Last night I spent 3 hours at the emergency vet with one of my cats, and at the end, I had to make the decision to euthanize. It was pretty hard to do. I've had that cat for about seven years, so she wasn't all that old relative to most cat lifespans, and she was definitely my favorite. She always slept near me no matter where I was, and had one of the craziest cute personalities I have ever seen in a cat.
Her lungs were nearly completely filled with fluid due to a tumor, something was causing serious constipation, and I could literally see tears watering out of her eyes. The vet said the chances of her recovering from it were slim to none, and I made the decision not to drag it out.
I feel pretty guilty about it now, though. Like I could have done something more, or like I could have caught the signs earlier. It was so sudden. She was just at the vet a few months ago for some ear gunk (that turned out to be nothing but just excessive wax production) and they didn't find anything abnormal.
Posting here about it is pretty lame, but I guess I'm just trying to work it out. Hurts and I miss her. Feel like maybe I made the wrong call. Don't really know how to deal with it. This is the first cat I have ever had to put to sleep, and now I'm just wondering when the other two are going to go. They both have like 5 years on this one, and I never expected her to be the first to go.
I'm sure some of you have been through it. How did you handle it?