Having to put my kitties to sleep

[Tanya in KS]

Very Sad Day soon this week - I am having to put my old kitty to sleep. She is just 16 and I have had her since college. I am so sad.

 

Also, 10 year old kitty has started to pee on BRAND NEW couch. She was checked out and nothing wrong with her - we think she is simply mad because we got a new puppy. Hubby says she has to go....

 

 

SO sad....:sad::sad:

Edited November 18, 2008 by Tanya in KS

[Lovedtodeath]

:grouphug: We have had some things peed on too. I am struggling with what to do.

[Tanya in KS]

It should have read 10 year old kitty, not one year old. Sorry for the typo, I think I have updated and changed it

[Cinder]

So sad. We had to have our 5 yo cat put down. He started peeing on things and not acting right. Turned out to be kidney disease and he was rapidly fading away. The second cat we had to put down ran under my car as I backed out of the garage. Her back was broken. Ugh. It's so hard.

[homeschoolmom]

OP: I'm sorry about your older kitty. I know how tough that is as I just went through this past spring. :grouphug:

 

As to your other kitty, perhaps if you could modify the behavior you wouldn't have to rehome her? I hope so as losing both your kitties would be so hard.

 

 

We had good luck with:

 

Anti-icky poo for the soiled area

Cat attract in the litter box

Stepping up box cleaning

Making sure there were enough boxes (they say you should have enough boxes for each cat plus one spare)

Feliaway also works for some people if the cat is having accidents due to stress

 

We also blocked off the area our cat was returning to (senility) with baby gates.

 

Good luck and so sorry...

Edited November 18, 2008 by homeschoolmom

[Guest Katia]

Oh, I'm SO sorry! I know how hard this is as I had to put my baby kitty of 14 yrs. down just last year. She was 19yrs old. It is just......hard. I feel for you.:grouphug:

[Erica in PA]

It should have read 10 year old kitty, not one year old. Sorry for the typo, I think I have updated and changed it

 

You're just thinking of finding a new home for that one, though, right? 10 years old is still quite young for a cat, and I would hope no one would consider euthanizing a healthy cat due to misbehavior.

 

Erica

[Ria]

You're just thinking of finding a new home for that one, though, right? 10 years old is still quite young for a cat, and I would hope no one would consider euthanizing a healthy cat due to misbehavior.

 

Erica

 

I totally agree. There are a lot of things you could try to help kitty overcome this behavior. And if you can't or aren't willing to do that, then find a new home for the cat. It upsets me when I see people throw their pets away. You made a committment to this animal. Killing her for misbehavior seems heartless.

 

Ria

[Soph the vet]

I totally agree. There are a lot of things you could try to help kitty overcome this behavior. And if you can't or aren't willing to do that, then find a new home for the cat. It upsets me when I see people throw their pets away. You made a committment to this animal. Killing her for misbehavior seems heartless.

 

Ria

I have mixed feelings on this. Behavioral problems are the leading reason for deciding to euthanize. Especially in cats. Urine spraying in cats is a very difficult and costly behavior to break. I usually counsel the owner to try a few things first including pheromones (Fel-o-way) and adding litter boxes, etc. But I really feel for the owner who just cannot afford to replace their furniture, much less their carpet. Some have even had to replace the subfloor. Adding a pet to your home does not mean a committment to gutting and replacing flooring and furniture, IMO. I don't think she is being heartless, in fact I am guessing this is a heart-wrenching decision for her.

[Ria]

I have mixed feelings on this. Behavioral problems are the leading reason for deciding to euthanize. Especially in cats. Urine spraying in cats is a very difficult and costly behavior to break. I usually counsel the owner to try a few things first including pheromones (Fel-o-way) and adding litter boxes, etc. But I really feel for the owner who just cannot afford to replace their furniture, much less their carpet. Some have even had to replace the subfloor. Adding a pet to your home does not mean a committment to gutting and replacing flooring and furniture, IMO. I don't think she is being heartless, in fact I am guessing this is a heart-wrenching decision for her.

 

But the cat's world has been rocked, Soph. They just got a puppy. Don't you think that the cat might resume her normal behavior after she gets used to the puppy, or is that just wishful thinking? It just seems extreme to bring a new pup in and expect the 10-year old cat to adjust immediately.

 

I'm sorry, OP, if I sounded nasty and mean. I know this is hard for you.

:grouphug:

 

Ria

[GailV]

I am so sorry about your cats. It's tough.

 

We, too, have had to re-train cats on proper litter box behaviour. Sometimes we've been swimming in Feliway. And a friend gave up a cat who had decided to use her son's mattress as the new litter box -- they went so far as to buy a new mattress, but it didn't work.

[Tanya in KS]

We have had the puppy since July. Not only has she peed on my couch but she has created a little spot in the corner of our living room as her personal waste center. Thus, carpet and subfloor will have to be replaced someday when the funds magically arrive. We have tried many methods to no avail.

 

This is soooooooooo hard, dear hubby doesn't get it so I just came to rant to someone....

 

thank you to those who understand and not condemming me in this difficult decision

[Soph the vet]

But the cat's world has been rocked, Soph. They just got a puppy. Don't you think that the cat might resume her normal behavior after she gets used to the puppy, or is that just wishful thinking? It just seems extreme to bring a new pup in and expect the 10-year old cat to adjust immediately.

 

I'm sorry, OP, if I sounded nasty and mean. I know this is hard for you.

:grouphug:

 

Ria

I missed the part about the new puppy. Even so, once a cat pees outside the box for non-medical reasons it is more often than not a difficult behavior to modify. I don't know how many times this cat has done this or how long it has been since the puppy was added to the family but it sounds like it has at least been long enough to have the cat evaluated and a UTI ruled out.

[Soph the vet]

We have had the puppy since July. Not only has she peed on my couch but she has created a little spot in the corner of our living room as her personal waste center. Thus, carpet and subfloor will have to be replaced someday when the funds magically arrive. We have tried many methods to no avail.

 

This is soooooooooo hard, dear hubby doesn't get it so I just came to rant to someone....

 

thank you to those who understand and not condemming me in this difficult decision

OK, just saw this post. Sorry, Tanya this is so hard for you. I think you and dh are making the right decision, hard as it is.

[RhondaM.]

I missed the part about the new puppy. Even so, once a cat pees outside the box for non-medical reasons it is more often than not a difficult behavior to modify. I don't know how many times this cat has done this or how long it has been since the puppy was added to the family but it sounds like it has at least been long enough to have the cat evaluated and a UTI ruled out.

 

My 12 year old cat recently peed outside the box for a non medical reason. We tried a new cat litter and she did NOT like it and refused to use it. Instead she used the cushions to one of our chairs...several times.

 

I have 4 fcats so it took me a few days to realize which cat and then figure out what the problem was. This cat never used to have a problem with changing litter types, but as she has gotten older she has become more set in her ways.

 

Once I gave her back her old litter she has never again peed outside the box.

 

This cat also has IBS. She mostly uses her box just fine as long as she is not stressed and as long as I do not make any changes in her diet. However, while I was away in California this summer she became extremely stressed by the petsitters and their dog. For some reasons she started pooping in my son's bedroom. Probably because it was in the back of the house and she felt like she was getting away from everyone. Rather than telling me or giving her her medication they just cleaned up after her and let her continue to use the floor. (You cannot even believe how angry I still am about that!)

 

Since we have returned she has continued to try to return to that spot to poop. However, to correct the problem all I have had to do put her in my bathroom at night with her litter box and make sure his bedroom door is shut at night or when we all leave the house. As long as I do that she uses her litter box without a problem.

 

I do think that usually you can find a solution to a cat's problem.

Often a change of type of litter, a type of box, adding an extra box or the placement of the box is what needs to be changed. Confinement is a good way to start as well.

 

Sometimes there is no solution. But there are things you can try.

[Lovedtodeath]

We thought about taking the cats to the animal shelter... but I assume if we did that then they would be euthanized. We have a 12 year old Tom cat with sticky fur and a 7 year old small female tabby. They started this when the litter box was moved to the garage and we didn't find it for a while... we did not discover the smell was coming from the play clothes. We moved the box back in the house. Now one of them has used the barbie clothes drawer. I asked DH if he would take care of dropping them off for me. He said that the decision was mine. I feel like since we have had two kids the cats are pretty neglected. They never get brushed, and they keep having "accidents", and even being locked in rooms/closets. I have really been trying to get our lives under control, and watching clean house a lot for inspiration to simplify. We talked about it and I decided that they are worth keeping, and I will start treating them that way.

 

I totally understand what the OP is going through... and the decision of her DH, but just wanted to let everyone know what I have decided.

[Erica in PA]

We have had the puppy since July. Not only has she peed on my couch but she has created a little spot in the corner of our living room as her personal waste center. Thus, carpet and subfloor will have to be replaced someday when the funds magically arrive. We have tried many methods to no avail.

 

This is soooooooooo hard, dear hubby doesn't get it so I just came to rant to someone....

 

thank you to those who understand and not condemming me in this difficult decision

 

Wow, I honestly thought that you were planning on finding a new home for your cat. I just assumed that putting this younger cat to sleep was not what you meant, but I see from your post here that that is what you are planning. I have never heard of putting a healthy animal down for this sort of problem, but apparently from what Soph said, it's common. I still do not agree with this myself, especially if I had contributed to the problem in some way by bringing another animal into the house and causing the cat such stress. To me, current pets takes precedence over adding new ones. So to go to the extreme of putting down a cat because she can't deal with a new puppy.. that seems wrong to me. Obviously you feel differently or you wouldn't be considering this.

 

Have you considered taking this cat to an animal shelter? The very worst case scenario would be the same as what you're planning to do now, but maybe things could turn out better than that, if the cat can find a home without a puppy. There are also no-kill shelters. Or how about sending this kitty to live at a farm?

[RhondaM.]

We thought about taking the cats to the animal shelter... but I assume if we did that then they would be euthanized. We have a 12 year old Tom cat with sticky fur and a 7 year old small female tabby. They started this when the litter box was moved to the garage and we didn't find it for a while... we did not discover the smell was coming from the play clothes. We moved the box back in the house. Now one of them has used the barbie clothes drawer. I asked DH if he would take care of dropping them off for me. He said that the decision was mine. I feel like since we have had two kids the cats are pretty neglected. They never get brushed, and they keep having "accidents", and even being locked in rooms/closets. I have really been trying to get our lives under control, and watching clean house a lot for inspiration to simplify. We talked about it and I decided that they are worth keeping, and I will start treating them that way.

 

I totally understand what the OP is going through... and the decision of her DH, but just wanted to let everyone know what I have decided.

 

Glad you are able to do this. Years ago because my cat has IBS and because of her age and because I was having to keep her so confined (at the time) I almost took her to the vet to discuss having her pts. I, at the time, thought it the most humane thing to do. I even discussed it (and my guilt) with this board. In the end I just could not do it. I just started working a little harder...and somehow it worked. As long as I am careful with her we have no accidents. It just gets harder with older pets, especially when you have little ones in the house. It has got easier here since my kids have gotten older.

 

Good luck.

[CalicoKat]

I missed the part about the new puppy. Even so, once a cat pees outside the box for non-medical reasons it is more often than not a difficult behavior to modify. I don't know how many times this cat has done this or how long it has been since the puppy was added to the family but it sounds like it has at least been long enough to have the cat evaluated and a UTI ruled out.

My cat started using the hair vents after we moved. Fortunately we caught it right away and a bit of bac-out dumped down afterwards cleared up the problem. She was either doing it because of the stress of moving or following my son's lead. :glare:

 

Either way she's now limited to the laundry room and outside. She's adjusted and even seems to like the limitations. Even if the door is left open she prefers to lay in her kitty bed there. She loves to be outside too (former barn kitten). It's a win win for now. If she starts peeing in the laundry room vent then she'll have to go.