goldies story

[janedeaux]

hi all,

first, let me apologize for how long this post is. it is goldies story.

i'm new here and at my wits end. i have been surfing this site now for over a month and am now about to lose it.

i am a very patient person when it comes to animals and i'm pretty good at trying to out think them, however i have run into a problem that i cannot continue to put up with.

i adopted an old cat in october of last year because my other cats sister had crossed the bridge and i felt she was lonely. (liza) the cat i already had is the most easy going cat i've ever seen. she just goes along with the program no matter what. anyhow, the new cat (goldie, that was her name when we got her) is now 13. liza is 12.

so, the issue is that goldie has obviously been abused through out her life and i'm sure of it because the second keeper of goldie told me the first one's child use to abuse goldie so the mother gave goldie to the second keeper. well, the second keeper was not abusive (i don't think) however, he got a divorce and his wife had to keep goldie until they could find her a new home. from conversations with the man and getting vet charts, there was another cat in the mans house that took precedence over goldie. he said, his wife never forgave him for getting goldie. the vet charts showed where those people let goldie live with an abscess tooth for almost a year and a half. when i first got her she only weight 7 lbs 4 oz. she is now 8lbs 10 oz. the charts also revealed that may 2008 she was at the vet for front leg trauma. they gave her medicam. pretty serious stuff. i think she was struck and fell from a distance by the wife.

ok, so in the beginning she peed everywhere. i secluded her to one room and got a big dog cage and put her litter box in the cage with her and her water and food and her own little fleece bed. she was in the cage back and forth for at least 2 months. she'd do good, then she'd fail again. we also found that she has ibd, (now on special diet) and the beginnings of kidney issues (which is what my other cat the one now gone had). so, antibiotics and more love. this cat was so abused that you could hardly touch her. (i think the wife was abusing goldie for peeing from separation anxiety). goldie has bit me in the face two times and once on the side of my eye and several times in other places on my body. (i told you i had a lot of patience) also, i had to give goldie mertazipine because she had such a messed up stomach and refused to eat. she is now eating (recently not as much). i know when she doesn't feel good because she stays upstairs. i have integrated her to the downstairs and with my other cat. (she tolerates liza, though liza doesn't care about her)

one of the entries on the vet chart was that goldie was uncontrollable. i guess if you don't know how to deal with angry animals she could be a real problem. i also took goldie in for a dental cleaning (i asked for sevoflourane) as they aren't under as long. however, i found out that the vet was unable to do the cleaning because goldies blood pressure dropped really low, like two times. during trying to clean her teeth. they had to stop the procedure. goldie even bit the technician. boy that was fun, she had to be quarantined at my house. the county was calling every few days. i had to get the rabies papers from the vet in another state. you just can't believe what i have been through with this cat.

i feel so sorry for her because i know how abused her life has been however, i am really at my wits end. i have had her on antibiotics several times, even the round of shots of anitbiotics. i know she keeps getting urinary infections common with kidney issues. i know she has separation anxiety (peeing on rugs or what ever else when you leave the house) there are no rugs down anywhere in my house now. thank goodness we have hardwood floors. i have 3 litter boxes. goldie has two of them in upstairs and downstairs in the house. she even has two of the really nice cat beds (side by side) upstairs. she has recently decided that she is going to start peeing in one of them. i found the evidence this morning. by the way, the litter box is 15 feet away.

i know her creatinine is just over normal and her bun is on the high side of normal. i know the signs very well, however i am losing it with the peeing everywhere. i cannot let her ruin my house completely.

should i put her back to the cage, give her more antibiotics? i feel so stressed out about having to put her to sleep. i feel like we are her last chance. that she deserves to be loved, really loved for once in her life. she has gotten to the point where she actually lets me pet her with out growling. she plays with her catnip toys (the other people said she never had toys with them) she sleeps with us. she doesn't see real well now and if she can't jump up on the bed, she sleeps beside the bed on the only rug left in the house like a dog would. we do have the rest of the house lit up at night like new york city with night lights so i know she can see how to get to her box.

any help someone can offer about strategic ways to deal with her peeing everywhere is greatly appreciated. again, i'm realy sorry for the length of this post. however, i felt it important for you to get to know goldie somewhat and some of the things i have tried.

thank goodness, i have a very patient husband.

thank you
cyn

 

[stephanietx]

Are you using any type of anti-anxiety medication, Rescue Remedy, or Feliway to help decrease her stress? Have you (or the vet) considered a sedative for vet visits so she's not "uncontrollable"? What type of food is she eating? That could be contributing to the UTI issue, especially if she has crystals. Has her urine been tested for crystals?

 

[threecatowner]

I'm thinking that the peeing in the bed might have been an accident, due to her urinary issues.

I would absolutely try the Rescue Remedy and Feliway as above poster said. That would be a place to start.

I am feeling so bad for this kitty. What a horrible way to live all those years. You are to be commended for trying to help her feel love for the first time in her life. I hope you can hang on.

 

[janedeaux]

hi stephanie,

yes, mirtazipine is in a category of anti stress meds along with being an appetite stimulant. she cannot tolerate cyproheptadine because of her low blood pressure. it makes her crash. i have low blood pressure and i have a hard time with pain killers or being put under because normal for me is 92 over 64. that is borderline when it comes to anesthesia and i think goldie is the same way from her symptoms. however, sometimes the mirtazipine can make her angry.

yes, i use feliaway and have sprayed it all over the house along with the diffusers. she will still pee on what ever it is sprayed on.

also, she is not uncontrollable at the vets office anymore. i don't let them do anything with her unless i'm there. i act as the vet tech as she trusts me. the food she is on is id by science diet. at first she had to be on the low residue by iams as she has ibd really quite badly. i tried the uti foods in the beginning before i knew about the ibd. all brands give her diarrhrea. that is why only the low residue would work in the beginning. it is high in protein, which i know is not exactly good for kidneys and promotes uti's, however is great for ibd. after 5 months on low residue, i changed her to id because the total protein level is lower. in fact if you look, besides low phosphorous in for example kd there is also low protein values.

i have not tested her urine for crystals, however i have had several cultures done and she comes up with uti's frequently because of the failing kidneys, (i believe) which is common even in humans. my mother in law died from kidney failure, that is how i know the stages. i have read that the further along they get with kidney issues, the more tender their feet become, hence maybe leading to somewhere soft to pee. however, short of putting towels in her litter box (which i'm not sure would be good as diarrhea is not going to be pretty on) as she still has bouts of diarrhea which is also common in humans who have ibd.

i have not tested her for crystals and don't know much about it. got any info on that? i'd appreciate any you have.

thank you so much for responding to goldies story. like i said, i'm just short of having to put her to sleep. right now, i'm not working so i'm home with her all day, except when we go somewhere on saturdays. i don't know what she'd be like if i worked regularly.

take care,
cyn

 

[darlili]

First, bless you and your husband. I wonder if you've tried CatAttract litter - it worked wonders with my boy. Also, are the boxes very easy for her to get in and out of? Maybe her bones are getting all achey, like mine are, and it's harder for her to clamber up and down?

 

[janedeaux]

hi three cat owner,

i've not heard of the rescue remedy. is it different from feliaway?

goldie has lot of issues, more than what i've mentioned and it would take a book to write them all.

i use to train horses so i'm pretty good with animals. i use to advertise for the bad horses, the ones no one could handle or train because of health or mostly attitude. out of the thousand plus horses i worked with, i only gave up on two of them.

goldie does have sweet ways about her which took several months to shine through. i guess she need to feel complete trust before she'd let her hair down.

thanks for time.
cyn

 

[janedeaux]

hi darlili,

yes, i use cat attract mixed with the world best cat litter. however, i've seen goldie walked right past one of the boxes and go and pee on a rug or a towel in the floor.

yeap, her box is so ergonomically adjusted she even has little steps to get her in and out.

i know this sounds weird, but when you ain't working you have a lot of time on your hand. goldie pees only in the very left front of the box and doesn't really squat very low. so she cannot have a regular box. she needs the high sides along with the lid, otherwise she pees over the side of the box. that is why my husband made the little cushioned steps for her. i use to place a towel on top of the steps but she'd just pee on the towel inches from her box.

yes, goldie is a strange one. i also know that is a symptom of uti, peeing right beside the box.

again, i've read that cats won't pee where the sleep or eat. well, i have one who pees in her cat bed right beside the cat bed she is sleeping in.

thanks for responding.
cyn

 

[momofmany]

Try full strength Cat Attract litter and get a tall sided rubbermaid or sterilite bin for her litter box. I have cats that HATE covered boxes that also happen to be "high-pee-ers". If they pee while standing up (which some of mine do), it hits the side of the high walls and dribbles back into the box. A stressed cat also doesn't want to feel cornered in a covered box.

Don't mix Cat Attract with another litter. Buy the full bags and use that. I have a chronic UTI/Crystals cat that I had to get back to a litterbox also. Until I changed over my litter, I had problems with him also.

 

[cloud_shade]

Since she doesn't want to use the box with litter in it, it might be worth adding another box, at least temporarily, with puppy pads or newspaper or both, since they may be more similar to and more easily replaced than the textures she's seeking out to pee on. Also, is it possible to confine her to a single room for now? It would give her more space than the dog crate while still keeping her from wrecking the house. She also might find it more comforting to have her territory limited.

 

[janedeaux]

hi momofmany,

you know, i tried cat attract in the beginning full strength and i've weaned her back to half and half and it really didn't make any difference. what is strange is that she will sometimes use the box and other times she just flat out won't. i mean in the same couple of hours too, not like different days. i don't know what inspires her at different times of the day to not use her box.

let me also say, goldie is no longer stressed out. she only has separation anxiety when i leave the house, not on an ongoing basis. we are trying a few new techniques with the seperation anxiety that so far have worked. i'm pretty sure stress has nothing to do with this recent peeing issue.

goldie has been successfully peeing in covered boxes since october. in fact it's pretty funny to watch her poop, because she braces herself along side of the cover, puts four feet in a complete horizontal line on the high edge of the box (she looks like a tight rope walker) and poops just inside the box. i'm afraid if i took the top off she might start pooping somewhere else too. so far she has always pooped in the box. right now, her pee hits the inside side of the box just like you described for your (i like the term) high pee'ers.

i'm curious to know if there are any other behaviour techniques that i can do for goldie.

i am going to take her in tomorrow for another round of antibiotic shots. i am running out of money as i'm not working, so i'm having to go on past symptoms rather than so many costly tests which usually end up being exactly what myself or the vet thought in the first place. she always has the same symptoms. at least five or six times now.

it is sad, but based on my other cat jane deaux that had kidney failure and ibd, goldies symptoms are moving pretty fast. i'd say she has a year if that. like i said, i was just trying to let her know what love was before she left this earth. but dang it makes it hard when you wake up every single morning to pee that you have to spend time to discover.

cyn

 

[janedeaux]

hi cloudshade,

i could try the puppy pads, where do you get them?

goldie has now had the run of the house for several months. she has just started accessing that privilege, almost like the house was to big for her. she has slowly started coming down when she decided she wanted to. in the beginning, i use to bring her down and block her from going back upstairs so she would learn to integrate. that is what got her started learning she belonged here just as much as anybody.

when i put her in the single room again (after she started peeing other places in the house), she did not like it. also, she has not been in the cage since the first couple of months.

also, liza my other girl, does not ever go upstairs anymore as she considers that goldies area.

thanks for your time. please let me know about the pads.

cyn

 

[cloud_shade]

Just about any pet store should carry them, along with most grocery stores. They are used for paper-training dogs instead of using newspaper, since they absorb the urine. I put some around the litterbox at my house when my friend's cat (who is staying with me) was peeing outside the box--she would pee on the pads rather than the carpet, and that made clean up a lot easier. Also, I found with her that even though she had been using a covered box without any issues for a few months, taking the lid off when she started peeing outside the box encouraged her to use the box again. In her case, she pees outside the box due to crystals in her urine, so changing food helps as well. I also keep a cat water fountain in the room she is in most often; it encourages her to drink more water, and the more dilute urine is less irritating.

Good luck! I hope some of this helps you.

 

[janedeaux]

i will look for the puppy pads at the pet smart or petco. ok, because i don't know about crystals, if you are saying that the more dilute the urine the easier on the cat with crystal problems. ok, i do know this, goldie has had very dilute urine since november that i know of. the reason is because dilution is also a marker for kidney issues. i know that goldies (can't remember the numbers) has been well below normal for several months. the vet says that she has very dilute urine. in fact luckily, it doesn't even smell that much being so dilute. when i take her to the vets tomorrow, i'll ask about crystals.

thank y'all for your help with goldie.

will keep y'all updated.

cyn

 

[stephanietx]

While waiting for my massage today, I read an article in a magazine regarding inappropriate elimination and separation anxiety. I think it was the November, 08 issue of Body + Soul. While I tried searching the magazine's site for the article, I couldn't find it, but here's an article by the same vet on anxiety. It's not very long, but you might want to mention the supplements to your vet. He's got some really great info on his site, too.

http://www.petcarenaturally.com/ask-...wn/anxiety.php

 

[janedeaux]

hi stephanie,

thanks for the link. i'll ask my vet about it. right now, we are trying not to give goldie to many pills that has to be filtered through the kidneys. goldie is definitely starting to fail. i think her specific gravity is like 1.012. normal is somewhere after 1.025. her urine is almost clear.

i decided not to take her in today. i'm going to see the vet on monday.

take care, happy holidays
cyn

 

[skimble]

I also ask if the vet has checked her urine for crystals. There are two different types of crystals that can be found in the urine. Then there are bladder infections.

If there are kidney problems and/or urinary problems, most vets put them on a specific prescription diet.

They associate the litterbox with pain when they have had urinary problems so that becomes a reason to avoid the litter and go somewhere soft.

Hoping you both find some peace. So wonderful that you have given her a home of love.

 

[janedeaux]

hi skimple,

after someone brought the crystals subject up earlier in this thread, i decided to do some research until i get to the vet. what i've read on vet websites (not advise websites) is that when most cats have crystals, there is straining involved, blood in the urine or very little urine. goldie, pees forever when she goes.

however, i believe that in the last two families that goldie has lived with did not know the signs when a cat tries to give you clues, like "hey look at me damn it! something is wrong. do you think i'm suppose to go on the carpet etc." i have learned that soft is in when there is pain associated with the litter box. hell, i think i'd pee somewhere else if every time i went to the toilet it hurt me. remember, goldie also suffers from separation anxiety. good news though, goldie successfully did not pee yesterday when we left for the day. she use to pee right before we'd leave and then right when we got home. knock on wood!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think she has another uti. tomorrow we will get tested for that at the vet. i'm also going to have a blood pressure done on the old girl too. because of her proven rapid drop of bp during a dental gone wrong.

keep in mind, that goldie came to me with not only physical issues. she had been given medicam (very hard on the kidneys) for front arm damage. i think someone caught her doing something wrong and knocked her down from a very high place. they at least took her to the vet. she had lots of mental issues too. she use to cower when i tried to pet her. she constantly growled and hissed as if life was just to much. she use to bite me right regularly too. i used a steady temper with her no words when she do something wrong but she did learn about the naught box like you do with children. (i didn't use this for the peeing issue. just for the biting etc) you have to be careful with that one, as animals don't know what they've done if you discover a problem even minutes later. you have to catch them in the act (her biting me) of something they are doing wrong. animals don't reason, they associate. most people don't get that.

thank you for your concern. hopefully, little we call her (butterfly golds) feels like home is now a safe place.

hopefully goldie realizes that all humans are not hurtful.

cyn

 

[stephanietx]

It's a very good thing she found you! You're doing so much for her by trying to get to the root cause of her problems. Perhaps the lack of inappropriate peeing yesterday is a sign that she's settling in and feeling more at home and safe. Something else to consider, have you provided a safe place for her to retreat to when she's feeling scared? My kitty loves the closet so I keep the door ajar for her at all times and I keep a little towel in there for her to cuddle up on.

 

[janedeaux]

hi stephanie,

sorry it has been so long since i replied, but i am the gopher for my husbands mother that just passed in handling the estate. man, what a bunch of work.

anyhow, yes i believe that there are no chance meetings in life be it animal or human. there is a reason that things happen to you in the order that they do, it is up to the individual to figure out what the lessons are for each of us.

well, i took goldie back to the vet and did some more testing on her. unfortunately, her kidneys are starting to decline. her creatine was 2.7 and her bun was just above normal. i am a big believer in researching for yourself so that the vets don't talk so over your head. anyhow, i think i mentioned that she also has ibd quite badly so between that and the kidneys, she has good days and bad days. poor thing even puked a few times last week.

so it leads me into this, although goldie has been passing with flying colors regarding her peeing where ever when ever i'm away, tonight, i was on the phone with a friend. after the call several hours later, i went upstairs to goldies sacred place (my other cat does not go up there at all) and saw goldie laying on the hardwood floor. thinking that was unusal, i felt of her super cushioned bed and by golly, she had peed in that again. luckily, i had out smarted her by putting a very heavy rug under the bed so that if she did this again, it would not soak into the wood floors. so now i'm up waiting for her bed to finish washing to put into the dryer.

i sometimes just don't understand her. she had been downstairs with me all day being so good and then wamo. nothing is different today than any other day.

poor goldie, i can see why some would not have the patience with her now. however, she was never raised correctly in my opinion. i believe that she was weaned too early, or abandoned by her mother. then she was abused by the first keepers. then the second keepers didn't know what to do with her for 12 years. so by the time i got goldie at almost 13 she was pretty messed up, mentally and physically.

i have seen improvement in her attitude toward my other cat which is a good thing.

also, the tests came back as expected, no protein, or bacteria. by the way, you probably already know this, but when a cats urine is really dilute such as goldies, the chances for crystals are slim.

anyhow, just thought that i would update y'all on the old girl. i just hope i can get her to completely stop this peeing thing. also, she weighed in at the vets as the heaviest she had ever been in her life, 9.2 lbs.. for somebody in the beginning stages of kidney failure, damn she looks good. even the vet commented on how she looks.

thanks for all y'alls concern for one old girl that just got lucky.

cyn