As I've posted before, I'm attempting to let my nearly 17-year-old kitty with a suspected brain tumor (presumed secondary to nasal/sinus) transition at home. To accommodate his needs in the face of growing neurologic deficits, I began helping him walk by using a sling or just holding him up, put him in diapers for incontinence (which, surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind), and began hand-feeding him. In time, he became too uncoordinated to eat and drink on his own (intention tremor and, the vet thinks, some facial paralysis due to cranial nerve involvement), so I progressed to administering sub-q fluids at home for hydration and hand-feeding using a syringe and catheter tip for nutrition. I'll be the first to admit I probably should have euthanized him at this point, but I didn't, although all of my previous pets have been; I simply couldn't seem to do it with this special pet. At any rate, that went pretty smoothly for a while -- I finally learned to manage the needle, and he happily ate the softened meals I squirted into his mouth, until a day or two ago, when he became bringing it up again. It seems he can't hold down his food anymore or digest it (it came up the next morning in the same "noodle" shape it went down in the night before). Rather than subject him to that anymore, I've just stopped feeding him, but am continuing fluids. He basically sleeps ALL the time now, and I expect him to pass naturally within a day or two. He was always thin (runt of the litter), but as this illness has progressed, he's eaten less and less as he's slept more and more and is by now emaciated. I'm worried that standard euthanasia may not even be possible at this point as a result (if his veins have collapsed) and the vet would have to resort to the "heart stick" method. I also don't know if I should continue the sub-q fluids if he's actually in the dying process; on the one hand, it may plump up his veins so I could now consider euthanasia, but on the other, if his organs are shutting down (including the heart), couldn't it result in pulmonary edema? I'm administering 100 ml's per day. I expected (and vet confirmed) that death from brain tumor wouldn't necessarily be painful - he's never seemed to be in pain - and that he'd just fall asleep and not wake up; possibly a seizure, which also wouldn't be painful for him. If he were to pass from malnutrition now that he's not eating at all, the expected end was a heart arrythmia and a sudden and again painless death. But none of these things have happened. I seem to have painted myself into a corner. I definitely will NOT attempt this again, but now I need to know what to do from this point onward for the best death. It's all been very peaceful so far, but I'm so afraid of something going wrong and causing pain...
Help!
Help!
Last edited: