The news is better than I expected it to be. I'm glad that he's holding on and giving you a little more time with him.

Oh, him feeling better is plenty good enough to hold off the vet visit as long as that means he's feeling Ok more than he's feeling yucky. He has a giant cancerous tumor growing in his face and it will eventually most likely cause him to stop eating altogether and that is a terrible way to die, so no, I won't let that come to pass. Once he starts showing me that yucky times outweigh OK times, well that will be the time for the vet visit. There isn't a way to cure him of this, so this is an inevitability. There's no "happy" option here, the only ending is how he ends up dying and yeah, I'm glad to know that I have an opportunity to give him a peaceful death.

That's terrible news about your friend's brother. Without more info, it's impossible to say how he will do. Don't be afraid to ask her how he's doing. It's not like you'll be needlessly reminding her that he's ill, obviously she is probably thinking about that a lot right now. I bet she'd appreciate that you're thinking about her and even if she is trying to take a break from it, I'm sure she would not it against you that she was in your thoughts.

she said "today he is worse than yesterday"
I am not quite sure what going on with him. I know his health wasn't good before, they were even considering amputating his foot (diabetes) but then decided not to.
Again, if he survives... who is going to take care of him I wonder. He is single. He was living with roommate. She is generous, so he would probably move in with her. I dunno.

That's a tough one, Chipper. My advice would be to just be there for your friend because it doesn't sound like this is going to be an easy situation.

I emailed a vet who does at home euthanasia almost exclusively. She was recommended to me by a vet I met at work. I don't work on Thursday and so I'm going to see if we can have her come over then. UGH!

My poor cat. His dementia is getting worse. The other day, he hopped into the shower while it was on and then just stood there meowing because he didn't know what to do. I had to fish him out. If you've ever had a cat, you can understand just how confused he must be to actually jump into a running shower. And then not claw me as I fished him out. That whole situation just really made me so sad for him and made it clear to me that we've arrived to that point. He's having accidents, his face is a mess with food because he can't eat properly, he's so skinny. It's time.

I'm so sorry that it's come to this.

Thanks. Again, I appreciate this thread for giving me a place to shamelessly vomit all of this stuff in an appropriate place as opposed to work or somewhere ridiculous like that. I definitely get that I am doing a bunch of navel gazing here with regards to this whole thing but it really helps to actually type it all out. I also super appreciate the kind words.

I'm honestly, very sorry to hear. I know it's hard, to give up a life-long friend. Few years back, I had to put to sleep, a dog that has been around for 10+ years (her total age was 17).

He's had a great life, with you. I'm sure that even through all that pain and dementia, he is happy to be with you still. You gave him a nice home to live out his life, and I am sure he is forever grateful. When the time comes, may he rest in peace.

He's gone. The vet who came over was really nice and it went well. He was so ill and so old that he started to pass just from the anti-anxiety med she gave him. He purred until he couldn't anymore and I petted him the whole time.

Oh geez, I'm a mess right now but I'm glad we're done. He was so skinny and dehydrated... god, my poor cat.

Love you Syrus! Best cat ever.

I'm so sorry.

I bet he is happy in heaven now, I know you said you're an atheist, but I just know he is somewhere special and happy now. Be free Syrus.

Thank you.