Elderly cat getting very messy

[oliveroses]

Hello! I'm wondering if anyone has some words of advice or solidarity for me?

We have a beautiful cat who is now 17 - we've had her since she was 5. She's always been in great health apart from a thyroid issue that she had iodine therapy for years ago. Two and a half years ago our son was born and her health and condition seemed to decline dramatically as if the years had caught up with her. We've had various toileting issues since then but generally speaking it has been infrequent and in phases. Checked at vet etc and all fine.

Now, however, she is missing her litter tray on a daily basis. We recently bought her an extra large one but this hasn't solved the problem. For the most part she is trying to use it but it's all going over the side - number ones and twos. Every morning I need to mop the floor and as the floor slopes we call it 'a river of piss' that runs the length of the room My husband cleans up number twos as I am pregnant - this is an added hassle as when he's at work it's difficult to manage. We've been doing this for 6 months and on a daily basis for three.

Her back legs are going and I suspect this is part of the issue. I've thought about a second litter tray as I know you're supposed to have two, but like I said she's trying to use it. We are at our wits end as it's such a sight to wake up to and deal with in the morning. She calls out all night and tries to open the door of the room she sleeps in and we've thought about letting her outside but we live in a flat and are high up and wouldn't hear her if she met another cat or a fox. We can't put a cat flap in because the building is listed and the front door is three flights of stairs down and she now struggles with stairs. We had to move to the flat for work and we've always been aware it wouldn't be ideal for her.

She's outside a lot during the day now and I can't get her in - she loves it! I take her food and water in the garden. I am very concerned about what is going to happen during winter though, as toileting issues have always been worse then and she isn't outside so much. Add to that another baby (all being well) and i am not sure how to manage this! We are also going away in July and pay for a sitter to come twice a day to let her out and in again etc. this works fine but I feel so bad about the amount of cleaning the sitter has to do.

Is this just normal? Is there anything else we can try? My anxiety about it all is higher I think because of pregnancy, I love her so much and want to do the best for her and I know she won't be around forever. Any thoughts much appreciated!

Bump

We had this issue for the last year of our 21 year old cat’s life. We put copious amounts of overlapping opened newspaper sections down and placed the litter boxes on top. It pretty much confined the mess to the paper and reduced mopping need, and was a lot easier to fold up and dispose of. Our local newspaper office sets out old papers for the taking, so it was free as well. Alternatively, you could use large puppy training pads.

If there is an issue with her back legs she likely has arthritis and may benefit from pain meds to allow her to use the litter box easier and without pain. You may want to discuss with your vet if that is an option.

I used to buy incontinence sheets (bigger than a puppy pad) which worked wonder for my beloved 23 year old boy. Used to use them under the litter tray. Hope you find a solution for your beloved cat OP.

Thanks so much @LuckyPeonies and @ZebraDilemma . Yes, something absorbent would definitely reduce the mopping! I'll check out her legs at the vets x

Could you get a hooded litter tray? I have 2 cats and have two trays. The only time my cat has ever had an accident is when she was really ill.

I'm not sure if it was on here or elsewhere, but I saw someone had got a large plastic garden potting tray to use as a litter tray for their elderly/arthritic cat, which I thought was a good idea. All one long side has a very low lip so easier for them to get in and out. I imagine the litter will get flicked out the tray more, but certainly preferable to accidents.

Is she on pain meds for her leg pain? I assume it's arthritis?

Use a fine grained soft litter like cats best or worlds best and don't pour it too deep, it will be more comfortable for her paws and easier to find a stable squatting position.

A very shallow tray might be easiest for her, though won't help the accidents problem.

Puppy pads are ideal for around the tray.

I would not leave her out overnight.

I do think cats can get quite distressed about toileting so it's worth keeping doing what you can to help, but also accepting that she might not have long left in terms of a comfortable life, which is horrible to contemplate, but important, and I found with my last old boy that it helped to think ahead to what would be the signs for him that his quality of life was deteriorating.

My parents' cat was similar and had to be PTS ( sorry - I don't mean to upset you ) BUT the main reason was she stopped eating and lost weight. The toileting thing they worked out that moving the litter tray with newspaper into the conservatory ( with tiled floor ) worked for a couple of years

All best

I used to order the puppy pads from Drylife, online. Very reasonably priced and quick delivery. They helped enormously.

@Laserbeam24 I tried a hooded tray but she didn't want to go inside 😂

@WyldeSwan yes, a low lipped tray does sound like a good idea

@Yarnysaura I need to get her back to the vet about her legs as it's become so much worse quite quickly. Do you know if there is medication available that isn't in pill form? Yes, I'm really aware that we should think about signs of deterioration. What weee your signs if you don't mind me asking? Until she started going outside once the weather was good she would only move within the same three square metres a day, such a far cry from how she used to be. She has also stopped grooming completely

@BasiliskStare thank you, I think I know that there probably isn't a lot of time left which is part of the reason I'm more keen than ever to make her comfy and not react badly when there is an accident.

@ZebraDilemma thank you, I will Google now!

I had the same for the last 5 years of Dcats life and she finally died at 20. I tried everything but the poor baby just couldn't manage it. I had to stand her in a shallow bath just covering her paws every evening just to wash the poo off her paws.
But I loved her so I just put up with it. Having her finally PTS was the saddest day of my life and I miss her so much.

Poor old puss. As she loves being outside could you put a tray in the garden for now? At least that would be easier to clean.

@oliveroses my old boy was on Loxicom which is a liquid, he happily took it on a Lick-E-Lix, until it started to disagree with him and he switched to Onsior which is a tiny tablet and he took it in a piece of cheese. There are other options as well though.

I was on the lookout for him stopping doing things like basking in the sun and hassling for food, but in the end it was 2 main things, firstly he got very fussy about cat food and lost a lot of weight, and was having diarrhoea which meds and specialist food didn't help, and the food he would eat made him ill, and second he started to get distressed about toileting, I don't know how to describe it but he just wasn't comfortable and started going in very strange places. Right to the end he was still jumping on the worktop and dining table and being generally annoying like cats are!

I used a garden trug and put puppy pads under the tray in the trug, it worked well to keep the wee in check.

I second the puppy pads, I was iffy at first, but they really are a life saver x

This may be too shallow for you, but is large, low and reasonably priced https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/baggmuck-shoe-mat-in-outdoor-grey-60329711/

We use puppy pads for our older cat as he often misses.

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/pets-at-home-casetta-hooded-cat-litter-tray leaving the roof off.

Or make your own out of a £5 storage box and use a hacksaw to cut an entrance opening.

Lick-E-Lix are brilliant for giving pills to cats. We needed to give steroids to our cat to encourage her to eat. I used to grind the tablet into a powder and then mix with a small amount of Lick-E-Lix.

Thanks so much everyone! The puppy pads are great and I will also look at a different litter tray. Really appreciate the suggestions. And for pill-taking suggestions as we had a nightmare when she was on medication before her thyroid op!

What a sweet cat💕
He looks in fine condition in your pic.

My 2 yr old Whippet had explosive 🧨 diahorrea In the night- A couple of nights ago-
She was fidgety and whimpering and I couldn’t get downstairs fast enough with her to let her out.
As she’s young and house trained I’d foolishly not brought any kitchen roll to wipe up.

Truly I was thinking “How do I begin to clean this gloop?”

I managed and have bleach

Always best to keep emergency clean up kits with animals. 🙂inc surgical gloves.

@Gettingbysomehow
Apologies
Your lovely cat 🐈‍⬛ is a She.
Sorry for misgendering her.
It’s so painful when we have lo let our beloved oldies go.
Always remembered.💕💯🐈‍⬛

I used puppy pads for an in season bitch ( she had to have a season before being spayed)
A friend donated some and they were fabulous

Apart from where her bottom had positioned itself over the edge while asleep- but great for swabbing up
accidents on hard floors as well.

She is gorgeous!

Hi, OP - this was very similar to my old girl.

When you say there is an issue with her legs, do you mean they seem stiff, or that she seems unsteady? DCat had both in her elderly years, and they have different causes and treatments.

Stiffness could be arthritis. Our girl was prescribed metacam, which an anti-inflammatory, and it worked wonders for quite a while. Metacam is given as a liquid, dripped onto food. It doesn't taste bad. All my cats have been abysmal to tablet, and I've never had any trouble with metacam.

Unsteadiness, loss of balance or weakness could be neurological degeneration. There isn't much you can do about this other than adapt their environment, but you've had lots of great advice about low entry trays etc already.

Glad the puppy pads have helped!

My DCat started having problems with his back end during the last week of his life due to kidney failure. He was unable to stand up in his litter tray for more than a few seconds and would have to lay down and rest before staggering a few feet back to his bed. His balance also went so if either of his back legs stood on something down he went. He stopped eating completely aside lick e lix but drank like a fish. His back right leg also ballooned up and he was unable to weight bear properly on it. At first I thought he'd hurt it after he'd jumped off my knee a few weeks earlier and slipped on my laminate flooring but the Vet checked and said he couldn't feel any broken bones or anything. In the end it was decided the swelling was due to all the toxins in his kidneys. His last few days he became totally urinary incontinent and would pretty much just lay on towels all day sleeping. He still in his last few days though always managed to drag himself out of bed and lay in the hallway waiting to greet me when I came home from work. Something he always did, and then I would pick him up cuddle him before carrying him back through to the living room and settle him back into his makeshift bed after a quick clean down and a fresh towel and puppy pad change. I miss him everyday but I think even had I had Pet insurance I would've still made the difficult decision to have him PTS when the Vet said even with treatment the chances of him being back in again a few weeks later for the same issues were significantly high.