How far we've come--in under a year!

On March 5th of last year, I adopted an unhealthy overweight 14 year old cat. He was dehydrated and constipated, as evidenced by dry hard stools. He also had litterbox aversion. He was my mother-in-law's cat. (She passed away on 11/6/14) My other relatives didn't express a lot of hope for the cat and didn't suggest that we do much for him, other than making him an outdoor cat. One of them made the comment that they thought that he was at the end of his life.

There was a lot of striving and stressing, lots of work and changes. One of the first things that I did was go to Petco and buy a bunch of grain free wet food. I also microchipped him and eventually got him vaccinated for rabies.

 I continued feeding him the all wet food diet, gave him laxatives, and worked on various solutions for the litterbox issues. When those didn't pan out, we visited the vet, got him on anti-anxiety medication, and eventually he was using the litterbox full time!! At that point, he became a full time indoor cat. (I had put him outside some out of pure desperation with the litterbox problems)

I taught him how to use a leash so that he could get outdoor exercise safely. In August, I started brushing his teeth and using dental spray daily. I noticed his periodontal disease and visited the vet, who said that the brushing was great and to keep up with that, and also to schedule him in for dental within the next 12 months.

Eventually he weaned off his medication. He is a wonderful eater. He'll eat home cooked, any canned food, commercial raw, or anything wet. That makes it so wonderful because I can just buy whatever good quality canned food is on sale.

He now gets baths regularly because he's not so great at grooming himself. He was really resistant at first, but now does much better.

Today, I got his bloodwork done, in preparation for his upcoming dental cleaning and found out that he is in awesome health! His bloodwork for his liver and kidneys was perfect.  I also found out that he had lost another pound on his wet food diet and was down to a healthy and trim 10.4 pounds.

His attitude is improving too and he's more friendly with my other cat than he used to be.

He is truly my blessing. I think that most things that I know now, I learned because I had to learn it in order to help him.

Now that I'm fostering, my experience with him has been so helpful! I'm so thankful for the lessons and patience that I learned while helping him.

I want to encourage everyone who has a problem cat not to give up on them. It's completely worth the effort to get them healthy and rehabilitated.  

This is such an encouraging post!    It should provide some real moral support to people who are going through some of the struggles you did.   Also hurray for recognizing Spottie's needs and meeting them. You really have made all the difference in the world to him.  Now he can enjoy his golden years!  

How did teaching an old cat to walk on a leash go? I tried when mine was younger and she haaated it, but now that I live in a teeny apartment I feel like it might be good for her to see more of the world somehow...

What a wonderful post!  Thank you for sharing your journey with us.  I'd love to see a before and after pic of your baby.

Love it. Love this site.

     

It is really inspiring to hear how you overcame the litterbox issues  - this is the main reason people dump or otherwise get rid of their cats - so it's great to hear a success story!  You did a great job with him and likely saved his life, for real 

Thank you everyone! It has been such a long mountain to climb, to get to his point and it's so great to share it with those who understand. I know that my mother-in-law would approve, if she were around. My husband actually lived in the same house as Spottie many years ago, since Spottie was my husband's mom's cat.   So we were definitely not strangers to Spottie!

We initially didn't want to take him in. We wanted to help him stay put where he was. But the situation became desperate and we realized it was either him coming to us or him basically getting a death sentence. He wasn't adoptable and the surviving spouse was not willing to rehabilitate him. Best case scenario, he would have been a full time outdoor cat. Given his age and condition, he wouldn't have survived that very long. Worse case scenario would be being dumped on the road and abandoned in some remote area.

Everything that we've been through, made this day of getting back his bloodwork results, all the sweeter. He is basically perfectly healthy and in awesome shape for his age! I think that it would be so amazing if he was with us another 10 years. Old age isn't a disease! 

He is such a sweet and mellow boy. I rarely have to crate him. Today, I put on his leash and harness and he contentedly rode in the car on my daughter's lap to the vet's office. Once I was there I carried him in my baby sling or he would hang out on one of the chairs or tables. 

samus said:

 
How did teaching an old cat to walk on a leash go? I tried when mine was younger and she haaated it, but now that I live in a teeny apartment I feel like it might be good for her to see more of the world somehow...

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Spottie didn't care for the leash at first. It was more a tool to keep him from running away when we were outside. He finally learned to walk on it when we went on a trip to North Carolina. Spottie was smart and figured out that unless he learned to use the leash, he wouldn't be able to walk around at rest areas. 

Aww what a great story. Youre awesome for taking him in and getting him healthy!

Here are some photos of my baby:

Those pictures with him in the sling are adorable! (Especially the one where it looks like he's hugging you.) Do you take him places in it often, or just stuff like the vet's office?

We use the sling quite often. He uses the leash but is a slow walker, so if I want to take him to the park, I take both. He and I both love the extra snuggles.

I've noticed a new development with Spottie. He used to spend most of the night sleeping UNDER our bed. Now, he's been voluntarily coming up to our bed and hanging out with us more. I was getting ready for bed and wondered where he was, and lo, and behold, he was laying curled up in our bed, ready to go to sleep for the night with us. I came over to him and petted him and he licked me on my face. It's so encouraging to see him blossom and see what a sweet boy he truly is. 

My husband says that if he has to have someone take care of him in his old age, he wants to be taken care of as well as I'm taking care of Spottie.   It's been such a thoroughly rewarding journey and I wouldn't trade it. It's amazing to see his transformation.

His vet appointment for his dental cleaning is next month. I've been stashing away money in a jar for that and I have about $140 saved.

Considering that the basic cleaning under anesthesia is $135 at my vet (and I already paid for the pre-op bloodwork when I got it done in January), I'd say that's a good start. I'll keep on saving, though, because it's likely to be extra, depending on amount of extractions, etc.

I'm really looking forward to getting his dental done and hopefully seeing an improvement in his behavior for the better. I wonder if some of his hiding a lot is due to pain. As I've been brushing his teeth daily, I've noticed what I believe is feline resorptive lesions. He also has significant tartar build up and gingivitis. I just hope that the dental goes as planned and that he recovers from it well, especially if he has to have teeth extracted.

It's wonderful to hear how well Spottie is doing. It's all due to your hard work and love, though - you've done a great job with him.  He's such a lucky boy to have you.  Fingers crossed the dental goes well. 

It's been almost 2 years now since I adopted Spottie. He is about 16 years old now. (Don't know his exact age, because his former owner found him as a stray many years ago, but 16 is a good ballpark estimate)

Finally our household has settled into a decent routine. I adopted a 3rd cat who is best friends with my younger cat, so it seems to level out the household some since Spottie is a more solitary type and doesn't get along with my other cat. My new kitten does fine with Spottie, though Spottie occasionally hisses at him as if to say, "Be quiet and stop making so much noise while I'm trying to rest!" 

Spottie is very withdrawn and stays to himself a lot, but very predictably, after he sees us get in bed for the night, he crawls out and climbs up the bed to cuddle with us. He often stays in our bed the whole night, cuddling with us and even licking our faces. 

He was diagnosed with chronic renal failure last summer. We're managing it, with guidance from our vet and will continue to work on improving his quality of life and helping him to stay with us, as long as it's medically in his best interest.

We won't be doing any vaccinations for him from this point on, since vaccines are labeled for healthy animals only.

I'm very blessed that we have been able to be here for Spottie. Between being elderly, having black fur, in poor health, and with behavioral problems, he was considered unadoptable. We benefited as much as he did, by learning to stretch outside our comfort zone and dealing with his many challenges. I don't know how long we have left with him, but I'm going to keep on going one day at a time and enjoy him while he's here. When we adopted him, I knew that nothing was guaranteed. He could live 5 months or could be around for another 5 years. We were here to give him some joy and a safe place to live for the rest of his life. 

I found this article and this kind of sums up how I feel. There's a lot of joy to be found in adopting the "unadoptables."

http://www.catster.com/lifestyle/cat-adoption-most-unadoptable-cat

Well done Crazy4Strays!

You have a heart that heal. Many would have given up with lack of perseverance. We are happy to all the kitties that pass through your hands for you have given them more than just hope. Way to go! [emoji]128077[/emoji][emoji]127995[/emoji]

Spottie is such a lovely handsome boy [emoji]10084[/emoji]