Old old cat.

[Rakala]

Okay, let me set this up for you. About five years ago my dad was at work when he over heard somebody talking about a cat they couldn't keep. The reasons were that their dog had just gotten overly mean. It's not like either was an impulse buy or they didn't think about it much, but things had just gotten out of control. It got to the point where, much to their grief, they had to keep the cat in the basement to keep her safe. My dad offered to give her a good home for the supposedly little amount of time she had left. Well 5 years later she's still kicking at age 22 and we're hoping she dies soon, not that we hate her or anything. Her name is Ms. Kitty and she is not happy with anything that lives and breathes. Why must she live? Is it just to spite our family?

[Ryudo Lee]

Some cats just live that long.  I remember hearing somewhere about a cat that had lived to be 27 or something like that.  The oldest cat we've ever had lived to be 18, if memory serves.

[Jairus]

My friends had a miniature dachshund named Madeline who lived to be about eighteen years old. Sadly, she died a couple of months ago, about a week after their rottweiler named Astraya died. It wasn't a good week for them.

[Rakala]

Granted many pets live for a long time, but seriously she's reaching age 23 with no sign of giving up! At times to be honest I wish she would've died instead of some of our other pets. She's the only of our original 4 pets left. All the others have died of something or other. (All were painless deaths fortunately.)

[Aisha deCabre]

Heh, it seems some animals are indeed like people.  Some don't want to easily give up on life and can expected to live to a ripe old age, while others can feel that it's their time to go.

The oldest pet that I've kept lived to be 13.  She too was a cat, named Tiger.  And she was also nice and energetic even in her old age, always running up and down the halls and still feisty enough to hiss at the dog.

Then one day, and for the week after, she just stopped eating.  There was no explanation, and she was always so healthy...she wouldn't eat even when we put her favorite treats in front of her.  We had to put her to sleep.  Probably one way that they'll tell you they want their time to be up.

On a brighter note though, didn't the oldest cat on record live to be over 30?

[Jairus]

On a brighter note though, didn't the oldest cat on record live to be over 30?

Yep, his name was Garfield, and he was "born" on June 19, 1978.

In all seriousness, according to Paws Online, the oldest cat on record lived to be 36 years old, and I quote:

"The oldest cat lived from 1903 to 1939, a staggering 36 years. He was a tabby cat called, "Puss"."

[rabid_fox]

It'd be interesting if the cat suddenly compressed itself to a quantum singularity, in essence living forever and fornever.

[Rakala]

It'd be interesting if the cat suddenly compressed itself to a quantum singularity, in essence living forever and fornever.

That may explain why she keeps getting smaller. >.>

[King Of Hearts]

Well, that gives me a plan crazy enough to work... is your name last Schrodinger by any chance?

[Mao]

Only when he's not paying attention.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

And if he is, he doesn't know where he is.

Or is that Planck? Or Heisenberg? I can never remember...

[Mao]

Well.. if we're going to go with Schrödinger's concepts then as long as nothing is directly observing him then he is currently in a state of quantum flux.  As such he could be any of those all at the same time.  It is only when directly observed that a state is chosen.

Which is just silly.

[VSMIT]

And if he is, he doesn't know where he is.

Or is that Planck? Or Heisenberg? I can never remember...

I think you're thinking Heisenberg.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I think you're thinking Heisenberg.

I might be, but can you be sure?

[VSMIT]

Don't know.  I'm very uncertain about it.

[Alondro]

We had to euthanize our sick kitty two weeks ago.  The cancer was spreading and compressing her lungs.  It wasn't infiltrating the organs, not like typical metastasis, just sending out extensions all over and through the interstitial tissues.

She was my first cat, Amie.  She was just 14.   

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Aww. *hugs*

[Jairus]

We had to euthanize our sick kitty two weeks ago.  The cancer was spreading and compressing her lungs.  It wasn't infiltrating the organs, not like typical metastasis, just sending out extensions all over and through the interstitial tissues.

She was my first cat, Amie.  She was just 14.   

Damn, that just sucks. It's not easy loosing a pet, it really isn't.

Our first rottweiler – Spicy – had cancer too. We tried to get it by amputating the leg that it was in, and we thought that we got it all for a couple of months, but we didn't. She was twelve when we put her down. But damn if she didn't get around with only three legs. It was absolutely amazing: within a week of getting back from the hospital, she was moving around just as fast as she did before. I loved her so much. She really was a great dog. Loved going to work with my mom, and so smart too.

We also had to put our three month old rottweiler puppy down. Remember that whole dog-food controversy a few years ago, where a bunch of dogs got sick and died because of that one dog food company? She was one of them: they almost lost her mom too, and I think that out of a litter of eight only two puppies survived. We had her for two weeks. But we gave the investigators permission to use her to figure out what was wrong and what had happened, so I guess she got her payback.

And then some old friends of our family that I mentioned in my first post. Their rottie was Spicy's sister. She was the last of her litter. Held on for about three years after Spicy died.

Damn, now I'm tearing up. 'Scuse me.

[Rakala]

First pet I ever had die was the first pet I ever had. His name was Roc, he was a black shitzipoo (shitzu-poodle). It was especially sad for me because the first memory I have EVER is the day he was brought home. He was smaller than a can of soda. He was a good dog. He lay down next to me while I was watching Titanic and just died in his sleep. I can't watch that movie anymore because of that. It's good that he died a happy and aware death. Then our first cat had to be euthanized when he had a major problem which essentially was going to slowly kill his lower body. Once again he died happy and aware. 

[Jairus]

First pet I ever had die was the first pet I ever had. His name was Roc, he was a black shitzipoo (shitzu-poodle). It was especially sad for me because the first memory I have EVER is the day he was brought home. He was smaller than a can of soda. He was a good dog. He lay down next to me while I was watching Titanic and just died in his sleep. I can't watch that movie anymore because of that. It's good that he died a happy and aware death. Then our first cat had to be euthanized when he had a major problem which essentially was going to slowly kill his lower body. Once again he died happy and aware. 

Oh, damn. That really sucks.

We've been really really lucky with our dachshund. He's thrown his back out twice and each time he's come back from it. We didn't think he was going to make it, but three years later he's still going strong. First time I saw him, he was running around on our living room carpet and I swear he looked like a rat. Ah, good times. That's the thing about losing your loved ones: it hurts for a while and the pain never really goes away, but eventually all that's left are the really good memories.

[Rakala]

Yeah. I know. Ours looked like a rat whenever he got a haircut. And then for some reason he tried to run around and nuzzle and cuddle the floor, just like whenever he got a bath. He especially enjoyed doing it outside.

But there I go proving your point.

[Alondro]

We've had only two animals not get some sort of incurable disease.  The others died from the following: 1 cat liver failure age 7, 1 dog dilated cardiomyopathy age 7, 1 cat hit by car age 5, 3 cats cancer ages 7, 14, and possibly 9, 1 bird pneumonia.

The two natural age deaths were:  1 parakeet age 15 and 1 zebra finch also 15.   And so far it looks like my cockatiel is going to live to a ripe old age.  He's 18 and they can routinely live to 27.  I've always found it odd that birds, being so small and with such rapid heart rates and metabolisms, can live so long.  I must study their genomes...

[Rakala]

What I find amazing is how long fish can live with a child shaking the bag.

[shadowterm]

This surprises me, because my grandma had a cat that was about 15 when it died, and it was not in great shape. She was blind in one eye from a fight with a skunk, and she got really anti-social. My other grandma has a golden retriever (I'm not sure how old 16-20) that has joint pain so bad she can hardly stand and has been getting seizures as of late. If the cat is in pain from age, and doesn't look like it will ever see another good day, I would recommend getting a towel and soaking it in transition fluid and putting it over its mouth (This basically painlessly puts it to sleep, it just drifts off to dream land and doesn't wake up. If that sounds terrible, keep in mind that's the best you can hope for in a natural death let alone one intended to end it's misery. Also, I do not like this solution, I think it's only forgivable when the animal is in such poor health that it no longer has a will to live.), if you just hate the ducker than deal with it, all things die eventually.

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Now playing: DOUG the Eagle - The Adventures of Pidge and Greg
via FoxyTunes

[Vidar]

Shadowterm: If you are going to euthanise a pet, please take it to a vet. They can do it professionally, and make absolutely certain that the animal doesn't suffer needlessly.

[Rakala]

Oh, the most she's suffering is the dogs that won't leave her alone. She hates those things. I have a large Poodle-Suki mix and a smaller Terrier-Poodle mix and they both want to play with her. She ignores them and goes behind the TV because they're too big. Fortunately they don't try to knock her over or bite her or anything. The only other problem is something genetic that's not because of old age, but she's had it her whole life. One of her claws is unretractable so it gets caught in the carpet all the time. She just pulls it out and keeps going.

[Ryudo Lee]

We've got a pet cemetery in our backyard.  Most of our cats died of old age, or some form of kidney failure, except for a few. 

Corey, a burmese and possibly the best cat evar, got sick one day out of the blue.  We took him to the vet and the vet told us that his symptoms were consistent with poisoning.  That was a total load of BS cuz we never keep anything dangerous within reach of the cats.  When the vet was examining Corey, he died on the table.  The vet tried to resuscitate him, but he was gone.  He then opened Corey up and found the cause of the sickness.  One of his kidneys had never developed, and the other kidney had developed a stone.  It was a really sad day.  Everyone loved Corey.  He was one of those cats that put up with everything, ate everything in sight (except for raw onions), ran away from mice, slept under the covers with you at night, and was just the most kindhearted cat that you'd ever meet.  I never heard him hiss, not even once.  Corey was something special.

We had a marble bengal named Flash.  Flash was an awesome cat.  Unfortunately, he didn't get too old when he died.  He was only 5 or 6.  For some reason he was vomiting a lot more than usual.  When the vet checked him out, he vomited all over the vet's floor.  The vet kept him overnight, and for some reason, his heart gave out.  The vet couldn't get him back.  That too was a sad day because Flash was one of those cats that you couldn't stay away from.  He was playful and affectionate, even when he got big.  He was just a big kitten... 

We had a red dog.  We figured his species was called "Heinz 57".  His name was Redd.  Go figure, right?  He was a good dog.  Mutts usually are the best dogs.  Poor Redd got the heart worms.  We never even knew until the day he couldn't stand up.  There was nothing the vet could do and he got put down.  Redd was a good dog.  Playful, but protective.  He lived in the backyard and protected his territory and the house.  Nothing got in that yard without us hearing about it.  We all miss that dog.  Sigh...

My parents know all the stories behind all the pets that are buried in the backyard.  It's one long procession of sad endings to some really great pets.

[Rakala]

Well, several of the pets that we owned and died I didn't particularly care about. Mostly because they were the small pets like hermit crabs, fish, hamsters, so on, but they were all my sisters and I didn't have any emotional attachment to them. I've really only experienced 3 deaths in pets so far out of 6. I like Ms Kitty but it won't be safe to bring a kitten in the house with her around. She's grumpy and intolerant and we're not sure how she would treat it.

Also on a ranting note we have a big white dog named Calvin. The kitten is going to be my sisters. What would be the best and of course most obvious name? Hobbes. What does she refuse to name the kitten under any circumstances? Hobbes. It makes me angry for no particular reason. 

[Jairus]

We've got a pet cemetery in our backyard.  Most of our cats died of old age, or some form of kidney failure, except for a few. 
...
My parents know all the stories behind all the pets that are buried in the backyard.  It's one long procession of sad endings to some really great pets.

To Corey, Flash, and Redd. Man, all of those deaths suck. I don't know if it's worse if you know they're going to die or if you have no idea.

My family used to have a little gray Cocker Spaniel named Little Miss Muffet (I have no idea why we called her that), but we called her Muffie. She was about fourteen, she was practically blind, nearly deaf, and could barely smell: one day when we got home she had somehow gotten out. We never found her, and guessed that she didn't last long. Poor girl.

And Rakala, I can sorta understand why your sister doesn't want to name the cat Hobbes. However, if it's an orange and black cat, she really has no excuse for not naming it Hobbes. Or Garfield.

[Rakala]

NO! It's inexcusable under any circumstances!