Posted by:
caizoe
at Mon Sep 8 12:11:04 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by caizoe ]
Hi - my cat, Zoe, has had litter box problems for the last 2 years, which have gotten progressively worse. It began with just peeing on clothes or fabric, which she seems to prefer, to now peeing (and pooping four times!) on our couch. I'm at my wits end and b/c of this and her worsening cardiomyopathy, I am thinking of putting her to sleep, which I desperately don't want to do.
There's no signals that seem to have started this problem or to have made it worsen to where it is today. It's gotten a lot worse in the past few weeks. Before, we could just keep her out of certain rooms, not leave clothes where she could jump (and therefore pee) on them, but now it's to the point where she'll pee on couches, chairs and beds.
We keep their litterboxes very clean, have 5 of them (for 3 cats) and have tried different litters, locations, Nature's Miracle, Buspar, etc. but nothing is working. 2 of the litter boxes are even kept completely empty, as we've found she prefers this (just slightly less than fabric).
She was diagnosed with congenital hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (enlarged heart - can't cure) over 1 yr. ago - she was given about 6 months to live, but has obviously gone past that. One problem is that with the heart problem, fluid gathers around her lungs, so she takes furosemide, which flushes the fluid away from her lungs, making her need to pee more often. Beyond keeping her in the basement (which would significantly decrease her quality of life), which I also desperately do not want to do or putting her to sleep, we are at a loss. Does anyone have any other suggestions?? She does tend to pee in the same places (which is currently our couches), but once we try to deter her from one favorite place, she comes up with a completely different one (and one that seems to get progressively worse - like deterring her from clothes, so then she'll move to the bed! This seems to be how the whole things has worsened...)
She is such a wonderful, friendly, loving cat; it's so incredibly hard to think of putting her to sleep before I'll need to (as I know that time will come with her heart condition) but it's causing strain in my fiancee and my's relationship and ruining everything, and causing a LOT of work and frustration. I'm going to the pet store today to see if those scat pads will work, to help keep her off the furniture (anyone had any success with these?).... Help!
Kim
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 3 yr. old with litter box problems & cardiomyopathy - caizoe, Mon Sep 8 12:11:04 2003
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