Cat is 15 years old. I just got back from week vacation to find that she had destroyed the dog bedding while he was in the kennel. Willing to chalk that up to her hatred of the dog and her missing us. We had a friend visit, but that was only every other day.
Today, I’m home making lunch and she comes out says Hi, and promptly starts to pee in the corner of the kitchen about three feet from where I’m standing. She didn’t even check out the litter box first.
I’m about ready to put her down. I can’t trust her, she’s old and fat anyways, but overall decent health. I couldn’t get anybody to adopt her at this age. She demonstrated today that it doesn’t matter if we are home or not. Really don’t have the ability to limit her movement to a bathroom for example. She had these issues last fall and we were able to discourage her from going to her favorite spots, but now she has escalated and seems to be willing to go anywhere. I can’t have her ruin my house.
Anybody ever have any luck in reasoning/psychoanalyzing a cat??
Take her to the vet and see if there’s a problem. I can’t believe anyone would consider putting down a pet just because of this, unless she’s terminally ill.
Take her to the vet. If this is new behavior, it’s entirely possible (probable, even, due to her age) that she has a urinary tract infection or is in the early stages of kidney failure, which is extremely common in older cats.
Our cats always behave strangely when we come home from a vacation, even if we have my mom staying in the house with them. I’d hold off for a few days to see if she gets back to normal again, or take her to the vet for an overall check-up right away.
Urinary issues can be cyclical in cats. They can tend to have problems around the same time of year or certain weather patterns. It’s weird, but I see urinary stuff happen a lot in the spring/fall. Your girl could have a double whammy between stress and meteorological happenings.
You say she had issues last year, what were they? Was she treated? It could be the same thing again. If you’ve let her get fat, she could be having problems grooming, which can lead to frequent UTI’s. She’s older, she could have arthritis issues that are preventing her from getting in and out of the litter box without pain, so she avoids it. Changing the box could be the solution. Where is the box located? If it’s in a high traffic area or too near where the dog hangs out, she may also avoid it for those reasons. Cats get more finicky about eliminating the older they get. It’s possible she dislikes the type of litter, so avoids it, or it’s not scooped often enough to her taste, or even if it gets dumped and scrubbed she might not like the smell if it’s a plastic box that’s been around for a while and is just old smelly plastic (that we can’t smell, but she can).
Urinary issues always call for a vet visit to rule out a medical problem. After that, some basic behavioral things can be addressed easily, and after that it depends on how far the owners are willing to go beyond basic behavioral changes. Some people are resistant to changing the home around to accommodate a cat with behavioral problems, especially urinary ones. If it’s an older cat, sometimes humane euthanasia can be the more kind option, because both the cat and the humans involved are suffering.
Repeating that she probably needs to be checked out. It may be something urinary/kidney related that, depending on how much you are willing, can be solved/managed/treated.
Is she peeing a lot? Peeing outside the litterbox right in front of me was how my older cat got my attention and when I took her in turned out it was diabetes. Got her settled on insulin and she lived fine for another year until her kidneys failed. She was about 15 at the time.
The shredded dog bedding could just be her letting you know she is upset at you being gone for a week. Might be totally unrelated the peeing issue.
I’m on lifetime cat #6. I’ve never had a cat that didn’t, at one point or another, and usually at multiple points, have litter box issues. Cats do that. They just do. Here’s what’s worked for me, from kittenhood to elderly (died at 20+ years old). First, multiple litter boxes. Yes, I know that doesn’t stop it, but it slows it down. Then, periodic ‘sniff checks’ of the carpet, and treating spots with this…http://www.amazon.com/Dumb-Cat-Anti-Marking-Remover/dp/B000CSS29Q
, which is the best urine odor remover I’ve found, and I’ve tried them ALL. This, also, will not stop it entirely, but will in all likelyhood bring it down to a managable level. Beyond that, it’s up to you to decide what you are willing to deal with in an animal that, after all, didn’t ask to be brought into your home, and that, presumably, you assumed responsibility for, at some point.
Reading what Seadragon says, I gotta admit it’s a little overwhelming. Let’s say it is one of those issues, while we are using trial and error method, she keeps on destroying the house. At what point do you say enough? When she ruins your carpet, how about your mattress??
I used euphamisms previously, while on vacation she used the dog bedding as toilet, one and two. Horrible mess obviously when we got home. Last year she started going into isolated corners and we had to clean the carpet well and pile the corners with all kinds of stuff that she can’t crawl on (paper bags, plastic balls, etc). And no, we didn’t take her to the vet, we figured it was a behavior issue and we dealt with behavior best we could.
I use a vinyl cover to protect my mattress. My cat is 21, blind and deaf, and her back legs are a bit stiff. So sometimes she decides that the scrunchy bed is more convenient than the scrunchy cat box sand. It’s virtually always pee, I think maybe once she pooped there in the last year or so.
I’ve had her since she was a 3 month old kitten, so my personal threshold for putting her down is when she gives up like my last 20 year old cat did.
There are all sorts of measures that can be taken to minimize the “destruction”. Extra litter boxes and urine neutralizers go a long way toward that.
Always best to assume medical first, behavioral second, at least IMHO. For whatever reason cats just have all sorts of potential elimination-related maladies. They can also have all sorts of elimination-related behavioral issues as well, but the medical problems are much easier to cross off the list, which then at least allows for more focus on whatever is the real problem.
When you adopt an animal, you have to take into account the problems that can arise. If you can’t take on those problems (within reason), don’t adopt the animal.
One of the primary responsibilities of pet ownership is knowing when to take the animal to the vet. You dropped the ball on this one. Significant changes in behavior are ALWAYS a reason to consult the vet. Changes in elimination habits are at the top of the “check with the vet” list.
If you do decide to euthanize your cat, please make sure you know what you need to know and are prepared to deal with the issues that may arise before you adopt another pet.
That sounds like an urgency thing: “Hi, Digger, whatcha doi- *ohmygodigottapeenow *ah, that’s better.” We had a cat who, as he got older, had similar problems. A vet visit turned up serious plumbing issues - he wasn’t crapping right where he stood because he wanted to but because it was comingoutrightnow.
(P.S. Medication helped him live several more happy purr-filled years.)
Just got back from vet. Bladder infection. kidney issues, pancreas issues, etc. Got antibiotics hope they help. Appreciate the input y’all. It was helpful, I’d hate to see her go now. It seems too soon.