What is wrong with my cat?

Death of Rats

I'm starting to get very worried about our family cat. She's 12 years old and is starting to act really really strange.

Ok, so some background info on her might be good...

When we got her in 1995 she was the runt of the litter. Because of this she's always been very territorial. She doesn't like other cats, small children, or anything that seems like a threat to her being our pet. We lived in a rather big house with a large field with some woods out in the back. She was an inside/outdoor cat. If she wanted outside she could go.

Then about 2003 I moved off to college and my parents moved into a much smaller house. Cranberry became an indoors cat once they did since she would freak out anytime she went outside. She seemed fine with it and basically had the run of the house. She's always used her litter box and never makes any messes. She's also big on begging for food when we eat.

So around a year ago I ended up moving in with my parents. At first she didn't like it and started peeing on my stuff. Eventually she made up with me and things went back to normal. Then, 6 months ago my sister and her husband started having some problems and she moved back in with us, getting visitation with her kids every weekend.

Cranberry definitely didn't like this. She started to just ignore her litter box when it came to peeing and started peeing on everything. When the kids were here she would hide the whole time. Now the kids only every other weekend, but Cranberry is still acting very very strange.

I guess it would be about a month ago that she started avoiding the ground as much as possible. She would stay up high and only go down every once in a while to get food and water. She also started shitting outside of her perfectly clean litter box. It was about that time that we started having flea problems in the house. Over the course of the last month it's gotten much worse.

For the last week she's sat on top of my parent's desks and won't even come down to eat. We've taken care of the fleas. She's had several baths (which, oddly enough she didn't seem to mind at all), she has a flea collar on. But yet she won't come down unless we put her down. And even then she just eats a little bit and jumps back on the desk.

She's even started to shit on the desk. There have been several times where she's slept next to her own shit and piss. She hasn't even moved from the same spot for the last 2-3 days.

So my question for everyone is is my cat going crazy? Senile? Just fed up with her living situation? Or is she getting ready to die? And if someone knows what's going on with her what can we do to help her? Would putting her outside possibly help? Or if it's something really serious should we put her to sleep?

We're just at a loss of what to do at this point. We really hate seeing her like this. We can tell she's unhappy. We just don't know what to do.

Heir

Take her to the vet. ASAP.

From the sounds of it though, it looks like she's getting ready to die. My grandparents were farmers when I was little in Iowa. Most of the farm pets (various cats and dogs) would act pretty similar to this before finally dissapearing. A week later we'd find them dead in the fields somewhere.

Hopefully this isn't the case, but it sounds a lot like what I saw when I was a kid.

cooljammer00

have you thought about taking her to a veterinarian? i dont want to sound cliche, but IANAV

Death of Rats

I was really hoping that wasn't the case.

We've though about taking her to a vet. Unfortunately money's very tight right now, so even if there's something they could do to help her (besides putting her to sleep) we don't have the money to pay for it.

Heir

Are there any kind of cat-lovers forums you can find? They might have some better information.

Do you have an ASPCA near you? I think you can take them there for cheap or free.

Death of Rats

Heir wrote: »

Are there any kind of cat-lovers forums you can find? They might have some better information.

Do you have an ASPCA near you? I think you can take them there for cheap or free.

I just posted on petlovers.com. Hopefully they might have dealt with something like this before.

As for the ASPCA, dunno. I'm sure that if it came down to putting Cranberry to sleep or having some expensive operation we'd somehow find the money.

Shogun

She seems to be experiencing the final stages of cathood. I watched this exact same thing with my friend's cat, Bob. Bob also died at the age of 12. She chose her deathbed as my friend's futon and would not leave. Eventually she began pissing and shitting her self and she still wouldn't move. My friend not knowing what to do put her outside to save his futon. We found her the next day curled up in some bushes, dead.

I can't say for fact but I'd say its a good guess. There really is nothing you can do other than making the cat comfortable. If you wish and are able to take it to a vet I would, because you never know it could actually just be sick.

thundercake

Oh no... =/ Take her to the vet immediately.

When cats are about to die they generally start spending a lot of time alone, in hard-to-reach spots. I had an eight-year-old cat die a few years ago and she did this same thing...she hid under our piano and wouldn't budge, wouldn't eat, anything. It was heartbreaking because all we wanted to do was cuddle her.

I'm really sorry if there's nothing that can be done...I know how hard it is to lose a pet =/

phoxphyre

Just a thought: have you thought that your cat might be seriously depressed and stressed out about the changes that are happening?

As weird as it sounds, this might be the case. This started to happen with one of my childhood cats when we bought a dog into the house... And a friends cat when she was moved down the "cat hierarchy" by the loss of another cat... If this is the case a vet might give you the option of cat-antidepressants.

If you suspect this is the case, there are a few things to try before going the drug route. From a 2 second look online, one of the important things to do would be to spend a decent amount of quality time with Cranberry. Play with her, pet her, hand feed her special meals...

Good luck! Hope this helps.

PatboyX

Holy shit, keep us updated.
My whole family has always been rife with cats.

When I still lived with my parents, we brought a new kitten in (he was outside my window in the wee hours, crying. Very sick, nursed him back to health and sounds much like the "origin" of you cat)
Anyway, we had two other cats at the time. One was really small and had ringworm when we got her. She is now 24 pounds (she is not a Maine Coon or anything...she is just fucking huge) and she will piss and shit pretty much anywhere. I think it has to do with a general poor attitude toward her from the other two and, more importantly, her lack of ability to get around.
The oldest cat they have is almost 15 years old now. She can hardly climb up and is missing many teeth. Has kidney and bladder problems all the time. She pisses on things all the time but I don't think it is territorial, despite the other new-comers. She is just old.

This is my input:
1. When you say the cat shits outside the litterbox, is it anywhere outside the box or directly outside of it? Our fat cat did this and I think it was partially due to fear of the other cats (who used the same box. We got a second one but it didn't help.) It might also be due to her size and not knowing just where she is squatting. I've seen her be half in the box and just go on the outside.
2. The not being on the ground thing is really interesting to me. My grandmother has a cat that is doing the same thing. He never wants to touch the floor unless he has to. When he is on the floor, he runs like hell to the next highest thing. I thought maybe something was living in the crawlspace. My grandmother lives in a beach town and the house is one of those older squat places with a few feet of empty underneath in case of bay flooding.
3. I agree with the above suggestion of stress and depression. It sounds sort of stupid but I assume we are all cat/pet people here and will accept the idea of our animal companions as being quite emotional. As I described before with the changes that happened in my home, each one had its own level of stress that is too complicated to get into in a thread not about me.
4. Agree with the quality time! It is one of the simplest things you can do. When things in the house get a little out of hand in the human department, the pets can be ignored pretty easily. Cats are pretty much used to calling the shots and you describe Cranberry as once being king of the castle. So...if you find yourself sitting down and the cat jumps in your lap, stay with her as long as you can. Let her decide to end it. If you can. That sort of thing.

Best of luck, keep us updated.

Death of Rats

Well, we moved her to a bed with a sleeping bag on it (trash bags under the sleeping bag to protect the mattress). We put her food and water on the bed (since she still refuses to go on the floor for anything) and put her litter box so she could jump into/out of it from the bed.

So far she's eating a little bit more than before, but she still isn't acting normal for her. We've been giving her plenty of attention and good food.

Unfortunately my parents decided against taking her to a vet (money is ridiculously tight at the moment. The only reason we have the internet is that my dad's job is online) and seeing how I'm currently looking for work there's no way I'd be able to raise the money to do so.

Something's wrong with her, but at least for now she's more comfy than she was on that desk.

Deusfaux

taking her in for hte consultation wont cost that much, you can always decide against any real treatment or hold off.

I would at least take her in for diagnosis of the most basic kind

Shogun

Search around there is bound to be a low-cost clinic somewhere nearby.

Ritchmeister

He's already said he cannot afford it, and it's not worth getting into any financial hassle over a fucking cat.

NexusSix

At least try Googling low-cost/free veterinary care. Those symptoms are all over the place and we wouldn't be able to help with a diganosis (this could be anything from a blockage in the stomach/intestines to renal failure to a treatable virus, and some flea treatments can make animals sick). Cats can live a long time, and this could be a treatable problem. If you at least get a diagnosis, you'll be able to make an informed decision. There are a lot of web resources out there for folks in your situation, so it certainly wouldn't hurt if you looked into them--it could help.

I hope your kitty is feeling better soon.

Trowizilla

I know your family can't afford to pay for a vet this instant, but you could still call a vet's office and ask for advice. Plus, a lot of vets are sometimes willing to work out discounts or payment plans on treatment. I really hope she gets better soon! Twelve years old really isn't very old for a cat; I know a lot of them that've made it into their twenties.

Oh! I forgot to mention, you might want to try your local rescues/ASPCA and see if they can help you out. There's a lot of animal-loving people out there, and the fact that you're trying to help your cat will probably incline them to look favorably on you.

AbsoluteZero

I thought I'd mention that cats like to stick to high places as a means of keeping surveillance of their territory. The idea being that from up high they can spot prey and predators without putting themselves in harm's way. Since she was once an outdoor cat, I'm not surprised she is displaying this behavior. I would imagine she feels especially vulnerable when she's on the ground, perhaps due to her old age.

Death of Rats

Well, I thought I'd give you guys the update on this.

Against my advice and wishes my parents decided that Cranberry needed to go outside. And to my surprise that has seemed to have a positive effect on her. She is eating better, isn't sticking to one place, and overall looks more healthy. She also seems to be happier.

It sucks in that we don't have a cat inside anymore, but it seems to be better for her. And really that's all that matters.

Death of Rats

Well, any improvement she has was temporary.

We came home today to find her body laying by the front porch.



She was a good cat. I'm really going to miss her.

cuntstarrunner

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. My childhood cat some how got FIV after I moved out of the house. My dad called me to tell me about it a week before she had to be put down...on my boyfriends birthday. This is the first pet that I've lost and it was a horrible experience for me. I seriously hope that you are doing ok, just remember all the good times you two had.

Bionic Monkey

I'm really sorry man. I've had a few pets pass away on me in my time, so my heart goes out to you.

Death of Rats

Nod... Thanks guys.

I'm doing alright with it. To tell you the truth her life has been rather crappy for the last couple of years, and it is... alright that she died. She had a good 12 years, which is more than I can say for any of her kittens (all dead).

phoxphyre

I know the feeling dude. It's pretty horrid. I'm so very sorry

/virtual hugs

Bogey

I am sorry for you loss, DoR.

Animelee

Hey man, I've been following this thread for the last few days, and since I'm only a first-year bio student, I couldn't really offer you any advice, because everyone else was offering better advice than I ever could.

I just wanted you to know that I cared, and still DO care, and I feel terrible for you and Cranberry. I'm going to go grab my cat Absol Mewtwo (he's going to be five-years-old in October), I'll give him a petting session in memory of Cranberry.

I know my whole post sounds stupid, but I just wanted you to know we all care.

Good luck man, and if you ever have anymore cat news, please share it with us. I know I view Absol Mewtwo on the same level I view any other human being, so I know our cat and dog friends can NEVER be replaced, but what I mean is... Well, I suck at explaining what I mean, but... If you ever happen to get another cat, please let us know, man.

No one will EVER be able to replace Cranberry and the kittens that passed away too, but you know what I mean.

Again, so SORRY this happened to Cranberry...

IreneDAdler

I am so sorry about your cat We've only had our cat for about 7 years and already I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to her.

Please accept my deepest sympathy and condolences.