).

So my point was: I don't know anymore if I should let him be like that for a couple weeks still, or bring him to euthanasia. I always read that you do it when the cat stops all activities. It's not exactly that, he goes to the windoes, comes to see me, even plays a bit when I move an object, but when he sleeps he has that constant sound and breathing problem and I don't know if it's just "I'm really sick, don't worry it will eventually go), or "Can't you see I'm dying you nutcase? Help me out of this misery!".

In the meantime, my cats are in a different place in the house, but I couldn't help one curious to run when I opened a door, and go near the sick cat. I'm worried about how easy FIV can spread. I hope I don't turn out with my other 3 cats all with FIV. Oh lord, what a mess.

BTW, hospitalizing an animal is extremely costly, so I figure that vets are focussed on "quick-curing".  There doesn't seem to be a model for animals who need long-term care. If you buy the fluid yourself and a tent, you don't have to pay high "monitoring" fees. I was literally told "if you have 12 000 dollars, we can keep your cat here for 2 weeks.". Like we are bad people because we don't have those 12 000 dollars. I'm just depressed by my experience.

Cheers,

Giacometti

Thanks all for the answers.

The cat is breathing really loud tonight, doesn't look good at all.

He makes weird throat noises while eating. He seems to want to eat

like it's taking pain away (to eat). I never saw him eat that much.

Then he's in "sphinx" position and breathes like it's really annoying

him. This "sphinx" position, but a little toward the ground, doesn't

speaks good to me. I wish there was a sign that the antibiotics

are working. How long can it take to cure a bad throat if it's

just the flu?

By the way, my mother volunteered to take care of this

cat if he comes back on his feets, and then after 2 or 3 months,

when I tests my cats, I would take him back if my cats

are all FIV (well, my mother really wants it, so it depends).

I'm also feeding another cat outside, in a heated little house.

This is a real feral cat. Impossible to approach. I had to use

traps to get her spayed. Also, once I tried to bring her inside,

but she panicked and screamed like hell for hours, so I

let her go. I've known this cat for many years.

Always strong and healthy. She will outlive many

home cats I'm pretty sure. I think she even catch and

kill birds (!).

Hello Catwoman,

Yeah, mine is also unneutered male, and he does have one ear rather ragged. It's hard to imagine him fighting, he's like a big baby when I take him (he doesn't mind me taking him in the "baby" position (legs up), which is not all cats, especially not cats you don't have a long relationship with).

But the breathing tonight is loud, short, heavy and...it's a bit like he's gasping for air. I'm just very worried I'm torturing him. He still eats though. I never had a cat with a problem like this. The other cats I had all died rather fast (one from electrocution (at the time, I didn't know a cat could eat TV cables), most others from cancer or unknown sickness that went very fast, barely having the time to visit the vet (one died in my arms while getting to the vet). They were all old mind you.). This one seems very sick, but like he's holding on. If he would stop eating and going to the toilet and just lie on the floor It'd be easier for me to know it's time for euthanasia, but instead he always wants my attention or look out the window (he wants to go back outside now. I will give him a small walk with a leech, but if he turns better I want to turn him into a indoor cat.).

I have a feeling this cat is in his final days, but it could be like this for a month or two. He's on loads of medication and nothing improves. What does Prednisolone do? This is suppose to be the main pain killer. Is it hard enough to relieve a great deal of pain?

Apart from that, I give him: Convenia (it's already injected), Penicillin, Pepcid (anti-acid, because of all the meds), and chloramphenicol. Any meds suggested for a very sick cat?

Thanks

Hello,

so my sick cat's health has improved a lot. He still has a constant breathing problem but it's much smaller, and as someone said here, might never go away. He is very playful, asks for a lot of attention, eats and go the the toilet a lot. Really, he looks more like a cat with an handicap than a sick cat rigt now.

I have the problem that sometimes he pisses elsewhere than in the litter. Not sure how to make that stop. I close many doors because of that (the main 3 rooms he uses are large anyway).

I guess I'm gonna have at some point to try and mix my healthy cats with this FIV cat. I wonder if they can get the disease by eating in the same bowls, because my cats do that, they eat in each other's bowls (sometimes the food is varied too).

My healthy cats seem happy to be separated from the sick cat. They stay away from him (he's harmless: he goes after them for curiosity and seem sad to be rejected). Only one of them makes noises of "unwelcomness" to the sick cat if he gets near them, but no violence whatsoever (it's 3 females (spayed) and he's male).

Cheers!

His name is french, Mystère LeGris, which is a playword on "Mr. TheGrey" but the full translation is Mystery TheGrey (because his provenance is a mystery and he's forever greyish as all cats can be at night).

Someone came over and was astounded at how well he's improved. He sat near us while we dined, and made a gesture with his paw, like he's been trained to ask for food that way. His purring is normal. For a while it was screeching loud and sounded very painful. We're talking of a cat that all the vets I visited told me he was finished and should be put to death. The last one gave the antibiotics, and said "try it for 5 days, and if he doesn't improve, really consider ending the sufferings". But I'd say it took more 15 days to notice an improvment than 5 days. What got me suspicious is that I've survived long diseases myself, so I thought "wait a minute... When I have a pneumonia, it doesn't come back in 5 days". At the same time he looked so terrible that I understand how

people could think he was not "coming back". It's the fact that he was still very hungry and coming for caresses that made me hesitate.

I'm guessing Feline Herpes would be a disease that my other cats could get?

Cheers!