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.

And they're watering the office building again. I guess the window leaks are more stubborn than they thought. It's nice to pretend it's rain, which we probably won't see for another two weeks, at least.

Kitty~ma to Sammie, Windsparrow. I agree about testing for a diagnosis you can't do anything about.

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.

What Laura said. It's never easy, and you always wish you had more time with them.

Hubs and I have learned a lot from our experiences, including that we held on too long a couple of time and sought treatment that wouldn't really help long term.

> 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

Our Truman had the same thing. We had started lifting him to his feet, as he couldn't seem to do it himself. He stopped wanting to play and was doing a lot of staring into space. We took him to the vet and she discovered he has some disc problems in his back. He is on a low-dose regimen of painkillers and anti-inflammatories and is like a whole new dog. He plays, and wrestles with our other dog and follows us around like before. It's great.

How old was Truman? Kato will be 15 in about 2 months, and he's a larger dog (60-ish pounds), so he's definitely elderly. He takes a low dose of anti-inflammatories every day, but maybe the dose needs to be increased.