Cat Completely Stopped Using Litter Box After Antibiotics

Rosepud

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CBD oil is excellent for calming as well, I saw someone recommended it and it can be purchased on amazon, if the food is not helping to calm her and you're that worried about her poisoning herself eating it after she's pooped on it, maybe switching to a wet with CBD oil mixed in and taking it away would bring you and her both some peace.
 

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Because then she's also be able to see the other cats (I know of at least two that sometimes go into my yard).

The reason I have no other cats is because Pia goes into murder mode the moment she sees any other cat, and she never comes back out of it no matter how long she's exposed to them, or how friendly they are. That is actually the only reason I haven't already made her indoor/outdoor. She'd be dead within the first 24 hours, after attacking another cat who's twice her size.
I read that, I thought she could see out of a window though which would still allow her to see other cats?
 
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lilin

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Sometimes there can also be crystals in their urine which can cause this type of behavior, my cat had that and it had been missed on his previous 3 urinalysis he had had that month and been misdiagnosed as an infection. Also getting blood work done can reveal a multitude of problems you otherwise wouldn't know to look for. All these tests are about $200 with a vet visit which in the realm of vet bills is pretty bargain basement.
This has been covered by previous tests. Although they aren't recent, her litterbox issues far predate them. I don't see a reason to re-test.
 

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Here is a link to some oil that would maybe help.
 
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lilin

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I read that, I thought she could see out of a window though which would still allow her to see other cats?
Probably. But she's already in a cage. What will make her crazier? The complete lack of any visual stimulation, or the possibility of seeing another cat?

Either way, if that is part of the issue, again, I can't control it. Not unless I'm going to board all my windows and live in darkness. Again, a level of self-flagellation I won't do for my cat. The solution here needs to involve finding a way for Pia to be ok existing in the actual world, not for me to remove myself from the world in order to encapsulate her.
 

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This has been covered by previous tests. Although they aren't recent, her litterbox issues far predate them. I don't see a reason to re-test.
My cat was had the same test done 3 times in a month sometimes things change or people miss things, and it is helpful to double check.
 

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Probably. But she's already in a cage. What will make her crazier? The complete lack of any visual stimulation, or the possibility of seeing another cat?

Either way, if that is part of the issue, again, I can't control it. Not unless I'm going to board all my windows and live in darkness. Again, a level of self-flagellation I won't do for my cat. The solution here needs to involve finding a way for Pia to be ok existing in the actual world, not for me to remove myself from the world in order to encapsulate her.
I wasn't suggesting you take away the window rather that the greenhouse is likely not a worse option for her than your house, and would allow you to get away from her waste and preserve your health, without hurting her.
 
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My cat was had the same test done 3 times in a month sometimes things change or people miss things, and it is helpful to double check.
She's had at least 2 and I'm currently 3k in the hole. How many times am I supposed to retest her before I can move on?
 
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I wasn't suggesting you take away the window rather that the greenhouse is likely not a worse option for her than your house, and would allow you to get away from her waste and preserve your health, without hurting her.
Oh, ok. Yeah, the issue is, it is a solution that could quite possibly end in her just being out of her mind with anxiety and aggression all the time. And I question whether that's an adequate standard of living for her. At that point, am I just doing it for me, to say I still have her, even though she is obviously miserable? That's what I'm struggling with.
 

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She's had at least 2 and I'm currently 3k in the hole. How many times am I supposed to retest her before I can move on?
I understand I ended up spending a bit over 9k on my cat over the course of a month with medical problems he had. If you're so invested in keeping her I would advise you try to find any possible solution even if it requires a bit more testing as it seems like you definitely care about her and would like to keep her. If she hasn't had bloodwork or a urinalysis done within the last month it's very possible something has changed as well as oftentimes vets can make mistakes on urinalysis.
 
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I understand I ended up spending a bit over 9k on my cat over the course of a month with medical problems he had. If you're so invested in keeping her I would advise you try to find any possible solution even if it requires a bit more testing as it seems like you definitely care about her and would like to keep her. If she hasn't had bloodwork or a urinalysis done within the last month it's very possible something has changed as well as oftentimes vets can make mistakes on urinalysis.
Ok, that's great, but not everyone has almost 10 grand to flush down the drain. I'm not going to put myself in the poor house to test her urine 70 times. It also seems pointless to me to just keep repeating tests my vet doesn't think are worth doing again. Especially when we already have a much more logical explanation for why she is mentally ill, which is that she has a known brain disease that can affect mood. She already has a diagnosis. She has an anxiety disorder probably related to/as part of hyperesthesia.

But this last post I made -- I feel like I need to extrapolate on it so people understand where I am, and my theory of both pet care and personal care, and that can influence the conversation we're having.

The reason I am not convinced about making herculean efforts and driving myself into the ground desperately searching for some neat and tidy little solution with one pill or a catio or whatever is partly that I don't think it's realistic and, yes, partly that I feel that I should think of myself first, and I have a limit for how much I'm willing to harm myself, or stop living my own life, for my cat.

But partly, it's because I think it is dishonest to pretend that finding a way for Pia to simply stay with me automatically means it's a good outcome.

My cat is miserable. As far as anyone knows, she has been miserable almost every waking minute of the entire 7 years she's been alive. Sometimes it's subtle enough that we've been able to have a good 20 minutes on the couch. The majority of the time, it's bad enough that all she ever does is hide from the world and desperately mark everything in the house in a never-ending neurotic cycle. And sometimes, it's so bad that she mutilates herself.

Her simply staying alive and under my care is not a good enough outcome to me, for Pia. Yes, I medically need her to be litterbox adherent basically all the time in order to keep her, for the sake of my health. But it would take me a day to slam together a catio, stick a cat door in my laundry room so she could come in from bad weather, and throw her outside. And it seems like to people here, technically that'd be a "win" because my medical issues would no longer be a factor, she'd be physically safe, and she'd get to stay with me. I'm sure if I send out the call to my maker space, I could do it for free, in a matter of hours. I know I'd have all the help in the world with that.

But she'd continue being ****ing miserable every day of her life, now with the added benefit of constant triggers. I don't even want to imagine the level of self-mutilation she'd resort to if I did that to her. I already have a hard enough time trying to keep her from licking herself bald and chewing on her tail -- something that hasn't improved with anything, except just now with the Prozac.

I don't want Pia to just be physically safe and under my care. I want her to be ok about existing in the world. If she can't be ok existing in the world, I feel it is selfish and self-deluded to pretend that it's good enough for her to just be alive and under my care.

If there is no rational solution that can make her ok existing in the world, then in my mind this is no different than if her HCM were at end stage. She has been dying for years already. The fact that she could theoretically continue having a heartbeat for several more years is not relevant to me. What's relevant to me is that she has, and always has had, a poor quality of life. And so far, no solution I or anyone else have thought of, is able to address that.

She does not have urine crystals. She does not have an infection. She's been tested for all these things, and her history of being miserable goes back to literally the beginning of her life. Her mood, anxiety, and litterbox issues (including and especially defecation) were literally talked about in the paperwork I got from the shelter from her previous owners, who had her since she was 6 months old. They gave her up because they never saw her for an entire year and they were hoping someone else could make her stop being miserable. Please stop telling me to just keep repeating the same tests 50 times. That's a waste of time and money that I don't have. She has a mental disorder.

What I would like to hear thoughts on, or experiences with, is brain and mental issues. Because that's what Pia has. And the goal of any solution is not simply to keep her with me. I don't want her to simply be under my care in a way that doesn't harm me. I could slam together a catio in a day and that'd be solved.

I want her to stop being miserable.
 
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Ah my mistake I believed the issue you wanted addressed was the litterbox habits. I have no knowledge on brain disorders so maybe making a different post with that as the headline would be helpful? Then people with knowledge on thag subject could try to help best of luck.
 

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I'm sure you've already tried all these as well but in case you haven't. Maybe one of these can help.
 
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Ah my mistake I believed the issue you wanted addressed was the litterbox habits. I have no knowledge on brain disorders so maybe making a different post with that as the headline would be helpful? Then people with knowledge on thag subject could try to help best of luck.
Ok, thanks, and sorry for how sad and hopeless my replies have been. Yeah, this post has turned into a lot more than the original issue... I'm one of those people who doesn't "wear down," I keep going at max speed until I break. And this most recent episode with her was what broke me I guess. Previous to this, I had her anxiety mostly under control for about... I dunno, maybe a month or two. But nothing ever sticks. This cycle has been going on forever. Just being alive in the world and the smallest little changes that come from that, is stuff that's impossible for her to process. *sigh*
 
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lilin

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I'm sure you've already tried all these as well but in case you haven't. Maybe one of these can help.
Thank you. Yeah, she just went on Prozac last week. Her twitching is better, but we're still waiting to see a mood and anxiety change.
 

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Thank you. Yeah, she just went on Prozac last week. Her twitching is better, but we're still waiting to see a mood and anxiety change.
Possibly trying a serotinin enhancing medicine and an anti-seizure medicine would be helpful rather than prozac which is just for anxiety or a combination of the 3. Inflammation and pain could be part of her litterbox issues so maybe try the anti-inflammatory as well.
 
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Possibly trying a serotinin enhancing medicine and an anti-seizure medicine would be helpful rather than prozac which is just for anxiety or a combination of the 3. Inflammation and pain could be part of her litterbox issues so maybe try the anti-inflammatory as well.
Fluoxetine is the generic name for Prozac, so that's what she's currently on. I do notice I can pet her much longer without her having an attack (yes, she hisses and growls, but also lets me touch her, and even lets me put meds in her mouth... she has a very confused and confusing demeanor). She seems more aggressive lately, but we need to wait about a month before we can call it on whether it's settling in for her well.
 

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Fluoxetine is the generic name for Prozac, so that's what she's currently on. I do notice I can pet her much longer without her having an attack (yes, she hisses and growls, but also lets me touch her, and even lets me put meds in her mouth... she has a very confused and confusing demeanor). She seems more aggressive lately, but we need to wait about a month before we can call it on whether it's settling in for her well.
Hopefully the prozac helps her and then you could pick any of the several litterbox suggestions offered here to find a good solution for you both.
 
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Hopefully the prozac helps her and then you could pick any of the several litterbox suggestions offered here to find a good solution for you both.
Yeah. I mean honestly, I really do feel like it's her only issue. Me and the vet believe she entirely understands the litter box, and when she does use it she seems quite happy with it. She's just in this constant panic of territory and periphery marking. Apparently doing it with feces is an actual thing called middening -- new thing I learned at the last consult. Doing it on your food, of course, is just plain ill. But knowing it is the same sort of behavior as urinating makes it... at least easier to put into context.
 
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