Need help surrendering a special needs cat

Honestly, it is the start of the typical kitten season and few shelters would be willing to take on a special needs cat, when taking on special needs cats, the shelter has to think will someone be willing to take on the cat, and while many people will cope with medical issues, few will willingly adopt a cat that pees outside the box for whatever reason (unless just a UTI which has since been cleared up and no 'accidents' at the shelter.

Why can't you keep him? If it is due to his issues, and you can't deal with them when you have loved him for several years, what do you think his chances of adoption are?

You may be better off looking for a sanctuary rather than a shelter - but someone is going to have to pay future healthcare costs and that will weigh in the mind of anyone willing to take him

My first reaction when reading your thread was indignant horror. "This person wants to just dump her cat, because he's chronically ill?" I tend my special needs cats with love and respect for all their lives.

But I stepped back and thought for a while first, because not everyone is like me. Some people have limits they cannot go beyond.

I suppose, in a way, it's a good thing to know your limits and what you can cope with. If tending this cat would cause you to become resentful and hate him, he would certainly be better off in a home where the person would love him for who he is.

Or perhaps it's other people in the household forcing you to do this, I don't, can't, know. So am trying not to judge.

However, for now he is your responsibility and taking him to a shelter to languish in a cage until he dies is, in my opinion, a terrible thing to do to him.

My advice is to start calling rescue centers to find a place who has people who foster chronically ill animals. You may have to travel a way when you find one.

I know they are out there, because I know three people around the USA who do this, foster chronically ill cats until they find their forever homes. So if there are those three, there must be others, too.

By the way...cats don't pee outside the box from "things not going his way" or "anger" issues. I am sure there is a reason he does that, but it probably has more to do with stress than anger. It doesn't sound like he is very loved and wanted, and believe me, he knows it.

So please, don't dump him at a shelter. Find a rescue who will take him and give him a chance.

I have to agree with icklemiss and otto... no one is going to take him in.

I also agree by peeing outside the box - if this is a change in habit - he is communicating with you - not "punishing" you.

How far along is the CRF? What kind of heart condition?

Are you sure he doesn't have a urinary tract infection or crystals? Is he on special food for his kidney issues?

Several things come to mind to help him with the emotional aspects of the situation.

You need to make sure you are not communicating YOUR anger and frustration to him. No different than a toddler. If you are really mad at him, he knows. A cat can seem calm and be boiling inside, according to my vet.

Also - I need to ask .. if there have been any changes in the household? New baby? New pet? New anything? Change in routine? Cats are very sensitive to this and in his ill state it could be aggravated by something that YOU wouldn't think was an issue.

Try using Feliway diffusers. You can get them at a relatively good price on Amazon. Put them all over your house. The diffuser mimics "happy and calm" pheromones and helps with inappropriate urination.

Get Bach's Rescue Remedy for pets. It's a liquid that can go into his water dish or dropped onto some appropriate treats. One of my cats likes this stuff so much that he will just lick the dose off my finger. This is also a calming agent.

Get Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract Litter or litter additive and confine him to a bathroom to retrain him to go in the pan.

Try all of these things and GIVE IT TIME to see if this works.

I have over 12 years experience working at great shelter and I agree with the posters - this cat is not adoptable.

When a cat with kidney issues house soils it is usually a physical cause. Cats make what they believe they own with pee - so pee to cats (and dogs) has more to do with positive feeling rather than negative feelings.

I do understand you are frustrated - spending lots of vet money and having pee issues and all. It seems to me that kidney failure and heart disease is such a young cat is pretty rare. What is this cats medical prognosis? What is his fullest life possible?

Sometimes we have to make very very hard decision for our pets and it is very stressful. Please be kind to yourself.

I have to agree with not very adoptable.... I have adopted special needs but even I would not want to attempt a kitty with this many issues.

How about building an outdoor enclosure, so that if he gets mad and pees on something it'll be dirt? You could bring him in when the weather's bad or on cold nights, so as not to aggravate his health problems with being out in the elements.

Another option would be for him to become a vet's "clinic cat," but I think that's a pretty difficult situation to make happen.

If you're set on putting him into a shelter, you could make your own shelter for him by sticking him in a big kitty carrier with a litterbox and his food and all that stuff in with him. Doesn't sound very pleasant to me, but, better than turning him over to a kill shelter (which is what would take him; a no-kill shelter with finite space can either take him or several cats that would cycle through the cell in the time he's be there, so they're going to go with the several cats).

There are some sanctuaries that will take your cat for life if you make a large donation.....around $3000 or so, I think. They may charge more for a cat with a chronic health condition. My mother is under orders to find a place like that if something should happen to me and use my life insurance money to pay for it. You want to do your research and make sure it's a good sanctuary that really is set up for chronic conditions like that.

An outdoor enclosure would be fine as well. Perhaps with a companion cat so he wouldn't get lonely out there.

I would never put this cat into a kill or no-kill shelter. A kill shelter wouldn't even think before killing him (he would die alone and afraid), and at a no-kill shelter he'd just sit in a cage for years because nobody would adopt him. If you can't find a sanctuary or build him an outdoor enclosure, and there's no other way you can find to cope with his issues, then I think the only humane thing to do would be to have your vet put him to sleep, with you holding him as he dies.

I think forcing a special needs cat to live outside is a terrible idea. How can anyone think that is a good idea?

This cat has lived in the bosom of his family for 6 years, and people think it is okay to suddenly stick him outside, alone?

A cat with a chronic illness needs love and care and constant monitoring, not shut out somewhere, out of sight.

I do agree however, that euthanasia in his person's arms would be better than a life of slow death in a cage in a shelter. Better than being shoved outside, too.

I was envisioning something where at least one human would spend time on a daily basis out playing with the cat or just hanging out doing other stuff (reading, talking on the cell phone, surfing interwebs on laptop, etc.) with cat on lap. I'd totally be out there with them a bunch of the time if my cats had an outdoor enclosure.

It would be preferable to being summarily executed, considering that lots of cats like going outside anyway.

Unfortunately, you will likely have little success finding a shelter, even a no-kill, to take him. Health issues can be dealt with, and make kitties much harder to adopt out - but peeing outside the box you almost never find anyone to adopt the cat.

I myself take in special needs kitties (blind, deaf, seizures, etc). I have one cat who sprays due to chronic/severe urinary issues. I did build him an outdoor enclosure, he gets plenty of attention - and it works well for us. He's actually happier being outside. Is building an enclosure an option for you?

If not - as others said, you will most likely need to be looking into sanctuaries that will take him in for life, without the possibility of adopting him out.