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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To rehome the elderly cat?

275 replies

Lazyginger · 09/08/2017 23:10

The elderly cat (15) keeps pissing in the house. The house stinks.
I have tried everything! I've taken it to the vets (several times) for expensive tests - apparently there's nothing wrong.
I've thrown out countless carpet and door mat.
I've tried everything Google suggests. Tin foil. Orange peel. Aversion therapy.
Locking her out works whilst she's out! But as soon as I let her in again she pisses somewhere! Soon it will be winter again and I didnt really want to lock her out.
Thing is, apart from making the house stink, I've got a 4 month old ds who will soon be crawling and the last thing I want is for him to find a lake of cat piss.
I'm at the end of the road and considering taking her back to the cats protection as awful as it makes me feel. Is this unreasonable? Im at my wits end!

OP posts:
notevernotnevernotnohow · 10/08/2017 05:55

No, she said she had tried "everything". I just took her at her word. If you think she is lying, report the thread.

UrsulaPandress · 10/08/2017 07:49

15 is not in the least bit amazing for a cat. I have had two that lived into their twenties.

IfYouGoDownToTheWoodsToday · 10/08/2017 08:03

Op, if you are still reading I have every sympathy. You have a baby and baby and cat piss do not mix.
I would not put up with my home sticking of piss. If you have really "tried everything"- vets Etc I would have no hestitatuon in putting her to sleep. If you've tried lots of suggestions and she's still pushing eveywhere, she's obviously not happy and it would be cruel to keep her alive.
I've seen people holding on to elderly pets for years, including my parents who had a 16 yo jack Russell who was blind, deaf and incontinent. It was fucking ridiculous to keep him alive for so long.

IfYouGoDownToTheWoodsToday · 10/08/2017 08:03

Excuse typos!

SuburbanRhonda · 10/08/2017 08:17

Don't get any more pets when you get rid of this cat (which you will)

^ This 100%

MargaretCavendish · 10/08/2017 08:17

Have you tried Feliway and that stuff you put on their food to calm them down (we used zylkene, maybe there are other brands?). Our cat started having 'accidents' when we got a kitten and something about the combination of these two made a huge difference.

Writerwannabe83 · 10/08/2017 08:26

Hi OP, you have my sympathy.

Prior to having DS I had two cats who were happy, sociable, lovely little things but when DS arrived everything went rapidly downhill.

They were so stressed and they urinated everywhere, all around the house, in the car seat, in the cot, over DS's clothes, it was a nightmare. They started scratching our furniture and carpets, they became very recluse and they were clearly unhappy.

Me and DH tried everything over the course of two years to try and ease their stress but nothing made any difference. We had the Feliway Plug-Ins, the Feliway Sprays, the calming dry food you can buy, the calming tablets and drops that you can add to their food and provided them with their own 'safe space' in the house but their behaviours just continued.

We were back and forth to the vets with one of them at least once every 6 weeks because she had stress induced cystitis and that was costing us about £50 each time and on top of all the products we bought over the course of the years we must have spent into the thousands of pounds trying to address the problem. It reached the point though where the Vet told me that each time the cat got cystitis she was damaging her kidneys that little bit more and she would get more and more prone to health problems as a direct result. I spoke to the Vet at length about the problems my cats had with their behaviours and everything we'd tried and he suggested that if after two years my cats were still so unhappy then we should try to rehome them.

I was really upset at the thought of doing it but I was also upset at the thought of my cat's living a miserable life and the fact the stress they were feeling was putting their health at risk.

We advertised and rehomed them privately (they were 7 years old) but after two weeks the lady returned them because they were persistently urinating in her house too and scratching. She'd also had to take them to the Vets and pay out for antibiotics because another bout of cystitis had arisen. I reimbursed her for that though.

Following their return we re-advertised again and this time in the advert I was very honest about why we were rehoming and detailed what behaviours we had observed but that beneath that they were lovely cats and they just needed a home with people who could dedicate their time to making the cats feel loved and secure in their environment. I was contacted by a man the next day who alongside his main job he took in 'problem cats'and rehabilitated them (for want of a better word) and said he's like to meet us. To cut a long story short we did give the cats to him and his wife and two years on I'm still in touch with them and they regularly send me emails and photos and it's clear how much they love the cats. They said it took a good 3 months or so for my cars to settle in and for their stressful behaviours to cease but they were now happy little souls again.

I was so upset about rehoming them and I missed them a lot but I know it was the right decision for them.

As has been said though, the difficulty you have is the cat's age and that probably will act as a barrier. Do you have any childfree family or friends that could take on the cat? It may be worth seeing how she fares in a different, calmer environment before looking to PTS if that's another option you have been considering?

JacquesHammer · 10/08/2017 08:30

I would return to the vet and get them to end her life kindly.

Nicer than rehoming

Lazyginger · 10/08/2017 09:20

Thank you to everyone with advice.

I love the cat as much as I love the other 2 cats (I have never found them pissing)! But her behaviour over the last 9 months has been really difficult. It all started after we moved house, the previous owners had cats so I presumed she was scent marking but it could have been stress.

She's been to the vet several times and had tests for cancer, kidneys, liver function and cystitis. The vet gave her antibiotics just in case!!

She's an outdoors cat and we've never had liter trays so I got a couple wondering if she would piss there instead. To be fair it worked for about a week until she just started pissing in her old places again. Even though I'd put the trays next to where she went. And she pissed just next to the trays.

I've tried feliway diffuser and spray. It made no difference to her but sent the other 2 bonkers??

' aversion therapy' = shouting at her the first couple of times. But it made no difference so there was no point in continuing to yell.

Several times whilst pregnant I've dealt with poo too (which you're not supposed to apparently)

I don't want to get rid of her, I don't want to pts as otherwise she is a loving cat. I'm going to persevere with some of the suggestions on here and put her in the utility room with her bed and see how she does.

OP posts:
Namechangetempissue · 10/08/2017 09:25

Good luck OP. Make the utility really cozy, warm and quiet. If she previously urinated in the room make sure you really scrub to get rid of any scent with a specialist product. Keep a litter tray there anyway and put puppy pads down to minimise damage and smell. If she is mainly happy outside have you an outdoor shed you can utilise as "her" space?

kali110 · 10/08/2017 09:27

Shouting isn't going to work.
Its more likely the stress of the move.
Your vet will usually recommend calming things you can give your pet if they dont get on with feliway.
Did you try the feliway spray? You spray it in areas you want the pet to stop rhe undeserible behaviour.
Has she been neutered?

SentientCushion · 10/08/2017 09:35

I have to say I'm disgusted by these replies.

Surely having an old cat is part of getting a young cat. It's not exactly rocket science that as cats get older they become senile and incontinent and you should factor that into your decision to get a cat in the first place.

Why can't you just put her into one room, she'd probably be happier that way anyway because cats don't tend to mind how big their territory is as long as it's all theirs and it's stable.

To get cat wee out of carpets use biological washing powder mixed with hot water, it really works I have 6 kittens in my care who's mother never taught them to use a litter tray so I've had to use it a lot recently.

JennyBlueWren · 10/08/2017 09:37

Interesting to read about other cats which peed everywhere with a new baby. One of our cats did that but we linked it to her not being neutered and after neutering it did stop.

BertrandRussell · 10/08/2017 09:39

If she's senile and incontinent, she is not a happy cat. Have her pts.

I wish people would realize that being pts is not the worst think that can happen to an animal. It is very often the best thing.

ShotsFired · 10/08/2017 09:40

@SuperBeagle Perhaps your son will feel the same way about you in the future. After all, the probability is that you'll become difficult and incontinent. Perhaps he'll just shove you off to a home and never visit or pay you any mind.

I rather hope he does exactly this. After all, OP doesn't seem to mind causing stress and upset to her cat, so she can't complain if her son does the same to her.

Don one final good deed for your cat and pts, I beg you. Be kind and loving and with her at the end. Then you can skip away in your new and exciting life. FFS some people make me sick Angry

maddiemookins16mum · 10/08/2017 09:41

It's not easy and I do have some sympathy. It sounds like stress cystitis which my 17 year old female gets (on windy days of all things!). I use Cystease (get on Amazon). Capsules you can sprinkle in her food.

HoHoHoHo · 10/08/2017 09:46

If you had a boyfriend / husband who's presence made the house unsafe for your baby you'd get rid of him soon enough. This is cat. If you've truly exhausted all options with the cat you need to get rid of it. It's not safe for your baby to have cat wee everywhere

SentientCushion · 10/08/2017 09:50

Except a husband would have a choice in where he went.

MargaretCavendish · 10/08/2017 09:53

If you had a boyfriend / husband who's presence made the house unsafe for your baby you'd get rid of him soon enough. This is cat.

Well, an awful lot of women don't... And that's a bizarre comparison anyway. If the boyfriend was incontinent I don't think that would warrant chucking him out of the house, but then he'd be a human, not a cat.

Definitely try the one room solution - but where is the cat flap? You don't want to restrict her access to outside if she's used to coming and going as she pleases, as that's going to stress her out more.

swimbikerun123 · 10/08/2017 09:54

Feliway...though we've never had much success that with that.
PetRemedy however has been excellent. Spray or wipe on toys and bedding.
Change of litter in litter box...we have 4 litter boxes with 2 different litters in, as they have their preferences.
Nice warm bedding in utility room, spray with PetRemedy and leave a choice of two litter boxes.
Good Luck!

GherkinSnatch · 10/08/2017 10:05

YANBU to admit that you can't live in an environment where you have a cat pissing everywhere, especially when it's going to be to the detriment of your son's quality of life and stressing you out that you can't have him crawling in cat wee.

However you need to be able to acknowledge that this cat will never be rehomed if it goes to a shelter. Having a cat that's miserable PTS when you've exhausted all reasonable options doesn't make you an evil animal killer.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/aug/01/should-we-stop-keeping-pets-why-more-and-more-ethicists-say-yes this might be food for thought.

GherkinSnatch · 10/08/2017 10:06

I rather hope he does exactly this. After all, OP doesn't seem to mind causing stress and upset to her cat, so she can't complain if her son does the same to her.

Don one final good deed for your cat and pts, I beg you. Be kind and loving and with her at the end. Then you can skip away in your new and exciting life. FFS some people make me sick Angry

Some people indeed Hmm

Mittens1969 · 10/08/2017 10:14

Great to hear from you again, OP, I suppose a cat that was never used to litter trays wouldn't easily adjust to using one. Nice to know that you're going to persevere. I honestly don't think that you'd find a new home anyway at that age; I looked into it with my lovely cat because she couldn't cope with living with a young child at all. A new owner wouldn't get insurance actually and an elderly cat will need treatment at the vet.

In our case, her health deteriorated and the only solution was to pts, which was very sad but at least she was with me in the end.

As PPs have suggested try felliway spray and restrict her to one room with a comfortable bed where when the baby becomes a toddler they won't be going, because toddlers do chase cats and pull their tails.

Your cat will be happy, if you can cope with the weeing; hopefully that will happen less if she's restricted to one room. And maybe she'll stick to one place for her 'toilet'.

differenteverytime · 10/08/2017 10:18

I read frustration and worry, not heartlessness or lack of love, in the OP's posts. You should have heard what I called our beloved elderly cat this morning, at 2am and again at 5am, when she woke me up with her yowling. She's getting old, and that's part of it, but it doesn't make the behaviour any easier to deal with at a time when the rest of my life is horrendously stressful and I need to sleep. And she isn't even weeing everywhere, which would be worse.

Similarly, the OP has a baby - it's been a while, but I remember very well that instinct to protect my baby dds, and the frustration/anger at anything that threatened them. Crawling around in wee and living in a house that stinks of it is obviously a problem.

OP, do everything in your power and budget to settle your cat down, as she is obviously miserable. I was trying to think of what I would do in your position and can think of little more, apart from the fact that I happen to live next door to a kind older lady whose own elderly cat passed away a year ago. I would probably approach her and ask her to take in our cat, with the agreement that I paid for food and vet bills. But that's a very specific solution that most people don't have.

Other posters are right that she would never be rehomed, though - she'd be PTS after yet more terrible distress. So if all avenues are exhausted - and you sound like you've tried a fair few already - then an incontinent cat is usually very unhappy and PTS would be the best option IMO. I'm sorry you're in this position. I think the talk of you 'skipping off' afterwards is inaccurate and cruel.

OfficerVanHalen · 10/08/2017 10:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.