Please advise - geriatric faecally incontinent cat

[khaleesi71]

Our family cat is 18 and dearly loved. He was hit by a car when he was younger which broke his jaw and smashed his pelvis. The vet put him back together although he no teeth and has always limped. Over he past year he stopped using his litter tray for poos although he does wee in them. Obvs we change them reg and use hideously expensive soft cat litter as we though his age might make it difficult for him. He has very loose stools and has 5/6 per day - generally on a floor somewhere. We have put paper down and he used to use that but now it's completely random. We have gone thorough every type of food and none make any difference - the vet says there is nothing he can do. He also had hyperthyroidism and had tablets but they gave him kidney problems and he was so miserable on them. He constantly howls for food (because of hyperthyroid) and is in and out the house constantly. My husband is due to go back to work soon and we have no idea how to manage this without coming home to a sea of poop. With winter coming and his age, we are worried about leaving him out all day. Please please advise......

[Silvercatowner]

I'm afraid that would be a deal breaker for us - your cat is extremely unlikely to revert to being clean and cat poo in random places is unhygenic and gross. Your cat can't be happy with the situation. I'm afraid I would consider the kindest thing to do for all would be to pts.

We are facing a not dissimilar situation with our cat who is the same age as yours. OH and i have agreed that if and when he becomes incontinent then we will need to have him pts.

[80sMum]

The only thing I can suggest is that you keep him in a confined area, such as a very large cage, to limit where he poos. Unfortunately, he's likely to be very miserable if kept in confinement though, if he's used to having freedom to go where he wants.
Unfortunately, I think that silver may be right and maybe your poor old chap has reached the end of the line.

[FallenSky]

Is he in pain? Is he happy? It sounds like a miserable situation for all of you. He's had a long, happy life. Maybe now is the time to consider pts? Such a hard decision but as Silver said, probably the kindest thing to do.

[khaleesi71]

We had hoped that someone would have a fantastic solution to avoid what we were absolutely dreading. We've even looked at putting him in a Cattery but it's too expensive. We'll miss him sooo much

[ijustwannadance]

It's shit but it's also the kindest thing to to.

[Secretspillernamechange]

Depending on your family situation (DCs etc) this wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker for me as long as you still think he has a quality of life.

Can you confine him to one room while you're out (his favourite sleeping room/or the lounge maybe?) and completely cover the floor with paper? And I know you say you've tried every type of food but have you tried pure protein? Raw feeding has the advantage of hardening stools, and while I wouldn't recommend raw to an infirm cat with no teeth, could you feed, for example, plain cooked chicken with a supplement such as Felini?

[khaleesi71]

The only room we can put him in without spiking our soft furnishings is the kitchen. Yesterday he managed to paddle poo all over the table, hob and sink as he gets distressed being cooped up and starts pacing. Hyperthyroidism doesn't help. Took an age to decontaminate and clean and sterilise properly (I work in clinical environment so know how to do it properly). Do you just give them cooked chicken/fish? He loves cuddles and being close by and then he'll look utterly miserable and just as we feel it's 'time' he perks up again. I wonder if we're keeping him going for us rather than his wellbeing. DS (10) will be devastated.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

When we tried Harry (who doesn't have many teeth) on Nature's Menu raw food we were surprised at how soft it was. Had he bothered to try it he would have been able to eat OK but, like most other foods, he wasn't interested!

I'm sorry to hear about your boy, it's a horrible decision to have to make

[Secretspillernamechange]

Oh poor thing that does sound hard. Yes you'd just give cooked chicken or white (non-oily) fish. If you notice an improvement in his poos you can get powder to add so that it's a complete food. Although raw can be soft and likely even better for his tummy, I'd just be hesitant in case his age and other conditions mean he's immunocompromised - last thing he'd need is a tummy bug and cats are a lot less resilient to them than dogs.

[NotYoda]

I am so so sorry. We recently had our 20 year old PTS. This would also be a sign to me that his time has come and the kindest thing would be to have him PTS. Do you want to remember him like this, too?

It's such a hard decision, I know. Harder than I anticipated. That's because you love him. The "signs" were coming and going with our girl but in the end we decided that it was not going to get substantially better and we did not want her to die in a crisis or when we weren't there.

Talking to my vet really helped me to decide - it was over a period of years/months/weeks. I trusted her that if she felt his quality of life was not good enough thyen it wasn't.

Things to consider asking vet about : pain, dehydration

Tak a bit of time. Try the diets, speak to the vet.

[NotYoda]

Sorry, forgot to say I also got lots of support on here.