I just wanted to post this up here. Today me, along with my mother made an incredibly difficult decision, and decided to put our 12 year old male cat, Jack, down at the vets today. He started to deteriorate about 2 weeks ago, and lost at least 8 or more pounds. He only ate tiny amounts, drank frequently, and didn't move around much. Yesterday he got worse, struggling to drink water out of his bowl, and couldn't sit down due to the complete lack of strength in his body. His back legs had basically gone, and every time he wanted to sit down he'd turn around about 7 times before settling. He was a shadow of the cat we once knew, but now I know at least he can rest in peace. This is not at all how I envisioned one of our cats dying, he was incredibly spritely, caught so many bloody birds and vermin every time we got rid of one, another appeared on the doorstep! He was a massive part of my life, and now I feel like there's just a massive hole in my heart. See an image of him below, about 4 years ago:
At first we thought he had been poisoned, but on our first vet trip they said it was kidney failure. They kept him for 4 nights on a drip, and he got better and was able to come home. It was only about a week later that he got worse, and on our 2nd visit they said it was chronic kidney failure, meaning the urine wasn't being excreted properly. It was gathering inside his lungs and I presume the pain got worse and worse. Today, I made the decision collectively with my mum, and as I left the room I exploded into tears. When I went back inside, he was motionless on the table. I took one last picture before leaving.
We didn't own him all his life, we effectively adopted them from their previous owners. Doesn't change the fact I love him just as much as they do.