moral support and a little advice needed!

1843 Views 15 Replies 7 Participants Last post by sjk373, Jun 9, 2012

sjk373

Discussion Starter · Jun 6, 2012

Hi guys,
i feel awful and my two guys are probably not doing too much better. I didn't pick on my boy Shoes' scooting being a bigger issue until I came home yesterday and he looked like he was in pain and couldn't go. INstead he ended up going on the futon and on the floor outside the bathroom where his litter box is. I noticed his bum was inflamed also. Called the emergency vet in a panic and was calmed down enough to take him to his regular vet first thing this AM. Severe diahrea diagnosed. I have three different medicines to give him, and his bro Socks has to get one. Well, I just gave socks his smaller dose, but can't get anything down Shoes. Have been scratched for my efforts. AND Shoes decided to go to the bathroom right where he did last night, on the Futon, as if that is ok.

I had this stuff called Nature's Miracle that I had sprayed all over where he's peed between last night and today. My entire apartment - and its a NY apartment - smells like cat pee. I feel awful cause my boys feel bad. I can't seem to get Shoes to take his medicine so he will get better, and pretty much feel like an awful cat mom. I'm worried as the furniture in the living room is my roommates, who is never here, but it's still her stuff.

I don't know what to do and I'm probably going to start bawling any minute! I know I need to calm down cause they pick up on my cues, but this sucks. And I'm really worried that SHoes won't go to the litter box at all - he's rejected it even when I got him off the couch and tried to get him to the litter box when I saw him assume his position to pee.

A littlle advice, anyone? Shoudl I change the litter in one of the boxes and get something different to mix in? I mixed SHoes' medicine in with food, but he won't touch it. I have wrangled him twice today, once to get him in the cage to go to the vet and once to get him to try to take his medication and gotten hissed at.

Help?!

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LaurulFeatherCat

· #2 · Jun 6, 2012

I assume you live alone and have no help to hold the cat while you medicate him. I suggest you wrap the cat firmly in a large towel leaving only his head exposed. If the medication is liquid, use a syring to dribble it between his cheek and teeth on one side of his mouth. Don't worry about opening his mouth, just dribble it into his mouth slowly and make sure she swallows it before you let him out of the towel.

As for the inappropriate elimination, you need to put him in a small room, a bathroom is ideal, with food, water and a litter pan until his inappropriate messing stops and he is using the litter pan appropriately. He could be avoiding the litter pan because he does not like the litter; you haven't changed the type lately have you?

I am sorry the poor guy is sick and I hope get gets better soon.

sjk373

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 6, 2012

thanks

Thanks lois. i sort of live alone, in that i technically have a roommate, their original mommie, except that she's not ever here. i may actually ask her to be here for the next few.

i'm gone an awful lot of teh day so i thought maybe locking him in a bathroom was too harsh, but he's not giving me much of a choice.

thanks again for your words. i just have to suck up the hissing to get this medicine into him.

LaurulFeatherCat

· #4 · Jun 6, 2012

If you want to manage the inappropriate elimination, he must be confined in order to retrain him to the litter pan. It is, of course, your decision, but the longer you allow him to make messes, the more he will come to believe not using the pan is allowed.

Hope he feels better soon.

sjk373

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jun 7, 2012

makes sense

i agree with you that i'm not helping things but continuing to let him indulge. its just that i don't have the room to keep him locked up for the full night and day.. i live in a 2-bedroom apartment but my stuff is in one room and my roommates in the other. I suppose the thing to do would be to use her 1/2 bath to keep him during the day... or does it have to be the full 24 Hours? he would probably escape as soon as I opened the door to get him food/water replenished...

i better read up on it.

in good news, his bum looks better, even with meager amount of medicine i've been able to get into him, and no messes when i came home from work. actually very little usage of litter from both of them.

i think there may have been a swtich up of the A&H type we typically use, and i picked up the brand that i think we haven't had issues with and he didn't reject it outright by refusing to be set into it, which is what he had done with the other. so i have a brand new washed out litter pan with this litter, and another with it mixed with the old A&H, and a new one with the new litter.

anyway, thanks for the support. sorry to keep this so long..

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sjk373

Discussion Starter · #6 · Jun 7, 2012

managing inappropriate elimination

laurulfeathercat, i have taken your advice and he is in the 1/2 bath. spoke to roomie and she encouraged it as well. he just went outside litter pan for the first time today and i lost it. i can hear him wailing, but he has dry food - forgot the wet - water, a blinkie and a full and empty litter pan. the full one has litter i know he didn't have a problem with before. the empty is also one he has his scent on.

i can hear him wailing and i am worried what this means for his diarrhea.

and also what this means for his litter mate, who is now chiming in on the wailing. but perhaps I will get some sleep tonight when i'm not being hyper vigilant about the elimination...

doodlebug

· #7 · Jun 7, 2012

Diarrhea is more of a symptom than a diagnosis. I don't understand why both cats are being given the medication unless the actual diagnosis is some sort of parasite maybe? Also, did the vet address the inappropriate urination?

Specifically...what medications are you giving to each cat? If one of them is Flagyl (metronidazole) you will likely never get it into a cat by putting it in the food...it has an awful bitter taste and no cat in his right mind would voluntarily eat it. Some medications are available in alternate forms like transdermal gels that your rub into the ear or in treat form that make them easier to administer. Also there is a sticky in the H&N forum on how to pill a cat that might be good for you to read. I'm partial to wrapping them in a towel and using a pill shooter followed by a squirt of water from a syringe.

Isolation in a bathroom is exactly the right thing to do in this situation...a small room to encourage their fastidious nature, yet easy to clean if there is a problem. Leaving just a night light on rather than the overhead light will help calm him.

Take a deep breath and relax. To be honest this is just a bump in the road and not nearly a big a deal as you are making it. I've been there with a cat who had inflammatory bowel disease and I was just as frazzled as you are until I took a step back and figured out how to control the situation rather than letting the cat rule the roost. Think with your head, don't let emotions rule.

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LaurulFeatherCat

· #8 · Jun 7, 2012

I know it is hard to listen to him crying, but you are the adult here, the mom, and you need to make the hard decisions for him so he can remain a good pet. Allowing him to mess anywhere he wants is going to make living with him in the future a difficult and time consuming problem. What if he turns into an indiscriminate eliminator and you get another roomie or even find a fiance who just will not put up with the messes and wants you to 'get rid' of the problem. Retraining him, a day or even two unhappy in the bathroom, is much better than losing his home in the future for something you could have niped in the bud in his kitten years. We are not only responsible for feeding and cleaning and love and caring for the cats, we are also responsible for making them semi-socialized beings who can live in our homes and interact with humans so ALL their lives, no matter what happens to you, they can be cared for and loved.

I never looked at pet responsibility in this way until I got into keeping parrots as pets and saw how many parrots are abandoned by their former owners because the owners didn't set limits, didn't teach the birds how to live in the human world and then got frustrated with their parrot and 'got rid' of them because they became tired of the mess and destruction or the wife put her foot down and said 'either me or the parrot'. Pet ownership is not just turning a pet into a loving animal for your benefit, it also means turning the loving animal into a pet that can cope in the human world despite what happens to YOU.

That said, if you want to stop his crying and the other kitten's crying, put the other kitten in the isolation room with him. They can soothe one another and the kitten who is using the litter appropriately will be a good example to he who is not using the litter. Do not look at corrective retraining as a punishment. You are not punishing the animal in any way, shape or form, you are helping to train the animal into behaviors that will ensure his future in human society. Who wants to have to dash around the house checking for inappropriate messes before opening the door to allow company in to visit? Train him now, isolate him until his diarrhea is cured and you head off problems in the future. He can be out as soon as he starts using the pan appropriately, but should be isolated when you are unable to supervise him.

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sjk373

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 7, 2012

Thank you! My sister and my roommate said as much to me. Funny thing is that i heard him pawing at the litter last night when I couldn't help but sit outside a bit.

And you are right about being the adult here... it was definiately the cats ruling the roost until now.

i was given metronidazole and proviable/endurosyn. i don't think the vet said anything about the inappropriate elimination.

But again, thank you. We both survived the night, and he only cried when i was in the other room, from what I could tell. and this morning i saw he had gone in the litter pan, and he got rewarded and we hung out. now im off to work and he's going to spend the day in the bathroom.

Mitts & Tess

· #10 · Jun 7, 2012

Questions... what did the vet say was wrong with your kitties? What meds are you using?

Make sure your cat doesnt have UTI or crystals. Very serious and can kill a cat. Painful way to die. They eliminate outside the box if they have this infection.

Use Cat Attract litter to encourage them back to using the litter box. Any item or area they have peed on drench with Natures Miracle and make sure every last scent of their pee has been removed. Otherwise if they still smell a bit of it they will continue to pee in that area or item.

Putting a cat in a bathroom is not a bad thing when there are behavioral problems going on. Just make sure you do spend time with them in there while your dealing with their issues.

when I medicate a cat or kitten I scruff them. There are videos on Utube showing you how. Also have your vet show you how to pill a cat or scruff a cat and how to inject the syringe into its mouth. Sometimes I put the medication in the syringe and then syringe in a bit of baby food pureed meat to make it taste better.

Stick with us on your issues with your kitties. Well get you thru it. You are a good cat mom because you are looking for good information and not just dumping the cats on the streets or in a kill shelter. NYC is imfamous for the amount of animals euthanized. You are keeping your kittys safe.

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Yulia

· #11 · Jun 7, 2012

I just posted it in another thread, but I think it's worth repeating. Our vet said that the cats won't go if there's food around. We have 4 bowls with little bit of food in them scattered in our living room and basement placed exactly over the "crime spots". Monkey did not have a single "incident" since.

Mitts & Tess

· #12 · Jun 7, 2012

Im glad that worked and it solved your problem.

sjk373

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 8, 2012

hi guys, and thank you! its been so helpful just to talk to others who've made it through this stuff

Shoes was a good boy this AM, and went back in teh bathroom for most of the day; it was a long one. We fed again when I got home, and - bonus - i got some medicine in him. AND... drum roll please ... he went to the litter box to do his business. #2 and it was not too loose. He didn't pee, and I couldn't tell if he'd gone on the floor of the bathroom or elsewhere during the day, but he drank lots of water and ate his 1/4 can of wet and a decent bit of dry food.

anyhow, he's back in the bathroom for the night and I'm off to bed so much lighter than I was yesterday.

I'll keep you guys posted on the progress. Thank you so much for both advice and moral support!!

i didn't even think of youtube for a "how to scruff a cat"... brilliant idea

cinderflower

· #14 · Jun 8, 2012

Yulia said:
I just posted it in another thread, but I think it's worth repeating. Our vet said that the cats won't go if there's food around. We have 4 bowls with little bit of food in them scattered in our living room and basement placed exactly over the "crime spots". Monkey did not have a single "incident" since.

this wasn't true for mine. when my cat was determined to pee in my bed, i moved their food dishes onto the foot of my bed. didn't matter. i put plywood on my bed, cayenne pepper, opened a jar of menthol rub and left it out, feliway, lemon juice, lemon peel, and nothing worked until i put a litter box by my bed. that's obviously what he wanted. cats have their own agenda and unfortunately we have to guess what it is.

MowMow

· #15 · Jun 8, 2012

It doesn't sound the OP had a problem with behavior, the cats were ILL. Just moving around their bowls or adding boxes won't help, except maybe to make it so kitty doesn't have to go far.

sjk373

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jun 9, 2012

before i noticed his sickness, I hadn't noticed a problem with shoes. he was never fond of the litter box, but didn't go outside it. like another poster said recently, he just scratched a lot on the plastic but didn't like getting his paws dirty.

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