almost at my wit's end with cat

sdkitty

sdkitty

O.G.
Jan 16, 2006
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#1
My sammy is the sweetest cat. But he's getting old (16-17). He has a tumour in his ear that isn't treatable. It causes him to scratch the ear until it bleeds then he shakes his head and the blood splatter goes on the walls, sides of cabinets (all newly painted two years ago).
He also has bleeding on the exterior of his nose which the new vet said might be cancer.
He doesn't seem to be suffering - more just having some discomfort. So when DH has fits about the blood splatter I say "what do you want me to do, kill him?"

He also had a problem that I thought was resolved. Peeing outside his box. He did this several times. I took him to vet, ruled out physical causes. Tried Feliway, many other things. Finally put him on anxiety meds, which seemed to fix the problem. He has not repeated the behavior for about a year.

A week or so ago I took him to a new vet for a checkup. He peed in his carrier which I guess was anxiety. He's never done that before. I thought it was an isolated incident. This morning I noticed a pillow in the room where his litter box is which appears to have been peed on. Now I don't know if this may have happened the same day as vet visit and may not repeat. Or do we have a problem again?
I don't even want to tell DH. He will want the cat banished to the garage. I'm trying to figure out where I can dispose of that pillow w/o him seeing it.

I had a friend who euthanized her cat (after many vet visits, etc) for this problem. I don't want to do this but don't want our house ruined
 
#4
A lot of times when cats pee outside of the litterbox it is because of a UTI, bladder stones, crystals, or blockage but your cat has already been to the vet, so I am not sure what the cause of this is.

I know of a cat that would pee and poop outside of the litter box. She had crystals, and the vet said that because of this, she associated going in the litterbox with pain. It's a tough problem to fix. I don't know if you ever watch Jackson from the show "My Cat From H*ll" but he seems to deal with this problem a lot and then he magically fixes it, lol.
 
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#5
mcb100 said:
A lot of times when cats pee outside of the litterbox it is because of a UTI, bladder stones, crystals, or blockage but your cat has already been to the vet, so I am not sure what the cause of this is.

I know of a cat that would pee and poop outside of the litter box. She had crystals, and the vet said that because of this, she associated going in the litterbox with pain. It's a tough problem to fix. I don't know if you ever watch Jackson from the show "My Cat From H*ll" but he seems to deal with this problem a lot and then he magically fixes it, lol.
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he has two litter boxes and uses both
I'm hoping maybe this had to do with the vet visit and won't occur again
Not physical
 
#6
sdkitty said:
he has two litter boxes and uses both
I'm hoping maybe this had to do with the vet visit and won't occur again
Not physical
Click to expand...

Cats have the weakest kidneys of all animals, I don't want you to put your cat to sleep, but I think you really really need to look into it if there is quality of life for him there. Cats don't pee outside their litter box without reason, they are actually very clean animals
 
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#7
Gabs007 said:
Cats have the weakest kidneys of all animals, I don't want you to put your cat to sleep, but I think you really really need to look into it if there is quality of life for him there. Cats don't pee outside their litter box without reason, they are actually very clean animals
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The vet checked him out for physical causes and determined it was most likely stress. He is on anxiety meds and that stopped the behavior for like a year. I'm hoping this was a one-time occurrence brought on by stress from the vet visit. Keeping and eye out and haven't seen it again.
 
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#8
sdkitty said:
The vet checked him out for physical causes and determined it was most likely stress. He is on anxiety meds and that stopped the behavior for like a year. I'm hoping this was a one-time occurrence brought on by stress from the vet visit. Keeping and eye out and haven't seen it again.
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One of mine had the problem for a bit, turned out he had an UTI (very difficult to determine with cats but luckily he had the accident while being at the vets and they checked the urine), since then we give him some kidney supporting medication, I have to make pate for the cat so I can smuggle it in, as otherwise he won't take it....
 
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#10
fabuleux said:
Sorry to read this @sdkitty .
I learned last week that my cat, who is only 6yo, has numerous kidney stones and will probably be gone within a few months. But we've got to give them love and care until the end though. :heart:
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so sad esp in such a young kitty
I know kidney failure is pretty common in seniors. My cats have all lived to be fairly old. Sorry your youngster is so sick
 
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#12
My cat has kidney issues too. Stress doesn't help. Twice I nearly lost him because of this kidney issue. Grateful for my fantastic vet, God bless him.

He is very picky about his water and his litter (no surprises there for anyone with a cat) and I've always accommodated this but I didn't notice he wasn't drinking enough. I found when he gets stressed, he doesn't drink. (Travel, very young visitors "Ooooo Kitty!", change in routine.)

Now if he wakes me up in the middle of the night because he needs to use the litter or thinks someone must have spit in his water and he wants fresh water because he is thirsty - I don't mind. If others think I'm being neurotic, so be it - even if I am being neurotic, he's my responsibility after all. And I told the vet if it came to it, his quality of life is more important than any heartache for me if he had to be put down due to something that could be "managed" but meant he was still suffering. Quality of life isn't just how we feel about them after all. If it's untreatable, how are they taking it?

Kidney issues are painful for us, cannot imagine how these little ones must feel.

Hope your Sammy will be okay.
 
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#13
Are the sides of the litter box very high? Maybe he’s having a hard time getting in and out of the box and maybe that’s why he’s going outside of it?
Why don’t you bandage the ear (or where the tumor is) so the wound can heal and he doesn’t do further damage to himself?

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It breaks my heart just thinking about it. Material things are replaceable. Cover or put some of your important things away for now. Your cat is irreplaceable and you don’t know how much longer you’ll have with him. Cherish those moments.
 
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#14
NOIRetMoi said:
Are the sides of the litter box very high? Maybe he’s having a hard time getting in and out of the box and maybe that’s why he’s going outside of it?
Why don’t you bandage the ear (or where the tumor is) so the wound can heal and he doesn’t do further damage to himself?

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. It breaks my heart just thinking about it. Material things are replaceable. Cover or put some of your important things away for now. Your cat is irreplaceable and you don’t know how much longer you’ll have with him. Cherish those moments.
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He is using the litter box. He just decided to outside of it one time. I'm assuming that it was after the vet visit and a one-time stress thing. Watching the area and don't see any repeat of the behavior.
 
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