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Three cats -- two killed by vets, one should have been.
Cat 1 -- big calico female. She had cancer, but my wife didn't want to let her go. with the vet's encouragement, we kept her alive for three months with steroids and special food. At the last, we were force-feeding her. At the last she was having a terrible time. She finally crept off one day and died under the bed.
Cat 2 -- Russian Blue. At age 13 he developed kidney problems, and we kept him alive for the next four years by giving him 300 ccs of Ringer's solution in the neck every other day. Outside of five minutes of struggle 3 or 4 times a week, his quality of life was pretty good, though his physical ability gradually declined. At age 17 he lost a lot of weight and finally stopped eating. The vet (a differen vet) found cancer and said, "This is the end of his quality life. You can keep him alive a while, but he'll be in pain and he won't understand." I learned my lesson the first time. I took the recommendation and put him to sleep. It was hard, but better than the alternative. I stayed with him while it happened.
Cat 3 -- 17 years old and basically healthy as a horse. His teeth were in bad shape and he needed anesthesia for the teeth cleaning. He didn't recover well and died of a heart attack a few hours later. Moral: don't let vets give old pets general anesthesia unless it's absolutely imperative. The risk is greater than they let on. I know others who've had similar experiences.
But this isn't depressing. Everybody dies, sorry to say, and we gave all three cats long, good lives. I'm sorry Cat #1 had to suffer so long because we couldn't let go, though.
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