More on Basil

[rkold]

To go into a little more detail, Basil has end stage cancer which is why he now has kidney failure. He's already lost a lot of weight and has steadily been losing interest in food. Each day he eats less and less. We could put him through chemo, lots of future blood tests and injects of fluid, but our vet says at the best that extends his life by a year and a half and I just worry about the sort of life he would be having. I want to make it clear, it's not that we are not willing to spend the money on our cats. Last summer, Basil was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and we paid a small fortune to get him radiation therapy. However, after treatment he was for all intents and purposes better and he was happy. I just have my doubts about how happy he would be with us trying to force him to live longer. If he were younger I might feel differently, but it's so hard when the cat is already over 14.

I do bring the cats to the vet at least once a year, so it is not as if I've been slacking in their care. Basil in particular had a bunch of appointments and check ups recently with his thyroid issues.

I don't write about my cats here so often, but they're a huge part of my life since I tend to be home quite often. I love just sitting on the couch or the bed and having a cat curled up besides me. It makes me feel loved. I love holding the cats even though they don't enjoy it. They're almost like children... and yet not. I adore them, but I know it's not the same as the baby growing in me. You also... expect to lose your pets. No matter how much you love them, I know I've always expected to outlive Cookie, Basil and Nutmeg, just like I expect to outlive my parents and for Ryuchan to outlive me.

Today Basil was no longer interested in his beloved challah, which has always been his favorite food. I can't say how many times we accidentally forgot to put it away and we found the plastic bag ripped to shreds and large bits of challah missing.

I suspect he doesn't have long now. He's no longer really eating and just seems really sad. I don't want to let him suffer like his sister did. I felt bad that I didn't realize something was so seriously wrong with her when she stopped eating but we were busy with the holidays. I think he and Cookie know he is dying.

Cookie fortunately had a clean bill of health. She's going to be 16 in a week or two.

Comments

[winter]

With renal issues, if the kidney function's low, it'll go fast. No pain (which is apparently typical), just lethargy and sleep. Mind you, the things I did to get Tonio a few more days, I might be biased towards maximising cat-time :S

[rkold.livejournal.com]

Tonio was much younger than Basil was, so it's also just a very different situation. I might have felt differently if he wasn't 14, which they say is about how long a male housecat lives. (12-14 according to Wiki is their average age)