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The Lounge: Pootie Help Requested

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I could really use any input you can offer Mooz.

This is our sweet girl Sadie…

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She is 81/2, a beautiful smokey pootie who has always been so well mannered.  A little over a month ago she began to pee outside her litter box.  Not all the time but always in the same place.  At the time she had some vomiting but no more than what seemed normal for a cat.  However after she pooped outside the box, this was all in the course of a week, I took her to the vet.

She has had complete blood work, urinalysis, stool sample, two ultrasounds, X-rays, a barium swallow, blood pressure check, and a thorough physical exam.  The barium swallow showed normal motility and no problems.  All studies were normal except the ultrasound which showed a little thickening of the stomach lining.

Sadie hasn’t done this constantly but it has been frequent.  I took her to the vet again yesterday and the ultrasound showed what it had before.  Our vet, pooties only, who used to teach at Tufts, feels she likely had a gastroenteritis and that she was associating the litter box with discomfort so was going outside of it.  In other words the problem is behavioral due to discomfort from a passing physical ailment.  To that end she prescribed Prozac, Prednisone, Pepcid and Miralax.

One dose of the Prozac and I decided to put that on hold, she was groggy.  I have her in a big dog crate so I can watch her closely as we have other cats.

Here’s where I’m confused.  We have five female cats in the house and five boxes.  The boxes are cleaned twice a day.  No change there.  This started three months after we lost our Toonces and she wasn’t close to him.  It also started two weeks before we lost Pooh and she wasn’t close to him either.  There have been no changes in food for over a year… nothing has changed.

I can understand the vet’s thoughts about discomfort but since this was not constant I don’t understand why, if discomfort is the case.

She is right now in her crate eating, drinking, purring, ears are cool, she’s rolling over for tummy scratches, and she’s peeing in the box but not pooping, hasn’t in two days.  I called the vet and if Sadie doesn’t go by morning we have to take her in to be sedated and depooped.

I’ve tried catnip to relax her but she isn’t interested.  I am now at my wits end and would like to avoid having to take her to the vet tomorrow.  

Halp!!


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/ 27 Comments

27 comments

  2. Avilyn

    If I’m remembering correctly, my friend’s pootie was peeing outside the litter box, and it turned out he had liver issues.  Unfortunately I can’t remember anything more specific than that.  But it might be worth looking into if they haven’t already.

  3. Nurse Kelley

    My pootie Tommy began losing weight and vomiting a couple of years ago. He had all the tests, including a stomach biopsy. Everything was negative except for the biopsy, which showed inflammation of the stomach lining, cause unknown. The vet initially wanted me to take him to an internal med specialist in Denver, but I begged him to try something, anything, because of the expense and because Tommy does NOT travel well.

    “Well,” he said, “one thing we were taught in vet school is that you never give up hope on a cat until you’ve tried steroids.” He gave Tommy a shot of long-acting steroids, and he was better in less than 24 hours. I’ve had to repeat it several times, and it always works.

    I didn’t have the problems with constipation or going outside the box.

    As for food, I first switched to a grainless dry food, then mostly wet food. He seems to prefer the wet, so that’s what he gets.

    Home Veterinary Handbook recommends Metamucil powder to treat cat constipation. Serve the powder with the cat’s regular dinner. Add 1 to 3 tbsp. of the powder to canned wet food or moistened dry food and mix. If the cat refuses to eat the food, then try milk of magnesia. Weigh the cat. For every pound that the cat weighs, give half a teaspoon of milk of magnesia. Only give it once a day. The cat will need to be wrapped in a towel or held in a person’s lap and the milk of magnesia given by eyedropper or pipette.

  4. onceasgt

    Feliway. It’s calming pheremones that only your Kitty can smell. Used it to get my pootie to calm down in a carrier. And it stopped him from “spraying ” his territory after he relearned the behavior after neutering .

  5. ILS 27L

    because she’s in a crate, a VERY unnatural state for a cat and one that requires her to be trapped with any poop that she makes.

    My kittie will not pee or poop when he has to go to the vet….he unloads as soon as he gets home, and the vet sends him home early because of this.

    I wouldn’t discount the loss of fellow housemates as a source of distress for your baby. Even if she wasn’t close to them, she knows that they are not there anymore. My boys have been known to go outside the box after moves or other living arrangement changes.

    Another thought to try is to leave her litter box alone for a few days. Cats are strongly scent driven and maybe one of her late mates shared her box unbeknownst to you, and the new smell is putting her off.

    Or maybe she’s just being a cat…I’ve been pootie staff for lots of years and sometimes they’re just goofy.

    All best wishes…keep us updated.

  6. Regina in a sears kit house

    away on a medical stay some years ago. I get a frantic call from DH and our daughter, what could be going on.

    So interesting that this is more common than anyone would think: it is in response to a kidney infection treatable with anti microbials. That is all checked, right?

    Good luck, and keep us posted.

  8. Jk2003

    I like what your doc is doing.  She is treating the inflamed gut while starting meds to treat a possible behavior issue.  The Prozac can take weeks to get to therapuetic levels so you may not know whether this is helping for a while.  I have had some success with the feliway spray (especially when inappropriate urination is linked to a move or a new pet or baby in the house).

    Inappropriate urination is one of the more common things we see at the clinic and can be one of the most frustrating.  

    Let me know if you have any more questions.  I hope all the advice and support you have here helps but I can’t think of anything I would do differently than your vet.  In fact, she did a great work up.  Great for her and great for you for saying yes, sometimes we aren’t able to do what we would like to do or need to do due to cost.  It sounds like your cats are pretty lucky.  Hope she feels better soon.

    Oh, I agree with the commenter above…if she can be out of the crate I would let her out.  Even if you keep her in a single room that would allow her to move away from the box.  Cats are pretty finicky about that.  

  9. nannyboz

    our bathroom.  She peed and pooped in her box, is taking her meds so hopefully she’ll be better soon.  Thanks everyone for your help!

  10. nannyboz

    the bathroom for awhile with the door closed to keep the others out.  Trying to ease her back into a normal routine.

    Y’all are terrific, thank you!

  11. kj

    but i didn’t see what i’m about to suggest mentioned.

    might want to consider trying a different litter.  a natural cedar shavings mix or anything that doesn’t have chemicals in the mix.  i switched to that several years ago after having some of the same issues you’re mentioning, and, fwiw, haven’t had any issues since.

    good luck!

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