I'm so sorry for the grief and stress you've felt throughout this time. You've done a kindness -don't forget that. It was difficult, but you did it because you loved Keo and wanted her to stop hurting. I've had to do it a number of times, and it's always so incredibly difficult, and always followed by weeks of melancholy. But I've never regretted it. Right now I know of a kitty, about 17 years old, who weighs about 3 lbs., and is truly suffering every day from many ailments. Her owners believe they'll 'know' when the time is right to put her down, but to everyone else, it looks like the time is right here, right now, and we feel such sorrow and pity for this poor, frail, hurting kitty..... You did the right thing. I don't know whether you're familiar with this poem, or whether it will resonate with you, but I thought I'd pass it on... The Last Battle If it should be that I grow frail and weak And pain should keep me from my sleep, Then will you do what must be done, For this " the last battle" can't be won. You will be sad I understand, But don't let grief then stay your hand, For on this day, more than the rest, Your love and friendship must stand the test. We have had so many happy years, You wouldn't want me to suffer so. When the time comes, please, let me go. Take me to where to my needs they'll tend, Only, stay with me till the end And hold me firm and speak to me Until my eyes no longer see. I know in time you will agree It is a kindness you do to me. Although my tail its last has waved, From pain and suffering I have been saved. Don't grieve that it must be you Who has to decide this thing to do; We've been so close "we two" these years, Don't let your heart hold any tears. - Unknown

It wouldn't have helped when its THAT far advanced for that one cat BUT it would have hopefully prevented another cat from ever getting those health issues to begin with. Sorta like changing a MC donalds diet after you've had a massive heart attack isn't going to help the 71 year old heart disease victim find instant cure for severe heart disease , but if you don't start a 3 year old on the same diet he/she probably won't get the heart disease. Yes letting go when there that bad is good however it does pay to research so it hopefully doesn't happen again with another cat.

A quick update on our progress, for anyone else in the same situation. The cat has been here for 7 months, truly a lovely cat who enjoys sitting on laps, purring and chasing strings. He spends most of his time upstairs with occasional supervised visits downstairs. We put a gate across the landing to keep the dogs from going up. The gate slides open and closed, and we keep it open just enough for the cat to get through if he wants to. Just recently, he's been venturing downstairs on his own. He usually only does this when someone is in the living room, that he can see from the top of the stairs. The Shiba dog is most curious about the cat, but she keeps her distance and is not at all threatening. What's funny is that it's the cat who's more in-your-face than the dog. For example, last night the dog was snoozing peacefully by the couch. The cat jumped up on the sofa table and perched on the side by the dog (think Snoopy in his vulture mode). When the dog looked up, the cat hissed as if the dog had offended him somehow. The dog slunk away. My other dog spends most of her day sleeping in my home office, so doesn't really interact with the cat at all. So we're slowly integrating all animals. It's taken 7 months to get this far, but even so I think we're on the right track.

You have my sympathy. Once we had 4 Abyssinian cats, whose 12 kittens made nights miserable by running around on top of us and biting our toes. It was like having a herd of tiny wild horses in the room. The remedy was to tire them out before bed. We would drag strings for them to chase around the apartment till they could hardly run any more. Irishdancersgram: "when they get older, they'll probably settle down...." Hah! Yes, that is what usually happens, but for the past few months, our 16-year old, who does sleep for much of the day, has taken to wandering around and practically howling for hours and hours during the night. He is healthy, but too old to be interested in playing, so we can't tire him out. While he cries in that loud, demanding Siamesey way (though he is not Siamese), he is leaping from the bed to the window to other furniture and back again, or running heavily right up my body to look at my face and go "purrup" in that endearing inquisitive way cats have. He is worse in warm weather and at the time of the full moon, and I wonder if there are skunks, other cats, or possums in the back yard, so he is dying to go out there. The most I will let him do at night is look out the window. By around 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, he is ready to settle down. We are wondering if he is getting a bit senile because he never used to give us so much trouble at night. To my relief, the colder weather now seems to impel him to get under the covers and stay there. No trouble last night.