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

[fabwoman]

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.

Sounds ridiculous, but can she see her litter tray?

Just to let you know my lovely 15 year old cat Jess, has supposedly been in kidney failure for years....she was diagnosed at the age of 8 with calcification of the kidneys and every so often a lump breaks off and blocks the tubes, causing her to be sick for a day or so...then she is fine again. We were told to feed her special food, which is almost impossible and expensive when you have 5 cats and of course she is the only one who won't touch it!!! But she has plodded on regardless of her kidney problems. she still catches mice, jumps 6 ft fences and eats normal food. So don't give up on your cats....there can be good times even in bad times x

She doesn't have the tray yet, must do it today. No excuse. Memory like a sieve.

It was heartbreaking watching her walk around my bed trying to work out how to get up on it. She eventually jumped onto the stool and then across to the bed. She is curled up on it fast asleep.

I have to pick up her meds next week so I will try and talk to someone then.
She is so cute and funny .

our old cat Columbus got senile near the end, would wander off round the garden and forget how to get back inside, he'd end up meowing at the locked/closed door etc. He did start peeing in strange places too, more that he couldn't make it to the tray I think so we ended up with a few trays dotted around the house and put puppy pads anywhere that couldn't have trays like the top of the stairs etc.

Do cats suffer if they are senile?

Just come home after taking DS1 swimming and there is something in her water and she peed behind the chair again while DH was feeding DS2.

I don't think they suffer when they're senile. Our vet certainly didn't give any indication that they did, far from it. He just shrugged a bit when we said she was weeping and pooing in the wrong places, said "yes, we'll, old cats can get a bit senile sometimes". He might even have said not to worry about it, but he certainly didn't use it as a way in to the Talk, which I would have thought he would if it was needed.

Get a litter tray (or several) sorted out; you'll probably have to re-introduce her to them like when you're teaching a kitten where the tray is.

Does your dh think it's time?

He said not. I have made him tell me but I am still thinking it isn't a reason to have her PTS just because she toilets in the wrong place.

Just watched Marley & Me and sobbed my heart out. Gave FABCat extra bedtime biscuits..

Aaaaaaaw, sweet (dd wants to throttle me when I say that!)

YAY! No overnight accidents and she has eaten all her breakfast. Nothing puts this cat off her food!

:)

Her nose hasn't healed yet but she has just miaowed at daddy to hurry up and feed her so she is feeling okay I guess.

WTF is going on???

FABCat came in the kitchen and walked on the shopping bag. She likes bags so quite normal for her. She then got in a position and looked like she was going to wee. I moved her and she didn't. A few minutes later she went back on to the bag and after 5 seconds she weed. ARGH!! Just pissed in front of us with no bother. Put her back in the utility room where she finished the wee.

Litter trays.

Actually, MadKitten did that in my bedroom a few months ago. Never done it before or since. I think she just needed to make the bag hers, iyswim, but she is mad.

I suspect she would walk past a litter tray to pee in one of her every growing areas of inappropriately piddling. Kids thought it was funny of course .

for pissy old fabcat.
Mine have not excuse. They are around 10 months old. I think the smell of cat pee must survive in miniscule atomic amounts.
One particular thing (the washing basket) was favourite for both for a couple of weeks desptite being put through the washing machine and hosed off.
It was binned.

She used her litter tray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pom-poms are pomming! (or whatever it is they do!) Big cheers for FABcat!

Okay, rte me staright.

FABCat used tray overnight. Just seen her sat in the garden. Almost immediately after she came in she peed all over the floor. Is she suffering?

It doesn't seem fair that she is now only allowed in the main house if someone is there to cat sit. That seems to cruel. My poor cat.

Well, you could just put litter trays down wherever her favourite places are, ie. she likes sleeping on the bed so put one there, but that's going a bit over the top and there's no guarantee that she'd use them anyway.

OK, first of all, I have no idea whether she's actually suffering or not. You, your dh, your vet, will have to answer that one, either separately or in some combination.

So, you are doing what you can to contain the problem of uncontrolled wee, which is to shut her in a particular part of the house, unless there is someone around to keep an eye on her. How restricted is she, in comparison to how restricted she was? I know she's comfortable in her room, and warm, so you don't need to worry about that; and people being in or out is no different from always and won't change either. So, the main difference her incontinence (for want of a better word) makes is that she's confined to somewhere where she's warm and comfortable and is used to being in, only the door is shut and she can't get at the rest of hte house until one of you is home.

This is where you have to become as objective as you can. Do you think imposing this restriction on her has a seriously devaluing effect on her overall quality of life? If so, how much in the last year, say, do you think the quality of her life has been reduced, and do you think that this latest effect has brought it down below the line where the positives outweigh the negatives?

I'm sorry FABwoman, I can't really say more than that. You know that I can't make the decision for you, and you know that I have no idea without seeing and knowing FABcat myself.

It is such a hard thing. I do feel for you.