SOS: Desperate for support from fellow cat owners/lovers- Considering rehoming

[ginny]

Please do not put your cat on Prozac until you have researched side effects. I'm dealing with a similar situation and have talked at length with my vet about various mental health drugs. Prozac can cause irritability, aggression, loss of appetite, vomiting, a change in behavior, and a few other things. When I found this out, prozac was a definite no. There are other drugs you can consider that have less side effects. Have your vet research other options.

I agree.  I was on it once and noticed some of these symptoms.  All drugs do have side effects and long term effects.  Whether your kitty experiences these or not will remain to be seen.  Plus you can't just abruptly quit giving anti-depressants.  The vet will have to give you a taper schedule which I think takes a few months.  So there's that to consider when putting your pet on one of these drugs.  

 

[paiger8]

 
but still spraying/urinating (still not sure how to know which he is doing). I added a 6th litter box yesterday in the spot he was going and as I expected he started to go on the floor in front of that litter box. Just keeps making his way down the line. 

The easiest way to tell is with spraying, the cat usually backs up to a wall, shaking tail, and pees vertically on the wall while standing. But there would be urine on the wall and directly where the wall and the floor meet. (In most cases anyway) Peeing is usually in a normal squatted position and not vertically on the wall. 

 

[qiqimoomoo]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. 

When Qi is in the litterbox he starts off in a slight squat and usually rises up so it looks as if he is spraying in the actual litterbox. I've looked it up and it appears to be called "elevator" peeing...where they rise up as they pee. I know it's not too common. His brother, Magic, full on squats. 

I watched him pee tonight and he does put his back to the wall and was peeing....but it's not just a little bit, it's quite a bit of urine, which is why I'm thinking it's urinating rather than spraying....Still not 100% sure though. 

I've decided I'm going to bring his urine into the vet and get another urinalysis done...Can't count the amount of times I've done this, spent a couple hundred dollars, for them to tell me that there's nothing, but here we go again. I just get so worried and at this point he is rarely going in the litterbox. 

I'm actually hoping something comes out of the urinalysis, this is a new vet who I drive quite far to see because they are a holistic vet so I am hoping she is more thorough in looking through the results. 

He pees on the pee pads I put down but I hate putting them down because I feel like it encourages him more to not use the litterbox but it protects the floor and saves me the constant clean up. 

Will keep you posted! 

 

[bellel]

My Tater Tot elevator pees. He never squats.

Thought: once he's a bit used to peeing on the pads, how about making a trail of pads into a litter box? By that, I mean start with the pad outside the box and gradually move the pads into the box.

 

[qiqimoomoo]

Thanks for the suggestion. The pee pads he pees on are directly on either side of the litterbox. Sometimes (once or twice a day) he will pee in the litter box and then he will pee on the pee pads beside the litter box several times a day. 

I put the pee pad inside the litterbox and he used it once....It's so hard to predict what he will do but he is mostly peeing on the pee pads. He is also yowling and meowing more than usual so I'm taking in a urinalysis first thing tomorrow morning when the vet opens. 

Unfortunately, I'm actually hoping it's somewhat medical and can be resolved with medicine because if it is behavioral I'm at a complete loss, honestly. I've literally tried and am trying everything that people are suggesting and more. 

Will update when I get the test results back. 

 

[neely]

 Unfortunately, I'm actually hoping it's somewhat medical and can be resolved with medicine because if it is behavioral I'm at a complete loss, honestly. I've literally tried and am trying everything that people are suggesting and more. 
Will update when I get the test results back. 

I hope it's medical and can be resolved with treatment too - best of luck with the test results.  Will be anxious to find out what happens.

 

[lochness350]

Qiqimoomoo,

I hope things are going better for you and your kitties.

I can't help you with the urine issue but I do know how expensive things can get (I have 5 indoor cats, and 4 ferals) so I wanted to chime in on how I am able to keep everything on the cheap but still healthy.

I use equine pellets for litter and will NEVER go back to cat litter of any type. I buy it at Tractor Supply for $6 for 40 lbs (this will last for about 2 weeks for 5 cats). I had no issue transitioning my cats to use this new litter and they have been using it fine for almost 2 years now. It is 100% natural, no chemicals or perfumes. I will put the link below so you can read some of the reviews from a few other cat owners.

For food: I feed my cats Natures Variety Instinct dry and wet. I love this food because the dry kibble has probiotics in it so it helps with stomach issues--I have a cat with IBS and this brand is a life saver. Their poos are well formed with virtually no odor. I also buy the wet dog food in the large cans (chicken) because it is verified that it is the same exact recipe as the cat formula and is way cheaper..  The food seems expensive at first, but the dry lasts forever. I just supplement with some wet twice a day. I order it on Chewy.com and have it auto-shipped to save even more. I will link these two as well.

Good luck!!

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/equine-fresh-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005

https://www.chewy.com/natures-variety-instinct-grain-free/dp/102893

https://www.chewy.com/natures-variety-instinct-grain-free/dp/33426

EDIT***

I just saw that you have another thread stating you cannot get Chewy delivered to where you are. I am not sure if you get Amazon ok, but you can get this cat food through Amazon also through autoship. That is where I started before switching to Chewy.

 

[msserena]

I use equine pellets for litter and will NEVER go back to cat litter of any type. I buy it at Tractor Supply for $6 for 40 lbs (this will last for about 2 weeks for 5 cats). I had no issue transitioning my cats to use this new litter and they have been using it fine for almost 2 years now. It is 100% natural, no chemicals or perfumes. I will put the link below so you can read some of the reviews from a few other cat owners.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/equine-fresh-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005

I was curious about the product you listed & looked it up as I'm always looking for something that doesn't smell & isn't dusty. Just looking at the picture, this stuff looks A LOT like Yesterdays News litter. Have you ever tried that? Do you know anything about it? I just wanted to know if it was pretty much the same thing or totally different.

 

[Willowy]

Yesterday's News is newspaper pulp pellets, Equine Fresh is pine sawdust pellets. I'm allergic to the pine pellets :/, but Tractor Supply also has some corn cob pellets that are very nice, and don't have an odor. Cost more than the pine pellets though.

 

[bellel]

Corn litter actually produces bacteria. I would try something different.