How do you know its time?

My cat is almost 17. For about the past 3 years she's been pooping outside her box only poop tho she pees in the box. I scoop her box twice a day so its clean. I've tried different litter different type boxes.

She was going all over the house so I moved her into my guest room thinking that BC of getting older sh couldn't get down into the basement. She rather be an only cat anyway so she's quite content in her room.

She's now pooping outside the box in there. She doesnt groom herself anymore and is really bad for brushing. Shes long hair and I can brush the top of her for a bit then she's done. She has matted hair mostly under her belly and back legs.

She will do the god awful scream/howl prob senelity?

She was just at the vet for her wellness check I don't give her shots anymore not even rabies. Her blood work was perfect which makes this decision a hard one.

She's on consiquin for her arthritis but no other meds.

I don't know what to do if she's not happy I don't want her to suffer but on the other hand she's eating drinking normally not loosing weight and her blood work was fine.

Advice?

It sounds like she's basically healthy, other than possibly being in pain from arthritis and/or matted hair, correct? Those things can be dealt with. I would see about getting her to a groomer to remove the mats, and ask the vet about something stronger for her arthritis, maybe try something with very low sides for a litter box that would be easy to get into - a cookie sheet? You can buy a cheap disposable one and offer it with litter in it, to see if the height of her regular litter box is the problem. 

IMO it isn't time to consider euthanasia when there are still relatively easy, inexpensive things to try in an effort to make an older pet more comfortable.

Senior cats are wonderful but they do have their own quirks, don't they? I can share some of the things that have worked for me in the past.

Howling/yowling especially at night: I am currently dealing with this myself with one of my cats. I have found that providing lots of attention and a solid, predictable routine, greatly reduces the amount of yowling (although does not eliminate it unfortunately). She may be lonely if she is in a room that does not get many people all day. She could be crying for attention. My senile kitty cries less if give him a treat/brushing routine (described below), a play session with a wand toy (usually only lasts about 2 minutes before he poops out) and an extra treat afterwards. I also have him restricted to one room but it is my bedroom and he enjoys laying on my legs every night. If I come to bed too late, he yowls to let me know that he is not pleased with the alteration in routine, and will holler until I go to bed. Since your cat is in a guest room, maybe establish a routine that brings you in there a little more often than usual to give her a little more company. She probably sleeps a lot but if she is alone most of the time that she wakes up, she may be confused and lonely.

Matted fur: I have had 2 long-haired cats, both of whom hated being brushed and even had hyperthyroidism, making them more prone to matting. With both, I would have the vet shave where mats are most common and of course, where cats hate being brushed the most  - their bellies, their back legs, and in their "armpits". Then I brush the rest every night using Feline Greenies as a bribe. They eat the treats while I brush. At first, they would only allow a few brush strokes before yowling or biting but over time, they tolerated longer brushing sessions. Forget the little pin-brushes. For long-haired cats use a Furminator or a cat rake. My vet has a cat rake that works wonders but I have not found one. I use a Furminator for long hair and it works great. It is insanely expensive, but once I bought it, I was glad I did. It can be used on the short-haired cats too, although if you do it everyday on a short haired cat, it will create thin spots.

Pooping outside the box but peeing inside the box: This is not uncommon and could have several reasons:

a. Arthritis combined with not liking her litter could be the problem even though she does use the box for peeing. Pooping takes longer and uses more muscles than peeing, so the time it takes to sit in the box to poop might be too long for her to sit in a litter that she doesn't like. But since you have tried different litters before, this may not be the problem for your cat.

b. The extra time it takes to poop could make her nervous about getting attacked by another cat. Even though you have moved her to her own room, she has several years of habit to break regarding feeling threatened (if that is the source of the problem). Make sure the box is in a location where she feels like she has several escape routes. We think we would feel safer in a more "secure" spot, but cats can feel trapped when litter boxes are in corners or only open on one side.

c. This may sound nuts, but some cats don't like to pee and poop in the same box. I don't know why this is (maybe once they pee in it, it is "dirty" and they don't like that?), but one of my cats uses one box for pee and the other for poop, almost exclusively. Strange but true. If you can, try adding a second box.

d. If she is constipated, which cats can suffer from for years, then she may blame the box for her discomfort. A stool sample to the vet can help diagnose this. Some people use canned pumpkin to help constipated cats but I have had luck with just switching to primarily wet food.

e. If you can, move the litter box or add a second box to the area that she most prefers to poop. If that doesn't work or if she has no preferred spot, you may want to also try putting piddle pads around the areas that she like to poop.

I had one cat that started pooping outside of her box because of territory issues. Mind you, the 2 that were fighting were sisters and had been together all of their lives with no problems. But then we had children and once they started toddling around, the cats' behavior went downhill. One started attacking the other almost every time they saw each other. The "victim" cat would pee in the box but would not poop no matter how many boxes I put out. She was pooping in places with lots of escape routes, like under the dining room table and under beds. I put a litter box in the dining room, that's how desperate I was. Unfortunately, in my case, my cat was also getting senile and more paranoid, so she quit using the litter box at all. I ended up sacrificing the entire dining room by rolling out temporary vinyl flooring and putting out piddle pads in all of the spots she preferred to use. And yes, I had her tested for every medical problem under the sun and she was fine. It was strictly behavioral. I did not know as much back then as I do now about territory issues in a multi-cat household, unfortunately.

We lived like this for a few years but the last several months were particularly bad with the pooping and then peeing everywhere. She was about 17 years old when she became obviously in pain so it was clearly time to let her go. In your case, your cat isn't there yet but you have been dealing with poop on your floors for several years. It is so hard in these cases because it is not always clear whether keeping them alive is really doing them a kindness. Most everyone I knew said I was crazy for not euthanizing my cat once it became clear that she was never going to use a litter box again. I saw their point but I also felt that if she wasn't sick, I would be killing her, not euthanizing her. I see both sides of the argument and I do think there is a delicate balance where the cat's quality of life is not good and cannot be made better, where death is a kindness. I still feel conflicted about whether I waited too long. Did she suffer needlessly because I waited for a clear sign to appease my own conscience? These are difficult issues to deal with and there is no easy answer. My heart goes out to you with this issue that you are dealing with.

In your case, if your kitty can get enough attention in the guest room to keep her happy in there, but none of the above strategies work with regards to the pooping issue, try buying a big roll of sheet-vinyl at Home Depot or the like and put it down all over the guest room floor (or at least for the side/section that she poops on) (just roll it out, don't adhere it). It is easy to clean and you don't have to worry about your floors getting ruined. I have read in a few places that some cats like to have the television on at night. I personally haven't tried this, but supposedly it helps with the night yowling.

Best of luck to you and your kitty. You are clearly compassionate and care about the well being of your cat. Different people will have different opinions about when the right time is, but you know your cat best and I am sure that whatever decision you make will be the right one.

My Mr. Grimsby, who was somewhere between 17 and 20, had arthritis in the lower part of his spine. He would mewl pathetically while on the box, strain mightily, then walk out the box as he was pooping. It took us (the vet and me) a while to figure it out, but when we did the vet prescribed a pain medicine to help him. If I noticed that he hadn't been to the box one day, I'd give him the meds and he would usually go within 24 hours.

My vet here (we've moved) offers cold laser therapy for arthritis. It's supposed to help with the inflammation. I can't say whether it worked for Mr. Grimsby because we ended up euthanizing him before the regimen was complete (I think he died of metabolic acidosis, but that's another story). I can't tell you how much the therapy cost because they were doing a lot of other things to him at the same time to keep him alive.

The vet also prescribed Laxatone for Bertha, who had been regular as clockwork until about a month ago (perhaps it's grief for Mr. Grimsby). That works really well, and it's relatively inexpensive. Have you tried something like that? I've also read on this forum that slippery elm bark is good for cats.

As for ways to calm cats, I have found that both Bertha and Mr. Grimsby relaxed to classical music. I always tune the radio to a classical station when I'm taking my cats to the vet.

A also spray the blanket in their carrier with Pet-Ease, which includes pheremones, lavender, St. John's Wart and Valerian root. I'm assuming you use Feliway or something to calm her nerves, too. That won't solve the litter box problem, of course, but it might help with the late night serenades.

I agree with momto3cats that it's early for euthanasia. I wouldn't entertain euthanasia if I knew that the cat was healthy and not suffering. But, as Bundle says, it's a matter of personal decision.

Good luck with everything.

Best regards.

Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions. I have done most of what everyone suggested. Right now i have a very lo corner box with a lid but i took the lid off.

Shes not in the room all the time when im home i will give her time to roam the house and she loves to lay on me amd watch tv. I go in and give her treats and talk to her. She would keep me up at night which is why shes in the guest room and not mine.

She stresses big time at the vet and hates the car the vet is an hour ride i wipe the crate with filaway wipes and wipe rescue remady on her face which calms her a bit. I had her in a month or so ago for her check up and blood work. I had the techs shave her belly and inside her back legs. She wasnt good two people holding one clipping and a muzzle but at her age im not putting her under.

Im going to talk to the vet about putting her on something stonger for her arthritis. She gets moslty wet food only thing i can get her to eat now is friskies or fancy fiest.

I agree with the others that it's early to be thinking about such things.  Especially with your followup post it sounds like she still has more good quality time than bad.  In terms of figuring that out, I would tend to use various measures of quality of life, one of which does include using the litter box, but it sounds like she does still use it to a degree and she eats on her own and gets around some and enjoys your company.  She's not hiding all the time or showing other signs of constant discomfort.  So I'd be hesitant to do anything at this point.  If anything I would keep at trying to figure out the whole pooping issue, although I'm sure you tried many things if it's been going on for 3 years.

Did they check for hyperthyroid in her recent blood work?  That is sometimes a reason for yowling, and although I think most vets would include a test for it in a senior blood panel, some may not include it automatically if you hadn't reported any symptoms (commonly weight loss with no decrease in appetite).  Otherwise, interestingly, yowling is sometimes done by cats who are going deaf!  That is something you might be able to figure out, if she used to react to sharp noises and now doesn't or whatever.  Or, they get disoriented and yowl about it.  I had an older night yowling cat with basically all those things going on I think!  She had hyperthyroid and was on meds for it (but sometimes the levels still fluctuate), and she definitely went deaf.  I took to leaving on more night lights around the areas she had access to because it seemed to help.  With her hearing gone she relied more on seeing, and cat vision, while they can see in lower light than us, is not that great in some other ways so a little more light can help.

Yes she did have a thyroid pannel done at her last check up and now i do bloodwork every 6 months instead of once a year.

Im glad you guys dont think she is ready yet as i of course am not ready to say goodbye yet. I just didnt want her to be suffuring either.

I can deal with her poopig out of the box she doesnt always poop outside but has been doing it more often than not . Its easy clean up i have old sheats that i throw down around the box.

Vet said i could put her on tramadol or bupernex is one better than the other?

My cat also did this for no known reason.  She was an only cat and it seemed to just start one day and became her habit.  She had tests done and they couldn't find an explanation, new litters were bought, boxes were added and all was for naught as it continued, unfortunately, for years.  In fact it was the only problem she had until we discovered her heart disease and she died 10 days later.  She screamed at the top of her kitty lungs at all hours too; I would yell and bang on something and she would stop - I think she just wanted to know where I was.  Way too early to think about euthanasia if pooping outside the box is the only problem.  Just my opinion.  My cat lived like this for many happy years (she was happy, I was not).