kitty in the hospital

So I spent all day today hanging in different emergency rooms and hospital lobbies waiting to find out the prognosis on my kitty. My God you have no idea how attached you are to your animals until their lives are threatened.

It is interesting, as the vets are asking you all the questions needed: Would you like to euthanize if he goes in to cardiac arrest? Would you like to euthanize if he slips unconscious during the blood transfusion? Euthanize, euthanize, euthanize. All I was thinking to myself was, “no!” this little guy deserves as much of a chance to life as anyone.
I refuse to believe he is any less entitled to a shot as you or me.

It was a knee jerk reaction, really. Give him every opportunity to pull through as possible. It feels like my baby is sick. He can’t tell me what is wrong, he just cries because it hurts.
But I have a belief he will be ok. When we left the hospital he was stable and sitting up. A far cry from this morning when he couldn’t even hold his head up.

So to euthanize or not to euthanize? Interesting question. When and under what circumstances? Humane or violent?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this!
xo
a

← Older Comments
Newer Comments →
  • Beth

    Jessica says: I say NO to euthanasia. I don’t think we’re entitled to take a life, because whatever the circumstances, that’s still what it is.

    Even after what I said before I think this pretty much spells it out for everyone. That would however be the black and white version of the answer.

  • Beth

    David all I can say of the story about the woman with the two chickens is Oh My God!

  • Syleo

    its simple kill her

  • Silvia

    David,

    Well, OK, it’s not quite voluntary for the animals. Their humans chose. The pets get some water and dog/cat biscuits and their owners get a “thank you very much”. That’s it.

  • Silvia

    Beth,

    Pets do communicate. They cannot speak as like as we do, but if possible, they try to show us what’s wrong. We have to pay attention in order to understand.

  • Jade Ruby

    Beth Says:
    “David all I can say of the story about the woman with the two chickens is Oh My God!”

    I remember when I was a kid I got an Easter chick one year. I raised that chick into a fine rooster. Then my parents had it slaughtered and served for dinner. That was a lesson for me about how some people regard all animals. However, I also remember our dog Peppy that we raised from a puppy until she was nine. She had always been healthy, then one day she suddenly became ill. We took her to the vets, and brought her home. The next morning I flew downstairs to check up on her, and she had passed away during the night. I was devastated.

    So, when it comes to euthanasia for pets: definitely yes when the time comes, and you’ve done all you can afford to do for your beloved pet.

  • Silvia

    I once had some budgies. One of them got sick – fatally sick, but not contagious. I forgot the word, but there was something wrong with his lungs. The vet said that my budgie would die and that he couldn’t do anything. He even didn’t want to euthanize. Vally had to die a most horrible death… he had to asphyxiate. What was I supposed to do? Breaking his neck in order to save him from death by suffocation? I really thought about this that night, but I didn’t have the heart to do it. I can still hear him gasping for breath… it took hours until he fell dead to the ground…

    I guess this answers the question whether euthanasia is humane or not. Or was Vally’s gruesome death more human than giving the painless, eternal sleep?

  • Beth

    Silvia: Yeh I just meant they cant actually like speak english to tell us exactly whats wrong. I know they can in other ways but not in the same way that humans can.

  • Catherine

    Hi Allison,
    That’s a really tough decision. I had a horse a few years back, named Harley, who was the love of my life. She was amazing and fantastic and just perfect for me. When she got very sick I never thought it would become my decision whether to have her put down or not, but it did. She was in a lot of pain and I didn’t want her to suffer, so I asked the vet to euthanize her. It was the worst feeling in the world to hold Harley’s head in my lap as the vet’s syringe plunged into her neck … but it’s also really nice to know that she went somewhere where she could be happy and not be in pain.

    So, good luck with your cat. You’ll know the right choice when you see it.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    My wife and I had an African Gray parrot named Jerry. Jerry turned out to be a female. Jerry loved peanuts. After her death, we had an autopsy done and she had some birth defects and some problems with her heart complicated by the colesteral from the peanuts. My wife went to feed Jerry and she was lying on the bottom of her cage still alive. The only vet that dealt with birds was miles away. My wife held Jerry in a blanket as we rushed to the vet’s office. Jerry had a decent vocabulary. She referred to me as “White Guy” and would call out “Come here White Guy” whenever she wanted attention from me. But on the trip to the hospital, she didn’t have any words. Half way to the vets, she started to scream in agony and died a few minutes later. It is very strange when a pet that actually can talk to you dies.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    SpikeTheLobster,

    Welcome to the blog.

    I’m assuming because of your name that, although you have had to resort to euthanasia in the past for sick animals, you aren’t a fan of large pots full of boiling water.

    Intermission. Time for a joke. A man in a restaurant orders a lobster. When it comes, his lobster has only one claw. He calls the waiter over and asks what happened. The waiter explained that sometimes the lobsters fight and occassionally one of them loses a claw in the battle. So the man asks, “Could you take this one back and bring me the winner?”

    For the record, I don’t eat lobster … and I’m not a vegetarian … but I haven’t added any new or different kinds of meat to my diet since I was a child. But I would be an instant vegitarian if I ever had to kill something in order to eat it. I know … another topic, another time.

  • Silvia

    David,

    Quote: “The only vet that dealt with birds was miles away.”

    When I had birds I learnt that every vet for small animals (cats, dogs, birds, snakes, guinea pigs, rats, etc.) knows how to deal with them. Before I bought my budgies I was told to look for a special vet for birds. When I went to the vet with my dog Tara – I can’t remember why – but I spoke to him about my birds as well. He then asked me why I didn’t come to him for he treated birds too. So, if you’ll ever have a bird again, ask the vets in you area which one of them also treats birds…. I mean, just in case you didn’t do or know that.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    Silvia,

    My wife got a ferret a few months ago. I’ve always heard how fierce they can be, but Margie is really sweet and not at all aggressive. But our local vet won’t see ferrets — has a huge fear of them. And the local vets I have checked with aren’t willing to treat birds or even clip their nails or wings. I’ve had more luck with pet shop owners for treating birds that with vets. But I certainly hope we are done with birds forever. Now that we have cats, that’s a good reason not to get another bird — not that I need a reason. My favorite birds were my cockatoos, but they only mature to the intelligence of a two or three year old child. Imagine having a child that never gets older than two or three. It gets very tiring. They want constant attention and will act out or even self mutilate if they don’t get it. I used to work far too many hours to satisfy the birds with the time I had left. When I fed my Mullikan Cockatoo Macho (not a name I gave him) every morning, he would want to come out and play with me. I would tell him, “I’m sorry. I can’t play. I have to go to work.” When my wife got up later, she would hear Macho mumbling, “Gotta go to work. Work, work, work! Gotta go to work!” He used to sleep in the bed with his previous owner. I tried it a few times. Macho still said the same things in bed … except when he was in bed, he whispered. He has new owners somewhere … God help them. Macho used to always say, “Macho a bad, bad, bad bird!” I used to tell him that he was wrong. But he was right. He was very jealous for attention and he could scream so that he could be heard a quarter mile away if he didn’t get what he wanted. He bit a wooden ball on the top of a railing post in half. It was 3 inch diameter and hard wood. And I trusted him to gnaw on my finger. When we took him to a pet store to re-sell him, the owner ignored our warning to not put him out with other birds. He jumped down off a perch and bit the head off another bird.

    Australia doesn’t allow cockatoos to be exported anymore, but they are considered pests because they do a huge amount of crop damage. They are hunted and trapped so they can be killed.

  • Patrizio

    Cross your fingers, hope that the cats really have 7 lives!

  • joe

    noooooo
    please?
    that’s how I’d “feel”.

  • Silvia

    David,

    All pets can be jealous, especially those who has no companion of their own kind. I guess Macho is not meant to be a pet, is he? I once had two hamsters with similar characteristics to Macho. While I was having a bath, the female ate her own offspring and her male broke out and didn’t want to come out anymore. I had to disassemble the whole kitchen in order to catch him. It took me about five hours to reassemble the cupboards.

  • Silvia

    Hi Allison,

    How is your kitty today?

    xo
    Silvia

  • Alexandra

    You know I actually don’t have a pet. But somehow I feel really sad if things like that happen to other people.
    And I agree with everyone who says the only human thing to do is to put them to sleep, no matter how heartbreaking it is, if no treatments work and your pet have to suffer.

    I would like to expand that kind of topic…if its ok.
    Just think you would be in that position. How would you wanna be treatened if something terrible (accident or disease) would happen to you? Would you like to stay in a coma, in pain?…or would you rather die as the one human being everyone remembers and donate your organs, if possible and save another life?
    I was thinking about something like that for a really long time. And I read so much about it. So I decided as a 22 year old adult to get a organ donor card in case s.th. would happen.

    So have you known that even if you are 70 years old and you die and some of your organs are totally fine, that its still possible to save a other persons life with your “70 year old” organs?!
    Isn’t that fascinating? So I think everyone should have that card,don’t you?
    If possible I would really like to know your opinion on that and everyone else who is visiting your blog…what are you thinking about donating organs?Would you do it? And why if yes or no?

    Alex

  • Brent

    You have the right idea already. Love, faith and hope. Add a little prayer to the faith component and the recipe is complete. You’ve done all that you can.
    I just said a prayer for your kitty. I have faith it will be answered, and I hope it is soon! :)

  • daniela

    I think , animals should also get all opportunities. I mean you can’t say that it is ‘just’ a pet….how sad would life be without them?

  • daniela

    I’ve got to say that you keep on inspiering me !I’m from germany, and I’m really glad that you’re so talented. i like your character (smallville) best ;) i think chloe is the most down to earth , she’s not getting crazy and stays true to herselfe throughout the many seasons. I hope you send more of those video blogs on youtube because i think the conection’s better. I wish you luck and continuing success :)

  • http://twitter.com/JustaGirl1984 Jennifer

    I had a dog that became very ill. We did everything we could and in the end putting him to sleep was the best thing for him. It’s so hard for animals because they don’t understand what is wrong, you can’t explain things to them, they just know they don’t feel well. Putting down my dog was the hardest thing I ever had to do, but I know it was the right choice. It wasn’t fair to him for me to keep giving him medicine that wasn’t working, and keeping him around for myself. He need to be free of pain, and that was the only way I could do it.
    I know it’s a hard decision, and only one you can make. Just know that your kitty loves you and will love you no matter what choice you make in the end.

  • Silvia

    Hi Alex,

    Quote: “So have you known that even if you are 70 years old and you die and some of your organs are totally fine…”; “So I think everyone should have that card,don’t you?”

    - Well, only if one is healthy. E.g. People with an autoimmune disease shouldn’t donate blood or organs because of the antibodies. People who need some new organs or blood are already sick enough; their bodies shouldn’t additionally have to fight somebody else’s antibodies. That could be life threatening for the blood or organ recipients.

    Quote: “what are you thinking about donating organs?”

    - It’s a good thing. Healthy people should have an organ donor card, but only if they feel okay with it.

    Quote: “Would you do it? And why if yes or no?“

    - No, vide supra.

    best wishes,
    Silvia

  • Roy

    Well I hope your cat is getting better, any type of medical issue with an animal is usually tough to watch, as they are like a child, with you being their parent. Unfortunately, it does happen, and euthanizing pets has became so common placed in our society as a form of control on the pet population, that many people do not think twice. However, like mentioned above, with the cracking of the cat’s chest… some techniques are just too traumatic for an animal, as it is human medicine, and well they aren’t human so they wonder what we are doing to them. Its good that euthanizing is so strongly looked against by pet owners though, because a pet is just like a human, even if it can’t speak to us! Everyone and everything deserves the chance for a miracle, and miracles happen for everyone and everything.

    Once again, I hope your cat keeps on improving!!

  • Alexandra

    Hey Silvia,

    yeah you right with the fact that nobody with an autoimmune disease shouldn’t donate blood or organs because of the antibodies. But every clinic has tests to see if everything is allright. Means they scan if you have diabetes, HIV, hepatitis and so on…so even if you would have a card and you get one day a disease they wouldn’t use you as a donator anymore. So there is no risk for the organ recipients.

    “It’s a good thing. Healthy people should have an organ donor card, but only if they feel okay with it.”

    I totaly agree. Its still something big to do. And nothing you can decide in a second. But I guess if you see someone close die and nobody could help. It kind of changes your mind. Thats what helped me to make my decision.

    Thank you for your response,
    take care Alex

  • Effulgent

    It’s a hard one to call regardless of how one waxes poetic on the topic, until your faced with it you don’t know the heart wrenching panic at facing loosing your “family” member. Having had many pets i can only speak frm my own experiences, and on this subject imparticular, the only way i was able to put down my furbaby was when i realized i was putting them thru so much uncessary pain and distress (they just want to be near us and comforted as best as possible…as they do not deal with pain in the same way we whinge n moan about it..nor do they panic at realizing death is near…its when they instinctually seek to be sheltered and comforted in the quiet familiar) I didnt want to do that to my precious buddy, add to their distress, id given & done my best for them for 16 years and it didnt compair to what was given to me in return. So the very least i could do was make them comfortable as possible…and stay with with them while ‘nature’ took her course.

    Too often we do all we can to keep an animal alive, surgeries ..therapies..meds…on and on in a freightening sterile cold enviroment…and its the last place they want to be when its down to their last hours. And we tell ourselves its for them…when the truth is…its for us.

  • Cara

    I’m so sorry to hear about your cat. I have a pet too, a dog, and I remember one night she had a sort of rash, you could tell she was very itchy to the point she was loosing it. I kept scratching her back that gave her some relief.

    Somtimes she would whine and cry like she was in pain, I almost started crying because I had no idea how to help her.

    Luckily she finally calmed down and got some sleep but I felt like a Mother trying to comfort her baby…she’s fine now and I’m happy she didn’t have to go to the Vet.

    I wish all the best for you and your cat. It’s hard to make the choice, giving some time is good. Wish you the best and the best for your cat.

    Take Care,
    Cara

  • arash

    Cara,
    I am sorry if your dog was in pain because of “A rash”. I never meant to hurt any body.

  • Alice

    It depends. Sometimes euthanasia is the thing to do. Like if your pet’s illness is incurable and he/she is in pain, euthanasia will prevent further suffering. And the best way is to use intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital (I read that in Ingrid Newkirk’s 250 Things You Can Do To Make Your Cat Adore You). But if it’s something that can be cured, I’d pay whatever it would cost to help save the life of my probably my best friend, like I would for myself and my family. They deserve to live and be treated like we do! You should really read Ingrid Newkirk’s book I mentionned earlier (co-founder of PETA), it’s great and has lots of info.

    Take Care!

  • Jade Ruby

    arash,

    Cut it out.

  • Gilles Belanger

    hey allison and all.. i hope bosely is ok allison. its awful when a pet u love is really sick. i think if the animal is really in pain and theres nothing to do then its best to put them to sleep.. but i believe in miracles. so just do what you think would be right. but hopfully ur cat will be better ..

  • arash

    Jade Ruby,
    I guess, I stand corrected.

  • arash

    I am sorry Jade, I usually have a hard time sharing the stressful part of my days with other people and keep it to myself but instead just goof around to make myself feel better and get over it.
    I hope no body ever gets offended by any of my comments. I appologize if that has been the case.

  • Jade Ruby

    Aw arash, no need to act rash, or apologize rashly, it wasn’t arashment after all.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    No need to cut it out if the skin itches, just use a little Kal-O-Mine Lotion.

  • arash

    So will our community ever have an election or I am getting all the publicity for nothing.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    For nothing. This isn’t a democracy.

  • http://www.daybow.com David Hayes

    Arash,

    I missed the end of the Tomato movie. Did the Incredible Edible Hulk get his just deserts at the end?

  • arash

    I was saving him for the sequal (next mackevent) but he turned red.

  • Megan

    Hi Allison,

    I am a huge fan and a long time reader of your posts but this is my first time commenting on your blog. Being the cat lover that I am I felt inclined to put in my two sense here. First, I am so sorry to hear that your kitty is ill and I really pray that he recovers 100%! Second, the reason I feel so passionate about this topic is because i’m a huge animal lover and the “mommy” of two beautiful kitties! I’m 27, married for 7 years, and my husband and I honestly consider our cats to be our children. They give us so much joy and comfort and emotional satisfaction it’s impossible for me to understand how anyone could mistreat these magnificent creatures! That being said, I think that animals deserve the same respect in death as humans do. I’m not saying that people who euthanize their pets are bad people or that they didn’t love their pets very much, I just disagree with their logic. When people are sick, we take them to the doctor and pay for the necessary medical treatments until that is no longer possible…then we do whatever it takes to make them comfortable. Even if I couldn’t afford medical treatment for my ‘babies’ I would get whatever drugs were medically necessary to keep them out of pain until God decided to take them up to kitty heaven.

  • http://rjchasez.livejournal.com RJChasez

    I know I don’t exactly comment all that often here, but I’m so sorry to hear that Bosley’s sick, Allison. :( I hope he gets better soon.

    As for the subject of euthanization, it’s a subject I’m very torn on. My dog, Tiffy, who passed away in November, was an integral part of my life since I was only a child. She came into our lives when I was only nine years old, and was like the younger sister I never had. She developed a form of canine Cancer, and though it originally went away via surgery, it did come back. She was in a bit of pain during her last year of life, but I just didn’t have the heart to put her down. It somehow seemed very cruel to take her life, even though she was very ill. I just wanted her to live out her life, for however long that it was. Perhaps I let her hang on too long, because the last day she was alive, she was really suffering. I planned to have her put down the following day, but as it turned out, she passed on that night, and the decision was taken out of my hands. Maybe that’s the way it was meant to be, though the way things played out still sort of haunts me.

    So I guess what I’m trying to say is that, for some people, Euthanizing is an option, but for others, it’s just another decision that is very hard to make. You have to do what you feel is best, ultimately. If you decide the condition the animal is in is one that they can survive for a certain period of time, then by all means, let them live. But if you feel it’d be best to let them go, you just have to let them go. I honestly don’t know what I’d do if I was ever presented with this situation again with my puppy or my ferret. It’s so very hard. I really hope Bosley recovers well, so that you won’t be faced with this sort of decision.

  • Nathan

    Hey Allison,

    As a lover of animals I can imagine how hard that would be. I hope your cat recovers and the bond between you both gets stronger and stronger. Animals are amazing and I hope it works out for you so youcan have the weatlh of good memories with your pet that I have had with all mine.

    All the best,

    Nathan

  • Silke

    Everybody who has pets have to make this decision one day ! I have paid hundreds of dollars to vets, but sometimes you the only reason why you not make the right decicion to let your pet go! I have lost 2 dogs and 1 cat it is always bad, but a life only with pain is not the life i wish my pet! My cats name is shiva she is a Anatoly cat white with a blue and a green eye, she is now 6 and one day I have to make the decision again! I wrote about my last cat Mietzi, it is in german in Abschied/ Abschied von meinem Liebling http://www.nordsternchens-katzen.de/

  • paul

    “Now my point is that; we are very racist animal lovers. And I don’t understand why one life should have so much more value than other.”

    arash, you have a point. It is completely irrational, to lavish care on one animal while eating other animals. But isn’t being irrational okay at times? Sure we anthropomorphize our pets, treat them like they’re people… but is there anything really wrong with that?

    I love both my cats. I pamper them, I talk to them, I do all that silly stuff. And then all three of us share a chicken sandwich. Go figure.

    (I have never met a vegetarian cat.)

    As fond as I am of cats– and I’ve always been a cat person– I know in a sense that they are in a sense just little biological machines. They operate largely on instinct. I don’t believe they have anything much like consciousness or any sense of the future… in this they are perhaps fortunate, in that they have no foreboding of death.

    Perfect Zen creatures, they live purely in the moment. They don’t worry about the future, and they’ll never have to stress over questions like euthanasia.

  • arash

    … so if you see lots of tomatos on the stage in next year’s Academy awards, that would be about my movie!

  • arash

    paul,
    There is absolutly nothing wrong about loving our pets. I just want to make it clear that it is not about them, it is about us! We need to be the source of love. We need to care, to connect, and be sure that relationship is under our control from start to end. You dress your dog. He hates it, but still you do. You make sure he has cute haircuts, does he care how he looks? Even paying $2000. for his operation, there is always ‘your’ moral obligation that is involved.
    At the end it is how much you love him rather than how much he needs to be loved.

  • JBdude27

    Its great that Bosely feels better. Well i would say “no” to euthanasia.Usually If it would suffer too much/too long and the meds couldnt do anything to help soo yeah i will agree that.

  • arash

    So first we tried to keep wild animals as pets but we had to constantly keep them in cages or chained because there was no way they would chose to stay with us. Then finally we started creating genatically designed dogs incapable of surviving on their own, teaching them how to shake hands and behave well. Now they have to be ‘rescued’ from shelter because they have been ignored and neglected by their previous ‘owner’.
    The dog and the chicken are both serving us. The difference is that as humans we have more needs than just food.

  • arash

    Now the cat is a whole different story.
    Am I on top of the list of most frequent posters yet ?

  • garbhan

    hmmm, maybe this is my catholic upbringing coming to surface or maybe my own personal views but in any terms i wouldnt. i mean i believe nature should take its course. i mean if the cat got worse and you went a head with the euthanize you will be constantly asking yourself, what if i held on for an hour, would i have made a different decision. im a firm believer in miracles and positive energy. i think if you go through with anything like that one needs to be prepared with the consequences.

← Older Comments
Newer Comments →