- Joined
- Oct 4, 2016
- Messages
- 33
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Hi cat lovers,
I sure hope you have some ideas that can help us. For background of our woes, see:
stomatitis + worse.....what to do?
Here's what's going on now:
Bosco was 17 years old, Scout 15 years old. Both developed strange symptoms no vet could diagnose, but seemed related to stomatitis. After vet tests, consultations, reading and deliberation, I had all teeth in both cats removed. Bosco's symptoms were substantially relieved, however he became more feeble in general, and last fall I discovered a lump and grotesque open sore on his underside. The vet said it was probably cancer. It was a heartbreaking decision, but I had him put down.
Scout will be 16 this spring. She was not helped by the removal of teeth. The condition of constant drooling, if anything, has become much worse. It's a gummy, viscous, opaque
drool, like long strings of thick snot. She does not clean the drool off her mouth with her paw, but shakes her head, flinging it in every direction. She also no longer grooms herself, or maybe she tried to groom but got the drool stuck in her fur. Her fur is so matted you'd think she had been dipped in shellac. She's not a cat you can bathe, but I've tried brushing her with a warm wet cat brush and baby shampoo and nothing seems to get that gunk out of her fur.
To isolate the flung drool, I keep her in the bathroom and adjoining sunroom. The bathroom cabinets get this gunk flung all over them and nothing removes it but heavy duty scrubbing, which is tragic because they're solid walnut and it's destroying the finish. The floor is spotted with drool and I have to scrub hard to get it off walls. There's even drool gunk flung 4 feet high! And clumps of fur all over because she no longer grooms herself. As soon as I've cleaned, the bathroom is disgusting all over again.
She also makes a mess wherever she eats, dropping her canned food all around the outside of her bowl. And she does not use a litter box, so the tile of the sunroom floor is peed and pooped on. I can't isolate her in the sunroom because it is too cold in there in winter, too hot in summer. I just keep the door from the bathroom propped open so she can eat and poop in the sunroom. But mostly she lives in the bathroom, where she has a nice little kitty bed with a warm and cozy electric throw.
On warm days I put her outside, but bring her in at night. Besides the constant drooling, she seems to have no other physical problems. She goes wandering around like she always did. Given that she seems so otherwise healthy, I don't feel like I can have her put down.
But I'm at my wits end. I can't have people over, the bathroom is so disgusting. I've actually worried about hygiene for myself and my boyfriend.....I'm not sure this situation is healthy for us either. I thought about a pet cage, but don't have space large enough to fit in a litter box and food/water bowls. There'd be no place to put it except the basement, where she would yowl, yowl, yowl because she would feel forgotten and alone.
I'd be asking my vet what to do, but removal of teeth was a last resort as it was. Nobody could diagnose her condition, and I can't spend any more money on vet bills.
I love this cat and don't want to have her put down, but this situation is intolerable and I'm out of ideas. I want my bathroom back. I want to be able to take a nice clean shower like normal people. I'd like to clean up the poop on the sunroom floor once and for all. I'm sorry if I sound shallow. If any of you have suggestions, please let me know.
thank you,
creekgirl
I sure hope you have some ideas that can help us. For background of our woes, see:
stomatitis + worse.....what to do?
Here's what's going on now:
Bosco was 17 years old, Scout 15 years old. Both developed strange symptoms no vet could diagnose, but seemed related to stomatitis. After vet tests, consultations, reading and deliberation, I had all teeth in both cats removed. Bosco's symptoms were substantially relieved, however he became more feeble in general, and last fall I discovered a lump and grotesque open sore on his underside. The vet said it was probably cancer. It was a heartbreaking decision, but I had him put down.
Scout will be 16 this spring. She was not helped by the removal of teeth. The condition of constant drooling, if anything, has become much worse. It's a gummy, viscous, opaque
drool, like long strings of thick snot. She does not clean the drool off her mouth with her paw, but shakes her head, flinging it in every direction. She also no longer grooms herself, or maybe she tried to groom but got the drool stuck in her fur. Her fur is so matted you'd think she had been dipped in shellac. She's not a cat you can bathe, but I've tried brushing her with a warm wet cat brush and baby shampoo and nothing seems to get that gunk out of her fur.To isolate the flung drool, I keep her in the bathroom and adjoining sunroom. The bathroom cabinets get this gunk flung all over them and nothing removes it but heavy duty scrubbing, which is tragic because they're solid walnut and it's destroying the finish. The floor is spotted with drool and I have to scrub hard to get it off walls. There's even drool gunk flung 4 feet high! And clumps of fur all over because she no longer grooms herself. As soon as I've cleaned, the bathroom is disgusting all over again.
She also makes a mess wherever she eats, dropping her canned food all around the outside of her bowl. And she does not use a litter box, so the tile of the sunroom floor is peed and pooped on. I can't isolate her in the sunroom because it is too cold in there in winter, too hot in summer. I just keep the door from the bathroom propped open so she can eat and poop in the sunroom. But mostly she lives in the bathroom, where she has a nice little kitty bed with a warm and cozy electric throw.
On warm days I put her outside, but bring her in at night. Besides the constant drooling, she seems to have no other physical problems. She goes wandering around like she always did. Given that she seems so otherwise healthy, I don't feel like I can have her put down.
But I'm at my wits end. I can't have people over, the bathroom is so disgusting. I've actually worried about hygiene for myself and my boyfriend.....I'm not sure this situation is healthy for us either. I thought about a pet cage, but don't have space large enough to fit in a litter box and food/water bowls. There'd be no place to put it except the basement, where she would yowl, yowl, yowl because she would feel forgotten and alone.
I'd be asking my vet what to do, but removal of teeth was a last resort as it was. Nobody could diagnose her condition, and I can't spend any more money on vet bills.
I love this cat and don't want to have her put down, but this situation is intolerable and I'm out of ideas. I want my bathroom back. I want to be able to take a nice clean shower like normal people. I'd like to clean up the poop on the sunroom floor once and for all. I'm sorry if I sound shallow. If any of you have suggestions, please let me know.
thank you,
creekgirl
