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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

The litter tray

Am I being ridiculous or is it time to let FABCat go?

156 replies

fabwoman · 27/02/2012 10:03

Just discovered she has weed in an empty plastic tray under the stairs - at least she is trying to do it in an okay place. She is 17, has several illnesses but to me still has quality of life as she still plays and is clever enough to hide behind the sofa when she has sneaked back in or make me move stuff off the bed so she can sleep in the sun. She has been weeing in the wrong places for several weeks now. She has access to a big garden and hasn't had a litter tray for years except for when she had to be kept in, but she doesn't like them.

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CMOTDibbler · 27/02/2012 10:05

I wouldn't say it was time yet, but inappropriate weeing was def a sign of the beginning of the end for our two former cats

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stealthsquiggle · 27/02/2012 10:09

we are in the same place, fab - cat is ~20, and has been weeing/pooing anywhere but outside for a while now (need to go and find her right now, in fact, as the DC left all the doors open again so she is probably in one of their rooms) - it's driving me nuts, and I really don't think she would bother to go all the way downstairs to a litter tray if we did put it in - but if you see her curled up with DS on the sofa in the evening it is quite clear that she does still have quality of life. I couldn't bring myself to have her put down just because she is smelly and inconvenient although I didn't say that when I found she had weed all over an unwashable beanbag.

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fabwoman · 27/02/2012 10:11

The vet pretty much offered me euthiwhatsit because he said some owners won't tolerate it but I said no - unless she is doing it because she is pain. I am terrified I am being selfish as this cat means more to me than anything (other than DH and the DCs) and letting her go will break my heart . I am worried I won't do what is right.

I am sorry you are going through this too .

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fabwoman · 27/02/2012 10:16

CMOT - could you give me a timeline to be aware of please?

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issey6cats · 27/02/2012 10:16

maybe its time to put a litter tray under the stairs as that is where she went , older cats dont sometimes feel secure going outside as in thier heads they are vunerable when going to the loo, or maybe put a covered litter tray in the back garden

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CMOTDibbler · 27/02/2012 10:22

I'd say it was about 8 weeks from when we really thought it was a problem to when they were pts. Both times I wish they'd gone the day before we took them, but they'd seemed to be pretty happy right till then. My old cat was the love of my life and it was so hard to take him

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stealthsquiggle · 27/02/2012 10:24

CMOT - ours has been being a PITA about going (or rather, not going) outside for longer than that with no noticeable signs of further deterioration. DH insists she has gone deaf as well, but I am not entirely convinced.

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evilgiraffe · 27/02/2012 10:25

Our 18-year-old cat is very much of the "if it's too much effort, I won't bother" mentality. We had to move the litter tray downstairs because she would wee on the floor downstairs rather than attempt the stairs - and going outside is equally hard work for her. Now we're struggling to get her to wee IN the box - she'll go in, stop, then wee over the edge of the box and on to the floor, arrrgh! I'm really not sure what we can do to make her take just one more step into the litter tray so the wee stays in the tray!

She's otherwise completely compos mentis, though - just painfully thin and the vet has said she's living on borrowed time. We're just enjoying her while she's still here :)

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CMOTDibbler · 27/02/2012 10:29

Stealth - oldcat had always been fastidious about his toilet habits, and they had the choice of going out or using a litter traym so it was a very marked change.
They both had kidney cancer though.

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fabwoman · 27/02/2012 10:30

DH has just said she has been weeing where she shouldn't for months and he is right. He said she would use a tray in the utility room but she is another cat who pees over the side. She has weed in the lounge in two different place, in the cupboard under the stairs, on a jumper and a bag just outside the cupboard under the stairs but we saw her pee outside on Saturday. Shame it was on the gravel near DH's train track .

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fabwoman · 27/02/2012 10:37

Mine has also been very clean and has kidney failure, as well as a problem with her bladder.

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stealthsquiggle · 27/02/2012 11:14

I swear ours has dementia. I can see her get up from the sofa and start to wander around sometimes and I know she is looking for somewhere to wee - on a couple of occasions I have picked her up and put her outside. Her cat flap is open, and she knows perfectly well how to use it (I see her do it) and does sometimes go outside of her own volition, and yet on one occasion after I had put her out, she was still wandering around outside (in the cold and the dark) yelling an hour later .

Between that and warring chickens, I have had enough today - DD's campaign for a rabbit is going nowhere, that's for sure.

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CMOTDibbler · 27/02/2012 11:19

Rabbits are easy tbh - ds's lives in his bedroom and is no hassle at all. And very cuddly . It sleeps in his bed

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fabwoman · 27/02/2012 12:00

What me is when we move or distract her when it looks like she is going to wee on the floor she doesn't then go outside to wee.

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ripsishere · 28/02/2012 07:28

Have you considered a tray with lower sides? Something similar to a seed tray perhaps? I ended up with a non stick baking tray for one of my shittens. He did not seem to like having to climb into the proper one.
It went into the bin once he had finished toilet training. I didn't eve use it again for swiss rolls.

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fabwoman · 28/02/2012 07:39

That is a good idea. Shame I just through an old one out. I will buy a cheapie one as she weed on my jeans last night so she doesn't want to go out, or can't, for some reason. Have to confess feeling a bit fed up with it this morning.

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fabwoman · 28/02/2012 07:40

threw

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girlywhirly · 28/02/2012 13:18

It's common for old cats not to want to go outside to the loo, they are vulnerable to attack by young strong cats while they are going. Our old cat used to come in to use the litter tray where he knew he was safe, as he'd been pounced on in our garden by the local bully cat before.

They have trouble with stiff arthritic joints which makes lifting their legs over high sided trays difficult, and going up and down stairs may be a real effort to get to a tray. Crouching down low enough to pee in the tray can be hard resulting in a mess over the side, and if they have dementia can forget where the tray is and how to get to it.

It depends how long you're prepared to tolerate it, and if there is advanced clinical disease that is never going to improve, as to when you make the decision. You may find a sudden deterioration makes it unavoidable.

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fridakahlo · 28/02/2012 13:25

For all those with old dears who wee just outside the tray, try putting inco pads underneath.
When we had two old dears, they were sanity saving, as you just change the pad rather than having to do a full scale clenaing job every time it happens.

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evilgiraffe · 28/02/2012 13:34

Fridak - that is a genius idea. We were thinking to find some sort of big flat tray to sit the litter box in as at the minute it's kitchen roll doing the job!

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nannipigg · 28/02/2012 13:37

We used puppy pads and newspaper placed in several places when our cat started missing the litter tray and peeing in weird places. He had Diabetes and Epilepsy...he was PTS after a stroke at the age of 19. We were told he wouldn't last more than a year or 2 when he developed Diabetes at the age of 8.
I think they go a bit senile or forgetful in the end years, but I would never consider putting my pet to sleep for just inappropriate weeing etc....as long as they have a reasonable quality of life.I would only do it if they were suffering x

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fridakahlo · 28/02/2012 13:41

Yes, it came to me post dc2's birth, where the midwifes had them everywhere. We ordered a six month supply off the web, so it worked out cheaper than puppy pads.

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fabwoman · 28/02/2012 14:05

Just been cleaning up where she weed as the smell is still there. I have shut all the doors and she was upstairs on the landing. She can still walk upstairs, albeit slowly. She is smart enough to sneak in to the lounge when I opened the door to check the answer machine. I tried to nudge her out and her little face.....When she asked to go in I said no and she aeioued at me!

I do think she has quality of life. She still plays (this is crying while she carries her pompom caterpillar around), biting newspapers and playing football with a single pom pom.

She has hypoestesia, a problem with her bladder, arthritis, a graze on her nose and her kidneys started failing in April. My vet is away and I honestly don't think it is time, I Just don't trust myself to know.

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ripsishere · 28/02/2012 14:16

don't you trust any other vets?
She sounds as if she's in a bit of a pickle. I think I'd be having a long hard think. IMO, and I stress it's only mine and I am nail, I would be considering having her PTS before you start to resent her.

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fabwoman · 28/02/2012 14:23

One other vet has seen her a few times and suggested acupuncture and morphine which my regular vet dismissed, so it does make it hard to trust someone who doesn't know FABCat as well as our normal vet.

I don't resent her, just fed up with the smell but not enough to get rid. I will be heart broken and the children would be inconsolable. They know it will happen but as she has done so well I suspect they are like me and think she will live forvever.

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