Heart Disease and Euthanasia question

[Pouncecat1]

My 17 year old elderly cat has a heart arrythmia and high blood pressure. He recently went blind from high blood pressure and I expected to put him down at that point, however he stabilized on the blood pressure medication and his vision has returned (if not normal, he can at least still see).

My question is when to euthanize? He has increased respiratory effort- If you hold him you can see how hard he works to breath and you can feel his heart beating through his chest. Abdominal breathing - but he does have a normal respiratory rate. Possible pleural effusion? Maybe. Despite this he is his usual happy and loving self. He eats normally, uses the litter box, walks around the house, and his favorite activity is snuggling with me while I watch TV. He purrs when petted and seems content/happy with the extra attention I have been heaping on him. He's not in pain, he's not overly uncomfortable. He does complain when picked up- it must be uncomfortable for him. He sleeps a lot. Isn't very active.

Anyhow... I'm really struggling with the when... I don't want him to suffer needlessly. My other cat is going in for euthanasia soon (cancer). Part of me thinks I should take them both and get it over with. Part of me thinks maybe I could give him more time.

They told me a year ago to expect him to deteriorate rapidly and that he may need euthanasia. I made all the arrangements- got a list of after hour clinics and weekend availability and then he never did deteriorate until recently. Just shows the vets don't know everything. They made it sound like he was going to drop dead the very next day... I don't think he was ready to leave- he had two episodes that looked like a heart attack but then immediately recovered (within say 30 seconds). Part of the heart arrythmia I assume? And nothing recent- last episode was months ago.

 

[Felix19+]

Don't like the sound of the hard breathing but other than that you say he eats as normal etc and seems happy ? You know your cat the best and if you continue to keep a very close eye on him you will probably know when it's time. Have you taken him to the vet recently for a check up? Like the vets say cats are so good at covering up illness - if he starts hiding away that would be a sure sign. All the best to you and your cats.

 

[fionasmom]

Despite the heavy breathing....and how heavy may be relative to how you would describe it....it sounds as if your cat is skewing on the side of still having some quality of life. The biggest challenge for you is to watch so that you can be able to evaluate when he seems to take a down turn. As you said, you were told a year ago that he had not time left and he has made it this far. From your description, I don't know that it sounds like another year exactly, but to me it does not sound like today either. Continue to evaluate carefully and if it appears that he is in distress, it is time. The other part to that, which you seem to have covered, is that breathing difficulties can go south so quickly that you need immediate access to a vet so it might be a good idea to see if the sources you had last year are still operating at the same capacity and time frame during these COVID times. A lot of people say that one day too soon is better than one day too late which can be sensible reasoning in these cases.

I am sorry that you are facing the loss of both cats at the same time.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. So sorry for what you are going through with both of your babies. But, you mentioned pleural effusion - has that been pursued with the vet?

I know he is 17 but he sounds like, under the circumstances, he is doing pretty well overall. If there is some fluid build up, that can be addressed with meds to help ease his breathing.

Who knows how long he has, but he doesn't sound like he has 'one foot in the grave' just yet. Keep us posted, please.