Background – my poor old cat’s having heart trouble and doesn’t seem to be responding to the drugs. Been to see the vet again and we’ve upped his dose of diuretics to try and clear the fluid around his lungs. If that doesn’t work he’ll need it drained again (first time was a couple of weeks ago). The vet said if it gets to that point we’ll have to have a serious think about what’s realistic for him.

Vet was asking about quality of life and apart from breathing heavier he doesn’t look too bad, still has a good old purr when his belly’s tickled, but I know cats are experts at hiding suffering. The last thing I want is for him to be in pain and my gut tells me I’ll have a decision to make soon but how do you decide when the time is right?

Sorry bud, sounds like you’re almost there. Have been down this road a couple of times and it’s never been easy at all.
With one very ill cat, I’d already booked the vet to come out coz he couldn’t get up over the front door step. The same day, he went out and somehow killed two yellowhammers, I guess just to prove he still had it.. Lasted another week and it became clear he was in a bad way, as the step had defeated him again, so re-booked.

Sorry but I would say it is time to say goodbye. Fluid around the lungs is not great. We had a brillint cat that died horribly because we wanted to hang onto him. Sorry you have to make such a awful decision.

As above don’t make them suffer [edited] unintentionally, because you can’t make/face the decision, especially if the vets talking about it, it’s time (assuming upped dose fails to work). Horrible decision to have to make, just remember the good times.

OP, Once you’ve started asking yourself this question – I would say your almost there TBH.

Fortunately/unfortunately (depending on how you look at it) both our cats (on separate occasions) started to howl late one night – lived next door to the vets. My dad took cat to vets and didn’t come back – had tumours causing obvious distress.

Imagine it’s more difficult when the signs are more subtle, however, when you having to ‘maintain’ a pet above the normal feeding/exercise etc. I said it’s not a million miles away.

EDIT: just want to clarify they put down the cat…not my dad 🙄

I’ve no intention of letting him suffer, I think if the higher does age doesn’t work it wouldn’t be fair to put him through the draining again. He’s been so good to us I want to balance what’s right with not giving up on him.

I’m in a similar position. Our dog has terminal cancer which started in the lungs and has spread to her mouth. Vet said think of 5 things she likes doing and when she stops doing 3 of them it’s probably time. We took her in Friday because the tumour is her mouth is getting bigger. The vet said that she seems happy and you will know when it’s time. It’s a difficult balance between not giving up on them and not letting them suffer. Not much help I know but good luck at an unpleasant time.

Lack of self grooming? abnormal gait? piloerection? eye discharge? incontinence?

After years working with animals these would be my trusty indicators for an amateur, if you start seeing these signs then the animal is under stress and IMO if more than one is showing then you need to start thinking about an end point soon.