Some of you might remember not long ago I thought Mia was at the end of her rope, but at first all the vet saw was a loose tooth that he removed. I didn't have the heart to get back on and say she wasn't getting any better and a month after the tooth was pulled, she went back to the vet who felt a very large mass near her intestines. We agreed no surgery, it was spreading very quickly, so I brought her home for whatever time she had left.

That was just before Easter, and this week her body started shutting down. I'm bringing her to be put down tomorrow. I'd never seen an animal terrorized to go into the vet's office by the second visit, like Mia. I plan on giving her a 1/4 of 1mg xanax to sedate her before leaving. I'll check it out first with the vet, but I'm not gonna allow her to feel terror to be there on top of not coming back home.

She's been with me a long time, this past week there were a couple of wierd things happen. One night I awoke and without moving, just opened my eyes. Mia was wide awake, just laying there facing me, her eyes just gazing into mine as I fell asleep again. It was like being a child and waking up for a moment to see your mother or a loved one just watching you as you sleep.

Another night that week I again woke up for a moment, in the middle of a dream. Mia was stretched out more relaxed than I'd ever seen her, sleeping, and a feeling came over me that we were sharing the same dreams.

Very quickly after that, she was going downhill, couldn't get comfortable on the bed and began laying near a window where she watches the birdfeeder. No more laying on her side or stretching, the mass must have become too large and painful. She lays with her legs under her, on the carpet. A few times she's lost her balance. Often, she seems confused, just sits by her food tray like she's forgotten why she's there. She's begun chewing her water, licks at her food. Please wish us luck for tomorrow. Thanks everybody....Soho

Soho, your words are so touching when you speak of Mia. My thoughts will be with you tomorrow. It sounds like you both have your dream worlds in common Perhaps in the future she will visit you via the dreams. My beloved pets have come to me that way. It's obvious you have given Mia a most wonderful life. xoxo

I feel your pain , I'm sorry you have to go thru this, you will feel very low for awhile , but take solace in that you gave you animal friend a good life , and now he must move on.
I lost my best dog friend of 16 years a while back , and still think of him every day , it's rough , i wish you serinity and hope you can get thru this without to much pain.
Wishing you the best,
John

SoHo ,
My heart is breaking for you. My cat Morris went through the very same thing as Mia. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to indur. I cried and sobbed an ocean of tears.... But know saying Goodbye to him was only temporary and I will see him again. God knows your heart and when you cry he cries too. I pray you allow The Comforter to comfort you in this time of sorrow. I am here for you.

SoHo, I am sorry to hear of your little friend's suffering, but she will have peace and comfort, and you will she her again. I know there are no words that can make it easier, just think about how she will no longer be in pain.

I don't know about xanax, but if you have some valium you could give her for the trip, that is what my vet used. I hope it works for her either one, and that she is not scared of the trip.

You will be in my thoughts and prayers.



http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm

We lost our beloved cat last summer and I still feel the pain. My heart is with you.

My love and prayers are with you. I have a 14 year old cat. I treasure every moment. I came close to losing him a couple of years ago. They are truly one of a kind! I feel sure Mia will always be with you in spirit. I am truly sorry for your loss.

I hate having to go through this.. you are a good cat mommy.

While she cannot thank you for what you have to do tomorrow, as a fellow pet owner and pet lover, I thank you for your courage.
Your words and your relationship with your cat is what it means to have a pet in the family.

My thoughts and prayers are with you tomorrow as you go into the vet's.

SoHo, I am so deeply sorry about Mia. I know your pain, I have been there. May you find peace in knowing that she is no longer in pain. My heart and prayers are with you.
Khilee

SoHo.. iam so very sorry to hear of the pain your going through,,, its so very hard saying goodbye to our little furbabies,,,my little fluffy (bootie)was in renal failure for months, i tried everything to save him,, meds,special food,iv fluids 2 times a day,,, sigh... i remember looking in his little eyes the day before he went to heaven and it was like he knew it was time to go, even though his poor little weak body could barley move ,he still purred in my arms ... As we drove to the vet the next day he rested his little paw in my hand as if he was trying to comfort me, I believe we will all meet up with our furbabies again,and when that time comes the tears of saddness will be replaced with tears of joy ,,,keeping you in my thoughts ,prayers and heart SoHo... big hugs for you ..sincerely Faith

Soho, I'm so sorry to hear about Mia - please let us know if we can do anything to help. always know that there is an ear if you need to talk!

I'm sorry for you loss.

My thoughts are with you also. I'm worried though that the vet will not agree with you about the sedative. Many vets shy away from giving cats sedatives and I feel in this case you should use your own judgement if they fail to help you give a correct dosage or offer something for Mia.
There is not much harm I feel you could do to her and remember it could take Mia's system longer for the meds to work if she becomes scared and her adrenaline jumps in her system.
My heart is just breaking for you and Mia.
I will try to find something about sedating a cat just incase. Is there anyway the vet can come to you?
K

I'm sooo sorry about the pain you are struggling with. I'm going through the same thing with my boston terrier. She's in the last hours of her life now. I'm praying she'll go peacefully in her sleep. If I find she's in pain I too will have to take her to the vet. If I have to do it I'll use Valium. Xanax sometimes can stimulate an animal. Mia's in my prayers with my Sadie. May god make their departure gentle.

Here's some idea's you can discus with the vet so you can help Mia through this and of course help you see she is more comfortable. I've used Acepromazine in pill form on the dogs and it can take a long time to kick in. I would say 60 to 90 minutes but I've also seen it kick work in less than 30 minutes. Remember stress to the Vet this is only for this time so they should allow it.
I will be thinking of you tomorrow.

Injectable anesthetic agents fall into three main groups: Barbiturates, Dissociative Anesthetics (DAs), and Nonbarbiturate Hypnotics. Acepromazine, the most commonly used sedative, is used in conjunction with an analgesic such as pethidine or buprenorphine to provide a reliable sedation.

Soho my thoughts are with you today. I wonder if you had the strength to go in. I have had to gather it up many times.

I know what is going on. Your cat knows she is dying. My cats do that they stare into my face as though they know they are leaving and they want to drink my vision into their memory. I wonder sometimes if they know something we don't. But the deep look I have experienced.

I am close also with my Baby Boy. He had his teeth extracted and he has a heart murmur and they said if he made it through the surgery it would not be long. I had to go ahead with it he had an infection. Years have gone by and he is dropping weight. I dread what is to come.

Euthanasia is a gift we give our cats. It is clear you gave your cat so much love.

I hope you remember how much you did for her and she is fortunate to have had a loving home.

We are here for you.

soho,

so sorry to hear about your cat.

i am going through the same thing with my 15 year old rottie. they (large breed dogs) traditionally only live 10-12 years, but he had his 15th bday early this year.

he is getting to the point where it is hard for him to get up, (his back legs) and he has this horrible ear infection that will not go away no matter what we try. (medication, changing food...etc)

i can tell we are nearing the end and it is killing me. i have had him since he was 6 weeks old, he was a tiny little guy, the runt of the litter. i didnt even plan on getting him that day, but was working and drove past a sign that said rottie pups for sale. his mother was an american rot and father a german rot. both great AKC bloodlines. i stopped in just to look, it was a litter of 15 and they were all born with an extra toe! 2 dew claws... all of the pups had lost this extra toe but him... and he came running up to me and jumped into my arms the second i walked into the room... needless to say i left with the 6 toed rottweiler after coughing up the cash. it was meant to be...

just last year he was 150lbs and now he is down to 95 when i had him at the vet 2 months ago. he is like my son and i can't imagine the day that i come home and he is not there to greet me with his nub wagging and wants to lick my face off. talk about unconditional love. i will never have another dog like him in this lifetime. got him the year i was finishing up college so i had the time to work with him daily then. taught him english, german, and hand signal commands. he is such a good dog. quite frankly, my best friend in the world.

i was recently laid off and have been able to spend all day with him for the last few weeks... almost as if this was supposed to happen as i don't think he is going to last much longer. i can't stand to even think about it.

my heart goes out to you and mia. may everything go well tomorrow and your little mia will not be in pain anymore. and as someone posted the link earlier, mia will be waiting for you at the end of the rainbow bridge.

my thoughts are with you and your furry little friend.

FB

All of you have the kindness of angels, and where else can you post something that most would kick to the side, but here, be overwhelmed with the love this group has for their pets and each other.

You're right, the vet wants to give me something (3 pills) to give her, because he doesn't know how klonopin or xanax would work. I gave it another day to make sure about this, and because sometimes things just don't make sense, like being torn from others you love. That's just how I feel truthfully at this point. This life is too hard at times.

I would like to answer each of you who have reached out to me. And I certainly want to know how each of your lil ones are coming along. I am crying now, because people like you are a gift, and I'm tired of losing people, pets, too much pain in a lifetime.

I'm going to get myself together and go get her pills, get out for awhile. Thank you, please don't be surprised if you get pm's from me, I feel close to each of you and want to stay in touch through what's happening with your babies, if that's OK.

The shelters around here have limited public hours. But I plan to look for another female cat, maybe about 6 months old, this week. Talk to you later, and God Bless every one of you! You're my family right now. Soho

Funkybreakz, thank you too, I didn't bypass your post, your's just came before mine was finished. Thank you for sharing this pain with me and the rest.

I am so sorry to hear about Mia, I guess by now it is over. I hope you can find some peace within. It is a terrible decision to make and sometimes the guilt creeps in. You did the very best for her, as now she has no more pain. She knows her mommy loves her. I worked in the cat room at the shelter yesterday, there are so many that need love out there. She was lucky to have you to love her all her life. My heart breaks for you.

I don't know if this is against the Rules, but there is a good site with a great forum about pet loss called rainbowbridge.com. There are some wonderful people there, they helped me a great deal when I had to put my mother's dog down in December.

I am thinking of you.

Soho,

I knew what would happen. You need to gather up the strength and it has happened to me so many times. You will take care of it when the time is right for both of you.

There was a time I could not be in the room but now I can. As hard as it is I must do that. I am strange though when my cat is gone I cover her or him with a blanket that I bring from home usually a baby blanket and I don't want to see my baby being carried off. It is easier that way for me.


We can have them bury our pets at the pet cemetery.

I hope you realize this is a kindness. Dogs and cats hang on much too long and then they suffer.

I hope you realize we are all thinking of you and we hope to hear you are all right.

Sorry about your cat. Don't be in the room when its put down. Our vet clinic can cremate. It the cats in this much discomfort your doing the rite thing. It just sucks having to do it. I thought i was going to have one of my two cats put down. But she is doing extremely better. I wasn't going to do it. I was going to have my father come home and take care of it. He grew up on a farm. He is a oldtimer.

OK, I see something too. With cancer, there are better days than others. When I got home with the sedation, Mia was laying curled up on the couch pillows like always. I figured the mass had shrunk alittle or moved, making her more comfortable. That was enough to think, not tomorrow.
Of course, she didn't stay that way for very long and went back to legs under stomach thing, under the end table.

I know that so many of you are having the same kind of troubles, pets get so sick, almost out of nowhere. I feel that all these good thoughts actually helped her feel better today, that a few minutes of positive energy sent her way by all of you did reach her. I don't doubt for a second the power that pure intentions have, just didn't think my cat could be reached through time and space that way.

What do you think of using our pet thread to urge more healing in pets through the positive energy held by people here, whose animals could really benefit? I'm not kidding about how you pulled my cat through another day. It seems like just a few minutes caring about a pet (or probably anything important) by a group (this group has tremendous stored up positive energy when it's tapped into) could possibly aid in healing your own sick pets.

P.S. Thank you Rina and Rapteur for adding your good thoughts, it is so much appreciated. Soho

I think positive thoughts are great and a thread for dealing with older pets and the challenges we face would be nice.

Cats do have better days and that is when it is so hard. You will know when it is time.

If it hurts you too much then by all means don't go in the room. I feel better when I do. They give my cats a sedative first and they look so calm and so it is a peaceful way for them to leave.

Hi SoHO.. thats a wonderful idea,,, iam so touched to hear how your little furbaby Mia had felt some comfort .. We all love our little fluffies so much and its never easy to see them suffer ,, please know you and mia are in my heart,thoughts and prayers,,,take care SoHo,,, many hugs sincerely Faith

OK Muse and Faith, I think that thread is on the VIP side right? Well that just wouldn't do, would it? I'm thinking of taking all the posters from this list who wished me well but have sick animals and start with our 'positive energy healing' through talking them through but will you help me? It just takes words of comfort and pure intentions for the health of their pet. Mia will most likely go in tomorrow. I don't think she's behind her eyes anymore. Please let me know if you will be part of this effort in a thread, because I saw that it energized my cat for the day, but she is terminal, not trying to heal exactly. It's good for the owner and the pet, do you think? Or too far out?

It is not too far out. I think we need to talk about how to deal with these issues and we all have pets and we can try and help one another.

More than anything else we need to know that others understand what we are going through. it helps to have support when we need it. If you need to take some time away Soho afterward you do it. Sometimes the pain so so bad I cannot talk about it for a while.

yeah you gotta deal with it just like the death of a loved one--so depending on how you deal with death it can be either hard or not so hard--my neice has always had pets and they die--she has the family come over and she has a service we bury the pet and make a stone shrine and she reads a eulogy of the pet---i can see 2 shrines from this window one of my brothers dog --"button" a westie, and another of "angle" a boxer, you'll get through it

I agree musician. I know when I lost my first furbaby, I cried for weeks. I kept remembering all the little things he would do. It took a long time to get over it and swore I would never get another one. But hubby wanted one and finally talked me into getting Colby. I love him a lot, but he will never take the place of my first one.

My family was my support but it would have been nice to have had a place like DB for added support.

Take care SoHo,
Khilee

Thank you for the beautiful pics, I'll be giving Mia the first pill about 2:30 to see how it works within 90 minutes. If she's still alert, I'll give her a second pill shortly before 4:00, then we leave. She'll be out of it if this is at least the stuff they give you for long trips to keep a pet sedated.

She stopped eating for the most part about five days ago, and usually I have to remind her to drink water by carrying her to the tray. She hasn't slept with me in about five nights, so she's turning within herself. Last night she was twitching a bit and her eyes had a kind of angry look, so I don't think she needs another day of what seems to be pain, irritability, being in one spot all day and night. My Mia left a few days ago and won't be back, but it's been gradual enough to let acceptance set in. She cannot come back, or she would. There's a finality to it that in the evening makes me lay down next to her on the floor and commune somehow. It's time, even if she perked up for another ten minutes.

Most people I guess do have family/friends to share with, but sometimes with grief, like you said, it takes longer than others can stand to hear about. I think any kind of loss, through death, abandonment, just the finality of an ending is more painful than anything else in this world. Like losing your own leg or arm, something very very important is gone. For awhile how can anyone feel anything but hopeless and helpless under those circumstances?

I think I'm over the worst of it, it was so bad for a long time. And I have to begin working again. But you bet very soon I will be at the shelters looking. And we'll start that thread for others who are having a hard time losing their best friend. I know a couple here did mention the website, rainbow..? Your thankful friend, Soho