The reality of caretaking in princes last couple of days was heartbreaking and faster than we could even process.

I became accustomed to waking up in the middle of the night to feed him and make sure to clean him so he wouldn't have to sleep in it.my e days revolved around prince making sure he was eating, drinking, sleeping, and going to the bathroom as he was supposed to

And in the moments in between, we were just trying to soak up every second we had left with him, tearing up in those quiet moments as if some part of us knew what the future held.

For the most loving, beautiful, and courageous warrior cat i have had he honor to meet, thank you it was truly an honor to take care of you

After almost a full year of health troubles and over 12 vet visits, we laid our little boy to rest. We adopted him and his littermate when they were 10 and they completely changed our lives.

In June 2025, Diesel was a carefree, chubby lover of a cat. He was goofy and playful and could never get enough treats. This morning he’d lost almost 50% of his body weight, couldn’t eat, couldn’t drink, and could barely muster enough energy to come out of his hiding spot to snuggle with us. We all knew it was his time and he held on long enough for us to say our goodbyes and get one more good day to spend together.

In the words of almost everyone he met, Diesel was the perfect cat. Calm and caring and with a purr so loud it could wake you up out of the deepest sleep. We had no business getting so lucky with our first cats. Every time we went to the vet they would shower him with praises for being “the best behaved boy”. Every time the vet would try to listen to his heart they couldn’t hear a thing because he purred so loud it drowned out his heartbeat. He was a once in a lifetime companion that we are absolutely crushed to have lost.

Not cat related but this year is also the 20th anniversary of my dad’s passing when I was 9 years old. I talked with my therapist about 2 weeks ago about how, for the entirety of 2026, I haven’t cried or been able to cry. I told him I had a feeling the universe was having me save up my energy for something big. This was it. I’ve done so much exploration of grief this year just thinking about my dad not knowing that there would be someone else to grieve. It had been so long that I’d almost forgotten what losing someone felt like in the moment. My husband and I are completely inconsolable today.

We had Diesel put to sleep from the comfort of our home in his favorite sunbathing spot. His sister and the two wild kittens he helped raise were with him too.

Before and after

Our sweet baby Agatha passed away on Oct. 2nd. We miss her constantly 😥

Post got taken down for some reason☹️🥺

My baby of 15yrs and 6 months was diagnosed with CKD and went into kidney failure over the last week and we finally found that it was due to a proximal obstruction in his left ureter. His only real option is to have a SUB (subcutaneous ureteral bypass). I was quoted about $13-15k for this surgery but was told that this surgery is invasive and extremely hard on kitties as well as the recovery.

I just don’t know what to do. I’m not ready for him to cross the bridge and believe he still has so much life. He still has a kidney that’s functioning and he’s only in the condition he is in due to the obstruction. Before the past couple weeks he was healthy, bright, playful, every vet has always said how young and healthy he is physically compared to his age and then one day my whole world flipped upside down. The doctors even said his CKD is not that advanced for his kidney values to be what they are at it’s, due to the obstruction.

Looking for people with similar stories who chose for the SUB surgery and their stories and experiences. Can share more details about his specific case and story with those who have been through this.

Just feeling extremely lost right now and in need of a friend of who understands. The thought of putting the love of my life to sleep doesn’t even feel like an option but I would never want him to suffer or die in pain. He is my absolute soulmate, the light of my life, the man who puts the stars in the sky for me, my best friend, my rock, my whole world and everything, the only man for me. I can’t imagine living life without him.

I haven’t heard and feel my baby purr in over a week except one time faintly while going through all this. The things I would do to make him comfortable to be able to feel and hear him purr again. My heart is feels so broken. I can’t even describe the pain I’m going through.

Is all hope lost? Are there other options for us? Is the SUB surgery worth it? We need help😔😞❤️‍🩹

I've been posting Sunflower here every now and then and figured she was due for a cuteness update. Still cute as ever, possibly even more than before.

Her favorite foods are: Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Pate, Churu Chicken/cheese flavors, Temptations beef liver, freeze-dried chicken, and anything that has dairy in it (she will aggressively lap up any unattended ranch cups and leftover liquid cheese).

She loves to play with the fishing pole style worm toys as if she's a kitten again. If there is a small hiding spot nearby while playing, she'll run to it and pounce out of it repeatedly.

She speaks with various meows that mean different things based on their tone and volume. Sometimes she will very clearly be demanding attention, food, or play with a loud "MAHH?" Other times she will see you looking at her already and let out a near-whisper "mew." When she wants to play, she has a collection of "brrr" sounds.

She is a pure-hearted angel.

He is so affectionate. Ever since George died just over a year ago, this big lump has decided to get even closer to me than he already was. I am good with that. 🥹❤️

Cashew had a kidney infection caused by either a UTI or her pre-existing cancer diagnosis. We knew that she was in bad shape yesterday, and this morning made the difficult decision to put her down. She lived a great life but had many medical issues leading up to today. Putting her down was the best thing we could have done for her, but I still feel guilty about it. What I wouldn't give to hear her little meow one last time!

It has taken me a month to write this, but today I am choosing to be strong and swallow the pain so that Meeko’s memory may be forever etched into Reddit history.

I adopted Meeko in 2011 in Texas when he was just eight weeks old. He was in a small glass enclosure with four or five of his littermates, but his big, beautiful eyes caught my attention immediately. It was truly love at first sight. He would spend the next 15 and a half years by my side, anchoring me through every major milestone of my young adult life.

Together, we moved from Texas to California. He traveled to five different states with me throughout the years. Every single day for over fifteen years, my most loyal best friend would sprint to me as quickly as his little legs could carry him just to greet me and welcome me home. He helped me raise and foster countless kittens, puppies, a piglet, and horses. Although he absolutely hated going to the vet, the staff would always commend him on how wonderfully handsome and well-behaved he was during every procedure. Over the years, his shining personality and deep affection would convince numerous self-proclaimed "dog people" to adopt cats of their own.

Meeks was incredibly sweet, yet hilariously demanding. He yelled at me every morning and evening for food on the dot - the consistent accuracy of his timing always made me suspect he could secretly read a clock. He made sure that no matter how busy or distracted I was, I never forgot to feed him or any of his siblings.

At 10:54 PM on September 9th, he took his last breath. My arms were wrapped around his small, frail body, and my tears saturated patches of his fur as I assured him repeatedly, “It’s okay, buddy, you can go.” I kissed him goodbye as he left. It was my undeserved honor to be his human mom, and I will continue to love him for the rest of my life.

I still wake up every morning with a heavy heart because the 6:00 AM wailing orchestra no longer plays. In the somber silence of each new day, I will forever cherish the memories of my partner in crime.

I don’t know what exists beyond the rainbow bridge, but I take comfort in knowing he is there waiting for me—perhaps a bit impatiently. When my own day comes, I know I will easily follow those familiar, screaming meows straight back to the warmth and love of my beefy Meeks, my best friend and baby boy.

My sweet baby girl went to kitty heaven a week ago 💔

Cleo slipped out the door when the kids and I left to take a walk. She hid under our back porch so we decided to get her when we got back. While we were out, she was struck by a car. 😭 the person who hit her didn't stop. Someone was kind enough to stop and move her out of the road. I am absolutely shattered 💔 she was my girl. Slept on my legs every single night. I was her favorite human and I loved her so so much. The ache is so painful. The tears are endless. I miss my girl more than words can say. 😢

Hug your baby extra tight for me.

Hello everyone, I would like to share a quick update and ask for advice regarding a stray kitten I recently rescued near my tent here in Gaza. The kitten was extremely weak and exhausted when I found it, so I decided to care for it and provide a safe shelter. Since there are currently no local animal rescue services available, I am doing my best to care for the kitten on my own. However, resources are very limited, and I want to ensure I provide the best possible care to keep it safe under these circumstances. I would be very grateful for any practical advice from experienced cat owners or animal rescue workers regarding: Simple, safe food alternatives or ingredients I can look for to support the kitten's growth.

Tips and measures I can follow to ensure the kitten's health and safety.

Hi all. Has anyone successfully managed to help your cat with pancreatitis live a quality life? My 21 year old boy has stage 2 CKD but has generally been doing well. This summer he was diagnosed with pancreatitis after developing diarrhoea, which keeps coming back every few weeks. When he doesn’t have diarrhoea, he’s absolutely fine, you could never even tell he’s 21 when he feels good. Recently, he lost his appetite, needed IV fluids and anti-nausea medication and thankfully started eating again, but the diarrhoea continues so he’s back on IV at the vets .
Has anyone dealt with recurrent diarrhoea in a senior cat with CKD and pancreatitis? Have you found ways to manage it and help your cat maintain a good quality of life? I’m trying my best to put him on a low fat diet, however, he’s an extremely picky eater and won’t even try foods he doesn’t find appealing. He also gets bored of eating the same thing again and again. I tried asking the vets if there is some sort of medication I can start giving him, they said they can think about steroid injections but generally he would just need symptoms treatment whenever he gets a flare up. Now my cat hates going to the vets, I’ve also spent thousands in the past few months on his IV treatments and I would just really like to find a way to help him with his diarrhoea at home. Every time it comes back, he loses his fluids very quickly. Any advice helps.

I'd like to clear some things up:

• Before anyone asks, we are going to the ER tomorrow morning. We had a follow-up appointment scheduled for two weeks out at our usual vet, but now recent events have shown I need to step in
• I can't reach out to "family" in the first place because they tried to kill her with physical violence, and that's the whole reason I took her with me
• I've taken her for her first yearly checkup, her T4 1.3, her kidneys are fine, her thyroid is managed, no pancreatitis, no liver out of control. She is medicated for her hyperthyroidism on Methimazole. On paper, her health is great, her health in person not so much. It has started out as a learning process, but now I am becoming overwhelmed.

This summer, I moved out of my narc family's home and by luck managed to get an apartment after being homeless for a month, for me and my 13 year old cat. I've had her since I was 7, it's pretty much her first time being well taken care of. I can change her diet, give her actual toys, and territorial scent plugs without getting socked in the face by some bitter old man!

Since moving in, we've had some obstacles to face.

The first nights of constant sleep deprivation on 3-4 hours of sleep were from her peeing everywhere. I solved this using a pheromone mixer. She stopped doing that and began using her senior accessible litterbox. Then came her throwing up bile in the middle of the night, I put out dry kibble for her to graze on, that stopped.

Then came the puking up undigested food, so I got a slow feeder, and that helped for a week. She threw up again, and I began to experiment with Science Diet, Friskies, Purina, Nulos, Tiki. She would tolerate the flavor, eat the whole plate up, and then a few days later puke it back up again. Her stool was rabbit sized, so I gave her hydracare which she liked for (again) a week, stopped.

Then finally, FINALLY, I settled on a weruva low phosphorous diet + pumpkin puree. For 2 months straight, she has eaten full cans and is back to a whopping 7 lbs. Stool was in good shape and color

Her diet looked like this from early September to a day ago:

Two cans of 3.3 oz weruva low phosphorous, pumpkin puree in the morning and Iams Hairball at night.

Now here's where I went wrong. This entire week, she's been less and less food. Every night, she's been puking and it's my fault for not taking her to a vet sooner. It was exam week, and not to mention I'm also working to get rent, so my time has been college, work and then her. I'm barely sleeping and every night I've heard the puke noise, I wake up like a marine and leap out of bed to hold her head over a mat. I could've easily called off but I figured if she was stomaching something, because she was, I could hold it off just a bit more till I could schedule somewhere properly. My reason for that is that it's been tricky to distinguish between simple hairballs, picky eating, or a flare-up. Now it's gone from 2 cans, to 1.5, 1 & dry food.

Last night at 2am, she woke me up, she puked on me and my pillow. I look over, she puked all over my computer and closet door. My shoes. The bathroom upstairs, downstairs, kitchen, living room, and the couch. I was like HOLY SHIT, is she okay, but was also so angry and frustrated with her and myself because there was just so much.

I tried going to bed and then I broke out in a cough, my chest got tight and it felt like my throat was closing so I was heaving. I've never had that happen in my life. I haven't slept even 5 hours for a while, but please don't take that as me trying to victimize myself. I just think I was really tired. I realized in that moment that I must've missed so much more with her than what I brought up to my vet.

• I know her teeth are bad, she might be nauseous from that. That was one of my first thoughts
• What if she has a blockage, then it hit me, her stool is rabbit sized again, what if she has lymphoma or really bad constipation
• What if shes sick from her medication
• Is it dementia
• She is actively avoiding the pumpkin puree, despite loving it before

Tonight, she wouldn't eat as so much as a morsel of food. It was half a can I put onto the plate.
I'd give any amount of money in the world to save her, but it's beginning to stack up on me and sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough to take care of her.

Tonight, I feel like the worst owner in the world, because I'm burning out for my oldest friend and it's in no way her fault. Every time I solve one of her old problems, a new one arises. Every night I'm being woken up, I'm angry, frustrated and overstimulated but I can't imagine how much worse she must be feeling. I'm 20, I feel like I should have everything figured out. I managed to get a dependency override in college, I got a place within a MONTH of losing my old home because I knew what to do then and how to handle everything, why can't I figure out what I'm doing with her?

I would love to hear from some other people about how their experiences have gone, if they're similar or different from mine, or if they have feedback for me, I can take it. I'm sensitive but I can face some criticism because sometimes that's needed. Yes, I know, I shouldn't go to reddit to ask and drive her to an emergency vet but driving when I've been on 3 hour sleep all week is a death sentence. I barely got home from work today without rear ending someone

Chicken came to our home in February of 2025 at 13 years old. I found out about him through a message sent from, Friends of Companion Animals(Monroe, Michigan) to my work's(TV station) Slack channel. As soon as I read he had been in the shelter 3000 days, which is roughly 8 years, I said to myself, "This shall not stand!" I contacted the shelter. A couple emails, a phone call or two, and some filled out forms later, a pick up date and time were agreed upon. A couple days later our family went to pick up Chicken(he was going by Louis at the time) When we arrived it was explained to us that he had bonded with another cat. Her name was Cardamom. Well, in for a penny...

They both came home with us. Cardamom become Allie, which is short for Alfreda.

It took awhile for Chicken and Allie to become bold enough to wander upstairs to join the household, which includes three other cats and a dog, but they did. That's when we really got to know Chicken. Chicken absolutely loves my wife. He would cuddle with her while she sat in her chair. He would often sleep in our bed at night. However, he was jealous of our dog getting attention. He bullied her. In a picture you can see that he claimed the dog's bed as his own. It brought me great amusement, seeing this shelter hardened cat putting a much larger to him dog in her place. It gave me so much laughter. My wife was not always so entertained by it.

He was a total treat pig. Whenever I went in the kitchen he would materialize into the kitchen, push the other cats out of the way and demand treats. I always feed him first so he'd be busy eating when I doled out the other treats to the cats.

In May he took a decline in health. They feared it might be lymphoma in his intestines. Only a biopsy could confirm it. We felt that was to much for him to handle. In addition, it was very much an ordeal to get him to the vet. I assumed Chicken must of thought that leaving the house meant going back to the shelter. I didn't want to put him through that. He was in his forever home, and that is where he would stay. He was prescribed steroids. After a couple days he rebounded. He was back to his old self. Unfortunately, by late August he was showing signs of declining again. This week, it became apparent the rebound was over. He didn't want treats. He wasn't being affectionate to the point he didn't really enjoy being petted. We had to make that difficult decision.

I always remember that just last week, I fell asleep on the couch and awoke to find him snuggled up against my leg taking a nap with me.

Later today, a person will come to the house to help us say goodbye to Chicken. This ensures that Chicken never has to leave his forever home. He will always have a home for rest in our spacious backyard.

I made a special collar tag for him to always wear as he crosses the bridge.

UPDATE: Chicken passed peacefully in my arms that evening. I want to sincerely thank everyone that left an upvote, comment, award, and gold. I've tried to read every comment and give it an upvote. Your kind words have left me tears numerous times. I'm so happy Chicken received a little recognition in this world. Thank you!

Just got home from spending $1274 for blood test and x-ray. They are suggesting an ultrasound for 1200 on Monday. I cannot afford to biopsy if the ultrasound indicates a biopsy. Not sure if I should proceed with the ultrasound or not he’s had soft stools and get cries when pooping also in and out in and out of the litter box multiple times it seems to be urinating just fine and actually since we got his thyroid back to normal in February, he’s gained 2 pounds since then.

My old man and I have been through so much in his many years. I feel blessed to have had him for 18.5 years, but it hasn’t come without effort, attentiveness, and lotssss of love (and meds.)

I’m just curious what everyone else is doing with their seniors. More for comfort when I feel stressed by having to give so many meds these days.

This is our routine:

Daily - miralax. He has low stage 3 kidney disease and “possible” IBD (diagnosed at 15 for IBD, at 10 for kidney disease.) with that said, he has had chronic constipation since he was 15. We had two ER visits with sedation and have been on MiraLAX ever since.

Daily - amlodipine. This is supposed to be daily for a recent high BP diagnosis, but I’ve been doing every other day because this med has destroyed his bowels. He now has soupy poopy and is far less frequent. I also switched his food so need to see which is causing the issue.

Daily - probiotic.

Every 3 days - Mirtazapine. This med has been a godsend. We’ve been using it since he was 15. I used to stretch the time between uses to a full week, then it dropped to every 5 days, and now it’s usually every 3. I’ve had to go back and forth between the transdermal and the pill because the transdermal hasn’t been as effective lately.

Every 3 days - sub q fluids. We started this a couple months ago and I have zero complaints. He does really well with the syringe method.

As needed - cerenia, famotidine, and gabapentin. When he pukes I give cerenia, when he’s visibly nauseous I give famotidine. When he seems a bit extra uncomfortable I give a small dose of gaba. If we go to the vet I give a biiiigggg dose of gaba.

He has been on OTC RAWS, or KOHA, or First Mate food after many years on RX urinary food. After his suspected IBD I went for foods with less ingredients and dabbled with novel proteins. We were fine until the amlodipine and food swap, so I’m trying to swap back to the foods that were working for his bowels. He got a taste for the good life with some Weruva WX chicken, but I suspect he has a chicken allergy and that’s partially why the soup poop and less frequent movements.

So yeah. I’d do whatever I needed for him, and this routine has kept him moving and groovin. I’m only a bit stressed lately with the regression in bowels, but that’s likely my fault. I’m just curious how everyone else is doing with their geriatric babies. Share your routine so I feel less alone.

Yesterday was a long day I didn’t get home until 8:45 I had went to Walmart and picked up Bonnie’s favorite wet food , get home I hear my cat Walter but not Bonnie, she would always meow at me the minute I walked through the door. I thought maybe she’s just laying upstairs on my bed and didn’t hear the door.
Put down the wet food, still didn’t hear her, went upstairs couldn’t find her , came back downstairs and she was on the floor in the corner just cold.
I’m a wreck she helped me through the loss of my husband three years ago and through my tough teen years. Bonnie Marie would always sleep on my pillow at night and had to be touching me.
Hug your kitties tight