How do I get my elderly cat to love his litter box again?

[Aydel]

He’s 17, arthritic, but otherwise in good health - blood tests all fine, weight stable. He was waking up yowling in the small hours, so the vet prescribed Gabapentin. He’s still waking up in the small hours, but now he’s shitting on the bedroom floor as well. Vet changed meds to Metacam, still shitting, although he does (so far) still pee in his box. I am severely sleep deprived and coping badly with this.

Our 17 year old cat will only wee in the litter box, I don't think he can manoeuvre himself into the right position to poo in it. He started regularly pooing on the floor of our downstairs toilet (he's shut in the kitchen/back of the house with his bed and cat flap overnight), so we put a puppy pad there and he pretty much always poos on that now.

We also surround the litter tray with puppy pads just in case. We have to keep it in the corner of the hall, which isn't great, but that's where he decided to wee when he stopped toileting outside. It won't be forever...

I feel for you, it's really hard Ours was on Metacam, but eventually it gave him diarrhoea and vomiting, which was even worse! He's just had a Silencia(?) jab which is expensive, but I do think is making him a bit more mobile.

If he wees in the box but won't poo in there, it's probably because the litter hurts his feet. They have to put more pressure through their feet when pooing. So try changing the litter to something fine grained (mix it 50/50 with current litter then move to new litter only). I'd suggest e.g. World's Best.

(If you already have fine grained litter, forget that!)

Can he climb over into the litter tray easily? You could try a lower sided tray.

And I agree with PP about puppy pads. When my cat was struggling after knee surgery I used puppy pads around a low sided tray. You could try using them in his chosen position on the floor.

I changed the litter to very soft litter in one tray, and kept the regular in the other (Cat’s Best). He didn’t like the soft litter. I would put pee pass down for him to poop on, but he just randomly poops where he fancies in the bedroom. I will ask about the Silencia jab.

I hate to say it, but once it gets to the stage where they can't toilet cleanly and hygienically, I think you need to start looking at quality of life. Cats are clean animals and it must be so distressing for him to be both confused and in a situation where he toilets on the floor.

I think you are right. We had a terrible night last night where he just howled all night. He then had diarrhoea on the bedroom carpet (possibly a side effect of the Metacam so I won’t be giving him any more of that), and has cried today when he can’t see me. Even the other cat is being nice to him. I will speak to the vet tomorrow and see what she thinks.

I have to say, I agree with this. I'm glad you're going to speak to your vet again, but in the nicest possible way I think it's time to let your lovely old boy go while he still has a bit of dignity

I am sorry, it's the worst decision to have to make

Just be aware that many vets will leave the decision entirely in your hands.

DD1 is coming back from overseas to see him this week (and us!), so I’ll see how he is this week. He also seems to have an overgrown claw stuck in his paw pad (which the vet obviously missed when he had his mani pedi the other week), so he’ll be going back to the vet today for this.

If he has arthritis then it could be he finds it painful climbing over the sides of the litter tray. There are now low sided trays and also some with cutouts to enable cats with painful hips to still use the trays. The ingrowing claw will not have helped as he now might be associating the tray with pain.

Get a lower sided tray, get all his claws clipped, get him on solensia, and see how he goes.

The Stray only has the Solensia in winter as she doesn't struggle in warmer weather. She's loving these heatwaves.

He has a tray with low entry, and the claws are getting clipped on Wednesday. We had a better night last night, with no yowling, but I am now worried as he doesn’t seem to have had a poo…

The vet has given him a Solensia injection, and removed the claw. He pooped in his box yesterday but this morning he shat next to our bed again. And peed on the bedroom floor, which is a new development. Fortunately he peed on an abandoned plastic bag, as this is the only room where we have carpet. I’ll see if the Solensia makes any difference but if not, I think it is time for euthanasia. DH, who is not the most patient of men, is raging.

Poor cat, and you poor you. It’s awful when they get to the end of life like this