Cystitis/severe Litter Box Issues/looking For Hope

[sunny578]

Hello!

I've posted about Tiny before in the behavior section, but we recently got her retested and it turns out she has a high red blood cell count in her urine and the vet thinks she has cystisis. We haven't actually seen the vet yet--I was able to catch a urine sample from Tiny and take it in for testing. Her vet is on vacay so Tiny has 5 more days before her appointment and I'm looking for some advice/thoughts.

Tiny has not urinated in the litterbox for 14 months. She has not done #2 in the box for 5 years. She stopped using the box for #2 when I switched her to raw food and she got constipated. She stopped using the litterbox for urine after my husband and I went on a month long honeymoon and she got stressed out and ran away while we were gone.

I have read books on cat behavior and litterbox issues and have tried pretty much everything: phermones, alt litters/litterboxes/cat attract/ etc etc. We just moved into a bigger house and I had her closed off in one of the bathrooms with 7 different litter box options in there for 3 days. One day she used a box, the next day she went on her favorite cardboard scratcher, and then the day after that, she urinated on the one spot on the floor that was not covered with a litter box, right by her food, where she had been sleeping.

3 years ago or so I re introduced dry food to her diet, thinking that might get her to use the box again for #2. That didn't work, but she has since become a dry food addict. I've been reading about cystitis and how dry food is really bad for it, so I put her back on the raw this evening. She chowed down, so that's good.

Tiny urinates once a day, enough to fill a whole specimen cup. Her surface of choice is usually the hardwood floors, right in the dead center of our old house. She has never had a normal relationship with the litterbox-- no scratching around in there, no covering her stuff. For as long as I can remember, she has bolted out of the box as soon as she was done. She never had a cat mom (she was part of a litter of bottle babies that I fostered) so maybe that accounts for her lack of litter saavy. Her preferred litterbox before all this started was an empty box or a box filled with dirt.

This is only our fourth night in the new house, so her stress level is high I'm sure. It was getting too hot in the bathroom so I moved her to a different room, but in the process she got loose and is now in the basement, which is actually probably more comfortable for her anyways since it's nice and cool down there.

I'm sure we will get more information our appointment on Monday, but does anyone have experience with this kind of thing? Do vets usually prescribe pain pills for cystisis? I used to have a great relationship with my vet, but I'm not sure I trust her like I used to. We are starting to lose hope that she will ever use a litter box again. We are ok with #2 happening outside of the box, but the cat urine is horrible and we totally ruined the floors of the house we were renting. We love Tiny and would never give her up but this has been such a stressful year for her/us. We've thrown out three couches, been urinated on in our sleep etc etc. To top it all off, I'm 35 weeks pregnant and I'm sure the baby is going to increase her stress level even more. (But these littbox issues started months before my pregnancy) Any experiences with this kind of thing would be so helpful!

Thank you,
Annie and Tiny

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Oh my goodness...what an ordeal you and Tiny have been through. Have you tried filling up a box with dirt again and putting it in the basement for her? Maybe that is the ticket . Maybe even use a little kids swimming pool thing with dirt in it for her. Just grasping at straws here, and, of course I don't know what ideas you've already gotten in the Behavior Forum.

You're really here in Health for the Cystitis, and yes, they will undoubtedly put her on pain meds and an antispasmodic. I'm kind of surprised they didn't already prescribe pain meds for her, even over the phone since there is clearly evidence from her urine sample of this issue . Five days is a long time for her to be in pain. Here is an article on Cystitis: Feline Idiopathic Cystitis - How To Improve Your Cat's Quality Of Life

And here is one on litter box avoidance, in case you haven't already seen it: Litterbox Problems? Here's Why You Should Call Your Vet

It's probably a good thing she's back on raw for two reasons. 1) the moisture will be good, and 2) if she doesn't use a box to do her pooping in, it's a heck of a lot easier to clean up raw "poop"

 

[sunny578]

Thanks so much for your response! I was just wondering that myself--why didn't the vet prescribe something over the phone? I have blindly trusted this vet since she managed my other cat's end of life care so well, but maybe that was a mistake. Kiddie pool with dirt--good idea! Is it normal for a cat to urinate only once a day? I thought I knew a lot about cats, but tiny is challenging that belief.

Thank you again! Feeling lost and alone in this so I really appreciate your post.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Often my cats only urinate once a day. Whether that's normal or not I can't honestly say. I'm hoping so

You said your actual Vet is on vacay, so you're dealing with a tech or something, right? If you trust your Vet, then give them another chance, or atleast ask why whoever you talked to didn't prescribe any pain meds...that's what I'd do.

Hope something in that article on litterbox issues helps (or else that kiddy pool with dirt )

Best of luck! I"m so glad you're not giving up on your little one.