Need Advice: Incontinent 15 yr old Aby

mom of 10 cats

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Nefertiti has long had "litterbox issues", with both urine and poop. We're at our wit's end here and any advice would be appreciated.
We had her fully vet-checked less than a year ago when she stopped using the litterbox. Everything came up fine. We tried adding more and more litterboxes, especially in the places she seemed to favor. We changed litter brands. We tried crating her, which seems to drive her nuts. She will use the box when she is in the crate, but will sometimes go on the towel or bed we'll put in there for her, too. It just seems that she gets the urge and goes wherever she is at the moment. As soon as she is out, reverts to her "old ways". We've covered every surface in her usual "turf" with doggy incontinence pads, which were a godsend.
But it's gotten worse in the last month or so. Now she is going midway up the cat tree and pooping off the edge, down the wall. It has happened now four days running, and I don't know how much more of this I can take.
Some background: Titi will be 15 in October, we got her and her brother Osiris about 1 1/2 yrs ago via the National Abyssinian Rescue. She is spayed and front declawed
She and Osiris were both successfully treated about 4 months ago for Coccidia, and her current poop (sorry to be so graphic, folks) is nothing at all in appearance or smell like the coccidia poop was. (The vet told me, once you've experienced coccidia, you'll never forget, and boy I bet she is right!

Tybalt wants to try crating her again. She is in the crate right now in the room with me and is howling nonstop. My heart is breaking for her. Is there anything that we can do? As I said, she had a full vet workup and it was fine, in fact the vet had commented that she was better than she'd expected for her age.
 

ktulu

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hey.. am not an expert here.. but did u try using 'real' sand as litter ?.. my cat quit pooping inside the litterbox when ready made litter was used.. look for some fine sand in ur area and use it..
jst a thought.. i hope u find a solution..
 

cloud_shade

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You might ask your vet whether the small diapers designed for dogs in heat with absorbent pads could be used.
 

momofmany

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The same thing happened to Shep during her final year with us. Her blood work always turned up fine, but with her general behavioral changes, she was diagnosed with a cognitive disorder most likely triggered by a stroke or brain tumor. Most of her problem was that she just forgot where she was supposed to go, part was that her physical motions were slightly impaired, and part was that she became more and more incontinent in her advanced years.

What was fortunate with Shep is that there 2 general places where she stayed during her waking hours, therefore there were 2 general places where she would eliminate - neither of which had carpet or upholstered furniture. We lined those areas with low sided litter pans which she used most of the time and we scooped a lot.

I know you have a lot of cats, but is there a way to give her a room of her own? Preferable one without carpet? Furniture can be covered with plastic and washable covers. Are there any other behavior changes that could indicate a cognitive disorder?
 

arlyn

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When my ex-boyfriend's old cat grew incontinent, we bought her one of those 3 story midwest cat condo cages, and pack upon pack of puppy house training 'wee-wee pads'.
We completely carpeted the cage in pads, put a nice, large litterpan in there, food/water on the first floor, and bedding on the top floor.

She was basically kept in there until it was her time.
She actually liked it in there, she could tease the other cats and she knew they could do nothing about it.
Of course, I work at home and we were able to have her out 3 times a day, 2 hours at a stretch of loving/cuddling/play times.

When she was no longer interested in food or coming out of her home, we knew it was her time.
 
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