Hi all,
Last year when I joined these forums I introduced Aris & Orion, two lovely oriental shorthairs who are now respectively nine and six years old. They came into my life with my girlfriend, and meanwhile they've all moved in with me, too. They are the greatest cats one could wish for, but we have one, big problem.
Some background info is required, and we've tried many things, so I'll apologize in advance for the lengthy post.
Ever since he was young, Aris has had some intestinal issues. He was diagnosed with obstipation, which, as I understand it, means that the large intestine isn't doing much. It's there, nothing's wrong with it, but it just doesn't do what it's supposed to. As a result, he was sometimes 'collecting' poo inside of him, which was obviously discomforting, and he would have trouble getting it out. A few years ago it got quite bad once, so the vet 'cleaned him out', hoping for improvement. At the time, Aris used the litter box pretty consistently. When he missed it, it was by inches, and only when he was sick or when the litterbox wasn't clean enough to his liking, which is pretty reasonable.
One day last year, we found poor Aris in great pain. It's amazing how well you can read these things from their faces. X-rays at the vet showed us that the poor thing was filled up with poo up until his stomach. We discussed the situation with the vet, each other, and Aris himself of course, and we decided to go for the recommended surgery. In august last year, Aris had most of his large intestine removed.
As we knew in advance, the first weeks after the surgery were really difficult. Aris wasn't feeling well at all, had diarrhea and even had to wear a cone for a few days. He chose a kitchen closet which he would barely come out of and make a filthy mess in. Luckily I was between jobs at the time, so I kept him company at the closet, cleaning him and the closet whenever required.
After a while he got better. Which is relative, of course, since we are talking about major surgery with lasting effects. He started using the litterbox consistently again after a month or two, and we were relieved
Some time later, when he was once again a happy, lively and affectionate cat, strangely enough he started to poo at random places in the house.
This has continued until today. At times he'd use the litterbox, at times he would not. We've taken him to four different vets (can't be sure enough, I guess), which don't seem to find physical issues. I've been reading a whole lot onhere, naturally, especially the inappropriate poop problems thread.
We've tried it all. We added boxes, we moved them around. Since Aris does have diarrhea at times and his faeces are usually at the 'soft side' since the operation, we considered the superstition theory and tried the isolation technique as well. However, the latter didn't work for Aris either, as the spare room turned into a giant litter box while Aris got sad about being locked out.
Then we introduced the toilet as an alternative. It would smell less because of the water (Aris' poo smells way worse since the operation), it'd be 'cleaner' and it'd be way less work for us
It worked wonders. Aris and Orion were both using the toilet within a few weeks, and we were jumping around in joy.
But, again, it faded. Orion, as always, is using the toilet perfectly (and it's soooo cute to see, although he doesn't like people watching too much), but Aris is back to an on-and-off schedule. In the morning he would go in the toilet, a few hours later he'd turn the hallway, bathroom or kitchen into a mine field of poo.
At first he usually only went on the floor (and furniture) when we weren't around, but by now this has changed. For a long time I thought the poor cat maybe didn't have full control over when he did or didn't go since the operation, but this has changed since we've seen him do it: he picks a spot, gets in position and drops what he's got right there.
Another strange thing: he always pees in the toilet, no exceptions.
He doesn't seem to be emotionally in trouble, as he is social, curious, happy and affectionate. The only crook-like behaviour is that he returns to the scene of the crime: he's always watching when we clean up
While I was writing this post, my girlfriend was cleaning the daily mess in the hallway when Aris sat right in front of her and started crapping right on the floor again.
We're getting really desperate.. we are cleaning up loads of poo every day, which is frustrating and time consuming. We love him very much and if there's a problem we're dying to find out how we can help, but we're really out of ideas.
Should anyone recognize the situation, or have any other ideas that might work, dropping a line here would be greatly appreciated
Cheers,
Wout
Last year when I joined these forums I introduced Aris & Orion, two lovely oriental shorthairs who are now respectively nine and six years old. They came into my life with my girlfriend, and meanwhile they've all moved in with me, too. They are the greatest cats one could wish for, but we have one, big problem.
Some background info is required, and we've tried many things, so I'll apologize in advance for the lengthy post.
Ever since he was young, Aris has had some intestinal issues. He was diagnosed with obstipation, which, as I understand it, means that the large intestine isn't doing much. It's there, nothing's wrong with it, but it just doesn't do what it's supposed to. As a result, he was sometimes 'collecting' poo inside of him, which was obviously discomforting, and he would have trouble getting it out. A few years ago it got quite bad once, so the vet 'cleaned him out', hoping for improvement. At the time, Aris used the litter box pretty consistently. When he missed it, it was by inches, and only when he was sick or when the litterbox wasn't clean enough to his liking, which is pretty reasonable.
One day last year, we found poor Aris in great pain. It's amazing how well you can read these things from their faces. X-rays at the vet showed us that the poor thing was filled up with poo up until his stomach. We discussed the situation with the vet, each other, and Aris himself of course, and we decided to go for the recommended surgery. In august last year, Aris had most of his large intestine removed.
As we knew in advance, the first weeks after the surgery were really difficult. Aris wasn't feeling well at all, had diarrhea and even had to wear a cone for a few days. He chose a kitchen closet which he would barely come out of and make a filthy mess in. Luckily I was between jobs at the time, so I kept him company at the closet, cleaning him and the closet whenever required.
After a while he got better. Which is relative, of course, since we are talking about major surgery with lasting effects. He started using the litterbox consistently again after a month or two, and we were relieved
Some time later, when he was once again a happy, lively and affectionate cat, strangely enough he started to poo at random places in the house.
This has continued until today. At times he'd use the litterbox, at times he would not. We've taken him to four different vets (can't be sure enough, I guess), which don't seem to find physical issues. I've been reading a whole lot onhere, naturally, especially the inappropriate poop problems thread.
We've tried it all. We added boxes, we moved them around. Since Aris does have diarrhea at times and his faeces are usually at the 'soft side' since the operation, we considered the superstition theory and tried the isolation technique as well. However, the latter didn't work for Aris either, as the spare room turned into a giant litter box while Aris got sad about being locked out.
Then we introduced the toilet as an alternative. It would smell less because of the water (Aris' poo smells way worse since the operation), it'd be 'cleaner' and it'd be way less work for us
It worked wonders. Aris and Orion were both using the toilet within a few weeks, and we were jumping around in joy.
But, again, it faded. Orion, as always, is using the toilet perfectly (and it's soooo cute to see, although he doesn't like people watching too much), but Aris is back to an on-and-off schedule. In the morning he would go in the toilet, a few hours later he'd turn the hallway, bathroom or kitchen into a mine field of poo.
At first he usually only went on the floor (and furniture) when we weren't around, but by now this has changed. For a long time I thought the poor cat maybe didn't have full control over when he did or didn't go since the operation, but this has changed since we've seen him do it: he picks a spot, gets in position and drops what he's got right there.
Another strange thing: he always pees in the toilet, no exceptions.
He doesn't seem to be emotionally in trouble, as he is social, curious, happy and affectionate. The only crook-like behaviour is that he returns to the scene of the crime: he's always watching when we clean up
While I was writing this post, my girlfriend was cleaning the daily mess in the hallway when Aris sat right in front of her and started crapping right on the floor again.
We're getting really desperate.. we are cleaning up loads of poo every day, which is frustrating and time consuming. We love him very much and if there's a problem we're dying to find out how we can help, but we're really out of ideas.
Should anyone recognize the situation, or have any other ideas that might work, dropping a line here would be greatly appreciated
Cheers,
Wout
