No Litterbox

I have a cat that I rescued from a shelter that I named Syanka. She was a good cat, for the most part, and I love her. She meowed a lot  and I've even had people telling me she sounds like a screaming baby. But we learned to live with it. When we took her to the vet, however, that's when the problems really started. After we had some teeth pulled and cleaned, she started to become really picky with her food. She no longer ate dry food and now only accepts wet food, and just the Friskey's brand and not the patte kind. This isn't the worst part. She's stopped using the litter box.

It was a few spots every now and then, but now it's every time. She just uses it to pee and not even that all the time now. She'll go next to the litter box, but she refuses to use the litter box itself. We have taken her to the vet and he has only told us that it's just because of her age and the fact hat she had a high thyroid problem. She's on medication though, and even that hasn't helped stop it. We've had to rip up the carpet in my room because of all the times she's gone, and she's still doing it. Not only that, but she has recently found new spots to go in other rooms of the house.

We have put the cat in my room all day and she still doesn't go in the box. Recently, I was cleaning my room and I found a spot I didn't even know she was going and it was covered in maggots. That would've been the last straw, but I love my cat. I just don't know what to do with her anymore though. I can't give her back to the vet because they lied to us about her and there's no way anyone is going to want a cat that has to be indoors but refuses to use a litter box. 

I wouldn't mind helping her, it's just that I had gotten a cat to be therapeutic. I was in treatment for an eating disorder in the summer of 2012 and when I had gotten out I was allowed to have a cat. I hadn't had a cat since my cat Stoney died in 2003, so I was super excited. When I saw Syanka, she was very malnourished and really skinny since she still had some trouble gaining weight while eating. This connected to me because of my disorder and I thought we could both gain weight together, thus making me fall in love with her and wanting to bring her home that day. I spoil her, I admit. I give her some of my scraps when I'm done eating, but I don't think this would be the problem.

I feel like there's something medically wrong with her, and it's besides the high thyroid. All I've gotten from vets is the high thyroid or that she's just an old cat. I just don't know what to do with her anymore. I love her, but I don't want to lose her because of this...

I agree with you that there is something medically wrong. Can you go to a different vet for a second opinion? I think that either the dosage of the thyroid med is not right, or that there is something else wrong that hasn't been diagnosed yet. When was the last time that full blood work was done?

She could be stressed out or in pain. Maybe the litter you use is hurting her feet or she's one of those cats who won't poo where she pees and you need to get more litter boxes and have them throughout the house, put them where she has the most problems and see if that helps? Maybe get bigger litter boxes too, like a storage container of sorts. My cat has a thyroid problem too and sometimes she has a hard time going to the bathroom and needs some space or to walk around some and it just comes out wherever she gets comfortable enough to go even if that means in front of my tv while I'm telling her no no no no lol. You could even try putting down pee pads where she's usually going so you don't have to keep cleaning the carpet. Hopefully something helps you.

I've taken her to two different vets, one we have known forever and another one he recommended. We might take her to a third though. The last time we did a full blood work was when we found out so about a year ago by now. We've done blood work just to see if the thyroid is okay but that's all.

I would second the idea of using pee pads .  If you can, get another litter box, maybe one with low sides if she is pretty old, something that she can easily climb in and out of, then set a pee pad in the bottom of it, and show her where it is.  If she doesn't get the hang of it, next time she pees and you are cleaning it up, when you've soaked up some into a paper towel, set that paper towel on top of the pee pad, so maybe it will transfer some of the urine scent onto the pad.  Then set her in there so she can smell it. 

Also, unless you clean every spot she has peed on with a good enzyme cleaner to where she cannot smell her urine, she will consider it an OK place to continue peeing .  You probably need to invest in at least a gallon of the stuff and basically poor it almost full strength onto the spots to it can soak into the carpet pad in places where there is still carpet.  You can use a black light to find the spots. 

There is also a cat litter called "Cat Attract" that helps draw cats back to litter, assuming there is nothing hurting her feet making her resistant to using litter in the first place.  WAS she recently tested for a UTI?  Cats who are stressed out often get them, and maybe her dental experience actually caused her to get one, although if she's already been to two Vets, I'm guessing they checked