I'm so sorry and hugs to you, and thank you for sharing his story. Please hang in there and if Bear needs to go he knows he was always loved and cared for. Kiss your fur baby for me.

Keep him as happy and comfortable as possible. It won't be long. When he is closer... You can have someone come over and give him a shot. He will just take a final nap in your lap

oh how lucky is your boy to have such an amazing person by his side and being so loved. Like all of us he also has a limited time on earth but you made his time here the best. You are taking the best care possible and this is a blessing. Lucky for animals they have an option humans don't have, the option of not having to suffer, and you are the one giving him this gift.

I'm really sorry for you, your boy is beautiful!

We feel you :'(
Since 1.5 months we're fighting for the life of our cat Loki. He usually had 6-6.5kg and only has 4.25kg left because of his gastritis, after surgery of an unrelated eye tumour, when we're did a gastroscopy.

We tried to give him some stomach protector, which he hated. So I mixed it into his food, which only led to him declining his diet food more and more.
We switched the stomach protector to something more easily eaten and we started cooking for him - every 2h from 5 in the morning until 1 at night (sometimes also at 3, when he had appetite)
Didn't really help...
So he got daily subcutaneous infusions with antibiotics and after a week or two he was much better and even gained like half a kg.
He was happy, we were jumping in joy.
But exactly after the last control visit at the vet, he declined his food again and 2 days layer he was diagnosed with a pancreatitis.

So he would need to go for 24 hours stationary at the vet with IV infusions.
That didn't work out, as he wouldn't hold still without us.
So we went with him and did daily IV infusions for nearly 2 hours a day and he finally got better.

He gained nearly 1kg and we were happy as fuck - him as well, as he was enjoying just being outside again.

Then he started puking again...

So the vet told us, that we need to switch to a specific diet food instead of our low fat cooking.
He surprisingly ate 1-1.5 portions, but after that he declined it again - even with Mirtazapin to give him some appetite.

That was yesterday. So last night he like really proudly showed me his puke, with a face of "look what this new food has done" and we switched back to cooking.

I'm currently at the end of my wisdom and we're emotionally completely drained.
I'm self employed and haven't worked for the whole time now, because I can't focus anyway and with him being miserable I was just a 24 hours nurse. My wife luckily had a vacation now, so she could jump in a bit, so I could catch up with some sleep...

But it's a daily rollercoaster. Sometimes he has good days and wants to go outside, sometimes he just want to sleep and mostly he cuddles with us.

He is the nicest and bravest cat I've ever had and we'll fight however possible. But have my whole sympathy as we now how shit it is to see your loved cat deteriating and you can't do much but watch :-(

I actually wanted to add some pictures as tax, but I can't find an easy easy in comments (in my mobile app) now

At least feel hugged from very understanding other cat owners, currently facing mostly the same dilemma
(By now I could probably fill a book just with the shit that happened in the last month...)

My 18-year-old has a couple of health issues, and I'm just dreading the day it starts to get worse. Sending love for you and Bear!

Bear looks like a good boi. Can you share a few of your favorite photos of him? ❤️

Sorry you have to go through this. Losing one of your best friends is an awful thing to go through.

I went through this just a few weeks ago. It was really hard seeing her refuse to eat anything. But at least she seemed to like looking outside, laying on her favorite blanket.

sending hugs!

It’s so hard to let them go but loving someone means letting them leave you their way, in their time, even if it hurts you. And every good day you had together is yours to cherish forever ❤️

I'm so sorry this is happening to your family. See if you can find a vet that will come to the house. My little princess died at home alone of heart failure. I was going to take her to the vet that afternoon to be euthanized but didn't make it home from work in time. I feel guilty that she was all alone when she passed but glad that I didn't have to stress her with going to the vet. By that time she really hated going to the vet.

Spend time with your special boy, that's the best way to make them feel better, and hopefully not any time soon, but be sure to be there to send him over the rainbow bridge when it is his time.

A few years ago I had to say goodbye to my my first cat. It was a heartbreaking 2 weeks of very heavy ups and downs. On Christmas day, that he was sick and went into the final spiral of a terrible day and sometimes a little better, but he kept getting worse and worse generally, until the vet agreed that he wouldn't recover. He was put to sleep in my and wife's hands. Sometimes you have to help them to not suffer. And honestly we breathed a very heavy sigh of relief after knowing that he wouldn't be suffering any more and his final moments were with the humans he loved. Cats try their best not to show pain and discomfort so when they do, you know its really bad.

I hope you both are doing well. I’m not faithful either, but I’ll make sure to say a few words for your buddy.

I hope you and Bear have a good outcome.

I had to say goodbye to my emotional support cat two months ago. He helped me through losing my mom 6 years ago, his "brother" four years ago (they weren't related, just a bonded pair when I adopted them), and my dad last year. He was 18 and started having problems breathing and eating. We went to the emergency vet when he jumped up on his sunny resting spot and I saw that he couldn't catch his breath. I was lucky. He made the decision easy for me.

My wish for you and Bear is that no matter what happens, you will not second-guess whatever decision you make. It's hard enough to lose a fur friend, especially one that's been by your side for 17 years, but you don't have to make the grieving process harder by playing the "if only I'd..." game. Bear is counting on you to do the right thing, and IMO, any decision you make from a position of love and compassion is the RIGHT thing.

You've given him the best possible life. He knows that he's loved. When he goes to sleep, he will go to sleep happy.

My best wishes to you and to Bear.