Senior Cat - Urination Issues

[billchamb]

Sassy is nearly 20 now (just a few more weeks).
She seems to have become mostly blind, and also lost a bit of her hearing. She may have a bit of feline dementia (but not sure).
We are a single cat home with her since our other cat left us 7 years ago.
She has always been a bit anxious and takes a 2x/day dose of Amitryptinline to help with that (which also seems to help her brain function, I think)
She spends most of her days sleeping or moping about the house to eat and drink.
She has done quite well navigating our stairs and using her litterbox.
We have always used a litter mat at the entrance to her box. We recently added an underlayer of absorbent training pads as she had begun occasionally urinating on the litter mat.
Recently, she has begun openly urinating on the bathroom floor, even if the box is clean, sometimes on the training pad, sometimes on the floor, sometimes still in the box.
Today, she started to crouch in our open dining room to urinate on the floor (she had gotten "lost" amid the legs of the chairs under the table, like a hall of mirrors). I scooped her up (mostly) in time, and she continued urinating on herself.

Note: She did this 1x before a few months ago, but we attribute that to the stress of us cleaning the carpets with a machine over a weekend.

I got her cleaned up.

The question is...now what?

Sure, I imagine a trip to the vet is the first recommendation. Due to the pandemic, her anxiety and our vet not allowing owners in with their pets for visits, we are not comfortable just turning her over to the vet. Also, not entirely comfortable with her having the stress of testing (bloodwork, etc.).

 

[tarasgirl06]

Sassy is nearly 20 now (just a few more weeks).
She seems to have become mostly blind, and also lost a bit of her hearing. She may have a bit of feline dementia (but not sure).
We are a single cat home with her since our other cat left us 7 years ago.
She has always been a bit anxious and takes a 2x/day dose of Amitryptinline to help with that (which also seems to help her brain function, I think)
She spends most of her days sleeping or moping about the house to eat and drink.
She has done quite well navigating our stairs and using her litterbox.
We have always used a litter mat at the entrance to her box. We recently added an underlayer of absorbent training pads as she had begun occasionally urinating on the litter mat.
Recently, she has begun openly urinating on the bathroom floor, even if the box is clean, sometimes on the training pad, sometimes on the floor, sometimes still in the box.
Today, she started to crouch in our open dining room to urinate on the floor (she had gotten "lost" amid the legs of the chairs under the table, like a hall of mirrors). I scooped her up (mostly) in time, and she continued urinating on herself.

Note: She did this 1x before a few months ago, but we attribute that to the stress of us cleaning the carpets with a machine over a weekend.

I got her cleaned up.

The question is...now what?

Sure, I imagine a trip to the vet is the first recommendation. Due to the pandemic, her anxiety and our vet not allowing owners in with their pets for visits, we are not comfortable just turning her over to the vet. Also, not entirely comfortable with her having the stress of testing (bloodwork, etc.).

She probably is getting disoriented, and maybe "forgetting" as well; plus, she may be incontinent to the point that she has urgency and just can't hold it. You may want to lay down puppy pads. Our beloved 19-year-old started having this problem and I gave her hip baths in the sink. Also, I recommend putting a waterproof mattress protector over your mattresses just in case. They are affordable widely available. I think I got mine on amazon. My heartfelt *PRAYERS* for her and all the best thoughts of comfort for her.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. What kind of litter box(es) do you have for her? At that age, she likely has some arthritis too. So, getting in and out of a higher sided box might be bothering her. Try some lower sided litter boxes; you can always set one along side her regular litter box, and use some of the 'used' litter when filling the newer, lower sided boxes, so she can smell her scent in them. You also need to have a lot of litter boxes around at this time, because her bladder may not be able to hold a lot at one time.

Bless you and Sassy! Feeby is 16+ yo and I want to see her get to Sassy's age for sure! I do give Feeby an arthritic supplement (Glyco Flex Plus), just to help with her joints - so far it has helped her immensely.

 

[susanm9006]

Yes, a vet visit is needed since it could be something like and infection or diabetes. But it could also be dementia or a weak bladder as mentioned.

 

[billchamb]

Brief update:

Sassy has a vet visit scheduled now for this Saturday.

In the meanwhile, we replaced her litter box with a shallow, lid-less on, with absorbent training pads under and around.

After the debacle of Saturday, she has successfully used the old and the new pan with no other attempts to go elsewhere (that we know of ).

Not sure if it was just an episode of something, or what, but we are moving back to "normal" we hope.

Will update with anything relevant after vet visit. Thanks for the support and encouragement!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Brief update:

Sassy has a vet visit scheduled now for this Saturday.

In the meanwhile, we replaced her litter box with a shallow, lid-less on, with absorbent training pads under and around.

After the debacle of Saturday, she has successfully used the old and the new pan with no other attempts to go elsewhere (that we know of ).

Not sure if it was just an episode of something, or what, but we are moving back to "normal" we hope.

Will update with anything relevant after vet visit. Thanks for the support and encouragement!

A majority of cats do not like hooded litter boxes. Most do not like any scented litters. Most cats need a quiet, low-traffic place for their bathroom, as do most people. And I have used Nature's Miracle - Just For Cats for years on "accidents". An enzymatic cleaner, it does not mask, but actually destroys the molecules, making for a cleaner area and used as directed, one that a cat will not re-visit. This is widely available through Petco and Petco.com as well as just about every cat supply place, including amazon.

 

[hexiesfriend]

Time to go to the vet for a check to see if she has a bladder infection. Older cats and cats that have minor incontinence due to age are susceptible. If no bladder infection I think you need to widen the space of wee pads. I used the extra large human pads for my blind kitty when she got older. She began having the same problem as yours. I had to eventually go to all wee pads, she just got too confused looking for the litterbox. I think it’s a
Combo blindness and getting older. It’s a possibility that is what is going on with yours but I’d check for the bladder infection first.

 

[billchamb]

Thank you.

We had covered boxes up to this point because she used to not squat to go, but stand and shoot. It is only in the past 3-4 years she has adopted the “traditional” posture.

I’m familiar with Nature’s Miracle. Used it in the past with mixed results, in my experience.

 

[billchamb]

Stressful, but routine trip to the vet.
She wailed pretty much the whole time.
It has been a week since the litter box modifications, and 100% success!
Vet expressed no concerns for her, and indicated he would decline to do lab work, etc., given her age and relatively general good health as well as not stressing her further.
He indicated he heard a slight heart murmur, and suggested she MAY have some level of age-related kidney disease, but...since she is behaving typically (for her) he would be okay just letting her be.
Of course, if we notice something atypical, we will still follow-up on it.

Still not sure if last week was a random "bad" day for her, or what, but glad we have put that behind us.