How to help a cat with possible incontinence?

[sparkie]

So our kitty Apollo has been having some problems, mostly with pooping outside of the box but also peeing. We took him to the vet about a month ago who thought it was likely behavioral (they did not do any kind of tests by the way), so we got new litter boxes (with a lid), some cat attractant stuff you sprinkle in the litter, and feliway. It seemed ok for awhile but now things have gotten worse. His poop is (I'm sorry this is gross) kind of slimy which tells me something's wrong. He's also losing weight. The soonest any vet has any openings is not until January 13th. What can we do for him in the meantime or should we take him to the emergency vet?

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[FeebysOwner]

Hi. How old is Apollo? What else is going on - is he eating /drinking OK? Other issues/changes/food problems in the household that might be attributing to his problems? The older he is, the more important full scale blood work is appropriate. At a minimum, you can collect a stool sample (litter included) - if your vet will accept one without an actual appt - and have a full PCR test done on it. The PCR test will not only look for numerous parasites, but various bacterial/viral conditions as well. Normally, the stool sample should be refrigerated until it can be taken to the vet, ideally not more than 24 hours.

Given your current vet's default response to this as being 'behavioral', start looking around for a second opinion.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

When you called to schedule an appointment, did you tell them that he is losing weight and how his poop is now "slimy". That may speed up your appointment. Usually they reserve some time for what they classify as emergencies without you having to go to an actual emergency Vet. (ours does anyway). Not that I'm saying this is an emergency where he needs to be seen today, but Jan 13th seems a long way off. BUT, if they can at least take in a fecal sample to process early, as suggested above, that would be great.

In the meantime, try taking the lid off the litterbox. Many, many cats do not like lids on their boxes because it's too confining and they like to be able to see what's happening around them when they are doing their business. Try using the Cat Attract again. And you need to clean up the area where he is doing his business with something other than Lysol. You need to use an enzyme cleaner. Something l like Nature's Miracle, particularly if he is now peeing outside the box too. That is the only way to get rid of the smell. Even if YOU can't smell it, he probably can, and as long as he can, he will continue to go there. And the other cats might start going there too . And one last thing, the rule of thumb is to have one litterbox per cat, PLUS ONE. Don't ask me why, it just is. I think some cats want a separate box to pee in from the one they poop in. Go figure.

 

[sparkie]

Hi!

Hi. How old is Apollo? What else is going on - is he eating /drinking OK? Other issues/changes/food problems in the household that might be attributing to his problems?

Apollo is 8 years old. He isn't eating very well. He has lost a little weight. However, nothing has changed in the house -- we haven't changed food, moved anything, brought home a new family member or pet or anything like that. He (and our other two) stay entirely indoors but somehow over the summer they got fleas, and we gave them either Frontline or Advantage (we alternate between them). The vet (who said it could be behavioral) thought that maybe the fleas were irritating him and he associated that with going to the bathroom in that area which might be why he went elsewhere. They gave him a dose of Revolution as well as some for the other two. I dutifully put it on them and for a couple weeks things seemed fine, but now he's back to pooping/peeing outside the box, plus now the poop has slime, where it didn't before. The sliminess has only been in the last couple of days.

When you called to schedule an appointment, did you tell them that he is losing weight and how his poop is now "slimy". That may speed up your appointment.

In the meantime, try taking the lid off the litterbox. Many, many cats do not like lids on their boxes because it's too confining and they like to be able to see what's happening around them when they are doing their business. Try using the Cat Attract again. And you need to clean up the area where he is doing his business with something other than Lysol. You need to use an enzyme cleaner. Something l like Nature's Miracle, particularly if he is now peeing outside the box too.

I did tell them that, but they said they only take a certain number of people in a day, and apparently I came in right after a lady who was there to get her dog's nails trimmed so that was the cut off point. At that point I was like yeah, time to look elsewhere. So fortunately I got him an appointment for tomorrow at a vet we've never been to. I just hope he hangs in there long enough for us to see what's wrong and hopefully get him treated.

We've tried lid on the box, lid off the box, completely NEW box, new litter, different litter, nothing. Apollo is a seriously picky eater and always has been. He even turns up his nose at TUNA. Literally all he wants is dry kibble and temptations. He won't eat any wet food and we've tried several varieties plus switching the dry food - no luck. If the people that make Temptations were to make a cat food, they'd make so much money from us. We call that stuff kitty crack.

But really we've tried everything we know of to encourage his appetite and get him to drink enough water. Having lost a kitty to hepatic lipidosis, I do NOT want to go through that again with any cat ever. I just wondered if there was something we could give him to help him feel more comfortable and give him a break from this awful diarrhea.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I didn't even realize he had diarrhea. When you said "slimy", I just thought his stools had some mucous on them, not that he had "awful diarrhea". That's another story. It could easily be the food he's eating, could be parasites, could be something else entirely. since you got an appointment with another Vet today, have you been yet? I'm hoping they can help you. There are medications to help with diarrhea, and some holistic things too, but usually they are given with wet food, or substituted for wet food. since he's a kibble addict, that would be difficult. Let us know what the Vet says and if he didn't prescribe anything, we'll see if there is anything we can suggest.

 

[sparkie]

Well, he's pooping so little that it's more like slimy liquid than poop. We took him yesterday to a different vet and they ran all kinds of tests and did x-rays. They did a blood test, a thyroid test, kidney function test, took x-rays and they tried to do a urinalysis but there was no urine to analyze. They said everything was normal except his kidney enzymes were a little high so they gave us some science diet dry and wet food to try as well as some purina dry and wet food that is also supposed to help stimulate appetite and help with the kidneys. He has definitely lost weight. They said he has some loose skin so they could tell he was well fed before!

He ate a couple nibbles but (no surprise), he's not really interested in it. They also gave us some dropper medicines: antibiotics and pain relievers (although he doesn't seem to be in any pain). He'll sniff at the food, maybe eat a kibble or two and that's it. We even bought some dry kibble that he liked and ate before and he's not interested in that either. Today we're going to go to the store and see if we can get some different types of dry/wet food, maybe stuff with gravy or something that he might like. We have tried literally everything we can think of.

We've lost a cat in the past to hepatic lipidosis and we did everything we could to save him -- blending up his food, having a feeding tube put in, and in the end he just gave up. It really seems like Apollo is going down the same road. He just doesn't seem interested in food at all and we don't know what else we can do.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Maybe you can ask the vet about an appetite stimulant? There are times that it can be used just for the purpose of 'jump starting' a cat to get back to eating again.

This new vet didn't do any sort of fecal testing (the PCR I previously mentioned)? I understand they have to have a certain amount in order to properly test, so perhaps there wasn't enough. But I would still follow up on this. I suspect that the antibiotics that he was prescribed are supposed to cover any possible bacterial issue, but there are other things that a PCR test would check for too.

Kind of disappointed that the new vet suggested the prescription foods right off the bat, but so many of them do the same thing and therefore I am not terribly surprised. I would worry about just getting him to eat - anything. It is mentioned in the article link below, but a favorite of almost any cat is baby food meat - Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut.
How To Get Your Cat To Start Eating Again – TheCatSite Articles

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm shocked too, that no fecal was done. Or maybe it was and just not mentioned? They need very little to be able to test it. My boy was in yesterday for his semi-annual exam, and they said they got enough for a fecal just by basically inserting a q-tip in his behind. I would think if there is slime up there, it would be easy to catch some on a q-tip.

I'm also surprised they suggested prescription food to try for a cat who has lost their appetite. Most of those foods aren't very tasty . I would ask for Mirataz, which is an appetite stimulant that you rub into their ear. Works pretty well.

So...for the slimy diarrhea they said nothing basically? You only came away with some new food? Did I miss anything?

Have you tried using probiotics? Of course, if he isn't eating much that almost means you would need to pill him to get them in, unless you start syringe feeding him. Did you do that with your H/L cat before you had a feeding tube installed? And since this one IS losing weight, I would start syringe feeding him. You might think about adding in S. Boulardi to some blended wet food in a syringe. 1/2 capsule twice per day and see if that helps.