Please Help, cat having strange behavior and new habits!

Hello,

I have a 15 year old female tabby cat.  I don't even know where to begin.  First of all, we did not know of the complication of declawing when we first got her as a kitten, so we had her declawed, and I regret it all the time now.  She had never been one to be very lovable, very snooty and stuck up, but she was part of the family.  About three years ago she started having spells were she was pooping on the carpet in front of our front door.  We have a split foyer, so she must walk down the steps or up the steps to get there.  It was solid and normal, then she began having a few episodes in front of our large window downstairs.  Her litter box was in a very private place in the utility room, but we bought another one and placed it in front of the window where she kept going, and that worked for a little while, although we would still on occasion find that she had used the bathroom outside of it from time to time.  Two years ago we took in a stray male, he played too rough with her, and instead of letting them hash it out I decided to let her have the upstairs and him have the downstairs, I was afraid at her age he was going to giver her a heartr attack.  We moved her litter box to another portion of the upstairs.  We have stairs that lead out a side door that is NEVER used, so it was a perfect place of privacy for her.  We actually bought her a large RubberMaid container so she would have lots of room, we sat it up against the stairs so she could walk right down in it without having to jump since she is older. We put some attractant in it and sat her in it once and she had been very good about using it. She is terrified of other people, but when we leave town or go on vacation we have a friend go in and take care of her for us, clean litter box, food and water, ect. After a week of vacation last year when we returned she was completely different.  She's always a tad clingy when we come back from vacation, but she wouldn't leave us alone, always had to either be leaning up against us, laying on us or being held, which she always used to hate.  It's been a year and this hasn't changed.  Follows us around crying and meowing very loudly, you can't lay down in bed without her wanting to lay on you with her face touching your face.  It's a little ridiculous and very hard to sleep.  One week we actually had to lock her out of the bedroom because we had gotten no sleep because she was all over us, crawling on us all night, actually trying to climb onto our head or lay on us.  I love that she has become lovable, but sometimes it's a little crazy.  Unfortunately the old girl lost most of her teeth during a cleaning a couple of years ago, but refused to eat wet food.  Her labs at the vet all came back normal, which I was thrilled about.  She continued to eat small bits of dry food for almost a year until she started throwing up undigested food about a month ago.  She began puking everywhere.  We couldn't leave anything laying out because she would throw up on it.  She even got on the kitchen table, which she KNOWS is off limits, to throw up.  We finally found a wet food that she really liked, but that seemed to do know good as she still threw up everywhere, so we switched her back to her dry food which she really loves.  The puking has slowed down some.  About two weeks ago we started noticing that she was pooping on the stairs next to her litter box instead of in her litter box.  Figured it was just a fluke, but it kept happening, each time seemed to go up a step, until it got to the top.  Now she has begun pooping a littler further out, now in front of the bedroom doors, then to the middle of the living room, and now back down in front of the original door where she used to go.  This is killing us, we've tried everything, but she's ruining our carpet!!! We love her to death and would never dream of getting rid of her but need some advice on how to help her out.  We had discussed putting her in the bathroom with her box when we were gone, but we've discovered that all of these so called "accidents" happen when we are home.   Sometimes it's solid, sometimes it's diarrhea, I don't know what's causing the diarrhea, as nothing has changed in the past two weeks.  ANY advice would be so helpful.  Thank You for your time!

I'm living with a 17+ year old and he's gone through a lot of behavior changes in the last few years. I feel for you. It's hard to watch them get old.

If you haven't had any blood work done on her for 2 years, you need to take her in and have that done. At 15, she's not just a senior, but a geriatric cat, which is a ripe age for many diseases that can cause the symptoms she is having - diabetes, CRF, thyroid, cancer, etc. I do a complete geriatric panel on my boy every 6 months right now. When a disease hits at that age, going a year between blood panels doesn't catch things early enough.

She might have arthritis which can make it difficult for her to climb in and out of the litter box.

Also at her age she might be experiencing what vets call a cognitive disorder - basically what I call kitty alzheimers. Forgets that she is supposed to be using a litter box or forgets where it is located. Forgets where things are around the house. I had an 18 year old girl who's life eventually got to a point where her food, water, litter and bed were within 6 feet of her. She'd get lost if anything was further apart.

If she is getting hard of hearing, she might be crying out louder than normal because she doesn't know how to control the volume. If her mind is slipping, she might be frightened or get lost in the house and cries out so that you find her. Crying out loudly for no apparent reason is a very common thing for geriatric cats. My 17 year old has a very good set of lungs and when he gets going, I either go find him and pick him up, or shout out loudly to get his attention to come to me. And while he was always a very friendly cat, he has gotten downright clingy these last few years.

So first things first - get a complete geriatric blood profile done to see if anything is physically wrong with her. If you can rule out physical illness, then she may be having cognitive issues, in which case you need to put yourself in her head to find out what you can do to make her life easier. You might also want to try switching your brand of litter. My 17 year old loves the box that contains Cat Attract litter - it has a smell that draws him to that box.

Thank you for your response... she's due for her vaccines anyway, so I'll have the blood work done when she goes.  I don't mind her being clingy so much as I do the poop everywhere, she only cries when she is around us, when she is alone she is as quiet as a mouse.  I've made her litter box as easily accessible as possible, she only has to step down into it, but I suppose if her joints are hurting it would hurt to do that too.  Hopefully we can figure something out to help her...it may just come down to making her living area a little smaller while we are away and opening up the rest of the house when I am home.  She still has a great quality of life, she's so tiny, always has been, but has the most adorable big eyes!  She looks like a little stuffed animal I am just thankful that she doesn't seem to be in any apparent sort of pain.  I may see about getting her some Cosequin or Dasaquin though if she is arthritic. Thanks again!

Cash said:

Thank you for your response... she's due for her vaccines anyway,

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I urge you not to have her vaccinated at her age, and especially not if she isn't 100% healthy.

http://svmweb.vetmed.wisc.edu/defau...ement&itemid=39&mid=164&keyword=vaccinationsp

http://www.truthaboutvaccines.org/docs/draftSub.html

b. Only healthy individuals should be vaccinated.

Vaccinating animals when not optimally healthy is a contraindication written on many vaccine pack instructions. Dogs and cats should not be vaccinated if suffering from any of the following conditions. Bacterial, viral or parasitic infection, chronic allergy, arthritis, spondylosis, chronic colitis, recurrent pancreatitis, KCS, AIHA, IMT, liver/kidney/heart/repiratory disease, on immune suppressive drugs, cancer, or if pregnant, if under anaesthetic, or if recently had an accident, surgery or emotionally traumatic event. In summary, the animal needs to be healthy at vaccination time.
It has been shown conclusively that vaccinating humans when slightly malnourished can greatly increase the likelihood of adverse reaction, as detailed in Dr A. Kalokerinos' book 'Every Second Child', an account of an up to 50% death rate in Aboriginal babies a few days after routine vaccination in the 1970's, decreasing over the years as nutrition and management standards were improved. It is likely, therefore, that a healthy diet in animals is likely to be important in decreasing adverse affects to vaccination and reducing infectious disease incidence, a factor which should be considered in any vaccination program.
A recent survey of Australian GP's found that 54% were vaccinating children when there was a clear contraindication due to existing illness (33 p21, ref cited). There could be a similar problem with veterinarians vaccinating sick animals, possibly increasing the likelihood of adverse reaction, and we all need to be aware of this possibility. It is an important potential litigation issue, quite apart from the animal welfare aspects.

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General Rules for Vaccination
 

1. Don't vaccinate pregnant animals.
2. Don't vaccinate animals under anaesthetic.
3. Don't vaccinate any animal that is not 100% healthy.
4. Antibody titer testing can be a more sound medical and legal procedure than routine vaccination for many animals.
5. Match the vaccination program to the individual animal.
6. Report all possible adverse vaccine reactions, and note them in the animal's medical history.
7. Don't make vaccination a reason for an annual check up for unwell or elderly animals - there are many more useful reasons for a vet check such as an annual heartworm injection, blood tests to check heart, liver and kidney disease in older dogs and thyroid function in older cats, dental check, diet check.
8. Have a copy of a file of vaccination data for owners who may want to help make the decision about their pet's vaccination program. (A copy of such a file is available from the library of the Australian Association of Holistic Veterinarians SIG or by phoning 0403180567).
9. Consider monovalent (ie vaccines for one disease at a time only) wherever possible.
10. Consider using homoeopathic disease prevention for some individuals. Research suggests this can cause significant disease prevention, especially for non-core or non- endemic diseases (33,34,35 and much more info in file).

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I guess I'll take her and have her checked out, our vet(the only one I trust in this area) is almost an hour away, I hate taking her and stressing her out, I'm afraid it's going to kill her.  He recommended vaccinating her before since all of her test results were very good, especially for a cat of her age.  I really think the puking is due to her not chewing up her food, since she'll only eat hard food, she just swallows it whole since she doesn't have any teeth.  About five to ten minutes later, it all comes back up.  I think the diarrhea is from the wet food that we bought that she will actually eat.  I wish I could find something that would work.  I've tried putting her dry food in the blender and grinding it up, then softening it with some water, but she still wouldn't eat it.  Even bought some of the pet gravy to help soften it, still wouldn't eat it unless it was solid and in chunks  Is there anything I can give her to calm her on her way to the vet?