Would you put your cat down?

[lmunsie1]

I'm in a really situation with my boy. He is a 11 year old siamese mix. In the summer he developed allergies with symptoms being super runny eye - over the course of figuring out how to treat this he must have scratched his eye and it turned into an Ulcer. To initially treat the ulcer we did antibiotics, antivirals, lubricating drops and put him in a cone. The transition to the cone caused so much distress that it led to a bladder blockage that needed an emergency ER visit - during this ER visit we detected a heart issue (always knew he had a murmur) but his heart rate was very low and they had to remove the blockage without anesthetic. Luckily it worked. Following this we went to a cardiologist and Freddy got a bad diagnosis - the murmur is secondary to a mild dynamic right ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Freddy has third-degree atrioventricular block which is secondary to degenerative conduction disease - the take home of this is a 1 year prognosis and he can not ever go under anaesthetic as his heart rate is too low.

The ulcer is not healing and actually has progressed to a seqestrum and we don't know why. We have tried about 10 different regimes of systemic and eye drop regimes over the past 12 weeks, we are going to the vet hospital/opthamologist every two weeks. In a normal case they would perform surgery to help alleviate the pain and heal the sequestrum, but the opthamologist can not do any of the procedures without anaesthetic.

Therefore the situation we find ourselves in is attempting on-going treatment, but there has been no improvement. As far as quality of life - he can't open that eye and it is constantly weeping. When he has the cone on he won't eat, drink or use the litter box (i have tried every dish and litter box option) so I was doing a few hours supervised with no cone where he could do those things - however he had another need for an unblocking, it has been miserable. The rest of the time he just laid around.

The last month I made the decision to remove the cone as his eye was not improving. His quality of life has slightly improved with this as he can eat, drink and use the litter box on his own schedule. He sleeps with me again at night and purrs when I cuddle him. Asides from that there is no quality of life. Eyes almost always closed, No interest in toys, scratching post, looking out the window, no meowing and chatting (all his old pre-ulcer behavious). The opthamologist is not optimistic he will get better on his own (and we are doing eye drops 5-8X a day systemic anti-virals and lysine tabs) without surgery. It could take months or years, and with his heart condition we do not even know how long he has. That being said if he wasn't for the eye condition he would currently have a normal quality of life and we would just be waiting for his heart to eventually give out. Blood work is all clean (no kidney, thyroid, liver issues etc.).... I'm at a loss of how I decide if his eye is causing too much pain and I should let him go or if I should let him live like this..............

 

[Kieka]

Does he rub his head against things as if he is trying to rub the eye?

If not, then I would assume that the eye is more of a minor annoyance that he is tolerating. One of my cats has a blocked tear duct that makes him have a weepy eye from time to time but causes no discomfort. If your cat isn't rubbing to relieve itchiness or pain, then he has probably adapted to whatever visibility he has from that eye. All the other behavior issues could trace back to just being tired of medications and adjusting the the situation (specifically reduced eyesight). I'd give it more time and see how he does once he is used to the routine. My rabbit recently decided it was fun to rush the gate and escape from his area. After three years he adjusted to his area enough to want to explorer outside it. Animals can adapt or change over a long period of time, immediate adaption doesn't mean they can't adapt.

If he is rubbing his face against things trying to itch the eye, then it probably is bothering him. In which case, I would consider quality of life. If he is doing better without the cone, I'd give it more time. Maybe see a different specialist to evaluate him. Not that your current vet doesn't know what they are doing, but different vets will have different experiences. That difference could mean seeing something just different enough to come back with a different solution.

 

[lmunsie1]

Does he rub his head against things as if he is trying to rub the eye?

If not, then I would assume that the eye is more of a minor annoyance that he is tolerating. One of my cats has a blocked tear duct that makes him have a weepy eye from time to time but causes no discomfort. If your cat isn't rubbing to relieve itchiness or pain, then he has probably adapted to whatever visibility he has from that eye. All the other behavior issues could trace back to just being tired of medications and adjusting the the situation (specifically reduced eyesight). I'd give it more time and see how he does once he is used to the routine. My rabbit recently decided it was fun to rush the gate and escape from his area. After three years he adjusted to his area enough to want to explorer outside it. Animals can adapt or change over a long period of time, immediate adaption doesn't mean they can't adapt.

If he is rubbing his face against things trying to itch the eye, then it probably is bothering him. In which case, I would consider quality of life. If he is doing better without the cone, I'd give it more time. Maybe see a different specialist to evaluate him. Not that your current vet doesn't know what they are doing, but different vets will have different experiences. That difference could mean seeing something just different enough to come back with a different solution.

This is a good point, he only rubs his eyes after i put drops in, which makes sense. I never see him rubbing it on anything ever, which is why i felt better taking the cone off, and he actually cleans his face and looks better, where as I had to also clean it before and I couldn't do as good of a job. Everything I read just says ulcers and sequestrum are very painful for them... but I wonder how anyone can know that.....

 

[Kieka]

Pain is relative and pain is not promised. Often painful isn't always painful. Most animals I've had, worry, rub, overgroom or itch until raw spots that bother them. If your cats eye is bothering, I would expect some sign of it besides a direct response to medication.

I lost a cat to cancer several years ago, we tried everything. In the end we just made him comfortable until he was ready. I don't regret waiting until I saw him declining in a noticable way with no improvement and no chance of improvement (specifically when he showed signs that the cancer was impacting his mental function, it was in his cartiod artery and he lashed out uncharacteristically with no sign of recognition of family members). Based on my experiences and what you've said, I'd give him time. As long as he is eating and is slowly improving, there is hope that he can recover from the eye injury. Sometimes all we can do is provide the time, space and support to let them heal or at least heal enough to resume some semblance of normalcy. His behavior will probably improve as he feels better and settles. I would still see someone for a second opinion on his heart but maybe once his eye is a little better.