Pattaya

It was a sad day today. My girlfriend and I took in a stray cat that was in terrible condition, just 2 days ago. He was a bag of bones with severe respiratory distress, taking breaths at the rate of about 80 per minute. You could see all his vertebrae, and all his ribs, and his coat was severely depleted from scratching.

We found him at the back of my building, just hovering over some water and scraps some people had left out for him. As cat lovers, we just couldn't walk away. He was sitting there, waiting to die. He never moved from that spot, just next to some plastic takeaway containers filled with dirty water and some food scraps, a few meters away from garbage bins and sewage tanks, and cockroaches sharing the scraps. When we got him back to our apartment, he ate a lot, drank a lot of water, along with special milk I buy, which is made in Australia. We really thought there was some hope we could nurse him back to health. It was good timing as it rained very heavily not long after we got him home. There was no protest when I picked him up, as he had no energy to resist. We shampooed him and cut his nails as they had grown very long and were causing injuries to his bare skin from scratching.

We took him to the Animal Army hospital, where the vet suggested that we take him to a hospital with 24-hour supervision because the Animal Army hospital does not have a vet on duty from 5 pm until 8 am. We took him to Nuern Plub Warn Animal Hospital. With a breathing rate of 80 per minute, the condition is extremely serious as anything over 40 is considered an emergency. When we first arrived, they put him in an oxygen chamber to aid his breathing. Later, they X-rayed him, took blood tests, and the results were grim. The poor thing had FIV, Leukemia, and fluid in his lungs and a large mass, most likely a cancer tumour.

What should I do?

There wasn't much chance he would live very long, even if we treated him, and he would suffer greatly. We already have 7 cats (in 2 locations), and there would be a risk of him infecting the others, and we have no place where we can isolate just one cat. It was a hard decision, but we decided to put him to sleep. We've never done this before, and it affected us greatly, holding his little head in my hands as he slipped away, his little tongue protruding from his mouth at the moment he passed. I didn't let go for the longest time, sobbing like a baby. The doctors and nurses did a great job making it as respectful as possible and provided us with an ample supply of tissues. We had no idea that losing a cat we had known for only 40 hours would be such a traumatic experience. He passed away at 1 pm today, June 2, 2026.

Why did I post this, some of you may ask?

I wanted to be sure that there would be some record of this little cat's existence, as he has suffered for so many years with no love or care from anyone, and by the looks of him, no food. The vet estimated his age as 10 due to missing teeth, although I thought he was younger.

Rest in peace, little Boonmee, you will be missed.

There was or still is a poster with that exact username.

it was nice of you to give this cat love and care at the end of it's life.

8 minutes ago, TedG said:

it was nice of you to give this cat love and care at the end of it's life.

Thank you! I still keep second-guessing my decision and feel I could have done more.

A man with a very big and caring heart, sorry she didn't make..you did your best 😘

Don't feel bad. You did a fantastic job. At least the cat died with a full stomach and in loving hands, far better than him dying in the rain and on a dirty street. He's also at peace now, no longer struggling to breathe and no longer suffering, so you can feel great about that. ❤️

I like cats.

2 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Pattaya

It was a sad day today. My girlfriend and I took in a stray cat that was in terrible condition, just 2 days ago. He was a bag of bones with severe respiratory distress, taking breaths at the rate of about 80 per minute. You could see all his vertebrae, and all his ribs, and his coat was severely depleted from scratching.

We found him at the back of my building, just hovering over some water and scraps some people had left out for him. As cat lovers, we just couldn't walk away. He was sitting there, waiting to die. He never moved from that spot, just next to some plastic takeaway containers filled with dirty water and some food scraps, a few meters away from garbage bins and sewage tanks, and cockroaches sharing the scraps. When we got him back to our apartment, he ate a lot, drank a lot of water, along with special milk I buy, which is made in Australia. We really thought there was some hope we could nurse him back to health. It was good timing as it rained very heavily not long after we got him home. There was no protest when I picked him up, as he had no energy to resist. We shampooed him and cut his nails as they had grown very long and were causing injuries to his bare skin from scratching.

We took him to the Animal Army hospital, where the vet suggested that we take him to a hospital with 24-hour supervision because the Animal Army hospital does not have a vet on duty from 5 pm until 8 am. We took him to Nuern Plub Warn Animal Hospital. With a breathing rate of 80 per minute, the condition is extremely serious as anything over 40 is considered an emergency. When we first arrived, they put him in an oxygen chamber to aid his breathing. Later, they X-rayed him, took blood tests, and the results were grim. The poor thing had FIV, Leukemia, and fluid in his lungs and a large mass, most likely a cancer tumour.

What should I do?

There wasn't much chance he would live very long, even if we treated him, and he would suffer greatly. We already have 7 cats (in 2 locations), and there would be a risk of him infecting the others, and we have no place where we can isolate just one cat. It was a hard decision, but we decided to put him to sleep. We've never done this before, and it affected us greatly, holding his little head in my hands as he slipped away, his little tongue protruding from his mouth at the moment he passed. I didn't let go for the longest time, sobbing like a baby. The doctors and nurses did a great job making it as respectful as possible and provided us with an ample supply of tissues. We had no idea that losing a cat we had known for only 40 hours would be such a traumatic experience. He passed away at 1 pm today, June 2, 2026.

Why did I post this, some of you may ask?

I wanted to be sure that there would be some record of this little cat's existence, as he has suffered for so many years with no love or care from anyone, and by the looks of him, no food. The vet estimated his age as 10 due to missing teeth, although I thought he was younger.

Rest in peace, little Boonmee, you will be missed.

Thank you for showing him compassion, love, and caring during his last hours in this plane of existence. That means a lot. You're good people! 💗

know how your feeling Jenson im a cat lover but 7 years ago i lost my best mate his name was Larry. I got him from a farm. He was a little black fur ball. after 4 years he read me like a book when he wanted out he would jump out of the window to do his buisness he wouldnt use the cat litter then he would jump back in. When friends visited he wouldnt move He knew it was his home. Then 1 day i noticed pools of pee and he was off his food after a few days i took him to the vet where they found crystals in his bladder and in his kidneys and sadly there was to much damage to his bladder and like you jensen i had the decistion to watch him suffer or put him to sleep i asked the vet if i could hold him when they injected him and seconds later he was gone, one of the worst things ive had to go through. I put some pictures of him in a frame with a little note and hung it on my wall that was 7 years ago and i have never had a cat again no other Cat can replace larry.

Edited June 2Jun 2 by BarraMarra

We lost our Pomeranian puppy to a feral dog. Lisa, hardly 6 months and full of beans like poms tend to be, spotted the gate open and zipped out to play with the big dog lurking outside.

She got mauled. We raced her to a hospital where they stitched her up best they could but didn't hold out much hope for tiny Lisa. We sat with her through the night, my sister cradling her in her arms. She died in the morning. We buried her right outside the gate that she made through but never made back.

OP, you were kind to a stranger. Be sure Boonmee felt you her last hours and was comforted.

Those who are animal lovers have seen and felt this many times over. The best you can do is not let them suffer any longer.

I had a cat who's back legs failed her, and I paid $200 for the operation, but she didn't last it.

When you are an animal lover all of your life and you get to your 60's and above, eventually this gets to dull you, where the crying doesn't any longer materialize and your senses are numbed.

Living here, taking care of many dogs and cats who are then poisoned by lowlifes, your feelings aren't the same as before but still there. It's sad to see so many animals suffer because of the indifference or lack of caring that goes on in the world, besides those who intentionally inflict pain on them. I hope when we all pass we, along with our animals, will all be in heaven, with no more diseases or pain. RIP for your cat, and all the others.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by fredwiggy

9 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Thank you! I still keep second-guessing my decision and feel I could have done more.

You did all you could possible do. Other Thailand cats thank you.

My girlfriend made a short TikTok video of Boonmee before we took him to the vet yesterday and lost him. We were still hopeful that we could save him.

Her caption on the video translated to English using the native TikTok translator:

"The wandering cat named Boonmee is very poor, so thin that he saw the bones, the body is very weak, breathing sprinkles, so we collected him to come back and heal"

Text on the video translated:

Have a safe trip back to the cat world.

Sleep tight.

Good luck, Boonmee.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by JensenZ

15 minutes ago, TedG said:

You did all you could possible do. Other Thailand cats thank you.

And thank you for the kind words. We try our best. We currently look after 7 strays. 3 are in our apartment, and 4 are at (not in) a room I rent for storage and gym.

Uploading Attachment...

Edited June 3Jun 3 by JensenZ

Well done to your and your girl mate.

A terrific effort.

In my experiences here, you're quite lucky to be able to get it put down.

I have manged it once with an old dog having repeated tumours.

But it's not easy.

A lot of vets here are reluctant to put animals down for religious beliefs.

I'm taking care of a dog now with really bad dementia.

It's heartbreaking.

In Australia, I would've taken it to the vets 3 or 4 months ago.

10 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Thank you! I still keep second-guessing my decision and feel I could have done more.

Please don´t, even if it´s very hard. You made the right decision, and it was probably the most humane thing you could do. That cat felt love and care from a warm heart during it´s days with you and the trip to cat heaven. Thanks for taking responsibility.

54 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

My girlfriend made a short TikTok video of Boonmee before we took him to the vet yesterday and lost him. We were still hopeful that we could save him.

Her caption on the video translated to English using the native TikTok translator:

"The wandering cat named Boonmee is very poor, so thin that he saw the bones, the body is very weak, breathing sprinkles, so we collected him to come back and heal"

Text on the video translated:

Have a safe trip back to the cat world.

Sleep tight.

Good luck, Boonmee.

How your girlfriend is about animals shows a good deal how she likely is with humans. Looks like a keeper. Many here lose their care when a kitten or puppy gets to adult stage. Some are just like us, and share that love.

11 hours ago, Celsius said:

There was or still is a poster with that exact username.

It is the name my girlfriend decided to call our new found friend. It is not surprising that someone else (animal or human) might have that name.

Boonmee (บุญมี) is a traditionally recognized and well-known, gender-neutral name in Thailand, though it is slightly more common among older or rural generations

Meaning: It translates literally to "possessing merit" or "having good karma". It is derived from the Thai words Boon (บุญ - merit/virtue) and Mee (มี - to have).

Although the little man only had the name for 40 hours, it was a very good name.

52 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

How your girlfriend is about animals shows a good deal how she likely is with humans. Looks like a keeper. Many here lose their care when a kitten or puppy gets to adult stage. Some are just like us, and share that love.

Thank you! This is the first journey into the cat world for both of us. She loves all creatures, but has never owned a cat or dog. One of her primary reasons for not having one was that she didn't think she could handle having to say goodbye when they eventually pass, and, as she has always worked 5 - 6 days a week, she wouldn't have much time for them as they would be alone all day. That all changed when we met, and I became a stay-at-home cat dad.

As it happened, we didn't choose the cats; they chose us. One day last October, a little kitten followed her to the room, and we fed her. I had a similar experience at my home gym (a room I rent about 2.5km from our home), when a cat came to the door, smooching up to me, needing food. Then we took another young stray cat to be the companion of the first one, and the one thing led to another, and we ended up with 7. Unfortunately, we have reached our limit as I don't have any space for more.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by JensenZ

1 hour ago, Will27 said:

A lot of vets here are reluctant to put animals down for religious beliefs.

But are quite happy to tuck into a juicy steak, KFC, or Pad Kapow.

2 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

Thank you! This is the first journey into the cat world for both of us. She loves all creatures, but never owned a cat or dog. One of her primary reason for not having one was that she didn't think she could handle having to say goodbye when they eventually pass, and, as she has always worked 5 - 6 days a week, she wouldn't have much time for them as they would be alone all day. That all changed when we met and I became a stay-at-home cat dad.

As it happened, we didn't chose the cats, they chose us. One day last October a little kitten followed her to the room and we fed her. I had a similar experience at my home gym (a room I rent about 2.5km from our home), when a cat came to the door, smooching up to me, needing food. Then we took another young stray cat to be the companion of the first one, and the one thing lead to another and we ended up with 7. Unfortunately we have reached our limit as I don't any space for more.

Your welcome. Yes, when a person decides to be an animals lover, actually it not being a choice as it just happens, they take on the realization that they'll all pass some day, much like humans, but we love having them around as that's how we are. And yes, the animals many times choose us.

I have 5 dogs that call my house home, even though they were all born next door at my ex's cousin's house. My daughter , another animal lover, and I are the only ones who pet these dogs, and cats that live at grandma's and my ex's house, along with feeding them much of the time, so they know who's nice to them and who only tolerates them.

I brought a few cats here but the local dogs killed them when they got outside. I would like more, but we're planning to move back to Texas as soon as we can, and having more pets wouldn't be good for them.

The dogs, even though I would like to take 2 with us, will just go to where some of the food is, next door, and will be fine as we live 300 meters from the nearest main road.

1 hour ago, Will27 said:

Well done to your and your girl mate.

A terrific effort.

In my experiences here, you're quite lucky to be able to get it put down.

I have manged it once with an old dog having repeated tumours.

But it's not easy.

A lot of vets here are reluctant to put animals down for religious beliefs.

I'm taking care of a dog now with really bad dementia.

It's heartbreaking.

In Australia, I would've taken it to the vets 3 or 4 months ago.

I have never had to ask any vets about this, but the first vet I visited yesterday runs "The Animal Army Foundation", which is an animal rescue hospital and shelter. He said that vets will put animals to sleep ("put down" is a bit harsh) in cases of terminal illness. They will never suggest it unless you ask.

I came across this comment, which may help. It's a translation from Thai, so not perfect:

"Many people may pass by that cat without paying attention, but you choose to help him at the end of his life.

As for "Will it be a sin?" It is a matter of personal belief. But in Buddhism in general, the intention is considered a very important element. If the intention is to be kindness and reduce the suffering of an animal that is seriously ill, not anger, annoyance or desire to hurt, many people - including monks and many practitioners - see this kind of case as different from killing because of cruelty or for their own benefit."

I suppose you have to ask around. There are many vets in Pattaya, so you have many choices. If you come this way, see the vet that I named in the OP, or Animal Army. The price was 2000 baht. We paid an additional 600 for them to take care of the cremation, as we have no place to bury a cat.

12 hours ago, JensenZ said:

Thank you! I still keep second-guessing my decision and feel I could have done more.

You had to try.....Good on you....We have 10 left of 14 we have rescued.....

We were also able to rescue & re-home one during our our last RV park stint when visiting, traveling in Texas....

Sandy now lives with a loving family indoors + a catio....

RIP Boonmee

Edited June 3Jun 3 by pgrahmm

I've had a number of cats in my lifetime. And I've had a number of dogs (currently have 10). But I like being around cat energy. The dogs are outdoor dogs; the cat comes and goes as he pleases, but for the most part he stays put on our property and doesn't venture.

This is him when we first adopted him from our local temple. He was the abbot's cat since he showed up at the temple, but the poor boy was not well. When we homed him we took him to a vet who diagnosed him with feline leukemia and feline AIDS as he was losing weight and energy. Prognosis was not good, so I made it my job to make the time he had left as comfortable as possible. The only thing we did was start him on a Lysine/mushroom extract supplement called Katimun, fed him what he wanted (lots of fish), and gave him love and affection. He spends evenings with me. I fully expected him to die a short time after we adopted him, and everything I read about feline leukemia and feline AIDS said his lifespan was probably capped at two years max.

That was three years ago, and he's doing fine. Looks like his leukemia and AIDS went into remission. I purposefully have not brought any other cats into our home. I've had up to four in the past, but I'm not exposing them to his leukemia and AIDS. So he gets a full dose of love and affection as the family's only cat and Supreme Ruler of The Kitchen (he'll chase the dogs out if they venture in). He's a wonderful addition to our family.

16 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

I have never had to ask any vets about this, but the first vet I visited yesterday runs "The Animal Army Foundation", which is an animal rescue hospital and shelter. He said that vets will put animals to sleep ("put down" is a bit harsh) in cases of terminal illness. They will never suggest it unless you ask.

I came across this comment, which may help. It's a translation from Thai, so not perfect:

"Many people may pass by that cat without paying attention, but you choose to help him at the end of his life.

As for "Will it be a sin?" It is a matter of personal belief. But in Buddhism in general, the intention is considered a very important element. If the intention is to be kindness and reduce the suffering of an animal that is seriously ill, not anger, annoyance or desire to hurt, many people - including monks and many practitioners - see this kind of case as different from killing because of cruelty or for their own benefit."

I suppose you have to ask around. There are many vets in Pattaya, so you have many choices. If you come this way, see the vet that I named in the OP, or Animal Army. The price was 2000 baht. We paid an additional 600 for them to take care of the cremation, as we have no place to bury a cat.

I'm in Chiang Rai and had to take the older pooch to several vets.

The last one said he was too old to operate so decided to put it to sleep for us.

We buried him in the garden.

The Vets I've seen here don't see dementia as a terminal illness.

More an inconvenience.

As long as they're still eating and drinking, it won't happen unfortunately.

10 minutes ago, connda said:

I've had a number of cats in my lifetime. And I've had a number of dogs (currently have 10). But I like being around cat energy. The dogs are outdoor dogs; the cat comes and goes as he pleases, but for the most part he stays put on our property and doesn't venture.

This is him when we first adopted him from our local temple. He was the abbot's cat since he showed up at the temple, but the poor boy was not well. When we homed him we took him to a vet who diagnosed him with feline leukemia and feline AIDS as he was losing weight and energy. Prognosis was not good, so I made it my job to make the time he had left as comfortable as possible. The only thing we did was start him on a Lysine/mushroom extract supplement called Katimun, fed him what he wanted (lots of fish), and gave him love and affection. He spends evenings with me. I fully expected him to die a short time after we adopted him, and everything I read about feline leukemia and feline AIDS said his lifespan was probably capped at two years max.

That was three years ago, and he's doing fine. Looks like his leukemia and AIDS went into remission. I purposefully have not brought any other cats into our home. I've had up to four in the past, but I'm not exposing them to his leukemia and AIDS. So he gets a full dose of love and affection as the family's only cat and Supreme Ruler of The Kitchen (he'll chase the dogs out if they venture in). He's a wonderful addition to our family.

Well done! You beat the odds.

Both of our cats were very young 'walk-ins', and grew up with us over many happy years. They passed within a year of each other - both, teenagers by then. Now resting at peace together in a quiet corner of our garden. Sadly missed....

Here go my little girl:

Goodbye little one

This post brought tears to my eyes

These animals don't ask to come to this rotten earth full of rubbish people!

RIP darling

I only wish they had this option for people! No more suffering. Cats are beautiful, loving, mysterious and are not 'owned' by any of us.