Cat suffering from kidney failure, when to euthanize?

My cat Boots is 18 and in kidney failure. Her condition progressed so rapidly and now she looks awful and stumbles around some times in the day. She sleeps most of the time, gets medicine in the morning to push her to eat and only eats a few licks of her wet kidney medicine if I add a treat to it. Sometimes she’s lively and follows me around, but mostly she sleeps. She loves being brushed and still purrs, nudges for more brushing, and touches my forehead with her nose. She still drinks water, goes to the bathroom but hasn’t pooped in days and in the morning she cries for food and follows me, but doesn’t eat unless I provide incentive. I’m not keeping her alive for my sake, if she’s truly suffering I want her to go peacefully. I just don’t want to feel guilt later if I euthanize and she still had more time. What should I do?

There’s a saying: ‘a week too early is better than a day too late.’ If your elderly cat is in pain, you owe it to her to make the hard call. You took care of her for her long life. Take care of her now.

If she’s crying for food but reluctant to eat, she’s probably nauseous. My cat has CKD and she is 17. She gets subq fluids every other day at home, wet kidney diet food multiple times a day, and sometimes she gets a Pepcid or Zofran for nausea. She was diagnosed last year. Maybe ask your vet about something similar?

@Tru
No to the human meds, they are too strong for a cat. It is time for Op to let her go.

Honestly, from your description it sounds like it’s time.

Could you talk to your vet? They would know the overall case better than us and have more experience on when it’s the right time to humanely euthanize. I’m so sorry you and your cat are going through this. My senior cat is laying on my chest as I type this, and I can’t imagine my life without my little buddy.

@Murphy
I plan to talk with my vet in the morning. I’ve been trying to see how she would do through the week and keep changing my mind because she’s had both good and bad days. But what she’s showing me now has made me too worried. It’s insane how weeks ago people were telling me she didn’t look 18 and now she just looks haunted.

This is how my cat was for a while and I was selfish and pushed her to keep living. She could drink a gallon of water in a few days and became too tired to go into the litter box. She passed away in my arms at home after two days of rapid decline. Do better than I did. Let her go before she’s in too much pain. If I could go back, I’d euthanize her a few days earlier. It’s hard, but it’s the right thing.