by Benjamin Haines » Fri Jul 11, 2025 12:49 am
We had to put our 20-year-old cat Star-Niblet to sleep last week on Thursday, July 3. She had developed kidney disease that was rapidly advancing so it was time to let her go to sleep peacefully.
Star-Niblet was 17 when we adopted her and that already made her the oldest cat who had ever belonged to either of us. She was also the tiniest adult cat I've ever seen, with a slinky-like frame and a normal weight of just 6 pounds, but she had the attitude of a lion and she was never afraid to demand what she wanted, whether that was food or attention, and she especially loved to use us as her furniture. She was uniquely social in that she craved human attention but she hated all cats, although she did eventually mellow out toward our other cats and I think she even quietly enjoyed their company.
I found her at a local cat sanctuary when I went to volunteer there for the first time in September 2022, about six weeks after we had to put our 14-year-old cat Hershey to sleep due to kidney disease. It's hard for me to go from caring for a cat with special medical needs every day and night to suddenly not doing that anymore, so I thought that regularly volunteering at the cat sanctuary would be a good way for me to move forward while channeling that energy into a new outlet. I didn't go there looking for another cat to adopt, and I first encountered a lot of other cats there who were very friendly and clearly would have loved to be adopted but I wasn't compelled to bring any of them into my home, because they were still living good lives there in that safe-for-life shelter where they got to interact with other cats 24/7 and they got human attention from the staff and volunteers. About an hour into my visit, though, I was shown a side room where this little senior lady cat was living in isolation because she couldn't get along with the other cats. Her name was Star, she was 17, she had just received her very first insulin injection for diabetes earlier that day, she had an audible respiratory infection that made her breathing loud and congested, and she was missing fur around her neck and the base of her tail. As soon as I sat down on the floor in that room, Star scurried right over and collapsed onto my lap, pressing her face into my arm and purring so hard that her cheeks puffed out with each exhale. She was so desperate for human attention and so in need of love and direct care that I immediately knew she belonged with me, and that just became even clearer when I learned about her situation. Star was born as a stray in 2005 and she was brought to that cat sanctuary when she was 3 years old in 2008, then she spent the next ten years of her adult life there until 2018, when she was finally adopted as a senior at age 13 by a family who renamed her Niblet. Then, at the end of August 2022, after living as part of that family for four years, they brought her back to that cat sanctuary at age 17. Apparently they did that because their other cats had been attacking her, hence her missing fur. That's why Star found herself back at that cat sanctuary at 17 years old living in a room by herself with no family. That situation was unacceptable, and after discussing it with my lady and setting appointments with the vet, we adopted Star later that week. Since she had been called Star for ten years before being called Niblet for four years and then being called Star again for a couple of weeks when she returned to the cat sanctuary, we decided to call her Star-Niblet.
Star-Niblet took to our home without any fear or apprehension. She understood right away that she was in her new home and she happily embraced it. She would eventually try lying down just about everywhere at least once to find her favorite sleeping spots but she was all about resting on our laps at every opportunity for the first few months, relishing all of the human contact she wanted, and she insisted on sleeping on my chest every night for a while before she even tried sleeping anywhere else at night. Over time, she would go through phases in which a particular spot in our home would become her new favorite spot for a while but the one constant was always her desire for human contact. The way her cheeks would puff out when she purred was always a distinct trait of hers, as was her tendency to press her eyes into our arms when she rested on our laps.
We already had two other cats when we adopted Star-Niblet, a 10-pound female named Mercury and a 14-pound male named Casper, and she was preposterously hostile toward them right from the start, especially Casper. Here was this tiny old lady cat, 17 years old and weighing barely six pounds, yowling and lunging at much younger and bigger cats just for being in her line of sight, and they were always on their best behavior toward her. They never once hit back at the grumpy little old lady cat because they just knew better and I was always impressed by that. By the middle of 2023, Star-Niblet had chilled out enough to not get angry at them every time she saw them, although she still hissed and yowled if she thought they got too close to her. Mercury respected Star-Niblet's desire to be left alone by other cats but Casper always wanted to be friends with her, so he just kept trying to casually get next to her and hang out near her. In the middle of 2024, we had quite a few stray-born kittens running around our apartment as we worked on domesticating them and finding them homes. Even though the kittens quickly figured out that the one rule for getting along with Star-Niblet was to leave her alone, and there was never any conflict, I think that temporarily having a bunch of rambunctious kittens running around made Star-Niblet finally appreciate our grown-up cats. We ended up adopting Dash, the young female cat who gave birth to one of the litters of kittens on our front porch, and we also adopted her brother Rika, and they had the same gender-based dynamics toward Star-Niblet as did Mercury and Casper. Dash respected the old lady's wish to be left alone but Rika just wanted to be her friend, to no avail, although Star-Niblet usually didn't mind his attempts to curl up near her as long as he didn't get in front of her face or come within swiping distance. The other cats figured out how to get along with her and that was good for her.
Anyone who thinks old cats aren't worth the effort to help has never experienced the results of making the effort, because Star-Niblet's capacity to recover and her zeal for life were incredible. Her diabetes turned out to have been stress-induced as a result of being returned to the shelter, and two weeks after we adopted her, her diabetes went away and she never again needed another insulin injection. We were also able to clear up her respiratory infection almost immediately with an oral antibiotic. Free from the stress she had endured and no longer getting into fights with other cats, the fur around her neck and her tail quickly grew back. She was remarkably spry and energetic all the way through age 19, zooming around from one room to another in random bursts whenever she felt like it, and although her mobility slowed down in her final months at age 20, it didn't stop her from walking around wherever she wanted to go. Throughout the time that we shared with her, Star-Niblet overcame one ailment after another: a yeast infection in her ears, arthritis that made it hard for her to walk until we started getting her monthly Solensia injections to relieve the pain, two separate urinary tract infections, and a cancerous carcinoma on her skin that we got removed before it spread. Her bloodwork in 2022 had shown early signs of potential kidney disease but we were able to keep that at bay and prevent her kidney values from increasing for more than two years by feeding her a diet of renal support food and taking her to get a small injection of subcutaneous fluids every week. She became very reluctant to eat the renal support food at the end of 2024, and despite our efforts to get her to eat more, her daily food intake dropped so much that she was losing weight, muscle mass and energy, so we had to change her diet just to get her to eat enough to regain the weight. We did help her get back up to her regular weight of 6 pounds and she enjoyed an extra five months of joy, comfort and love. She gradually became more reluctant to eat anything during the month of June, and by the end of the month she was losing weight and lethargic. On Monday last week, her bloodwork revealed kidney disease as the cause, and an accompanying case of respiratory congestion was making her even less inclined to eat. We knew that her time was running very short but we were still able to clear up her congestion with an antibiotic and give her one last full day at home without any vet trips on Wednesday in which she ate more, acted more alert and visibly seemed to feel significantly better than she had in the prior days, so I'm glad we were able to give her that right at the end. Her kidneys clearly wouldn't last, though, and she was already getting more tired, reluctant to eat and congested again on Thursday, and we knew that the next drop in her condition would be the last and she didn't deserve to go through that, so it was time to let her go to sleep peacefully. I had taken the whole week off from work and we were cherishing our time with Star-Niblet day and night, because we absolutely didn't want her to ever think that we would abandon her or kick her out of our home, and to that end we had the vet and a tech come to our apartment on Thursday to perform the euthanasia so that Star-Niblet stayed home the whole time. After eating a couple of her favorite spoonful treats, drinking some water and choosing to lie down for a nap on a floor blanket in the kitchen, Star-Niblet peacefully fell asleep with her head resting on my left hand while Tab was petting her and we both gently spoke to her.
I really wish that more people who adopt pets would give older cats and dogs a chance, and I wish that people wouldn't give up on them just because caring for them requires more effort over time. Of course it's essential for young pets to find their homes but there will always be more people who adopt kittens and puppies. There are so many senior cats and dogs out there who are yearning to share their lives with people and it breaks my heart to think that any incredible cat like Star-Niblet might not find the family that's going to love them and be there for them and never abandon them. Yes, it's nerve-wracking to know that the senior pet you've adopted is someone to whom you'll have to say goodbye a lot sooner than you'd hope. Yes, it's terrible when someone you've cared for gets to the point where the only thing left that you can do to help them is to end their life. Yes, it's traumatizing to experience their final moment with them and to then have that final moment replaying in your head forever. You know what, though? It's worth it. It is all absolutely worth all of that. It's worth all of the effort, all of the expense, all of the stress, all of the dread and heartache that comes with being there for someone you love when you know they're going to die, because no matter how difficult and scary it is for you, you know it's even harder and scarier for them. They have to face old age without the cognitive luxury of being able to contemplate their own mortality. Getting old and dying is terrifying for any human but it's got to be even more terrifying for cats and dogs in this world. They need love more than ever in their final years. They need people who care about them.
The head of the cat sanctuary where Star-Niblet lived for ten years graciously allowed us to bury her on that property and he also posted this very moving tribute to her on the shelter's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1037431395258381
Here are some photos of Star-Niblet: https://imgur.com/a/star-niblet-9TBXKwS
We had an uneasy first few days, feeling each other out, so to speak. Soon though he was loving all this space to just run and run (and play!!!) and he stuck to me like glue afterwards. I had a rescue cat (Harley) at the time and despite my initial concerns, the two of them got along just fine. Miss Priss (my old lady kitty) was found abandoned near my house mere weeks after Zeus came into my life. She brought out the kitten in old Harley - in spite of himself - and enriched his last few years, I know.
It has been a regular Noah's Ark here every since and while it can be overwhelming and chaotic at times, I wouldn't trade any of it. This house would be one sorry hollow shell without all of our critters racing, playing and snoozing together in one cohesive mixed 'foster' pack.
They come in and add immeasurably to our lives and unfortunately leave much too soon, but the rewards have outweighed the downsides beyond measure. I truly pity those who don't know (or want) the amazing, unconditional love of a dog(s) or cat(s). Speaking of... keep an eye on your other two cats. They are undoubtedly dealing with the sudden absence and loss, in their own way. Animals do grieve but are also more 'accepting' of death; it's just nature to them and they soldier through. They'll likely be fine. Just be sure to give them attention (and space, too) and you'll all sail through this rough weather in due time. Remember the good times when you feel down, and cling to each other through it all.