Hi everyone, I stumbled upon this site today and thought I would get some opinions.
My cat is 17, her name is Saratoga (but we just call her Sara). My sister and I found her under a wood pile at a cow farm (a bed and breakfast we visited yearly in the summer) where she was about a day near death, having been abandoned by her mother. Sara's quality of life is getting worse and worse and I just don't know what to do anymore and I feel so badly for her.
Over the past few months she vomits about 2 times a day on average, mostly just white/yellowish bile type stuff (sorry for the details). I have been to the vet numerous times and they don't be to be too concerned about it, since it is a typical symptom of kidney disease. She is currently in stage 2 of 4 for kidney disease as of about two weeks ago. I take her to get fluids, which she absolutely hates, but that too doesn't seem to make a difference. She shakes her head and smacks her lips almost CONSTANTLY when she's awake, which the vet says means she is nauseous, but I haven't been able to help her with that.
She has been losing a good amount of weight and isn't very interested in food. I try to entice her with new offerings of food multiple times a day, but she just kind of picks at it for a brief second and then goes back to bed. I have also been trying natural approaches to care such as slippery elm bark and goat's milk to try to help with the digestive issues, but she doesn't love those either. Her bowel movements have been very irregular and are now very hard and pebble like. I have tried Miralax which doesn't seem to have much of an effect on her and if she doesn't go for days at a time I give her vet prescribed Lactulose (spelling?) to get things moving.
I am starting to feel like life is just not fun for Sara anymore :,( I know she is getting very old, but saying goodbye to pets is definitely one of the worst feelings in the world. I was wondering if any of you have been through similar events and what you did to help.
What makes me feel the worst is that I have to do some traveling starting in a week. Some of that time, almost three weeks split into two stays, will be at the vet for boarding, as I cannot ask a friend to take care of her, as she is very needy and requires a lot of clean up. I feel so guilty making her stay there for that long knowing that she will be in a cage for all of that time.
Here is a photo of Sara from last week when I took her to get some fluids. Please don't mind her right eye, it has been like that since she was a tiny kitten as the fat pad behind her eye never grew properly, making her right eye always look half closed.
Hope everyone is having a nice day! It is incredibly hot here in coastal North Carolina!
My cat is 17, her name is Saratoga (but we just call her Sara). My sister and I found her under a wood pile at a cow farm (a bed and breakfast we visited yearly in the summer) where she was about a day near death, having been abandoned by her mother. Sara's quality of life is getting worse and worse and I just don't know what to do anymore and I feel so badly for her.
Over the past few months she vomits about 2 times a day on average, mostly just white/yellowish bile type stuff (sorry for the details). I have been to the vet numerous times and they don't be to be too concerned about it, since it is a typical symptom of kidney disease. She is currently in stage 2 of 4 for kidney disease as of about two weeks ago. I take her to get fluids, which she absolutely hates, but that too doesn't seem to make a difference. She shakes her head and smacks her lips almost CONSTANTLY when she's awake, which the vet says means she is nauseous, but I haven't been able to help her with that.
She has been losing a good amount of weight and isn't very interested in food. I try to entice her with new offerings of food multiple times a day, but she just kind of picks at it for a brief second and then goes back to bed. I have also been trying natural approaches to care such as slippery elm bark and goat's milk to try to help with the digestive issues, but she doesn't love those either. Her bowel movements have been very irregular and are now very hard and pebble like. I have tried Miralax which doesn't seem to have much of an effect on her and if she doesn't go for days at a time I give her vet prescribed Lactulose (spelling?) to get things moving.
I am starting to feel like life is just not fun for Sara anymore :,( I know she is getting very old, but saying goodbye to pets is definitely one of the worst feelings in the world. I was wondering if any of you have been through similar events and what you did to help.
What makes me feel the worst is that I have to do some traveling starting in a week. Some of that time, almost three weeks split into two stays, will be at the vet for boarding, as I cannot ask a friend to take care of her, as she is very needy and requires a lot of clean up. I feel so guilty making her stay there for that long knowing that she will be in a cage for all of that time.
Here is a photo of Sara from last week when I took her to get some fluids. Please don't mind her right eye, it has been like that since she was a tiny kitten as the fat pad behind her eye never grew properly, making her right eye always look half closed.
Hope everyone is having a nice day! It is incredibly hot here in coastal North Carolina!
( My vet is only a mile away so it isn't so much of a hassle to get there. When I brought her in last week for the fluids they needed a second vet tech to help hold her down, she was very feisty! 
