Portia is driving me insane :/

[StillMedusa]

She's 18. She's old. I get it. She is entitled to be a bit of a pain, but I am almost at the end of my tether and would appreciate some advice.

She has slowly failing kidneys, propped up by meds. Very thin, but still purring, slapping us, and now and again knocking things off tables. SO far so good.

BUT... the peeing on the landing/bathroom/ door mat is getting me down (she has litter trays and uses them to poo in so she hasn't forgotten how) We have puppy pads and towels down everywhere but there is still often a whiff of cat pee depsite my constant carpet cleaning.

and... the YOWLING. It is near constant now... she wanders upstairs and yowls at DS2 , who then comes down and feeds her. (she will lick a bit of jelly and that's it... she eats mainly tuna and chicken now so he feeds her that)
And repeat.
We are wasting incredible amounts of cat food because 9/10 times she doesn't eat it, and the others won't if it's been down more than 20 minutes. Sometimes she does eat , but then appears to have forgotten and 5 mins later is yowling again. Sometimes she sits and yowls just..well because.
She is never alone because DS2 has autism and is home til 5pm every evening (amazingly he has a little p/t job) He loves her and just wants to make her happy but we are basically making all the neighbourhood cats fat on tons of food that isn't eaten. He can't bear to hear her yowling so tries constantly to make her happy.

What can we do?? I suppose I could keep all cat food in the car to stop DS2 constantly opening packets , but he'd still go in the fridge and we have worked hard with him to feel he IS capable and independent.
I think she is a bit senile, but she is still happy and purring at us when she isn't looking dopey and yowling. I don't feel like her life is poor quality yet, but if she was human I would definitely be thinking about a nursing home.

ANY suggestions welcomed!

Maybe buy some of the supplement powder for raw feeding and mix with the tuna and chicken so she gets the vitamins/ minerals / amino acids she needs?
How deep are the litter trays? If she's ancient she probably has arthritis to some extent.
When was her last vet check up?

Her last check up was two weeks ago... and the vet was quite impressed that she is still alive (before xmas we thought she only had weeks left) and happy that her physical state is as good as it is. There is no point adding anything to her food..she has 18 years of expert food refusal (she has always been incredibly fussy )likewise pills are a no no, so she has to have injections for anything. She does have arthritis but it has only slowed her down, she is still cheerfully jumping on to us, so can defo get in her trays fine. I feel genuinely that it's most senile behaviour but it is wearing us all down!

I guess you know kidney disease processes liquid a lot quicker, so that isn't going to help with the wee situation. However, make sure you soak the urine up as much as possible, put some paper towels down and something heavy on top. I'd then wipe with a damp cloth and then wipe with surgical spirit which is good for removing urine smells. Have you tried putting litter trays were she likes to soil? It's not ideal but given her age and the fact she has kidney disease, you might only have to do it for a short while (sorry you probably don't need me pointing this out).

Yowling can be a sign of kidney disease, hyperthyroidism and old age, so other than making sure she's as comfortable as possible yourself and regular vet check ups to ensure there's nothing else going on, I think that's all you can do.

With KD she might feel nauseous, needs food but then doesn't fancy it - there is medication available to help with that. Also, little and often certainly and a higher food bowl.

Again, like you say it could be senility, my girl is 18.5 and I'm also finding it very hard to feed her. She's been offered two different pouches and one mini tin so far to keep her quiet and there's a lot left. She has hyperthyroidism which can cause confusion, but I'm sure it's because she's old and senile as she's just not the same cat.

Has she had a blood test recently? It's sometimes hard to work out what's going on with them, but do talk to your vet about the issues, they can eliminate urinary problems, treat for nausea and anything else.