My Cat Has Cancer

sorry to hear that man. The best advice I can think of is buy another cat and have it around while you still have your 13yo cat. That way, the family will move in and love the new pet. Also, it would make the loss easy to handle. We did a similar thing, we got another dog to ease the pain for when the time comes for my old pup to leave us.

(My dog, 14yrs old, had cancer in her ovaries. We ended up paying for her to have surgery. I am glad her recovery has gone well, but man that was expensive.)

so, I think another pet would help to ease the pain.

 

Putting a pet to sleep is a horrible thing to go through, but obviously it's best for the cat and that's the most important thing. I had to put our cat down about 4 years ago because of heart disease. At first I didn't want to be in the room, but thought twice of it. I wanted to be there for the cat because I knew he was going to be scared and I wanted to be the last thing he remembered.

The vet handled the burial. His body was taken to a pet cemetary. I lived at an apartment at the time and didn't have a yard to bury him in. When our cat we have now passes away I'm sure we'll bury her in the back yard.

At the time I thought it would be months before we got another cat, but we ended up getting a pound cat about a week later. The feeling of saving another life felt good.

To be honest, I'm not sure what I would tell your young kids. I don't think I would let them in the room as he's being put to sleep though. If you decide to get another cat or pet I would think them take their mind off it a little easier.

 

The only problem with this is it might put a lot of stress on the 13 year old cat, depending on how it accepts a new cat in the house. I think he might be better off waiting. Just my opinion.

 

We've been through a lot of cats over the years and it's never easy. I don't cry over human death but I cry every time I have to make that vet trip. I try to intellectually know that the cat does not know the difference between this last trip to the vet and any other. They get a sedative injection first that totally relaxes them and then one that stops their heart. It should be so humane for people.

I don't have kids so I don't know what to tell you about that. I know we went through about 10 dogs growing up, a lot of them got run over and I don't remeber being too warped about it. We'd cry for an hour , be sad for a day or two and then happily get a new puppy.

My inclination would be to tell them the gentle truth because dealing with death is a fact of life and losing a pet is just the training wheels for losing a human loved one. But probably every real parent and child psycologist out there will disagree with me.

I got a new kitten a year or so ago, a Pixie-Bobtail. On the trip home I told him (myself) choosing to get him means I 'll have to make that trip to the vet again someday. It took a little of the fun out of it but I'm hoping it will take a little sting out of the backside too.

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. Losing a pet is never easy, and it just about breaks my heart every time I have to say goodbye to one of our little guys.

I think how much you tell your children depends on how much they already understand about illness and death. But I do think it's important to be as honest as possible with them. Do let them know that Manny is very sick and he needs extra loving care for the next couple of weeks. And when he does die, explain to them that he's gone and won't be coming back. If they have a concept of heaven, that might be comforting for them to think that he's there (if that meshes with your beliefs).

We always have our pets creamated and then have the ashes returned to us. And I always scatter them in the same place in our backyard while saying some prayers. It brings me a sense of peace and, more importantly, a sense of closure. Your children might appreciate the opportunity to have a prayer for Manny and talk about the things they liked about him and the things they'll miss. They might feel sad at the moment, but it'll pass pretty quickly as long as they're given the opportunity to openly express it.

I wouldn't get a new cat right away, and certainly not before Manny has died. Your children would likely get the message then that pets are easily replaceable and interchangeable -- not a good lesson for the little ones.

I'm sorry you have to go through this, but I have no doubt that you'll handle it in the right way.

 

Sorry to do this in this serious thread....but Manny has been telling this to all his dates and it never worked!

 

when our dog died i knew the one that was gonna be most devasted would be my youngest sister at 10. she came home from school and my mom gave her the news. we just let her cry her eyes out for 10 min. then we all dug a hole in the backyard and buried him there. there's not much else but to let time do it's part.

 

giddy - so sorry about the news. I have two kids - 11 and 13. We have lost 4 dogs over their life spans. There is no one right way to deal with things, and each child will respond differently at a different age. Don't be afraid to talk about things and just follow your gut from there. I know that may not be much help....

While honesty is generally the best policy, give some thought as to whether you want to tell your kids that the cat is being *put to sleep.* That may be a hard concept for those age kids to understand.

After our last dog died, one child wanted to talk about it all the time, the other never mentioned it until one day she said, "when are we getting another dog?" Sometimes we got a new pup right away, sometimes we waited. I would not get a new kitten while Manny is still around, that is not fair to Manny.

Most importantly, while you can't minimize the loss, the kids will bounce back (perhaps faster than the adults), and it is one of life's learning experiences.

If you can stand a little macabre humor, read on, if not, just skip it.

When our last dog died (the only natural death we have had), we had her cremated just like the others. To make a long story short, they lost the ashes. Ultimately they *found* them. In the interim I had a vision of some minimim wage guy working at the pet crematoreum, all the pets being cremated together and the ashes in a big pile. Then the guys looks at the purchase order - chihuahua - takes a small shovel full of ashes and puts in the urn. Next purchase order, great dane, takes two shovels full and puts it in the urn.

I wouldn't be surprised if that is how it happens. We got a bunch of urns in our house, I can see two from where I am sitting now, and I got no idea what is really in those urns.

We decided next time to spend the money on blowing up a nice picture. I'd bury the cat in the back yard, but I would not let the kids watch the actual burial, but definitely let them plan/participate in a memorial service.

Once again, sorry about the situation and best of luck.

 

Sorry, giddy. As a kid, my family always had cats. As I type this, my cat Weezer is staring at the monitor and playing with the mouse pointer. Cats are the best.

I agree with everyone who says you should hold off on getting another cat until Manny is gone. You should tell your kids to give Manny all the love they can in the next few weeks. Tell them he is sick and he needs lots of love from them, as much as they can give him.

I would not take them with you when you take Manny to the vet for the last time. Let them say their goodbye's before you take him, but I wouldn't tell them you're putting him to sleep. I would tell them when you come back that Manny didn't make it and he went to heaven to be with your Dad because God didn't want him to be lonely (if that's in your belief system). Tell them he's probably sitting on your Dad's lap purring right now.

It's very sad, but in the long run it's a great way to teach children about the circle of life.

 

You did. I'm sorry to hear about it.

 

There's no question you did the right thing.

And there's nothing wrong with crying about the loss of a long time pet.

 

+

 

RIP Manny.

 

Sorry for your loss. We had to get our old cat put down a few years ago (he had a nasty grapefruit-sized tumor on his back).

 

Sorry, giddy. I'll give my cat some tuna in Manny's name tonight.

You absolutely did the right thing. His suffering is over.

 

Just remember that she is no longer hurting or suffering.

RIP Manny.