Helping cat with anxiety

[mrsh]

Hello friends,
My 10-ish year old cat has been peeing inappropriately. He sometimes likes to pee on soft pillows, so we stopped leaving pillows/dog beds on the floor. The other day he peed on my pillow on my bed! He also has a history or interstitial cystitis and bladder crystals but after testing, the vet said it’s not a physical ailment, and put him on amitriptylene. He’s a little more lethargic and spacey on this medication, but he’s not howling at night or peeing in the house. He spends a lot of time sleeping on the enclosed lanai or inside the cabinet of the outdoor kitchen. He comes in at night.
What can I do to help create an ideal environment for him?
1. We have two Feliway diffusers, one in the laundry room with the Litter Robot and one in the guest room with a standard litter box.
2. He lives with one other cat for the past 10 years. They mostly ignore each other. The only time they hiss at each other is when one comes back from a vet visit.
3. Our daughter is 18 months old and loves to pet him. She’s very gentle, but she’s also very loud all day. We’re working on whispering and leaving the kitty alone.
4. Hubby works at home now, and I’m down to 1 day a week, so we’re home a lot more than usual which may be annoying to the cat.
5. He’s on rx food (royal canin Urinary & Calm).

I’m out of new ideas. I just want him to be happy.

 

[maggie101]

A couple days ago there was a thread very similar to this to help give you some ideas
Cat peeing on stove??
You already have great ideas. The cat might need his own room to go to when the baby is loud. Be sure to catify it

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I would suggest to you that this still could be urinary related - cats with cystitis tend to have inflamed bladders which can cause irritation. So, when the vet said this issue is not a physical ailment, did they do an x-ray or scan to see if there is inflammation? He might be better served on an anti-inflammatory as opposed to an anti-anxiety med - or, perhaps he should be on both? If there is any inflammation at this point, he could also benefit from being put on a pulse dose of anti-inflammatory (given intermittently, when symptoms begin to crop up). If he has been on the anti-anxiety meds for a while, but still peed on your pillow, maybe the dosage should be reduced since you also said he seems a bit 'out of it'.

Also, Feliway doesn't always work on every cat. You could look into other similar products to see if they might work better - Comfort Zone is one of them. But, since he is outside so much, you might want to consider placing a diffuser in that area as well. I don't know anything about the success of cat calming collars, but you could give one a try. There are also cat calming treats that he might like.

 

[mrsh]

hi there! Thanks for your reply. The vet did a UA and blood work and it all came back negative, so she said it’s not a physical problem. He doesn’t show any other signs of urinary ailments like frequency, urgency or pain. He just started amitriptylene this week, after the pillow peeing incident and it has certainly mellowed him out even if he’s a little snoozy. He’s less “needy” and doesn’t howl at night anymore when we go to bed. We’ve been using Feliway for a few months and I did notice that one of the Feliway diffusers was empty on the day he peed on my pillow.

 

[rubysmama]

He may be stressed over the changes to his daily routine, i.e. you and husband being home more. He might even be picking up on stress you may be feeling. Stress then can cause UTI issues.

Here's the TCS article on stress in case there's anything that might apply or be helpful: Stress in Cats – The Ultimate Guide

Also, further to what Furballsmom posted, here's the TCS article Litterbox Problems? Here’s Why You Should Call Your Vet that mentions FIC: The Elusive Pandora Syndrome

Here's an excerpt:

So, you’ve taken your cat to the vet who could find no sign of either a bacterial infection or crystals in the urine? No sign of any other illness either. Now what? With a clean bill of health, should we assume this is a behavioral problem?​

​

Not necessarily.​

​

There is one type of urinary tract inflammation that can be difficult to detect and even more difficult to treat. It’s sometimes called the Pandora Syndrome, but officially it’s known as Feline Idiopathic Cystitis, or FIC for short. There is no bacterial infection and no crystals are present, yet the inner layer of the cat’s urinary bladder is inflamed. The culprits are stress hormones. Susceptible cats have more receptors for stress hormones within their bladder. If the cat experiences a high amount of stress, the bladder becomes inflamed and urination becomes painful.​

​

Your veterinarian will suspect FIC if the cat’s urine sample has microscopic blood in it, without any bacteria or crystals. A history of peeing outside the box at times of stress is another indication of possible FIC. Unfortunately, there is no actual cure for FIC. However, if your cat is diagnosed with this condition, you can learn how to lower his or her stress levels and hopefully lower the chance of a flare-up.​

Read more – Feline Idiopathic Cystitis How To Improve Your Cats Quality Of Life

 

[KarenKat]

We have a similar issue with Olive and FIC. She pees in the corners of one room when she’s extra nervous, We do our best, but we already are pretty catified and have lots of indoor stimulation. Olive would prefer to be indoor-outdoor and even opening a window causes her a slight meltdown to want to go outside, especially now that it’s spring.

Our vet suggested:

• Cat shelves - maybe especially useful for you with an 18 month old kid. Your kitty can observe from safety above
• Extra playtime
• Other heights like cat trees
• Interactive food games
• Walking on a leash (we can’t since the outdoors makes her crazy lol)

Maybe some of this will help, and some won’t. But is a good start if any of those are things that might work.

 

[FeebysOwner]

hi there! Thanks for your reply. The vet did a UA and blood work and it all came back negative, so she said it’s not a physical problem. He doesn’t show any other signs of urinary ailments like frequency, urgency or pain. He just started amitriptylene this week, after the pillow peeing incident and it has certainly mellowed him out even if he’s a little snoozy. He’s less “needy” and doesn’t howl at night anymore when we go to bed. We’ve been using Feliway for a few months and I did notice that one of the Feliway diffusers was empty on the day he peed on my pillow.

A UA and blood work will not definitively confirm an inflamed bladder, especially if it isn't significant yet - the only symptom at this point could be irritation, prompting inappropriate peeing. I hope you continue to see improvements with him through the use of amitriptylene - enough so that either his system adapts to it a bit and he stops being 'spacey' or that you find you can reduce the dose some.

Hopefully, refilling the Feliway diffuser helps too!

 

[mrsh]

Thanks so much. VERY EMBARRASSING: My husband has been the one administering the amitriptylene and he’s been giving it twice a day because he swears that’s what the vet tech told him to do despite the bottle saying DAILY. He says “sometimes the bottle is wrong.” No wonder Zack is so spacey. I think we should see some improvement in a few days once his daily dosing is cut by half.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Thanks so much. VERY EMBARRASSING: My husband has been the one administering the amitriptylene and he’s been giving it twice a day because he swears that’s what the vet tech told him to do despite the bottle saying DAILY. He says “sometimes the bottle is wrong.” No wonder Zack is so spacey. I think we should see some improvement in a few days once his daily dosing is cut by half.

Oh my!!! But, good to know that once the dosage is adjusted he might act a bit more 'normal'!!! Let us know!!!

 

[mrsh]

Thanks for all your replies, friends! Zack seems to be adapting well to the correct dose of amitriptylene. He’s not snowed anymore, he’s purring more and he’s using the litter box consistently. He even plants himself right in the middle of the family room to hang out instead of hiding all day. He’s also not obsessively grooming his “bathing suit area” so it seems he’s feeling better. I think we’re on to something!

 

[FeebysOwner]

What a great update!!! Glad to hear it seems it is all working out!

 

[rubysmama]

Glad Zack seems to be doing better. Thanks for the update.