When do you euthanize your cat?

It is easy to decide to euthanize your cat if she is very old, in incurable pain, losing weight, has an incurable disease and sleeps all the time.

What if she is 20 years old, has an incurable disease, is not in pain, sleeps all the time, is static to the point where flies burrow into her fur and lay eggs, sleeps 24/7, refuses to come inside and requires permanent antibiotics to manage an infection in her kidneys? That is my lady cat.

My vet has just telephoned me. It happened a minute ago. I thought it was nice of her to phone me, very nice of her. I gave her the information. She hinted that it was time to consider euthanasia.

I became tearful. I love my cat more than any other creature in the world. But am I keeping her alive for me or for her?

Am I hanging on for me? As I look out the window now, I see her in the garden. She is static. She is lying down. She is in nature. She is glazed over. She recognizes me and comes to me when I go out to her provided I can wake her up. Sometimes it is hard to wake her up. She likes to be picked up and put on my shoulder.

There is almost no life left in her though. I have a week's worth of antibiotics left. What do I do when they run out?

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