- Joined
- Apr 4, 2022
- Messages
- 2
- Purraise
- 16
My beloved cat Softie passed away late Saturday night. She was 15 and had been struggling with chronic health issues the last few years, lost tons of weight, chronic thirst, litter box problems, etc. She took a turn for the worse recently and despite frequent vet visits and medications, continued to decline. I had euthanasia scheduled for Monday with her regular vet (would have liked to have it done at home but I lost my job recently and it's very expensive, not to mention I was told I would have had to wait for Monday for that as well; the people I spoke with could not do short notice). She had been hiding under a couch for the last several days and only coming out to eat/drink/use the litter box. I suspected something might have gotten worse Saturday night when I peeked under the couch and she was laying on her side purring. I know that purring can sometimes be a sign of distress, but it also is sometimes a sign of happiness, so I wasn't sure what to think. I pet her for a while and left her alone. I thought she could hang on until Monday. Up until Saturday, she had been coming out a few times a day still, so I thought I'd just give her some more time and maybe she'd come out later.
A few hours later I checked on her again and smelled vomit, and realized she was laying in her own vomit. I pulled her out and she was in serious distress, couldn't stand up, kept wanting to lay on her side next to a wall and breathe heavy. It was almost 10:00 PM on Saturday. There are several emergency vet clinics in our area - my husband and I called around to inquire about emergency euthanasia. The closest ones were all CLOSED or closing at 10, and although we told them the situation, they couldn't take us. Mind you, these places used to be open 24 hours, hence the "emergency" title, but with Covid, they've all limited their hours. One place (45 min away) said they were open 24 hours but had 2 emergencies ahead of us and wouldn't be able to see her for 10-12 hours. That would have been at 8:00 in the morning (at the earliest). I wasn't in a state to argue, but thinking about it later, I believe this was BS because what kind of emergencies take 5-6 hours each? They just didn't want to take her, and obviously didn't care that she was suffering/dying.
Finally, I called a clinic an hour away that said they could do emergency euthanasia. I drove as fast as I could with her next to me in the carrier, opening the carrier and trying to keep my hand on her for as much of the ride as I could to try and comfort her. We get in there and have to make payment arrangements and arrangements for what we want done with the remains, before anyone will attend to her. I mean I do understand the payment stuff because people could skip out without paying. But couldn't the rest of the stuff have waited?
They asked me if I'd like to be present for the euthanasia, I said yes absolutely. They tell me they just have to take her in the back to insert the catheter and will be right back with her. While they're in the back, I hear her yowl in pain and the next thing you know, the vet comes in and says, "I'm so sorry but Softie passed while we were inserting the catheter". Obviously, I was just shocked and there was nothing I could do at that point, she was already gone, so I just asked to see the body to ensure she was really dead, and get going. Later I started to get angry, though. I mean, does this whole thing sound wrong to anyone else?
2 things I now have regret over: 1) I really wanted to be with her, but her last moment ended up being strangers with masks on their faces sticking needles in her and causing extreme pain. And 2) I had another cat euthanized once, and they did not do anything with a catheter (that I can remember). In fact, they did not take her out of the room at all, everything was done in my presence (if I remember right) and she was purring in my arms after the sedative was administered. I don't even think they gave Softie any sort of sedative, they did not mention that they were going to, just said they were putting a catheter in. And from hearing her yowl, I don't think they did a sedative. Now from doing some research, I see that a catheter is sometimes used for euthanasia, but by no means is it necessary. I guess I just assumed the vet knew what she was doing and had some reason for doing it that way. Softie was extremely weak and basically at death's door, though, so I doubt it would have taken much to euthanize her.
I feel like I failed her, but also am just as mad at all these so-called "animal care" places that don't really care for animals- 1) I'm mad at myself for not having her put down sooner. I didn't realize until Saturday that it was something we were going to have to do now. But I probably should have. I also could have taken her to an emergency clinic earlier on Saturday when they were open. Of course, no guarantees they wouldn't have made us wait 12 hours or something ridiculous like that. Which brings me to 2) What kind of "emergency" clinics close at 8:00 or 10:00 at night and reopen at 8:00 in the morning? So if your emergency doesn't happen during their business hours, you're SOL. Nice. And as I mentioned before, telling me you can take my dying/in distress cat in another 10-12 hours is not helpful. I wouldn't be calling an emergency clinic if it wasn't an EMERGENCY. Do you know what the word "emergency" means, I mean you're the ones who work at an "emergency" clinic, shouldn't you at least know the definition of the word? That's not a requirement of the job? Morons. 3) I'm really mad at that vet who was supposed to euthanize her. Now that I've done some research, I feel that she should have known this cat did not need a catheter. Also, why couldn't I be present while the catheter was being put in? Why did they have to take her into another room, without me? I swear some of these vets actually hate animals (especially cats) and do this stuff on purpose. I am grateful that this place took us, don't get me wrong. Had they not, she may have suffered through the night at home, and who knows maybe her death would have been even worse. But then again, maybe not. I have 1 other cat, but once he passes away, that's it for me. I'm never getting another one. It's too hard to know what to do when they experience health issues and the vets and "emergency clinics" are not very helpful, if anything they seem to make everything worse.
Thank you for listening to my rant, I am seriously missing Softie, words cannot express how much I loved her. I would have done anything and paid anything to keep her alive and healthy and happy, but I just do not know how I could have done that.
A few hours later I checked on her again and smelled vomit, and realized she was laying in her own vomit. I pulled her out and she was in serious distress, couldn't stand up, kept wanting to lay on her side next to a wall and breathe heavy. It was almost 10:00 PM on Saturday. There are several emergency vet clinics in our area - my husband and I called around to inquire about emergency euthanasia. The closest ones were all CLOSED or closing at 10, and although we told them the situation, they couldn't take us. Mind you, these places used to be open 24 hours, hence the "emergency" title, but with Covid, they've all limited their hours. One place (45 min away) said they were open 24 hours but had 2 emergencies ahead of us and wouldn't be able to see her for 10-12 hours. That would have been at 8:00 in the morning (at the earliest). I wasn't in a state to argue, but thinking about it later, I believe this was BS because what kind of emergencies take 5-6 hours each? They just didn't want to take her, and obviously didn't care that she was suffering/dying.
Finally, I called a clinic an hour away that said they could do emergency euthanasia. I drove as fast as I could with her next to me in the carrier, opening the carrier and trying to keep my hand on her for as much of the ride as I could to try and comfort her. We get in there and have to make payment arrangements and arrangements for what we want done with the remains, before anyone will attend to her. I mean I do understand the payment stuff because people could skip out without paying. But couldn't the rest of the stuff have waited?
They asked me if I'd like to be present for the euthanasia, I said yes absolutely. They tell me they just have to take her in the back to insert the catheter and will be right back with her. While they're in the back, I hear her yowl in pain and the next thing you know, the vet comes in and says, "I'm so sorry but Softie passed while we were inserting the catheter". Obviously, I was just shocked and there was nothing I could do at that point, she was already gone, so I just asked to see the body to ensure she was really dead, and get going. Later I started to get angry, though. I mean, does this whole thing sound wrong to anyone else?
2 things I now have regret over: 1) I really wanted to be with her, but her last moment ended up being strangers with masks on their faces sticking needles in her and causing extreme pain. And 2) I had another cat euthanized once, and they did not do anything with a catheter (that I can remember). In fact, they did not take her out of the room at all, everything was done in my presence (if I remember right) and she was purring in my arms after the sedative was administered. I don't even think they gave Softie any sort of sedative, they did not mention that they were going to, just said they were putting a catheter in. And from hearing her yowl, I don't think they did a sedative. Now from doing some research, I see that a catheter is sometimes used for euthanasia, but by no means is it necessary. I guess I just assumed the vet knew what she was doing and had some reason for doing it that way. Softie was extremely weak and basically at death's door, though, so I doubt it would have taken much to euthanize her.
I feel like I failed her, but also am just as mad at all these so-called "animal care" places that don't really care for animals- 1) I'm mad at myself for not having her put down sooner. I didn't realize until Saturday that it was something we were going to have to do now. But I probably should have. I also could have taken her to an emergency clinic earlier on Saturday when they were open. Of course, no guarantees they wouldn't have made us wait 12 hours or something ridiculous like that. Which brings me to 2) What kind of "emergency" clinics close at 8:00 or 10:00 at night and reopen at 8:00 in the morning? So if your emergency doesn't happen during their business hours, you're SOL. Nice. And as I mentioned before, telling me you can take my dying/in distress cat in another 10-12 hours is not helpful. I wouldn't be calling an emergency clinic if it wasn't an EMERGENCY. Do you know what the word "emergency" means, I mean you're the ones who work at an "emergency" clinic, shouldn't you at least know the definition of the word? That's not a requirement of the job? Morons. 3) I'm really mad at that vet who was supposed to euthanize her. Now that I've done some research, I feel that she should have known this cat did not need a catheter. Also, why couldn't I be present while the catheter was being put in? Why did they have to take her into another room, without me? I swear some of these vets actually hate animals (especially cats) and do this stuff on purpose. I am grateful that this place took us, don't get me wrong. Had they not, she may have suffered through the night at home, and who knows maybe her death would have been even worse. But then again, maybe not. I have 1 other cat, but once he passes away, that's it for me. I'm never getting another one. It's too hard to know what to do when they experience health issues and the vets and "emergency clinics" are not very helpful, if anything they seem to make everything worse.
Thank you for listening to my rant, I am seriously missing Softie, words cannot express how much I loved her. I would have done anything and paid anything to keep her alive and healthy and happy, but I just do not know how I could have done that.
Black cats.
I agree with you that the catheter is an unusual to me and in feral rescue plus over 60 years of pet ownership, I have attended many, many euthanasias. Perhaps an email to your state's veterinary board could help you answer that question and either give your mind some ease OR give you information to use in a Yelp review. Sophie isn't in pain anymore, now that she has returned to the Divine Creator, the ancestors and those yet to be born. And who knows but she might be teaching a little kitten who will have uncanny resemblance to Sophie in personality & behavior, who recognizes you at first glance and you will be sharing a much happier post with TCS . .I pray that you find comfort in treasuring your memories.
