17 Year Old Blind Cat

[aiode]

Hi everyone.
I'm new to the boards, so thank you for any assistance you can provide.
My cat is almost 17 years old.
She is blind due to a tumor in her head

She is eating and drinking fine. She walks in circles, it's interesting to see.
For the past few months she's only been urinating in her litter box and defecating on the floor in the basement. We tried everything. New box, different litter, etc. Nothing helped.
Since she is older and has the tumor, coupled with the fact our basement isn't finished.... we let it go. Not that big of a deal to clean it up.
Vet had no suggestions for us.

Unfortunately, over the past week or so she has been defecating in the living room or kitchen. Any ideas we can try?
I know we may not have much time left with her and want her to be comfortable.

No big deal in the kitchen, easy clean up. Rugs are a different story.....

 

[Purr-fect]

You are very patient and obviously love her very much. She is lucky.

Maybe she has switched to upstairs as she cant or doesnt want to go into the basement anymore.

What type of flooring was she pooping on? Perhaps if you can provide similiar flooring upstairs she might use that?.

Can you pick up the rug or is it wall to wall?

 

[aiode]

Thank you for your reply.
She does still go downstairs to urinate as we still have evidence in the litter.
The floor in the basement is concrete. Not sure if we could recreate it?
As for the rug, it is wall to wall.

The vet just took some blood work yesterday, we shall see what they uncover, if anything.

 

[Purr-fect]

Could you put down a small plastic tarp on an area on the carpet, that she would use?

When our little girl was getting close she would vomit on our bed. For months we would put a tarp on the bed for her. The things we do for love.

 

[aiode]

She's a beauty, thanks for posting her pic

We've just discussed laying down something. My husband is leaving for a week, which makes it harder to monitor things.
I think I will just put down towels everywhere, for easier clean up.

 

[mewcatmew]

Perhaps you can buy some puppy training pads at the store and lay those around the house in the areas he goes.

 

[aiode]

We are going to try keeping her in the kitchen while we aren't home. We'll put a baby gate up.
Our kitchen is huge and has a powder room where we can move the litter box to.

Also, one of her favorites spots is laying in the door to the deck, which is in the kitchen.

The vet emailed me back the results from her bloodwork and they say she looks really good. Just a little dehydrated, but they aren't alarmed.
So, we will just keep trying to keep her happy and comfortable.

 

[aiode]

I need advice. It's getting worse. She is no longer grooming herself fully. We do bathe her, but it cause such distress, it's heartbreaking.

We let her out of the kitchen when we are around, but she will just pee on the carpet. Then she meows to let us know.
Fortunately, she lets out a weird meow when she is going to poop, so we are able to put her in her litter box in time.
She will only eat her food if I mush it up to make a texture (she can only eat wet, can food). She used to eat it just fine out of the can. The past two days I had to take a fork to it to chop it up.


Is this quality of life?

 

[Purr-fect]

You are right to ask about her quality of life.

This seems to be the measure of whether it time to cross the bridge or wait a little longer. You said she is blind due to a brain tumor. She is 17. The unfortunate fact is she is not going to recover. There is a sort of score card I saw on this site that will help you decide if it's time.

With our little girl, every day my wife and I discussed what quality of "motu" was experiencing. Often we thought, today was the day we would have to take her....but then we could see a glimer of pleasure in her eyes, maybe a purr, a cuddle, a meow to tell us she was there, perhaps a slightly more consumption of food and treats.

You will know when its time.

I suggest you find a vet that is open 24 hours who will help her cross the bridge when its time. I found a 24 hour clinic because if motu suddenly took a turn for the worse, I did not want her to suffer over night.

I am sorry for what you are feeling and will soon feel, my eyes are tearing thinking of our experience two years ago.

You have a most important duty, and you must put her interests ahead of yours. That is true love. Many pet owners often wonder if they waited too long and they suffer with guilt. I read that a vet once said its better to cross the bridge too soon than too late. I agree.

Spend time with her, love her, take pics, spoil her, and prepare.

If you can, try not to show your distress, I think even in her state she may sense it and it may stress her more. We tried to hide our feelings from motu.

This time is for her and about her.....you time will be after.

 

[aiode]

Follow up....
We took her to the Vet, we love our practice!
She suggested trying steroids to see if it will alleviate some of the pressure from the tumor.
They were able to give us 10 days worth free of charge to see if it makes a difference.

Since Oni is not showing any distress, we are not making the hard decision at this time.
I will keep you all posted.

Pee pads, for the win....
Also, we are going to try Cat Attract Litter to see if that helps.

 

[aiode]

A new update. Oni has gotten worse. She is stumbling around worse than ever. She can't find her food, we have to pick her up and bring her to it. She fell over three times simply scratching her head yesterday

She occasionally lets out a cry we haven't heard before. My husband says it sounds like she is in pain. She has 100% stopped using the litter box. Our concern with that, if we aren't home when she urinates she will walk in it all day with the circling. That can't be healthy for her.
We had a family meeting.

We have made the difficult decision to talk to the vet about her quality of life and next steps as the steroids did nothing for her.