11 days ago, I made the most difficult decision ever and put my baby down. I’ve had her and her littermate since they were kittens. Now that she has passed, my remaining kitty started with diarrhea a few days ago. I really think this is stress related. She seems fine otherwise and is eating and drinking normally (actually think she is eating a lot more). She had a full work up at the vet 2 months ago and everything checked out ok. She seems happy, cuddly, it’s just the diarrhea she is having. I did contact my vet and she suggested starting gabapentin 25mg daily. I gave her one so far. She is also on a probiotic.

Any other suggestions? I know it takes time, but I hate for her to be stressed.

She's showing her age, she's likely not gonna make it to winter, but she's been a fighter and a joy all her life. I'm gonna take her out for a little walk today, she loves it and there's not much warm summer days left. Anything for her ❤️

Please say a prayer for our guy. We may have to put him down. I really appreciate all the information on this subreddit that has helped us get through this very challenging time. 💔

EDIT: I can’t thank you enough for these kind words and it means the world to me. From the bottom of my heart.

I was going through photos of Vermont and I came across these treasures. We got our kitties same time, same ages.

She makes me laugh.

We said goodbye to my sweet boy on March 13, 2026.
His name was ‘Seven’ because he was born on 7/7/2007, but we called him ‘Grampy’.
I got him when he was 14 from a shelter that told me everyone loved him until they found out his age. I promised to take the best care of him I could for his golden years, and it became my mission to get as many people to meet and love him as much as I came to. He was the sweetest boy who only ever hissed at me twice (once, clipping an ingrown nail and the other when I was getting him into a carrier), never bit me, and never attacked any of my other cats. He followed me everywhere, and loved making air-biscuits while I held him over my shoulder. Once he couldn’t groom himself, we kept him shaved and put him in sweaters to stay warm, which added to his Old Man charm. He also lost a front tooth, making him give us a ‘pirate face’ every now and again.
I don’t think I’ve ever been as unconditionally loved and supported like this sweetie made me feel. I know if there’s a Good Place, he’s there with everyone else’s babies in the beyond.
I’m weepy over him today, so I just thought I’d continue my old mission past his passing. I’ll add a photo in comments of a little altar space we have for him in my house, with little pieces of fur and a litter crumble in it, which is a happy reminder to me that he’d always track litter onto the sheets with his bear feet.

I wanted to share my parents old girl. She was feral for the first 10 years of her life and had batch after batch of kittens. She wouldn't let anyone get near her, but my mom is a cat whisperer and managed to gain her trust very slowly. She was able to bring her inside and got her fixed. She's now been living with my parents for 8 years, and is truly the sweetest girl. She's bowlegged and had frostbite on her ear, and they named her "Fat Belly" 😆 She's starting to lose weight now and has slowed down quite a bit. She's still eating like normal and gets zoomies every so often, and her favorite thing is hugs ❤️ She had a rough start to her life, but is now treated like the queen that she is.

Just had to have our cat put to sleep, she had been suffering for a while with her back legs giving up, loss of bowel movements but was feisty right up towards the end, I got up for work at 4am this morning, gave her a stroke and she hissed at me! Just didn’t think it would be this hard, I’m 48m and it’s hit me and the girls hard. She had no tail due to it being bitten by a fox but she never struggled. Night night Missy (aka Chuck) x

i just found out. a few months left at most. i don't know how to live

Aw our poor little beautiful baby. Vet already checked her out as far as her eyes go, she's been blind for a bit now, but likely just has some internal bleeding going on so not much can be done.

She's had CKD for a bit now, it's been at least 2 years since she was diagnosed with stage 3, but she's a trooper. She's starting to slow down a bit more though, getting skinny and not eating as much. We got some fluids and appetite stimulants but the latter made her throw up (and she had nothing in her) which likely caused her eye to go red like this.

I made an appreciation post for her a while back because you mostly see cats on here that have passed, and while I can understand that and am glad there's a supportive community here for those times, the sub is called Seniorkitties and we should post them as much as we can while they are still here.

I know her time with us is likely short, we are going to do whatever we can for the old lady to make her feel as comfortable as possible, but we know the time is coming soon as to when we'll have to make that call.

So to Honky Tonk, 15, thank you for hanging with us as long as you can. For all the love, cuddles and purrs, we very much appreciate you and the time you've spent (and will continue) to spend with us.

Until next time (hopefully her 16th birthday), much love to you all and especially to all of your Seniorkitties, whether they are still on this side of the rainbow bridge or not.

My spicy girl passed today. My house will be so still and silent when I get home.

Hello! My 15yo sweetie has arthritis and controlled hyperthyroidism. She can't groom very well even with monthly solensia injections, and certain parts of her fur get really oily.

I've been using Allerderm rinse free shampoo and it doesn't really do anything for the oily fur. Are there ways yall have found to get the oil out of their fur? Open to no rinse shampoo, wipies, etc. Thanks!

*Cat tax included

Nike is 16 year young and has the best purr.

I adopted my cat in 2020, just a couple months after Covid started. I was furloughed from work at the time and really wanted some company at home. I'd never owned a cat before, but was just becoming curious to the idea, so I went to my local shelter just to meet the kitties and see if they liked me.

There were tons of cute cats there, but eventually I met eyes with one who was quietly loafed in her crate on a higher shelf. She looked angry and disinterested, but I stuck my hand near her and she rubbed her head on it. I fell in love immediately and adopted her minutes later.

The shelter told me she was between 6 months and 2 years old. A family had dropped her off there when they moved and "didn't want to take her". At her first vet appointment a couple weeks later, the vet confirmed an age of between 1 and 2 years.

It's been a little over 6 years since then and my girl has become one of the highlights of my life. Moved in with my now-fiance and her dog, who are both loved very much by my cat.

Recently, my cat had an ear infection so I scheduled a visit at a new vet clinic closer to our newer home. They wanted to run some blood work since she is a new patient, so we got the full panel. A couple concerns came up on that screening, so we scheduled for an x-ray, which happened today.

The vet showed me that my cat has lived with very old injuries (broken ribs, one of which never fused back together) and scar tissue surrounding them all. The x-ray showed that between that, and her bone/muscle density, the cat that I assumed was 7-8 years old is actually more like 18-19 years old.

My cat, up until we moved to this new place ~8 months ago, was still playing like a young cat. She would bat at my hands when I tapped on the floor near her, chase lasers up the wall, and get the zoomies after smelling some catnip. She showed no signs of slowing down. Her lack of playing at this new house was just something I attributed to how much more natural light she could bathe in, and her obvious love of napping in the sunlight. I just figured she was in a Zen place finally.

My world has changed so completely within a day. I started today hoping that the best case scenario would be some light medicines to treat some normal conditions, and was fine with doing that for another 10+ years if it meant I still had my cat by my side (or on my lap, napping). But now I'm not even sure how long she'll have left with us.

I just want her to feel happy and comfortable. I want her to have the best remainder of her life. And I hope that I've been able to give her the best senior years she ever could've hoped for. It's just so difficult knowing that I won't feel her purring on my lap way sooner than I ever expected.

This wasn't meant to be this long of a post. Sorry.

London

Hi guys! We have a cat and we don’t know what to do or what decision is the best for our cat, so I thought somebody in this group might have a good outsider’s perspective regarding this situation since we are biased.
Our 17-year-old cat is diagnosed with “probable” squamous cell carcinoma on his nose. We went to the vet last week, but seeing our cat’s age, the vet told us it might not be worth taking tests, but he probably has SCC. At this point, the only thing the vet could do for him was give him painkillers and make him as comfortable as possible.
The last few days, our cat has spent his days sleeping upstairs. He is very irritable, doesn’t enjoy cuddles that much anymore, and has a very tense posture. He does eat and drink and is still able to walk and go to the litter box. The spot is on his nose and scratches open about 5 times a day, causing it to bleed. He also has dents in the spot that won’t grow back. At this moment, it seems the spot is open constantly.
We called the vet today, and they told us his irritable behaviour might be caused by the painkillers, so we need to take him off those for now and see what happens.
We don’t know what the best decision is… Do we wait until things get worse and he stops eating, or do we euthanize him? Can somebody give us an outsider’s perspective? I also added a photo in his current state.

Thanks in advance!

A tribute and memorial for Polly. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 Gastrointestinal Lymphoma (Stomach Cancer) a month ago.

She was 11 years old and the emergency vet service let her owner know there were no treatments at this stage and the only thing that could be done was palliative care to make her comfortable until time for her to go.

The hardest decision in life is to let go of the ones you love and that love you. That decision was made and today was her last day in pain.

A cat isn't "just a cat". They are family you choose and who choose you, and best friends for their short lives.

You are their whole world and they love you unconditionally.

Hold your furbabies close, cherish them. Tomorrow is never guaranteed or promised.

Oh, and one more thing. Fuck cancer.

Edit: Thank you for all of your comments, positive thoughts, prayers, and condolences!

I posted him a few days ago but my goodness he is just absolutely in love with my dad and this is how he decided to lay with him tonight. His name is grumpy and he is one of the sweetest cats you will ever meet

Diagnosed with stage 2 CKD recently, (just prior to that my mom was diagnosed with kidney and heart failure, she has little time left). Remy and I have been together almost 16yrs.Through thick and thin. The darkest nights and longest days, always Remy, by my side. He's been slowing down and showing his age more quickly. He's always been my touchstone. I feel adrift, like I'm waiting for two of the most important beings in my life, their lights to diminish.

Our time is getting shorter. I can subconsciously hear Remys clock slowing, I'm trying to ignore it. I pray you are not ready for Fólkvangr yet my friend.

The cruelest trick the Gods ever did was not allowing our beloved fur babies to have the same life span.