I'm really worried about my cat...

I've posted a little recently about my oldest cat Spam. He was
diagnosed with early CRT and cardiomyopathy. He's on a renal food diet
for the renal failure and atenolol for the heart.
The reason I took him to the vet in the first place was because he was
peeing on the floor instead of in the pans. He's right next to the
pans, though, just not *in* them. The vet has ruled out arthritis and
is afraid that Spam is senile and forgetting to go in the pans.
We've ordered some low-entrance pans and hopefully that will work.
But the peeing problem is really difficult. The other cats sometimes
can't get to the pans because of the urine in the way (if we're not home
to clean it up). Spam sometimes sits in the urine and gets pee
everywhere.
The cats all hiss at Spam and attack him because he's sick. Between
defending Spam when he's being attacked and the cat pan problem I feel
like we can't leave home.
Spam hates the renal diet and taking pills. He is losing weight and
he hardly moves except to eat and use the pans. He doesn't play and he
doesn't groom himself anymore. We're always having to cut mats out of
his fur and he gets mad at us when we brush him.
The vet visits stress Spam out so much he poops all over himself in
his carrier. We've spent thousands on tests and meds for him in the
last few weeks.
The vet doesn't think he's in pain but I'm sure he's not happy. He
doesn't purr or want to be pet anymore. I just don't know what to do.
I'll talk to the vet when we go in for another checkup next week, but I
don't know at what point we should just say enough's enough. I *never*
want to say that but it's getting really difficult.
Guess I just wanted to rant a little.

Stacia

"Glitter Ninja" wrote in message
...
I've posted a little recently about my oldest cat Spam. He was
diagnosed with early CRT and cardiomyopathy. He's on a renal food diet
for the renal failure and atenolol for the heart.
The reason I took him to the vet in the first place was because he was
peeing on the floor instead of in the pans. He's right next to the
pans, though, just not *in* them. The vet has ruled out arthritis and
is afraid that Spam is senile and forgetting to go in the pans.
We've ordered some low-entrance pans and hopefully that will work.
But the peeing problem is really difficult. The other cats sometimes
can't get to the pans because of the urine in the way (if we're not home
to clean it up). Spam sometimes sits in the urine and gets pee
everywhere.
The cats all hiss at Spam and attack him because he's sick. Between
defending Spam when he's being attacked and the cat pan problem I feel
like we can't leave home.
Spam hates the renal diet and taking pills. He is losing weight and
he hardly moves except to eat and use the pans. He doesn't play and he
doesn't groom himself anymore. We're always having to cut mats out of
his fur and he gets mad at us when we brush him.
The vet visits stress Spam out so much he poops all over himself in
his carrier. We've spent thousands on tests and meds for him in the
last few weeks.
The vet doesn't think he's in pain but I'm sure he's not happy. He
doesn't purr or want to be pet anymore. I just don't know what to do.
I'll talk to the vet when we go in for another checkup next week, but I
don't know at what point we should just say enough's enough. I *never*
want to say that but it's getting really difficult.
Guess I just wanted to rant a little.

Stacia

My heart goes out to you Stacia, I've been in your shoes on two occasions.
Faced with very hard decisions to make when it came to my cat of 11 years
and my horse of 28 years.

The decisions were difficult to say the least, but in my heart I know that
these were made in their best interests, despite the fact that having to do
so tore my heart out.

Sadly there comes a time and when this time comes, hopefully we can find the
strength within ourselves to make the right decision when it comes to them.

Judy

I have just a couple of small ideas that might help make the situation
slightly less stressful for you and Spam.

Maybe puppy training pads around and under the boxes would help with the
urine problems?

Do you have a room where you can isolate Spam from the other cats? If the
others are hissing at him, he might do better away from that stress. I've
isolated my cats when they were seriously ill and it did work out better
for me and the cat as it was less stressful and I could also keep better
tabs on food and elimination issues.

It may be he's really depressed due to the new renal diet.

If he's losing weight that he cannot afford to lose - and he is that
miserable - which he sounds like he is - the peeing problem may be just his
way of showing you how miserable he is.

If he was mine - I'd ditch the renal diet and given him ANYTHING that he
will eat to get the weight back on. As renally deficient cat cannot afford
not to eat. Then maybe try gradually weaning him back to the renal diet by
adding it in slowly to the normal formal and reducing the normal food. Or
even just leaving it at that - sort of half and half. If it means he eats,
and cheers up then so be it.

I never realised how depressed my cat was till I stopped the renal diet.
Ultrasound shows she has only one working kidney but I feel she was put on
the renal diet to quickly and for too long as it gave her a host of other
problems.

At the end of the day - life is about quality not quantity.

chas

"chas" writes:

If he was mine - I'd ditch the renal diet and given him ANYTHING that he
will eat to get the weight back on. As renally deficient cat cannot afford
not to eat. Then maybe try gradually weaning him back to the renal diet by
adding it in slowly to the normal formal and reducing the normal food. Or
even just leaving it at that - sort of half and half. If it means he eats,
and cheers up then so be it.

I think you were right on the money. We had been feeding him soft
food several times a day and he just got to where he wouldn't eat it at
all. The other cats were upset because we had feeding times instead of
grazing which they prefer, to accomodate Spam's diet.
The vet suggested the renal diet kibble, so we put a little of the
renal kibble in with his regular diet and he's already eaten three times
today and seems perkier. The other cats are less stressed, too. When
we eventually switch to all renal food kibble, it's going to be
expensive, but worth it if he's happier.

Stacia

In article ,
5cats wrote:

I have just a couple of small ideas that might help make the situation
slightly less stressful for you and Spam.

Maybe puppy training pads around and under the boxes would help with the
urine problems?

I'd like to add that a product I fell in love with, Cat Paper, can make
a huge difference. My Dmitri was having problems towards the end missing
the edge of the box, and squirting urine all over the floor. He just
seemed to have lost his aim somehow. (He was early stage CRF too, and
then died in his sleep unexpectedly)

It's relatively inexpensive, and I still have a huge roll I had ordered
before he died. I use it now to catch the litter tracks.

It's kind of like paper towel with a plastic backing. Soaks it all up,
and then you just throw it away. (My only complaint is that the plastic
makes it not biodegradable)

catpaper.com

I'm not a spokesman, just love the product.

I'm sorry you're going through all of this.

Juls

--
Email (remove annoying hyphens)
j-u-l-i-AT-e-c-t-DOT-o-r-g

Juls writes:

I'd like to add that a product I fell in love with, Cat Paper

Wow, this looks perfect. We tried doggie training pads but Spam
wouldn't use them. Thanks for the tip!

Stacia