Making special accomodations...any suggestions?

xcamisadox

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My almost 15 year old cat, Thomasina, can no longer get up and down into her litter box or onto furniture. Her hind legs somewhat gave out.

The thing is, I do not want to have her put to sleep because she is acting completely normal other than not being able to stand up properly. Her back legs still work, she just can't seem to get them under her, so she uses them to push herself around. She's been like this for 9 days now, and seems to have adjusted herself to it. The only change is that she now gets up with the humans of the house and goes to sleep with them. She still goes to the bathroom for water (she has done this for years no matter where else she has water), sits in the hallway and watches everyone, and wants to get up into the chairs in the living room. She eats normally and has not lost any weight. I feel that she still has a good quality of life, so putting her down is not really something I want to consider when there are other options.

So, does anyone have any ideas of how i could make the house easier for her to move in? I am thinking of building a sort of short ramp into the litter box until we can find a much shorter one (ours requires a decent jump to get into).

Another thing is the bed and couch. I would really prefer her to stay down, but truth be told she attempts to get up anyway, even if she has to claw her way up. This is not an option though, with my mother having a leather couch. I am not concerned about the getting off part, she knows she cannot really jump, but I'm worried that climbing up she might lose her grip and fall. Would it be good to devise another ramp or steps for her, or to just try keeping her off?

As far as building these things, I am thinking of making them out of wood and putting a grippable covering on. Does anyone have any suggestions for this?

Thank you all for your time!
 

buzbyjlc10

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I'm sorry to hear about your cat's condition... has she been to the vet to check out this situation as well as to have a general geriatric once-over? If not, you should really get her in there... the vet may have some suggestions not only as to what's making this happen but also of ways to possibly remedy it or at least help her out (just because the vet may suggest you put her down, doesnt mean you have to, ya know so dont be scared of that coming up).... um I can't necessarily think of ways to make getting around easier for her other than the ramps your thinking of, although I did think of the stories of little dogs who've had paralyzed back ends and little scooters were made for them to get around.... I really hope you get some better suggestions - just wanted to put in my 2 cents
 

laureen227

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aside from the vet visit, [which i also recommend] i think the ramp idea's a good one. make enough so that she can get to all of her 'normal' places.
 
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xcamisadox

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Hi, thank you for the reply.

I think I am going to be taking her to the vet, probably Sunday (thank God for an animal hospital open on weekends!). I just have to wait until I can take her by myself, because if one of my parents goes with me they are going to push for the putting her to sleep option. Sunday is the only day I can borrow the car for a while.

She has injured herself twice before somehow, and they ran a blood panel and examined her, then just gave her Prednisone for 2 or 3 weeks. The last time was about maybe 3 months ago, so she's had a physical and bloodwork done recently, and everything came back normal. They concluded that she had probably played too roughly with our German Shepherd or something along those lines, and prescribed anti-inflammatories. Prednisone helped greatly the last two times but has not done miracles on it's own this time. She is definitely much better than she was a week ago though, and is seemingly pretty content. If she's in pain it's not enough to stop her from making her usual demands, haha.

The scooter idea was brought up as well, but dogs don't go under beds and desks too much as cats like to do. Plus it probably wouldn't feel very dignified to her.
 
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