OK, well, just so we're clear: as I said, I don't deny your right to offer opinions, I just choose not to pay attention to it on this subject. You don't have, let's say, the moral high, or low, ground and you don't have the experience. Sure you say you were sad when your cats died, but I'm willing to bet that sadness (whatever age you were) didn't last into more than the next month or so. Three years on, nearly four now, I still miss and tear up about Ritchie.
Eddie does not have no teeth: he has gum disease, which is impacting, according to the vet, one of his teeth and giving him pain. But now he says this may not be why he's not eating. So they're checking to see if it's anything to do with his legs. While he was not eating, almost at all, I was terrified and upset to see him lose so much weight (a third of his body weight over a year, and even lost a bit more between the time I took him to the vet initially, nearly two and a half weeks ago, and this time). I was not prepared to let him starve to death and quite ready to drop the hammer if I was told there was no choice.
However, if my vet - a professional, who has a great love of animals and tons of experience in advising people whether or not it's time to let go - says he can live a relatively comfortable but shorter life, I'll be guided by that. Goes without saying that if we get him back and he shows no improvement or deteriorates, we would make the necessary call. But I'm not going to have him put to sleep just because it might be easier. The easy thing is not always the right thing, and vice versa.
Eddie is the last of our cats - probably the last cat we'll ever own, at this stage - and while yes there is sentimentality and good old-fashioned love of our pet involved in my/our decision, we will as always do what's best for the cat. When Ritchie went blind, we tried for a few days but it was no use. When the same thing happened to Millie the decision was taken out of our hands, but we were thinking along the same lines.
We don't want any pet living beyond what's comfortable for them, but we're also not going to cut a pet's life short just because someone thinks it's the merciful thing to do. I'm full of mercy, and if I thought for a moment I was keeping Eddie alive past his time, I would do what needed to be done. But I don't want to lose him before I have to, and if the vet agrees and says I don't have to, then I'm not going to.
Thanks for your input and advice, but as I say, on the basis of not being a pet lover it is rejected, and again no offence. I'll be guided by my own experience with pets and by people I trust and who know me.
Long live Eddie!
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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018
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