19 year old cat dilemma

I have a cat who is 19 years old. She is an absolute sweetheart that I have had since she was a kitten. According to the vet, she is in perfect health. She's full of life, LOVES to eat, and play with our youngest cat (who is 7). However, we have a few problems with her.

First, when she grooms herself, she pulls out hunks of fur. As a result, it's everywhere. We can deal with this - we just vacuum more frequently.

Second, she vomits daily. It's not just that she vomits, but why and where. If she is irritated about something, she will throw up immediately - it almost seems to be done out of spite. Also, if she's upset with someone, she will vomit on their side of the bed on the comforter and occasionally on the pillow. There's rarely a day that goes by that we don't come home to vomit somewhere.

Finally, she pees EVERYWHERE there is carpet in the house, in addition to peeing in the litter pan. As I mentioned, we have other cats (3 total). I have read all the literature on multiple cat households, and have 3 litter pans. It doesn't help. I know she goes in the litter pan - I've seen her do it. I've tried all the behavioral tricks too and nothing works. I'm pretty sure our carpet is saturated at this point, but there is no point in changing the carpet while she is still alive. The best we can do is that we keep all of the cats confined to a carpetless room when we're gone, and this lessens some of the damage.

So here's my dilemma. I love this cat, but I don't know what to do. I feel incredibly guilty even considering putting her down (after all, she's 19), but this situation is absolutely ridiculous. With a young son's health to consider, it's a constant concern.

HELP!

IMHO your cat is sick - cats do not do this out of spite - vomiting or peeing. Vomiting daily is not ok, especially in a 19yr old. If she is doing next to your things, she is probably asking for help.
This kitty needs to go to the vet IMHO - a complete Senior panel should be done, a thyroid check, and a urinalysis. If your vet by palpating her says she "is the picture of health" sorry to say, but I would recommend a second opinion. I would only rest until I get a reason for this vomiting - I guarantee you it is not spite - something is wrong with your girl....

For the pee - how are you cleaning the spots? It is very important to clean them all with a good enzyme cleaner - Nature's Miracle doesn't work - I only recommend 2: Nok out and Anti-icky-poo. Get yourself a powerful UV lamp so you can go over your whole house and see every single spot. Poor (pour, do not spray) nok out over the spots, wait some, remove the excess and then leave it air-drying. It can take up to 2 weeks to completely dry the carpet, but it is important to leave it air-drying so the enzymes can work.

I also highly recommend changing the litter to Cat Attract litter.
Because she is so old, make sure the litterboxes have lower sides and are accessible to her, since she can have arthritis pain...
Put them in quiet locations - no closets, no garages, no laundry rooms. Make sure they are open too.
Hope this helps some...

Appreciate the input Carolina. Thanks.

We've had the complete bloodwork, urinalysis, everything at least twice in the past few years. The results are always the same....nothing out of the ordinary, or even slightly off where it should be...and I've seen the results with my own eyes. I wondered if it was kidney problems, but there doesn't seem to be any indication of this.

We have a UV light and use it regularly. We'd also discovered Nature's Formula didn't work, so for the spots, we use Urine Off, which works very well. She's finding different spots to pee, never going in the same spot. Plus she LOVES going on bath mats. When she does, we wash them in the washer with detergent and urine off - no spots, no smell afterwards. We also regularly shampoo our carpets (once a month) with shampoo and some urine off.

The cat pans are definitely low enough for her. She has NO problem getting in there.

Stumped and at my wits' end.

Its difficult for even specialists to diagnose mental issues in human patients that go under far more extensive testing and can communicate with fortunes spent on research, so I would wager it may just be a mental degradation that remains undiagnosed. After all, you indicate it seems to be stimulus triggered, and 19 years is definitely advanced old age for cats so its not that surprising if a bit of senility were to kick in.

If you have any large area w/ tile and preferably a window, I'd try to just section it off for her so she has her own litterbox nearby and accidents won't be as big a deal and just keep an eye on her and ensure she's comfortable. Having her own little spot might be more mentally relaxing as well.

It also sounds like she might be a bit stressed out. Have you tried using Feliway plug-ins?

What are those?

I know you said you've done bloodwork, testing, etc - but can I ask how recently was the most recent?

The only reason I ask is b/c I too thought kidney problems, one of my kitties was barfing/peeing/etc - and not surprisingly she's in renal failure. If this is a more recent behavior & you haven't done the bloodwork since it started, I'd be inclined to do it again. (If you have done bloodwork since the behavior started, then you can ignore me. )

Feliway diffusers give off a natural pheromone cats secrete & can help w/ behavior issues.

I just recently lost a cat to renal failure...same type of things happening. She was peeing outside of her litter box daily and vomiting. It showed up in her blood work and it helps that I have a vet experienced in feline medicine. She is a cats only practice.

Im sure your old girl does not mean to the things she does. I hope you find a solution for both of you.

Hi Navychk,

I realize that your post is from 2011, but my beautiful calico is 19 very soon, and she's going through something like yours did.  My heart is SO heavy because when she goes, she's taking a part of my heart, well, my husband and I, she LOVES my husband the most, and he's never had a pet before, he thinks she's going to live as long as we do, but we all know better. 

She's also howling, to the point that she sounds like her voice is getting very horse from her howling, if she sees us or hears us, she stops - immediately.   She will go into my husbands shower (we have dual showers) and she'll use his shower as a kitty box.  Oh my!!  she's pooped in corners, and sometimes in front of doors, like she's telling us stuff.  So, we took her to the vets, but like your vet, she said she was fine.  I wasn't comfortable about the vets diagnosis, so we did take her for a second opinion and they found crystals in her urinary tract, we fixed taht and now the symptoms are again back but REALLY bad. 
I have such a heavy heart, I dont' want her to go either.  Can you tell me what happened with your little furry girl?  Is she still with you?

I hope you see this message, not many people have cats who reach this geriatric stage in life. 

Humbly needing fellowship for my precious Tisa.. she's got a brother whose also from the same litter, he's got issues too, but hasn't reached such dramatic stages - yet. 

Help ... please.

An overactive thyroid can cause vomitting. My vet suggested a medication and it helped a lot. She also doesn't holler as much. Don't know if this will help with the bathroom problems. My cat is 19 and a half.