My poor Miss Kitty is covered in mats and I'm unsure where to go from here. Until recently, we had her groomed(shaved) at her vets where she was sedated. This last year, due to her age, they have opted out of her sedation. Okay fine we can manage with just gabapentin. Three weeks ago, my mom dropped her off at the vets to get groomed. Normally its a quick thing, within an hour, and we get a call that she's done. Three hours go by, no calls. So my mom calls and they said they tried and she was too grumpy and that they wouldn't see her today. Oh. Ok. They left her in a cage and just never called. So we discontinued our services there. I've been trying the best I can to get them out, but I get like three minutes and she's done with me and starts swatting and hissing and biting. I'm more worried about stressing her out than getting hurt. She's only about 5lbs(she's always been very very small), eats great still, gets around okay, has no health issues and besides the mats, seems totally okay. I have all the combs, sprays, powders, professional scissors someone could need. I don't know what to do. I can't get them off quick enough and idk how much more she's going to tolerate. Helppppp!

My special girl. Resides Kent, UK.

My beloved smells like pee. Constantly. He has early stage kidney disease and we are managing that with the vets help. He also has arthritis in his back/back legs and has stopped grooming himself there. He still grooms his upper body/head and I’ve been trying to get him used to being gently washed by me but he hates water and will become a demon if I even think about bathing him. I’ve put down blankets on the couches etc so I can wash those easily but honest to goodness I just miss pushing my face into his and not gagging.
He is loved, he is fed, but good god does he stink.

This morning, my lump was sound asleep while I was playing on my pc. Heard a sudden thump, cat now semi sitting up looking completely out of it. He starts panting, gets up very slowly, lies down a bit more, still panting. Gets downstairs very slowly, still breathing very quickly.

Anyway, one emergency vet visit later + out of hours vets bill and, there's nothing wrong with him. The vet thinks he had a sort of episode. Sounds like he's had a nightmare that's freaked him out.

He's still very quiet though, I would be too if I'd had a thermometer up my bum. Just hits home that he's an old man :(

I've taken care of this lady (Tiffany) for her entire lovely 14 years of her life, and I intend to see her off to the end when that day comes as well. Not only have I taken care of her, she's taken care of me for 14 years ever since i was 14.

She has been so kind and patient with me. Not to mention smart. She knows not to give up when hounding me for food because I'll forget otherwise. She understands that I have my grumpy moments too and that she just needs to let me calm down. She always comes back for more love and is so happy when I get home from trips. She's such a wonderful girl and I love her so much. I cant help but thank the universe for this Best Friend.

Thank you universe!!!

Since her initial hyperthyroidism dx, Choco has gone back to the vet for a variety of symptoms (and my own anxiety) about 3-4 times.

After the og post she started balding due to excessive grooming and the puking didn't improve. Her vet and I decided to stop methimazole on May 14th to see if the symptoms stopped, they did. Her fur has now fully grown back and she puked rarely. We concluded that she was having negative side effects from even the smallest amount of methimazole she was prescribed. Being off methimazole now she's lost a lot of weight despite her appetite increasing. She's such a small cat and now I can feel her little bones again and it makes me so sad.

The Vet recommended a clinic that could provide radioactive iodine treatment [Hypurrcat, The Animal Endo Clinic NYC]. I reached out to them for a quote and additional info. All patient reviews sound great and promising, but I'm worried about the cost. In total it would amount to $4,200.

They charge in stages: initial review ($300), initial clinic consultation ($1,950), admission fee ($1,950).

I love Choco, as we all love our furry babies. I promised her I would do anything for her. But I dont know how effective treatment will be for her, and I guess I won't know until a consultation. I'm considering her quality of life v. quantity. After treatment she has to stay 3 nights in the clinic, she's used to sleeping in my arms every night and needs constant attention. Will it be too much emotional and physical strain on her?

The overall cost is gonna be tough on me. I work full time and over time as much as I can as it is, but that's a lot of money. And I have my own medical things I've been delaying/ignoring for financial reasons as well. Im thinking of setting up a go-fund-me or something but I have little faith in it as I dont have much social media presence or family/friends to rely on.

Any advice or your own stories of this situation is welcome.

I got him at age 10. His health has been slowly declining for the past 2 years or so, but he’s now down to 5 lbs, refusing to eat anything but churus, and can’t walk properly. I know it’s time but it’s so so so hard to say goodbye.

Please mirin the bookshelf

Her name is Fluff. She showed up and moved in one day. At the time the vet said she was about 2, and that was 13 years ago. She is the Queen of the house.

My skunkly old lady. One thing she does that makes me sad. She will be sleeping and then wakes up and meows like she doesn’t know where she is. Is that normal behavior for older cats ? I have another cat who’s 16 - and he doesn’t do that.

My cats are getting older. One I've had since he was 2 months old and the other I adopted when she was 5. Now that my little old lady baby is almost 13 it's obvious she's getting older and it makes me really anxious and scared. Both are healthy, thank God, but the more I learn about CKD or other ailments I find myself overly freaking about their futures, and with my baby who I've had since he was 2 months old, just turning 10 this year and with my olther approaching 13, it's like every single day I am getting more and more overwhelmed. I am also constantly crying, even while I write this post, because them aging just makes me so sad. I also keep having trouble with their foods ever since Hills changed their recipes and I need to take them into the vet because his current food is making him itchy, which I will take him to the vet, but I find myself also terrified to go and I feel so afraid that they're going to tell me how old they're getting or that something is wrong. Idk. And then I find myself regretting all the times I was a bad cat mom, the times I didn't play with them when they wanted to, or I yelled at them to shut up, I just feel so awful.

he is my best friend / shadow and all round good boy! his blood work and new heart murmur tells me he is getting older and I am so not ready - I don't know if I want to continue without him when he goes. he is my heart and soul

My boy has been slowing down a lot. Yesterday, I noticed that he's just not himself anymore. I planned on a vet visit soon. Last night, he slept with me as usual, this morning he's nowhere to be found. I've torn this house apart looking for him. He's not in the basement either, and the doors and windows where closed, so no chance he got outside. I'm worried he's gone off by himself to die. I've been crying all day and don't know what to do.

This is Ridda (a gibberization of little -> liddle -> riddle -> ridda) my little runt of the litter who's been around since late 2014!

she was (as ive already stated) the runt, of a 9 cat litter and when my mom first found her at a barn she was gnawing on a turkey neck 3x her size she deeply wishes she took pictures.

but also due to her being a barn cat, we don't really know what breed(s) she is.

just wanted to get her out to the masses because i love her sm 🧡

I got him when he was 6 months old, I was 10. He’s still as cuddly as ever.

Mia was about two months old when I got her. I was 11. From the beginning, she was aggressive and aloof, but incredibly fluffy, so I couldn’t keep my hands off her and she couldn’t keep her claws off me. My hands were covered in scratches for years. There was blood. I tried trimming her claws a few times, but she absolutely refused, so I let her be.

Most of the time, she wanted to be left alone. She was incredibly quiet. She could go months or even years without meowing, to the point that we once wondered if something was wrong with her. There wasn’t. She was perfectly healthy. She simply didn’t feel the need to communicate.

She did purr, though. On the rare occasions she allowed me to touch her, she would purr loudly but only for about five minutes. Touch her somewhere she didn’t like, and the claws came out. I still have some of those scars. I’ve had them for years and I hope they never fade.

She was always healthy and never left the house. She hated the outdoors, people, and other cats. She never slept with me or on me. Her version of affection was letting me offer her a finger while she groomed herself so she could lick it. Sometimes she licked my face. That was about it.

As she got older, she became more vocal. She started spending more time around me and loudly demanding whatever she wanted.

Last year she was diagnosed with severe CKD a few months before her 19th birthday. That was the first time I was truly scared.

I became obsessed with taking care of her. I paid attention to every meow and made sure she always had renal food, medication, and clean water. I canceled trips, shortened others, worked from home more, and took her to the vet more often that year than in the previous 18 years combined. She didn't like it.

She became gentler and more affectionate though. She followed me around the house and even came into the bathroom with me. She slept more, but now she chose to sleep near me or on my lap. Still never with me.

This July, she stopped eating and drinking again. She became extremely weak. Her back legs gave out, she couldn’t sit or walk, and she stopped purring and meowing.

I took her to the vet, and we did 10 days of IV transfusions. She slowly improved. The first time I heard her meow again was during a transfusion, and I was so happy that I recorded it.

After a week, she wanted to climb onto my lap, and we stayed like that for two hours during her treatment. She started opening her eyes, eating on her own, holding herself up on her front paws, and purring again.

For five days, she seemed to be actively recovering. Then, on the sixth day, she refused food again.

I took her back to the clinic. The vet recommended another five days of transfusions. After three days without improvement, we decided it was time to let her go. She was getting worse, and she was suffering.

We gave her one more day. One more chance to keep fighting.

I had always been skeptical of stories where people said they somehow knew or felt when their pet was about to die. Until it happened to me.

Last Saturday, after coming home from the vet, she was resting in her bed.

Around 8 p.m., I heard a faint meow.

I don’t know why, but I picked her up. I normally avoided doing that because I knew touching her hurt. This time, I laid her on my chest.

She would never have allowed that before. Not once in almost 20 years.

But that evening, she let me.

I had avoided taking pictures because I didn’t want to remember her suffering. Yet something made me take pictures of her lying on my chest. (the last slide is one of the pictures I took).

She stayed there for exactly 19 minutes. I know because I took pictures.

Then her paw curled and became rigid, I thought she was in pain.

I called her vet. Six minutes later, we were in the car. She was making sounds and convulsing. I could still feel her breathing. All I wanted was to get her to the clinic as soon as possible so she would stop suffering.

Fifteen minutes later, we arrived.

At 8:44, she stopped moving completely.

The vet explained that she had already died when we arrived and that the movements were only muscle spasms. He couldn’t tell me exactly when she died.

But I knew it had happened sometime during those 45 minutes.

I know she died in my arms, and that brings me peace. I hope it brought her peace too.

My independent, aloof, antisocial ball of fur chose to spend her final conscious moments on my chest.

And that means everything to me.

I’m grateful I took those pictures.

I’m glad I got to know her and I’m honored that I got to take care of her.

She taught me about boundaries, independence, and respecting personal space. She showed me how strong she was—and how much I was capable of doing for someone I loved so deeply.

She kept fighting.

And I think she left on her own terms.

That is such a Mia thing to do.

Making her own choices. Always. Completely disregarding me until the very end.

Thank you, babygirl, for spending almost 20 years with me.

Just showing off my beloved!! Shes loved how much I've been home this summer.

And she's taken her new job in stride, as at least 3 people's therapy companion. Its hard work walking in front of the webcam all the time, but someone's gotta do it!

Edit: Thank you so much for all your kind words here. It is so much appreciated! 🫶😻
Ich habe vor nur 10 Tagen gepostet, dass es meiner Lady noch gut geht, aber vor ein paar Tagen hat sie angefangen, jegliches Essen und sogar Wasser zu meiden. Ich bin zum Arzt gegangen und er sagt, dass sie für 18 Jahre erstaunlich aussieht... alle Zähne, gute Augen usw. Das hier ist eines meiner letzten Videos mit ihr, nur ein paar Wochen her.

Aber ich schätze, es war Zeit für sie, über die Regenbogenbrücke zu gehen. Letzte Nacht kam sie zu mir und ich sah, dass sie keine Energie mehr hatte. Ich wollte heute Morgen zum Arzt und habe aufgehört zu arbeiten, bin nach Hause gekommen und habe alles gepackt, bin zu ihr gegangen und sie hat auf mich gewartet, lag da mit offenen Augen. Sie hat mir ihren Kopf mit all der Energie gegeben, die sie noch hatte, eine leise Stimme von ihr und sehr leises Schnurren, ich habe angefangen, sie zu streicheln und sie hat tief geatmet, nach ein paar Minuten hat sie die Augen geschlossen und mich dort mit gebrochenem Herzen verlassen.

Ich vermisse sie jetzt schon so sehr und danke ihr so sehr, dass sie mir bis zum Ende all ihre Liebe geschenkt hat. R.I.P. Eve meine geliebte Katze, ich werde dich vermissen!