It makes me sick to post this, it makes me sick that this is happening, it makes me ick that I am literally at the end of my rope,,,,,,,,and these two cats really aren't or don't seem to be.
Up until June I had four cats, three of which were/are "seniors": ages 18,12,13. The fourth cat is 7 and he's just fine.
The first week in June the oldest cat, 18, went quickly lame over a period of a few days, first limping, then losing all function of his front limbs over a matter of 3-4 days. Two visits to the vet, his diagnosis was brachial palsy, probably a spinal blood clot or stroke. He couldn't support himself to eat and to move place to place he could only drag himself along; I had to take him to the litterbox. He was clearly suffering and was euthanized July 8. I still cry about this loss, although I know I did the right thing, especially given his advanced age.
The twelve year old cat has been diabetic for three years; by home testing his glucose and keeping him on a diet consisting of only canned food with less than 6% carbs we were able to get him off insulin and diet controlled within 6 months of diagnosis. But, all the cats share this diet, of necessity and they are all always hungry, to the point of crying for food several hours before they are due to be fed. Now the diabetic cat is in chronic renal failure. When he began to drink much more than normal and more than a normal cat, of course we thought it was his diabetes, but his blood sugar is OK and a set of blood tests indicates chronic renal failure, not exactly a surprise. Now he drinks probably at least a quart of water a day, that's not a problem, but he ur*nates unbelievable amounts and I am constantly cleaning cantaloupe sized soaking wet clumps out of all the litterboxes (4). I can do this, but over the last weeks he has lost the ability to always make it to the litterbox and I find myself cleaning up quarts of cat ur*ne several times a day from the plastic mats around the litterboxes, and on the floors, carpeted and bare. He's sick, but he's only 12, and he does not act sick or in pain, but I am losing my mind and am virtually homebound, my life a daily cycle of cleaning up after incontinent cats. I can run to the store, but otherwise cannot go anywhere for any significant period of time.
This is not just because of the cat with CRF,,the 13 yo has idiopathic IBS that started about 8 years ago and has responded to nothing, but has continued to progress over the years. This cat, for over six months now is fecal incontinent and his feces have gotten more and more foul through the years so that now when he can no longer even "hold it" it is totally liquid, smells strongly and really terrible and when he isn't just dribbling, is propelled by huge amounts of gas; he literally sprays poop and now seldom makes it to the litterbox. As for diagnosing a cause and finding a treatment, eight years and three vets have found no specific cause like parasites or infection, and no treatments we have tried have worked at all other than to make him uncomfortable, which, aside from constant cwapping, he doesn't seem to be. He acts fine, thin but has always been that way, has plenty of energy, is a little cuddlebug which makes this only worse. Besides the fecal incontinence and projectile pooping, he acts as if he is always starving, cries for food and often gets into the kitchen garbage, not to mention that I can not leave ANY food out anywhere in the house; he will jump on the table and try to steal food off our plates when he fails at very loud constant begging.
I have become nothing but a cat slave, cleaning up cat excrement constantly and trying to control the smell. We have a good carpet cleaner but since there is something noxious to be cleaned up several times a day there is always a slighty damp spot ot two on the carpet somewhere all the time and the smell lingers, seldom, I think, actually going awayand no Febreeze, air freshener, candles, Scentsys or plug ins do a thing. We have considered crating the IBS cat, but that would just mean cleaning the crate and he couldn't exactly live in it.
So,,that's my life. Hours a day cleaning up after two cats who are very ill but still seem to enjoy their lives, although I cannot enjoy, or even live, mine. My husband helps but he is starting to lose his patience also and has recently gone from pressuring me to crate the cwap cat to coming just short of telling me to have him euthanized.
I simply don't know what to do, the loss of the one cat in July still hurts, and these are very loved cats, not to mention very lovable. I cannot see euthanizing a cat who still has quality of life, but MY quality of life is simply gone.
Just venting I guess, but wish I would wake up to two "well" cats; not hours of cleaning whatever noxious messes they created during the night.
Blogs & Forums
Forums
Blogs
