Cat ate some of my meds and is peeing everywhere.

Hi! Our two year old neutered male tabby got into some of my medication last night and has ingested small amounts of gabapentin. Since then he has been having serious issues with bladder control, and in 12 hours has peed on my room mates bed 4 times, even when people are watching. He is also peeing in the cat box. He isn't lethargic and is still eating and playing.

We are trying to get him into the vet office asap, but anything we can do to help protect our furniture in the mean time/ make him more comfortable?

Put him in a crate?

I'd keep him in the bathroom & take out the towels. I'm not surprised this is the effect from gabapentin. My cat once ate a few fish oil pills too, thankfully there aren't really any side effects to that.

Putting my sick cat in a small box for an indeterminate amount of time will only stress him out more. It could be a day or two before we can get him in to see the vet.

We have him locked out of bedrooms for now, and he is unhappy about it.

Bathroom isn't an option because we have a second cat who needs the cat box too. We played with him a lot and have him sleeping for now. Looks like no vet until next week. I hope if it is medication related he'll get better when it clears from his system.

The general rule is at least one box for each cat + 1. If you have the time, it may be worth running out and grabbing another litter box, or even a plastic storage container/tote (I use two of them as litter boxes and I LOVE them) and just put his normal litter in it, you can keep it in whichever room he needs to stay in. This will work out way cheaper than dealing with urine stains and smells on your furniture.

Sorry if this is a silly question (I have no idea what gabapentin can do to a cat who doesn't need it, especially with whatever human dosage he got into), but have you called a vet's office just to see what they say about the situation? If they find it's urgent, most of the time they'll do their best to squeeze you in between appointments.

Even if it's just a quick phone consultation, if you haven't spoken to a vet yet, I would suggest just calling them. It can at least put your mind at ease if you have to wait until next week.

The room mates aren't keen on another cat box, they have the condition of one being in the bathroom because they don't want cats doing business in social or eating areas. I will see about one for my bedroom though.

We consulted with someone already about the medication. Gabapentin is used to treat seizures in both humans and cats. It has a half life of 7 hours. It matches the timeline, and it is not harmful to cats. Side effects include bladder issues.

The concern at this point is if he has something unrelated to the pills going on, like crystals. We have transportation issues, which is why we have a delay getting to a vet. He hasn't peed again since we washed the litter box and closed the doors.

We consulted with our cat rescue we got him from and they are going to pull some strings for us with their vet. Thanks everyone for the help. I will post an update later.

We also spoke with our vet's assistant on the phone and she says he should be Ok and that he didn't have nearly enough pills to harm him in the long run.

Thanks again everyone!

Glad to hear, and looking forward to an update!

lordsameth said:

Putting my sick cat in a small box for an indeterminate amount of time will only stress him out more. It could be a day or two before we can get him in to see the vet.

We have him locked out of bedrooms for now, and he is unhappy about it.

Click to expand...

When my cat was sick and his activities needed to be restricted, I got a large dog crate and made a bed for him, and slept in front of the crate. He was actually happy that he got his own space. Now whenever he's agitated I put him in there and he calms right down. 

Is a vet ER an option? You can call your regular vet and ask where the nearest ER is. Or check http://www.veccs.org/index.php?option=com_hospitals&nationid=1&Itemid=193 Or an appointment at another vet hospital? Personally if my cat ate my own medicine I would be rushing him to the ER right away. But if you have already talked to your vet or someone else at the office and they say your cat will be ok, then take their advice and closely monitor your cat until you can get to a vet.

ankitty said:

When my cat was sick and his activities needed to be restricted, I got a large dog crate and made a bed for him, and slept in front of the crate. He was actually happy that he got his own space. Now whenever he's agitated I put him in there and he calms right down. 

Click to expand...

The difference though is that he doesn't need his activity restricted. He is an active kitten who needs a lot of space and a lot of play. I am not going to deprive him of this need just to protect furniture. When we signed up for animals we signed off on nice furniture.

We can't afford the vet ER, the cost of it alone is crazy, but we'd also need transportation out of town, which we just don't have within reach. If it were immediate life or death we'd get assistance from our cat rescue for the cost, but this isn't immediate. Again, he is behaving normal aside from his unfortunate bladder. Thanks for the suggestion though. If it was any other medication I would be panicking but this is something prescribed to cats too.

Could it be an overdose? 
Does he drink more often? Most medication for human is toxic to cats. You say this medication is also for cats, but I am not sure how much he ate, and if this could be toxic? 

Just to make sure his kidneys are ok. When a cat eats / drinks something that is toxic, there is a chance of acute kidney failure. Maybe an urine and/or blood test?

lordsameth said:

The difference though is that he doesn't need his activity restricted. He is an active kitten who needs a lot of space and a lot of play. I am not going to deprive him of this need just to protect furniture. When we signed up for animals we signed off on nice furniture.

We can't afford the vet ER, the cost of it alone is crazy, but we'd also need transportation out of town, which we just don't have within reach. If it were immediate life or death we'd get assistance from our cat rescue for the cost, but this isn't immediate. Again, he is behaving normal aside from his unfortunate bladder. Thanks for the suggestion though. If it was any other medication I would be panicking but this is something prescribed to cats too.

Click to expand...

Ok, you said in your first post that you wanted to protect furniture, but If you don't mind it would be better that he's free to move around. You can put some tarp or something on the bed, though. I usually put a cheap sleeping bag from Walmart on my bed when my cats have vomiting spells. It's thick enough to protect mattress, but easy to wash, and cheap. 

Anne3007 said:

Could it be an overdose? 

Does he drink more often? Most medication for human is toxic to cats. You say this medication is also for cats, but I am not sure how much he ate, and if this could be toxic? 
Just to make sure his kidneys are ok. When a cat eats / drinks something that is toxic, there is a chance of acute kidney failure. Maybe an urine and/or blood test?

Click to expand...

Not an overdose for sure, he didn't even eat the starting dose for cats.

I guess I should clarify, he bit into a couple capsules he was playing with and the powder got in his mouth. He is still full of energy, playful, has a full appetite, and is drinking.

He isn't peeing anywhere now either, and seems normal.

I wonder if it's something else rather than the drug. Doesn't sound like he took it that much. If it's infection then it's emergency. 

ankitty said:

 
I wonder if it's something else rather than the drug. Doesn't sound like he took it that much. If it's infection then it's emergency. 

Click to expand...

That's a good point. Is the kitty squatting for a long time each attempt? Is only a tiny bit coming out? 

I hope your cat will be ok Might be  good time to put all medicines, vitamins, etc in the household somewhere cat proof and behind locked doors and be extra careful when taking medicine for youself.

lordsameth said:

The difference though is that he doesn't need his activity restricted. He is an
active kitten who needs a lot of space and a lot of play. I am not going to deprive him of this need just to protect furniture. When we signed up for animals we signed off on nice furniture
We can't afford the vet ER, the cost of it alone is crazy, but we'd also need transportation out of town, which we just don't have within reach. If it were immediate life or death we'd get assistance from our cat rescue for the cost, but this isn't immediate. Again, he is behaving normal aside from his unfortunate bladder. Thanks for the suggestion though. If it was any other medication I would be panicking but this is something prescribed to cats too.

Click to expand...

You don't worry about the furniture but what about the smell. If you don't remove it 100% he'll just carry on peeing in the same places even when what's wrong has stopped. Could be it already has but he's going back to where he pet's before.

Update: vet says he is fine, caused by the pills he ate. Since then he has shown us how he got the pills out of my end table and opened the plastic case.(cats are crafty btw)

Meds have been moved though, as well as another litter box added to the bedroom. No more accidents.

We deodorized everything while cleaning, nobody likes sleeping in cat pee.

Just a side effect of kittens being kittens I suppose. I am super grateful he never got seriously hurt though.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your help!