Well that's no fun, Dana.

Poor Sammie. I'm kind of with Jesse on how to proceed.

WindSparrow - another question for the vet would be how traumatic would the treatment be for Sammie. Even when I had the money there have been times when I just wouldn't put a frail cat through a rough regimen. Good luck to both you and Sammie.

WindSparrow, if I couldn't afford curative treatment, I'd only spend the money if the diagnosis affected the efficacy of the palliative treatment. If either way it's pain pills and hydration, then there it is. I'm sorry you and Sammy have to go through this.

I just had to go on the hunt for Miss Kitty. She normally is downstairs while I work, competing with Jack for attention. When she is missing, it usually means she slipped out the back door when Jack goes outside but she wasn't out there. I did find her on my bed upstairs.

She has arthritis in her hips, legs, and possibly lower spine. She still struggles to keep her food down but now it is only once or twice a week I find that she threw up. I've tried giving her wet food - different types - and she turns up her nose. Same with some human food that is ok for cats. Though, she would eat her weight in cheese given the chance.

But I worry about her. Every day I worry that it will be THE DAY I need to make the decision to say goodbye.

Every day I worry that it will be THE DAY I need to make the decision to say goodbye.

Kato has seemed a lot more...elderly since we got back from vacation. He does okay -- he eats all his food almost every day, and he walks around fine, but he's very slow, and he does struggle to get up from lying down, and he seems to be having some cognitive decline. After losing Toke unexpectedly, I can't bear the thought of losing either Kato or Slinky, but I think at least one of them won't make it to 2017. Maybe both.

I've always been grateful that Koogie was able to slip quietly away while snuggled next to me.

I've always wished the pets would pass peacefully so we don't have to make that decision, like we did with Chloe the dalmatian. But Toke was traumatic, because I just didn't expect it. At all. I still miss her so much.

With Kato and Slinky (especially ancient Highlander kitty Slinky), we've been kind of braced for it, so it won't be the shock that it was with Toke, but it's still going to hurt so much.

I've never had to handle that decision before. With past pets, my mom was the one who took them for that final vet visit. I would have taken our dog Honey, but there were extenuating circumstances and she was available and willing.

Pets~ma all around. I've had to make those decisions too many times. Unfortunately it is part of the gig, but so is all that unconditional love so I deal.

I also follow the same rules for my pets as I do for me. I refused the amnio when I was pregnant that they wanted because I was so elderly because any results would not have changed anything about how I was proceeding, only cause me to worry. Lots of tests my Mom refuses because she is too old and frail to have any change in treatment. Like all medical decisions it really is a personal choice. Whether people choose to do minimal or maximum is a choice only they can make.