Anyone Have Any Ideas Whatsoever???
By Liasonfan
@Liasonfan (1702)
Canada
December 20, 2007 11:51am CST
We have a twelve and half year old brown, short-haired cat who was literally born in a barn, but has been an excellent friend and housepet for most of those years. She has always been an indoor cat and we have never had any trouble with her using her litterbox, etc. We moved to a new house about 8 months ago. Still she was fine, adjusted to her new surroundings well. We had bought an older house, knowing some rennovations were to be done. So we started. We tore out a wall and made our kitchen bigger and brighter. Also tore out a bathtub and replaced it eith new. This was about 4 months after we moved in. All of a sudden Kitty cat was acting very strange, trying to rip her own fur out, not eating, excessive scratching and grouchiness and didn't make it to the litterbox as she had always done. Finally we took her to the vet. Yep you guessed it, an extreme case of fleas. The previous owners had cats and I now understand the larvae from fleas can live up to 1 year in carpets, walls, etc. Disturbing them by taking that wall out and ripping up flooring meant they needed a new home. Yep on our poor kitty cat. Being an indoor cat, we never ever expected that. So we got the flea 'advantage' have been putting it on her once a month for 5 months now, sprayed the house with the insecticide our vet gave us, and her case was so extreme he gave her a needle which put her to sleep for 3 days or so, while the ointment was busy killing off the fleas. She seems much better now, eating properly, drinking well and I am possitive the fleas and larvae are gone from her and the house. However, the problem is, she is still not using her litter box regularily, going on our carpets, etc (both urine and BM's) When she does go in the litter box, I noticed sometimes the litter actually sticks to her fur now, which has actually grown right back in very nicely. We change the litter box often 2-3 times per week so she always has clean litter in it. Any suggestions on how we should handle this? What can we do? I buy her Whiska's Indoor cat food, which does help a little with the smell. Please please tell us if there is anything we can do, Thanks for reading and sorry this was sooo long...
2 responses
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
20 Dec 07
Your previous poster had some good suggestions. I would defineatly take her to the vet. She's getting on in age & could be starting to have some Urinary Tract problems that need to be dealt with.
She's a very pretty tortie, kind of reminds me of Rio...
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
20 Dec 07
Here are a few things you can try:
- Clean/Scoop the Litter box daily. Cats like a clean area to use and cleaning the litter box 2-3 a week won't cut it for most cats.
- Move the box to a new location. She may not like where the box is or may not have enough privacy
- Does the box have a lid? If so, remove it.
- Could the box be too small? If so, but a new box.
- Have you changed litter recently? If so, go back to your old brand or try a different brand (we like Arm & Hammer) because she may not like the smell. Cats have a more sensitive nose than humans.
For the cat food, I would not use Whiskas at all. A lot of the super market food has so many preservatives and meat-by-products it is not funny. We have always use Nutro Indoor Cat food (if you cat is over one you need the adult) and most of the time you can find the 8lb bag on sale at Petsmart for $13. We have 2 cats, it takes us almost 2 months go through a 8lb bag.
One more thing, could your cat be constipated? That is another reason they go outside of the box. You may want to make sure you give the cat wet food at twice a day and see if that helps (you should be giving the cat wet food at least once a day to ensure that she is getting enough fluid and to prevent future kidney problems). There are foods -like canned pumpkin - that you can add to her food that will act like a laxative. Definitely check with your vet before using anything like that though.
