I am in desperate need of help. Considering euthanasia.

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Foremost I would like to state how thankful I am to have stumbled upon this site.

I’ve found my way here this evening amidst a million emotions in search of comfort and advice- from fellow cat/animal lovers alike.

Over the past 7 years, ever since I moved into my 1^st apartment and realized the cat overpopulation in my new neighborhood, I have made it my duty and promised both them and myself to change things. Admittedly it was QUITE the learning process with numerous ups and downs. Yet I am happy to say that, at this time, there are zero strays/ferals and I have had nearly 20 cats and kittens spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and found forever homes. I too have tried my very best to educate the community about the importance of spaying and neutering (via our local Humane Societies low cost clinics) in hopes that they will be a deciding factor in keeping it that way as well.

I have 4 cats, all of which were suppose to be re-homed, but due to medical/behavioral issues I was unable to. I of course fell in love with each one of them and took on the responsibly. Hazel, Angel, Tabitha, and Grace. A year ago that number was 5, but our big guy Shadow (the only male of our group) passed on due to heart failure in October.

Now to the point of my post- we’ve had Grace for almost 4 years now. Her age is unknown, but given her health we believe her to be 10+ years old. In what I assume is contributed to her age- she has no desire to do anything except for nap and eat. I always find myself trying my best to encourage her to even walk around the house and all attempts at playing with the zillion toys the cats have, has failed. She is very much the couch potato.

When she found her way to my doorstep she was underweight and had no fur from her mid-back to the tip of her tail. After a vet visit I found out she had dermatitis and as the weeks turned into months she eventually grew all the hair back into what could only be described as the softest baby fluff.

Once she was with us for a little while I began to realize that she had absolutely no desire to be around other cats nor did my other kitties desire to be around her. Over the years they’ve grown to merely tolerate one another. I have 3 floors in the house and Grace typically occupies upstairs and our bedroom- where she has 2 litter boxes,  a large window to look out, toys that she doesn’t play with, her cat bed, food and water- though she has free roam of the entire house- the distance/escape from the other cats seems to have helped her significantly in that regard. She too has the oddest aggressive tendencies- such as if she’s sitting on my lap and I wish to get up, she will begin growling and hissing. Never does she attack me (just makes a lot of fuss), but she has guests. Behavioral issues have never been something that I couldn’t deal with. That alone is just some background information.

Where the real issues begin- after being here for a few months, she too began using the bathroom outside the box occasionally and in doing so I came to realize she had FAR more health issues than just a simple flea allergy. Her stool was not normal at all. It was very liquidity and had blood in it occasionally. I immediately took her to the vet’s office where I was told that the underlying cause was worms. Trusting my vet I went with that diagnosis and we treated her. I saw what I thought were results after the 1^st week then it began happening again. I took her back and AGAIN we treated her for the same thing. It changed for a few weeks and then back it came. Thereafter it got to the point where daily I would be cleaning up diarrhea around my home. Thankfully I have predominately tile flooring because there were times when I would be gone during the day and when I returned it had hardened. Removing diarrhea from my flooring with a spatula isn’t exactly something I wished to do, ever- being the clean freak that I am. She too went to the bathroom on our couch 6 times in 3 days- in which we had to throw away/replace and in areas in our basement although we have 5 litter boxes throughout the house. It was beyond disgusting- I was upset, sometimes at her subsequently, but I KNEW it wasn’t her fault and my emotion was displaced. There were times when I would just hold her and cry because I was so lost as to what to do.

My “finances” have never been comfortable, seemingly ever. All the money my boyfriend and I have goes towards the animal’s foremost, household necessities 2^rd and us lastly.

After quite sometime of dealing with these issues off and on, having tried everything I knew to help given I couldn't afford keeping taking her back to the vet given the $30 fee for just having her seen. I knew it was absolutely necessary that I get a 2nd opinion and regardless I was going to find a way to make that happen. Luckily my parents saw how hard I was struggling with Grace's health issues and offered to help. She has had three visits since and in short, we’ve now had/tried- Blood tests, Fecal tests, Cat Attract additive, Panacur and various other wormers, Vitamin B Supplement Injections, Daily Forta Flora, i/d Feline Gastrointestinal Health Canned Food and numerous other limited ingredient foods with no prevail. Not to mention the cleaning products we have to purchase weekly just to keep up with her accidents.

It has even got to the point where she has went to the bathroom on herself while laying in her cat bed twice- which was just heartbreaking to discover. I'm not sure if it was involuntary. Even having bathed her immediately after realizing what occurred she developed an eye infection due to laying so closely to her own waste- that too was quite expensive to treat.  Now she will need much more costly procedures to even diagnose the core problem and even at that rate there is no guarantee that it will stop her from defecating outside the box. I quite literally am out of money and completely overwhelmed at this point. And on-top of all else, as if the poor girl isn't already dealing with enough, at her appointment the new vet said she too has a slight heart murmur and dental problems that will need to be treated- eventually... once we figure out what is going on with her digestive system.

Having tried everyting, euthanasia seems to be the only option. It –certainly- wasn’t an easy decision to come to. Not.in.the.least. I have tried my very best and everyday- I keep trying. I just cannot help but fell horrible and as if I’ve failed her.

Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

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I don't know where you are at as far as having her euthanized but has she been given a steroid.  She could well have IBD that is often the case when nothing shows up on any of the diagnostics and every other possible cause has been treated.  Usually, not always, but usually a steroid will clear this up if it is IBD.  They are one of the cheaper medications so I would ask the vet if you could try that before having her euthanized.

Thank You, Denice. That is a path we haven't taken. I will contact the vet tomorrow regarding it.

I knew I came to this site for a reason. I just looked up info on IBD and found this, "What are the symptoms of IBD? Colon inflammation (called colitis) most often causes diarrhea. The diarrhea is usually of small volume and very frequent (up to ten or more times per day). Cats with colitis often strain to defecate and have blood or mucus in the stool. These cats usually remain active, have a healthy appetite and do not lose weight." That to a T describes what she's been going through.

Again, thank you so much!

If she has IBD, Prednisilone (not prednisone) is like a miracle drug.  It has few side effects in cats (unless you cat has kidney or heart trouble) and many cats respond very well to it and start putting on weight very quickly.  For cats that don't respond then leukeran is another drug that can work very well, and most cats tolerate it.  Those who don't can't be on it.  in the long run a change to a novel protein or hydrolyzed protein can help to - the goal being to find a food that the intestines don't react to, allowing you to decrease the meds.

IF it is IBD, then what she eats is definitely key.  You need to feed her canned food, and grain free.  Even Friskies and Fancy Feast have some grain free varieties, so if you aren't feeding grain free now, you can still do it and keep it fairly budget friendly. If it turns out to be food allergies, then that's a whole other story, although this doesn't really sound like food allergies to me...really does sound like IBD. 

I have to agree with the others here, my very first thought was coccidia or giardia, as they are common and can be very hard to find as the cysts can hide in organs and not show up on a fecal float test.

However, unless they completely use seperate boxes and space in the home, someone else would likely show this as well by now.

It does sound like IBD, which can come on pretty suddenly as a cat ages.

There IS hope here for her!

I thoroughly understand your frustrations, money spent and getting nowhere is tough, random diarrhea in your home, lots of anxiety for you!!  Many of us here can SOOO relate!!

I also was surprised to hear your vet continuously charges for each visit, rather than the initial office visit and rechecks trying different meds or treatments. This is not routine, at least not around here thankfully!! My rescue would go broke very fast, literally.

Many members and advisors here have first hand experience in IBD, so stay positive, there is hope and lots of support here!   

I also meant to mention, the 4 cats being all girls? Females are the dominant of the 2 sexes, and this is very common as well that they just barely tolerate each other.

So typical!! Not a problem there, just standard bossy girls who sort of resent other girls being in the home, as THEY wanna be the queen of the house!