Thanks for taking the time to read this, I really need advice.
My 20 year old cat recently had a bout of hypertension so bad her retinas detached and she's probably 95% blind, about 70% deaf on top of that, and in the early stages of kidney failure. To clarify ahead of time yes she's on the proper diet and meds, vaccinated, fixed, and sees the vet more than regularly atm.
This all happened as we moved across the country, into an apartment temporarily, and most recently into a large, two story house.
At the apartment was where things really got bad with her health. She was able to navigate okay with the blindness a few weeks after it happened but started peeing on the carpet when it got too difficult to find her way to the box I guess.
Moreover, now that we're in the house, aside from the peeing I worried about her falling down the stairs, getting her food constantly stolen by the other two cars as it had been up until recently (she was getting dangerously thin,) and overall the house just being too big for her to navigate.
So ultimately I decided to keep her in the master bathroom which is quite large (about 12x7 ft of walkable space) where I could easily interact with her and where she could easily navigate. On that aspect it's been very successful as she's no longer missing the box and has put on a couple pounds.
The problem now is that if I'm not with her, holding her, talking to her 24/7 she starts crying. And this is not just talkative cat crying, I would almost describe it as screaming. Constantly. Loudly enough that it carries through the whole house and has driven my husband to sleep in another bedroom.
I do what I can, she spends a few hours laying down with me in bed on the weekends, I'm in there several times a day for feeding, medication, and just to visit. But I have a job and things I have to do and short of carrying her with me at all times I can't be with her every second.
At the vet's recommendation we've tried the thundershirt, which she's gotten used to, feliway spray around the room, lots of extra beds and toys, placing my worn shirts that smell like me in the beds. Nothing is working. She is just crying and crying and it's killing me.
I just don't know what to do. She's so happy and alert when she's with me, her bloodwork results are nowhere near bad enough to justify euthanasia at this point and my vet said based on his observations of her he wouldn't be comfortable doing that anyway. I also do not want to euthanize her until the time comes with her kidneys but I'm just so lost for ideas.
I've had this cat since I was 11 years old, I want to do right by her but I no longer know what to do and neither it seems does the vet. If anyone has gone through something like this or has any suggestions for what we could try to do or change what we are doing, I'd sincerely appreciate anything you have to offer.
My 20 year old cat recently had a bout of hypertension so bad her retinas detached and she's probably 95% blind, about 70% deaf on top of that, and in the early stages of kidney failure. To clarify ahead of time yes she's on the proper diet and meds, vaccinated, fixed, and sees the vet more than regularly atm.
This all happened as we moved across the country, into an apartment temporarily, and most recently into a large, two story house.
At the apartment was where things really got bad with her health. She was able to navigate okay with the blindness a few weeks after it happened but started peeing on the carpet when it got too difficult to find her way to the box I guess.
Moreover, now that we're in the house, aside from the peeing I worried about her falling down the stairs, getting her food constantly stolen by the other two cars as it had been up until recently (she was getting dangerously thin,) and overall the house just being too big for her to navigate.
So ultimately I decided to keep her in the master bathroom which is quite large (about 12x7 ft of walkable space) where I could easily interact with her and where she could easily navigate. On that aspect it's been very successful as she's no longer missing the box and has put on a couple pounds.
The problem now is that if I'm not with her, holding her, talking to her 24/7 she starts crying. And this is not just talkative cat crying, I would almost describe it as screaming. Constantly. Loudly enough that it carries through the whole house and has driven my husband to sleep in another bedroom.
I do what I can, she spends a few hours laying down with me in bed on the weekends, I'm in there several times a day for feeding, medication, and just to visit. But I have a job and things I have to do and short of carrying her with me at all times I can't be with her every second.
At the vet's recommendation we've tried the thundershirt, which she's gotten used to, feliway spray around the room, lots of extra beds and toys, placing my worn shirts that smell like me in the beds. Nothing is working. She is just crying and crying and it's killing me.
I just don't know what to do. She's so happy and alert when she's with me, her bloodwork results are nowhere near bad enough to justify euthanasia at this point and my vet said based on his observations of her he wouldn't be comfortable doing that anyway. I also do not want to euthanize her until the time comes with her kidneys but I'm just so lost for ideas.
I've had this cat since I was 11 years old, I want to do right by her but I no longer know what to do and neither it seems does the vet. If anyone has gone through something like this or has any suggestions for what we could try to do or change what we are doing, I'd sincerely appreciate anything you have to offer.