Pass away at home?

Dr. Marie replied:

Oh dear. It doesn't sound like Potter is doing well at all. Diabetes can be such a difficult disease to deal with. I can sympathize with you because I recently lost one of my own cats to complications related to diabetes.

I often get asked questions like this about how to help a cat pass away peacefully at home. Unfortunately, my answer is not likely what you want to hear.

I can understand your reluctance to take Potter to the vet cliic for euthanasia, but I would highly advise that you reconsider.

It is unlikely that he will pass away peacefully at home. Many animals when they are nearing death with have seizures. This is even more common in a diabetic animal.

The other factor is that he is probably feeling very unwell right now. His symptoms tell us that his blood sugar is either way too high or way too low. If they are too low then he is very likely to have what is called hypoglycemic seizuring. If his levels are too high then he may go into something called diabetic ketoacidosis. Cats with ketoacidosis are extremely sick and feel extremely ill. This is not how you want to remember him.

I have a few suggestions that may help. The first would be to ask your vet if they could prescribe some sort of sedative that you could give Potter to help him to better handle the trip into the veterinary clinic. Once he is there they will likely give him an even stronger sedative before administering the euthanasia solution. The process will likely be harder on your emotions than his.

The other thought I had was to call each vet clinic near you and ask if they have a vet who does house calls. Some clinics won't advertise themselves as a house call practice but when asked, they can have a vet come out to your house.

I wish I had a better answer for you. In my 13 years as a vet I have seen a great number of animals die and I can tell you that it is uncommon that an animal will pass peacefully in their sleep. It does happen. But, more often than not the process of dying is anything but peaceful.

I hope this has helped and not caused further distress.

I will be online for another 10 minutes or so (till 9:45 EST). If you have more concerns, please reply.

Dr. Marie.


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