I haven’t been following this thread because our girl has been gone for six years. She had so many health issues at the end! I was feeding her liquified food with a food syringe near the end, keeping her hydrated with a real syringe daily, and more.
One tip that worked for me with pills - if it’s crushable, mix it with a dap of butter and drop of cream and smear it in or near her mouth. That’s the only way I could get it into our cat - no matter how much I thought she had swallowed an intact pill, she managed to hide it and spit it out later.
Our girl has had multiple bouts of pancreatitis. It was never confirmed, but that’s what the vet believes it to be. First one was over a holiday weekend (Why do they always get sick over holiday weekends?). She had not eaten for 3 days before her vet was available. Threw up nearly every hour, even when nothing was left. Finally had to give her an IV, and later force feed with a syringe, but she bounced back eventually.
That was about 8 years ago. She’s had episodes since, but none as drastic as the first, and we do know more about how to treat it early. She’s 18 now! It will be tough to determine if she quits eating because it’s her time, or just another episode.
Ahh … pill pockets. I have 5 cats. My two boy cats love them. I give them 2-3 with the pill hidden in one and they happily eat them. The three girls back away; they won’t touch them regardless of pill status. Truly no interest. Weird.
D2’s cat occasionally has pee accidents when she is severely stressed. D is buying a house soon and says she feels like her sofa has been ruined. She’s planning to buy a new one to go in the new house.
Have any of you had a pet problem like that, and do faux leather sofas hold up to that? She’s really upset about it. The vet prescribed a light sedative for the cat and it seems to work for the pee problem, but D says she hates the cat seeming lethargic and dull. But with an upcoming move, she’s anticipating more of this problem and who wants their primary piece of furniture to smell like cat pee?!?!?!?!
I feel so bad for both D and the cat. I don’t know what the exact source of her stress is, but it could be that D has returned to the office part time (was working remotely for most of the pandemic) and the fact that young stepson (almost 4) comes over every other weekend and disrupts the routine. I’m happy about her house purchase, but dreading the effects on this cat. Her other cat seems much more resilient.
Just talking w/ a friend yesterday, who said her daughter’s cat is on Prozac. I asked why & she said nervous pee accidents. I can ask more if you want to PM any questions?
I know this won’t “look” good, but she may want to put a waterproof mattress pad or something like that over the sofa much of the time, so it will absorb accidents.
Our diabetic cat was peeing “everywhere” (usually on soft things) before we got her diabetes under control. There is something called Nature’s Miracle we used to help get the smell out of our sofa cushion, but I used so much it took a long time to get that smell to go away. So, use any cleaner sparingly.
Some general thoughts. Our cats are generally not fans of leather furniture because it feels cold to them, so they don’t hang out on the couches. However, one of my daughter’s cats likes to use the leatherette dining chairs as scratch posts. Go figure. One of my cats used to pee on the floor in retaliation for changing the brand of litter. Problem was solved when I switched the litter back. Also, same cat struggled with bladder stones which thankfully were taken care of by switching her food to special diet. So this is also something that should be looked into. I agree with locking the cats in a smaller room after the move and letting them explore the new place gradually, with good supervision.
When this cat started having this issue, D took her to the vet to check for urinary problems, diabetes, etc., and they ruled that out. So I think this is emotional. They left the cats at home a few weeks ago for an overnight visit out of town (for less than 36 hours), and the cat peed on her sofa. I get her peeing out of anxiety or anger or stress, but that cat spends a lot of time on that sofa, so you would think she wouldn’t want to soil her own space!
I really feel for D and the cat and I have to say that she’s very lucky her fiance takes it in stride for the most part.
Good point about leather feeling “cold” and letting them slowly acclimate to the new house.
We ordered a couple of those balls for our cats.
Our diabetic cat gets her wet food and shot at the same time.
Then we give her just a little dry food in the ball, and it keeps her quiet for some amount of time while we eat. Our younger cat has been elsewhere when the older has the ball, so she hasn’t had a chance to experience it yet. It’s also good that the younger is getting a little less food. (She’s not heavy, unless you believe my son, but she doesn’t need to gain any weight).
I’m happy to report that my sick older kitty has not died, but apparently has recovered fully. We think she may have had covid. (Everyone else in the house had omicron at the time…).
Kitty was having trouble swallowing and was gagging whenever she tried to eat solids. After days of her refusing food, I bought some canned chicken and pureed it with an equal amount of water and she managed to eat bit of that once or twice day, Eventually swallowing became less difficult for her and she began eating wet cat food and now 2 weeks later, she back to her regular dry diet and her usual crotchety self
My pudgy white cat is losing weight. I suspect it is her thyroid… have a vet appointment scheduled, but the vets here are so busy the appointments are two weeks out.
