Indeed!
I find I can trim all of my cats’ claws – as long as I don’t try to trim too many claws at the same time. I can generally get somewhere between three toes and a couple of paws before the cat has Had Enough Of That for the time being.
Starting with a half-asleep cat can be useful.
I’m late to this thread, but I just wanted to say I’m so sorry you and your darling Sweetie are approaching the painful event of her death. I know you are grateful for every remaining good moment you can have with her.
I admire how you’ve approached what is always such a sorrowful time. My best to you with many hugs.
Thank you so much. 
I went to the vet to pick up some pills for Sweetie just now and it popped into my head to ask the tech (who came out to the car) if someone could come to my house to trim Sweetie’s nails. He said he thought that would be possible. I said I’d pay whatever the clinic wanted to charge plus a $25 tip for whoever does it. Why should a stranger get the $$?
Thanks to all who brought up the nail-trimming issue. I think that’s what finally knocked the idea loose in my head. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. They know me and Sweetie very well at the hospital and I know all the staff.
While the topic is sad, reading this thread feels a bit like a warm hug as so many people are sharing their experiences.
Thanks for sharing Sweetie - she’s well named.
You know your dog so well. So of course, all your decisions about Sweetie will be the right ones.
I’m sorry you and Sweetie are going through this. I lost my German Shepherd Andy just a couple months ago. He was living on borrowed time, with lung cancer having been diagnosed just a week before. My plan was to give him one last good weekend and he died on Sunday, before the mobile vet could get there. I did a volunteer horse show steward gig in the morning, which was a commitment I made before he went downhill. It seemed that he waited for me to get home - He got up to meet me when I walked in the yard. I went down to feed the horses, and in those few minutes, he died.
A day too soon is better than an hour too late. They always seem to crash on the weekends after regular vet hours. Be glad for the good time you have, but be mindful you’re not keeping her alive for you, but rather because she’s not ready to go yet.
My sympathies. The pain is the coin you pay for the love she’s given you.
StG
I’m so sorry. I’m sure Andy waited for you to get home.
This is SO true.
That’s a great idea. My vet’s way too shorthanded right now (anybody know a vet who wants to join/pick up a nice rural small-animal practice?) but it looks like yours can do it. And Sweetie and you will get to work with people you already know.
He knew you were home. That was what he needed.
Second (third?) this. We had to put a Sweetie (yes, that was her name - 15+ yo lab) down last summer. Done on the grass in the backyard. The tech wrapped her up & put her body in the back of her wagon. Ms. P was brought out, hopped up, sniffed at her mouth, & then laid down there with her, so yes, the other 4-legged family members were aware their sister was gone for good & not to look around the house for her.
Update: a million additional thank yous for calling her nails to my attention. Two guys from my vet’s office came this morning and trimmed her nails. Good grief, they were even longer than I thought! She could give Howard Hughes a run for his money (so to speak). She was walking so much easier afterward.
Plus, the guys told me that the hair loss is totally normal. It’s seasonal and many dogs shed their coats every year. The fact that Sweetie has never done it before isn’t significant. One of the guys said his older dog has only shed her coat three times. He said I need to get a special brush to assist this process and it would only take a few minutes to clean her up. That was very reassuring! I’m going to start her back on the Caprovet.
These two vet techs are very knowledgeable and both of them said, all things considered, she doesn’t look that bad. She’s not eating much, but she is still eating some. It’s like an old guy I used to date was known for saying, “I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in.”
I can’t thank everyone enough for the support y’all have shown in this thread. I know the end is coming, but it might not be as close as I thought. Today that makes me very happy. Going out to shop for a brush for her.
Since she appears to be fairly short coated, might I recommend the furminator style brush? It takes the hair out fast and easy without being too tickly or scratchy on the skin. I just got one myself and boy howdy does the fur fly! Then again, old Bear is part husky so dropping massive loads o’fur twice a year is totally in his wheelhouse.
I know what you mean about the old dogs giving off false alarms, stuff you’d have taken in stride for a young dog suddenly look like absolute doom for an old one. Bear has done that to me several times in the past few months, first he strains his ACL and I thought he was a goner but he got better, then a nasty respiratory infection and then that left him with infected goopy eyes but I just got in some good antibiotic gel for his eyes that I hope will fix him up. Old dogs are a bit of an emotional roller coaster!
You’re very welcome. I’ve had that problem myself with an old dog, and saw how much easier she found it to walk after they were clipped; so when I saw her paw in that photo it came to the front of my mind.
Makes me happy, too. Thanks for the update!
Occasionally you think you’re right at the end; and there turns out to be another couple of years coming.
Thanks. I just went to Petco, and the brush section was bare.
I’m so glad to hear that Sweetie is doing better! Have you asked your vet for an appetite stimulant? A friend recently started her cat on one, and she’s gone from barely eating to waking my friend up in the middle of the night for a snack. There are also OTC high-calorie supplements you can get on Amazon or probably PetSmart.
StG
This is something you have to keep in mind, too, unfortunately, that progress can be very fast. Shamus the Maine Coon had very few signs that would suggest to anyone that his 15th year would be his last. He was a bit more cautious jumping up on things which suggested he was achy so we did some OTC supplements, but he ate well, groomed well, used the litter box without issue. He did have some trouble settling at night, and began to sleep so soundly that he’d occasionally fall off the chair or couch he was sleeping on. But unlike the elderly cats my parents had in the past, he seemed pretty much like his old self most days.
And one Saturday morning I slept late he didn’t wake me up. At first I was relieved to see him sitting in the living room, but he looked very confused. And I knew there was a problem when he started wandering blindly in circles like he didn’t know where he was though he blinked when I waved fingers near his face, and the only way to stop his agitated wandering was to hold him. I immediately called an emergency vet, and by the time we left for his appointment less than an hour later, he lost consciousness. I went home from the vet alone.
So, unfortunately, it’s possible to go down hill in the blink of an eye too, not just slowly and steadily decline.
My Stiggs cat was similar to Shamus–he’d been in general kidney failure for almost two years, requiring sub-Q hydration (Ringer’s lactate in a giant comedy 60ml syringe injected in a big bolus at the back of his neck) several times a week but in general was in good spirits and enjoyed his food and groomed and loved his scritches. I did restrict him from going outdoors any more, he could only go out into the catio, because my neighborhood is full of raccoons and coyotes and stray dogs and he was no longer fast enough nor strong enough to escape or defend from them. Then one day my son and I went up to Seattle to celebrate son’s birthday and when I came home Stiggs was hiding under an ottoman, unable to get up and crying. I gathered him up in a warm quilt and we spent the night together on the couch snuggling, then in the morning I had to call around to find someone open and available to put him down. My son came over (happy birthday, kid!) and drove us to the vet, where my companion of sixteen years said goodbye. I still feel awful that he was under the furniture, in pain and lonesome for the day until I got home. Poor old Stiggs, I miss him.
Actually I kind of hope I go that way, like the wonderful one-hoss shay.
UPDATE: Sweetie is doing great!
Sweetie and Mark Twain have something in common (besides being long-legged and witty). My expectation of her imminent demise was (so far) premature. 
@thorny_locust, I can’t thank you enough for your post of Feb 23 where you suggested I get her nails trimmed. What a clueless mom I was! 
Her rally started after the nail trim, and she has improved steadily-- I mean, up to a point, of course. She’s not turning back the clock, but decline has leveled off to sort of a plateau.
She’s eating heartily (although not putting on weight), she is walking like an old doggie-- heck, like an old person–, getting up and down with effort, coming to me on schedule for her pills, wagging her tail and showing a doggie-smile when I fuss over her. She hasn’t had any accidents in the house, God bless her. When we all get up in the morning (around 5 or 6 am) she immediately heads for the back door to go out. She has fallen a couple of times when she manages to find the few square inches of floor that are not covered by yoga mats.
Turns out the clumping-fur-loss thing is something normal that happens to dogs in the spring. It had never happened to her before, but I had a groomer come to the house on the weekend to brush her out with a de-shedding brush and now she looks all tidy and well-groomed again. If I could figure out how, we could have made a new puppy out of all the brushed-out fur. Now that I’ve seen it done, I think I can do it myself.
She spends 85% of her time sleeping, but gets up regularly to eat and go outside. AND she comes to me to let me know when her food bowl is empty – some days she will eat 2-3 bowls of food, other days not so much. (Rotisserie chicken, pot roast, high-quality beef/chicken dog food, hard cooked eggs, cottage cheese.) Eating, sleeping, pooping – hey, it’s a life. Throw in an occasional TV binge or a good novel and that could be me. And probably will be me eventually. If only I could find someone to wait on me like I wait on her.
Damn, I love that doggie! 
Thanks, y’all, for your informative support. I’ll be back as time goes on…
Glad to see that she’s doing so well!