My fiance's cat, Tiger, has been acting very strangely lately.
A little background: She is fifteen years old and in excellent health. She has lived with my fiance's parents her entire life (and still does) with another cat and a dog, who both recently passed away (last year).
Lately, she's had two problems:
The first is that she's had DRASTIC weight loss in the past few months. You can feel her bones all over body, especially on her back and hips. She wasn't a fat cat before, but now she's VERY thin (think like the Nicole Richie of cats). What could cause this weight loss? She is eating well and getting plenty to drink. She exercises just as much as always and isn't lethargic or depressed.
The second is that she absolutely won't use her litter box lately. She pees all over the house, and has found a favorite corner in which to... *ahem*... conduct her business. This has progressively gotten worse. It started a few months ago when she peed on just a couple of things, then she started peeing all over the place, and for the past few weeks she's given up the litter box entirely. We've gone over a whole range of options, and this is what we DON'T think is the problem:
- We don't think it's any changes: the box in the same place it's always been, with the same brand of litter.
- We don't think she has urinary tract, bladder, or kidney problems. She just went to the vet for a check up a few weeks ago and got a clean bill of health. Besides, the problem is the actual going, but WHERE she is going. She's not having trouble getting to the box (urgency), because her "favorite corner" is pretty close to the box.
- I thought that she might be getting arthritis and having trouble stepping over the thing on the box that keeps litter from being kicked out. They removed that, and she still won't go in there.
- I also thought that maybe she was getting confused in old age (kitty alzheimer's?), but her mental health seems really excellent.
- I was getting desperate for solutions, so I thought maybe the smell from the other cat (they shared a box) had gone away, and now she wasn't sure it was her box anymore (because the scent changed). After I suggested that, my fiance suggested that I might be crazy.
What could it possibly be? It's so weird and sudden, and NOTHING else has changed. She still has the same behavior and exercise/eating habits. If anyone has any suggestions, please help! Thanks everyone
A little background: She is fifteen years old and in excellent health. She has lived with my fiance's parents her entire life (and still does) with another cat and a dog, who both recently passed away (last year).
Lately, she's had two problems:
The first is that she's had DRASTIC weight loss in the past few months. You can feel her bones all over body, especially on her back and hips. She wasn't a fat cat before, but now she's VERY thin (think like the Nicole Richie of cats). What could cause this weight loss? She is eating well and getting plenty to drink. She exercises just as much as always and isn't lethargic or depressed.
The second is that she absolutely won't use her litter box lately. She pees all over the house, and has found a favorite corner in which to... *ahem*... conduct her business. This has progressively gotten worse. It started a few months ago when she peed on just a couple of things, then she started peeing all over the place, and for the past few weeks she's given up the litter box entirely. We've gone over a whole range of options, and this is what we DON'T think is the problem:
- We don't think it's any changes: the box in the same place it's always been, with the same brand of litter.
- We don't think she has urinary tract, bladder, or kidney problems. She just went to the vet for a check up a few weeks ago and got a clean bill of health. Besides, the problem is the actual going, but WHERE she is going. She's not having trouble getting to the box (urgency), because her "favorite corner" is pretty close to the box.
- I thought that she might be getting arthritis and having trouble stepping over the thing on the box that keeps litter from being kicked out. They removed that, and she still won't go in there.
- I also thought that maybe she was getting confused in old age (kitty alzheimer's?), but her mental health seems really excellent.
- I was getting desperate for solutions, so I thought maybe the smell from the other cat (they shared a box) had gone away, and now she wasn't sure it was her box anymore (because the scent changed). After I suggested that, my fiance suggested that I might be crazy.
What could it possibly be? It's so weird and sudden, and NOTHING else has changed. She still has the same behavior and exercise/eating habits. If anyone has any suggestions, please help! Thanks everyone
