Your elderly relative is a piece of shit. Put him outside.
Edit: Also, take the cat to a vet and start thinking about end of life care for this sweet kitty and whether you want to lift a finger for your relative once he's in a similar position.
There is value to having the conversation about "holding on for too long". But...
But, "euthanasia vs palliative care" is a conversation that must be between you (the owner) and your vet
It's possible that there are other, addressable reasons for being unable to make it to the litter box, and a vet visit is necessary to identify and address these issues
As well, it's possible that it is indeed "time". A conversation with the vet is best
The little blue light on rings comes on when they pass, then when they go to check it out it makes a noise when it starts recording. By cat standards that's a toy
Bingo! I live in an area where there's lots of wild life, including cats (they don't appear to be owned by anyone) that roam through our neighborhood.. we have a camera where an LED lights up the moment there's detection, cats and racoons are more likely to approach and analyze.
You've taken an apex predator, evolved for the stresses of the tooth and claw natural world, fulfilled their every need and whim, and now all they have left is choir practice and occasional surprise attacks on unwary feet.
I think that might be geographic dependent, for instance there's nothing around here that would predate cats, which would suggest they are, locally at least, apex by default.
There aren't many wildcats left here though, maybe if there were we'd see larger predators move in and push cats down the food chain, so I can see the mesopredator argument.
I don't think foxes typically go for cats around here, and, as far as I'm aware, not much eats them either. We don't have any of the larger predators that might kill them just to remove competition either, so I suppose foxes are apex predators here too.
On the other hand, I can see either a cat or a fox being a tasty morsel for a bear, so tge whole apex/meso distinction is certainly location dependent.
This is Rocky. I grew up my entire life having cats and had a total of 9 before my wife and I got Rocky. I say that because having known so many different cats over the years, Rocky is hands down the sweetest, snuggliest, and friendliest with strangers cat I’ve ever had.
If he’s not curled up on one of our laps, he at least has to always be in the same room as us. If we are in different rooms in the house, it’s as though he gets conflicted and will lay in the middle of the hallway to split the difference.
He loves to be carried around as he lays straddled across your shoulders.
He used to always meet us at the door when we came home, and we would have conversations with him where we would ask him things like how his day was and what he got up to, and he would loudly meow between each question. But now he’s mostly deaf, so he is usually asleep in one of his many cardboard boxes around the house when we get home.
He’s a terrible hunter, but he usually does a pretty good job of at least finding a bug on the floor. He’ll sit there and stare intently at it (until he loses interest and walks away), which is our cue that there’s something there.
He’s a special little dude, and we love him to pieces.
I love gray and white cats. Had one myself many years ago. And there was another one in our neighborhood for a long time. Both of them were super sweet.
Just went through this twice in the last year with a 17, and then a 20+ year old kittie, both well-loved companions. Those last months are the hard ones, but they need us more, not less. To cut them off from us in their waning days is to spare ourselves the pain of impending loss, all at the expense of their dignity and comfort.
Gosh if only a person in his position could appreciate the need for compassion towards the elderly.
I don't normally wish ill on people and I have a passion for geriatrics but if your relative broke a knee I think they would be better off for it. A hard lesson in compassion, vulnerability and support for the disabled is a long time coming for them. If they can't recognize their sick pet of 15 years crying out for help and support then they deserve to feel exactly like that poor cat. Alone, afraid, and incapable
He recently hurt his back so badly that I had to help him get in and out of bed at night, and in the morning. When I was pregnant with my son, my foot broke because I fell down a ramp at work. I had to be placed in a boot and given a wheelchair because I couldn’t balance on crutches. I spent the night at his house, after that happened, and their hallway was too narrow for my wheelchair to fit. I asked for help and was told to stop complaining. I had to crawl to the toilet, down the hallway, because no one would help me. He brags about he used to intern at a hospital when he was in college. His job? Helping patients when the doctors placed them in traction with broken legs. I refuse to believe this man is my biological father. I swear he had someone else spit in an ancestry dna tube and just registered the tube to his email account.
There was a time when my cat owned three cardboard boxes, and whenever I wanted to take the old cardboard boxes that he had bitten through, he would chase me and meow in opposition.
Here’s my favorite picture of my old boy Kahn. I rescued him and his sister when they were itty bitty about 14 years ago. He is THE coolest cat. He has purred since the day he was born, it is nearly constant. You walk by and he flops to ask for belly rubs. He loves to have the space in between his toes massaged and will stretch his paws as wide as possible so you can really get in there.
When we got him we had three dogs. He loved them and they have since all passed. We had another dog who wasn’t with us long due to health but he loved him too. We have two new boys and it took him a second because he never had been around puppies but will curl up with them now on their bed or in front of the fireplace.
You can have conversations with him and he responds. Sometimes he is monosyllabic but will also meah back in short sentences.
He hangs out with the chickens and just chills. Such a cool cat and I will miss him when he’s gone.
I love his sister too, but she has chosen my spouse as her human and she doesn’t hang out if I’m home. She’s very stand offish and demanding. She has so many rules about who what and when she wants things and doesn’t want her time or space intruded on. Minh as you can see on her face I am intruding on her human time.
Oh, I have a similar story from my (unfortunately late) void:
Had a big chunk of pork, which I trimmed for the BBQ. All the cuttings (mostly fat) I put in a pad to render (?) the delicious lard. Somehow I forgot to put a lid on the pan while it cooled down, and the whole thing got forgotten in the mess the kitchen was after a nice Barbie and beers with friends.
Next morning I woke up, thought "oh crap, the lard". Went downstairs, first susicious thing: cat nowhere to be seen. Pan on the stove was completely clean. As in straight from the dishwasher clean. The I saw the cat lolling around on the sofa, barely awake, and almost unresponsive. Even shaking his morning treats did not prompt him to come into the kitchen (which usually was the ritual). And then it dawned on me: the little rascal slurped about a whole pound of pork lard during the night from the pan. Did not eat for two days straight, but seemed happy as a clam.
Wherever he is now, I hope he gets all the lard he wants.
I don't like your relative. Providing comfortable care of elderly and end of life pets is to be expected when you adopt an animal, even if it is difficult.
cats
Top
This magazine is not receiving updates (last activity 0 day(s) ago).