My cat Cruise is having elimination issues

I have been following along as I think my cat has a very similar issue. He is only 2.5 has been sick his whole life and recently he has been losing control of his eliminating. He actually peed all over the bed lastnight as we all slept. We have gone through so much with this little guy (he is only 5 lbs.) and we kind of hit a dead end. We are lost as too what to try next, our lives basically consist of cleaning up pee stains and picking up poop from the floor. We know it is not Cruise's fault but we now have to keep him in the bathroom when we are not around for all of our sanity.



He is due back at the vet in one week for more bloodwork and hopefully some answers, I just don't get it and my wife and I have been losing many nights sleep crying over it. He went from the perfect cat about a month ago to a kitty that is just all over the place.



Do you have any suggestions or ideas? I am desperate and so is Cruise!!! Could the thyroid medication be causing such the drastic difference? He was on a low dose for 30 days and now they just doubled it as his levels were not coming up.



Hope koko is ok and maybe you can shed some insight for me, sorry for rambling but i'm extremely upset right now.

I am going through the same thing with my sister's cat who lives here. You need to get a needle aspiration done for his kidneys and bladder to find out if there is bacteria in the bladder. He may be incontinent now. How old is he? How many litter boxes do you have? Any medication can cause behavioral changes but usually there is a reason that is associated with pain and the box (litter box aversion). 

I will ask the vet about the kidney.bladder aspiration, sounds painful! He has a very low white cell count and is anemic, on top of the thyroid issues. The vet def thinks something underlying is causing all the blood counts to be way low, they were leaning towards the bone marrow (dont know if its a cancer or disease).

Something is just not right he doesnt seem fullyin control of it sometimes. Lastnight he rolled over onto his side like normal for some rubs and he just started peeing right there. Like the third time that has happened. Like i said he wet the bed lastnight and soaked the bathroom floor this morning again. We are at such a loss. I feel like he is getting worse in terms of eliminating. Could his blood values be worsening??

It's hard to say but this sounds like severe incontinence so yes, call the vet asap. Something is not right at all. The needle aspiration takes about 15 minutes and friends that have had it done to their kitties said it doesn't seem anymore painful then drawing blood. At least it doesn't seem that way. But that's something for your vet to decide if he even wants to do that or not. But at this point it sounds like he may just have to. I'm so sorry this is happening. I know the feeling of being helpless believe me. 

Is any of this painful to him? He is still eating i assume he has to be drinking as he is peeing (not in his litter though) Sleeps a ton and like i said has the anemia, low white cell count, hypothyrodism, and glaucoma in his eyes. I just have no idea where to turn anymore, I don't want him to be suffering or living an undignified life (not able to deficate or pee under own control)

I am just looking for some answers, thanks for your thoughts.

Brian

Brian I'm sorry sweetie but no one here can give you those answers. Only the vet can. I have no thoughts on if it's painful but I'm guessing if he's not crying while peeing then no, but again, I am not a vet so I can't say. I wish I had those answers for even my sister's cat but I don't. You have to call the vet, I'm so sorry. Please do that asap and you'll see, he'll have better answers for you. All I know is that any vet will tell you that peeing outside the box, especially to this extent and with all of these health issues is not normal. There may be a way to fix this but you have to ask the professional. 

I will def get him up there. I just feel terrible for him. I have been sick and anxiety ridden for 2 weeks now.

Thanks anyway!

You clearly love him so very, very much and I was the same way when I had a sick kitty with IBD. It was horrible and in the vet's office when they told me she had fatty liver, I literally lost my knees and went down to the ground I was so sick and distraught I almost passed out. So I know how sick you feel, I really do. I'm so sorry you're both going through this. We're all sending you positive vibes and love for your sweet boy. 

So we spoke to our vet yesterday as his peeing and spraying seems to be getting worse not better. Upping his thyroid meds do not seem to helping him whatsoever. They basically told us they do not have any answers and they would recommend going to see an internist to try to unsolve the thyroid issue, the anemia and the low white cell count.

My questions is what are your opinions on when enough is enough? I feel like we are torturing him now, he is confined to the bathroom (under vets recco) with his litter, blankets water and fav toy. We take him out to clean up the pee all over the floor and love on him. The second we put him down he is peeing on the floor, the couch, our bed even peed on me this morning. I just have no idea where to get answers or where to turn next.

Any ideas or comments?

Cruise the cat said:

So we spoke to our vet yesterday as his peeing and spraying seems to be getting worse not better. Upping his thyroid meds do not seem to helping him whatsoever. They basically told us they do not have any answers and they would recommend going to see an internist to try to unsolve the thyroid issue, the anemia and the low white cell count.

My questions is what are your opinions on when enough is enough? I feel like we are torturing him now, he is confined to the bathroom (under vets recco) with his litter, blankets water and fav toy. We take him out to clean up the pee all over the floor and love on him. The second we put him down he is peeing on the floor, the couch, our bed even peed on me this morning. I just have no idea where to get answers or where to turn next.

Any ideas or comments?

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I would go see an internist and then take it from there.  My decisions over the years (with my husband, we make these decisions together of course) is can we fix this, what is the quality of life..is our cat telling us they still enjoy life - their treats or toys or food?  I base things heavily on what my cat is "telling" me.  I very much empathize with what you are going through, we've had to ask ourselves such questions since late march with our beloved Dee. 

Yea it really is a tough call. A trip to the internist couldn't hurt, we will know we exhausted every single option for cruise. We are close to 2,800 in vet bills now but I just dont think he is happy anymore. Living in the bathroom and eliminating almost without control cannot be an enjoyable life.

When we take him in for his next blood work which is in a few days we will see what his numbers are. If the red cell and white count has gone down further we may be forced to make a decision. The vet all along kept leaning towards Leukemia or Bone Marrow cancer. I  know the only way to know that for sure is bone marrow biopsy. I am not sure I want to put him through that and turn him into a pin cushion ya know. We will see what the internist recommends based on his blood counts. I just feel in my heart of hearts that he is suffering from something that just hasn't shown yet.

Thanks for the compassion

Brian

I should also add he is only a 5lb cat. Very tiny and fragile. He is two years old.

He's only TWO??? OMG. I'm so sorry Brian, I wish I had some answers for you but I know you love him so much and you're doing everything you can for him. 

finnlacey said:

He's only TWO??? OMG. I'm so sorry Brian, I wish I had some answers for you but I know you love him so much and you're doing everything you can for him. 

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I'm SO so sorry. I really hope the specialist can help. I'm praying there's a solution! :heart2: :rub:

Yea he has been sick from day one. They originally thought he had a rare genetic disorder which would cause him to die young. We had him at a vet optomologist because his eyes were very bad from day one (always tearing, brown gunk, some nights we would stay home as he could barely open them) She is the one who thought he had the genetic issue based on his eye problems and tiny size. She couldn't diagnose it because she had only seen it one other time and the cat already had it. They then said he did not have (I just think they couldnt come to a definitive answer)

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago when we took him in for bloodwork and his white and red cells were extremely low (he also has hypothyroidism). FIV and Leukemia came back negative but the vet was thinking false neg or possible bone marrow disorder/cancer. She didn't feel that all these things could be happening in conjunction for no reason. Something major has to be underlying.

Regardless of what happens my wife and I will take comfort in the fact that we saved his life christmas eve 2 years ago. Snowstorm was on its way and he was all of 2 pounds and a stray out in the cold. We have showered him with endless love and affection and he has probably gotten more love in 2 years than most cats in a lifetime. We are just searching for some answers either way.

Will let you know when we get some more answers from internist.

Thanks

Add in my vibes for Cruise. I am sorry about his condition and pray that the specialist can shed some light on his issues. :cross: He is so young and that makes it even harder. Loads of vibes your way

So it looks like we are at the end of the road with Cruise. After much conversation with our vet Friday evening my wife and I have come to the decision to have him put down. We spent the weekend crying about it and weighing everything out. His quality of life (altho he still is eating) sucks. He is trapped in the bathroom while we are not home and has NO control over his bowels or bladder. He walks around very gingerly and just seems to have lost that look in his eye.

The vet described his blood count numbers and very grim some in fact were lower than she has seen in the past. We are also out of funds to try to prolong his precious life, which the vet feels will ultimately be in vein as he will most likely die soon. I do not want to him to suffer or reach a point where he is even more miserable and would rather give him the gift of a dignified and peaceful way to the rainbow bridge since there is nothing more we can do to help him other than wait.

Please if you do not agree try to understand where we are coming from. This has ripped my heart from my chest and I feel incredibly guilty but I think it is the best decision we can make given all the information from vet.

I will forever miss my buddy and cherish the 2 years that we have had him since we found him left for dead in the streets.

I don't think there is anyone here that will lecture you about this terrible position you're in and how much it hurts you. If there is nothing you can do and he's suffering what alternative do you really have but to do what's best for him? You clearly love him more than anything and are both hurting desperately. I'm so very, very, very sorry it's come to this. Please know we are all about love here and the love you have for Cruise is special and he knows that, so do we. We're here for you both. 

finnlacey said:

I don't think there is anyone here that will lecture you about this terrible position you're in and how much it hurts you. If there is nothing you can do and he's suffering what alternative do you really have but to do what's best for him? You clearly love him more than anything and are both hurting desperately. I'm so very, very, very sorry it's come to this. Please know we are all about love here and the love you have for Cruise is special and he knows that, so do we. We're here for you both. 

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Well said, I agree.  I am very sorry about this -for you and for Cruise.  He was so fortunate to have been rescued, and had these last two years of love and care.

I'm very sorry that you and your wife have had to make this decision. Letting our fur babies go easily is the last gift we can give them, and it's very, very doubtful that anybody here is going to criticize you for it.

When you feel up to it, you can write a tribute to Cruise in the Crossing the Bridge forum.