Ask Me Help Desk - Male Cat Issues;

I recently just found this website on google's page searching for what causes cats to go poo outside the cat box? I have 10 year old male named gizzmo and he just started going outside the box about 3-4 months ago. He never did this before and when he started doing this it wasn't so often. But now he's doing it almost everyday and it's really extremely bothersome. We have seven other cats and other boxes and we don't have this problem with the others. His routine hasn't changed, but I have noticed that he urinates very large puddles and also walks kind of akward with his back legs. I'm on low income and I don't have $300-$400 to take to him a vet. I live in the las vegas area, and I have called around, and none of the vets here have payment plan options! I really love my cat and want to help him. Are there any home remedies that maybe anyone can recommend in the mean time, in case it is just a blatter issue. When I get a uti I normally drink cranberry juice or water mixed with white vinegar and they both work well. Is it safe to give cats the same thing? And also could bringing in another cats that is stray affect his personality? Cause I help stray cats and find them homes and I took one in 2 years ago and kept her, but I keep her separtated because she fights with others. He didn't do this until a couple of months ago, and could take him that long to affect him? Please if anyone can help, I would really appriciate it. Thank you; yzavela narvaez'

It may be a neurological issue (the legs thing), not a bladder one. Please don't give him non-vet approved liquids (vinegar, cranberry juice) to treat something you don't even know what it is. It's a cat, not a human--and a cat undoubtedly wouldn't drink something that tart/sour.

My first guess is that he is diabetic. The legs thing also says that. Has his coat texture changed? Does he drink a lot more water than he used to? (One of my older cats is diabetic.)

Have you checked with animal shelters? They can recommend a vet who will accept payment on a siding scale, or will have health certificates that you can use for a low-cost vet visit.

He is incontinent and walks funny.

Has he always walked funny? Or is that recent too?
How long has he been peeing on the floor?

To me this sounds like a sick cat and I think you owe it to him to take him to the vet. I don't want to be mean, but possibly you can't afford to have 7 cats if you can't take them to the doctor when they are sick. :(

I doubt the stray is the cause, though with more information, I might change my mind. Others will have good ideas. (I'm not the super cat expert here. :))

Your cat should go to the vet.

If you can't afford this, you should SERIOUSLY reconsider having that many animals. They are a privilege, not a right, and if you can't afford proper care.. well, maybe you should wait until you do before getting them..

Thank you for the information about my cat being a diabetic. The symptoms you described does match what's wrong with him. And i do not appriciate that comment that maybe i don't care about him. Fyi , if you only made as little as i make per month, you would find it hard as well, to fork out hundreds of dollars that you just don't have! My other seven cats, and one of them is 14 years old, all are healthy and fine. I feel so terrible to see him like this but apparently you don't live in las vegas, which believe it or not offers nothing to really help anyone, much less animals. I checked on pet insurance but it only covers so much, there are no vouchers offered here and the humaine society, nspca, and other shelters only offer shots, spaying, neutering services. So don't think for once that i don't care or don't worry about him. Thank you; yzavela narvaez (aka: gizzmo21593)

I never said you didn't care about him.
You just explained to me that you make very little a month and cannot fork out the money, and you have eight cats.. that's what I was getting at - if you do not have the money, you should consider what you are doing. What if two or three of them get sick at the same time? What if one of them gets blocked and needs emergency vet care?
What about this one, who may be sick now? He should see a vet..

But - back on topic.
Are the litterboxes cleaned regularly? Some cats become picky, and I've heard of ones who will defecate outside of their litterbox if it's even slightly dirty - but you have to be careful, because others will do the same thing if its TOO clean (ie has the scent of cleaners in it).
Any changes lately? The stray cat may be causing it. Anything else? New litter? New litterbox? Boxes in different spots? Do they require effort to get into (ie, maybe he's arthritic the way you describe his legs - do they require jumping to get to?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmo21593

THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION ABOUT MY CAT BEING A DIABETIC. THE SYMPTOMS YOU DESCIBED DOES MATCH WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM. AND I DO NOT APPRICIATE THAT COMMENT THAT MAYBE I DON'T CARE ABOUT HIM. FYI , IF YOU ONLY MADE AS LITTLE AS I MAKE PER MONTH, YOU WOULD FIND IT HARD AS WELL, TO FORK OUT HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS THAT YOU JUST DON'T HAVE! MY OTHER SEVEN CATS, AND ONE OF THEM IS 14 YEARS OLD, ALL ARE HEALTHY AND FINE. I FEEL SO TERRIBLE TO SEE HIM LIKE THIS BUT APPARENTLY YOU DON'T LIVE IN LAS VEGAS, WHICH BELIEVE IT OR NOT OFFERS NOTHING TO REALLY HELP ANYONE, MUCH LESS ANIMALS. I CHECKED ON PET INSURANCE BUT IT ONLY COVERS SO MUCH, THERE ARE NO VOUCHERS OFFERED HERE AND THE HUMAINE SOCIETY, NSPCA, AND OTHER SHELTERS ONLY OFFER SHOTS, SPAYING, NEUTERING SERVICES. SO DON'T THINK FOR ONCE THAT I DON'T CARE OR DON'T WORRY ABOUT HIM. THANK YOU; YZAVELA NARVAEZ (AKA: Gizzmo21593)

I've been owned by as many as four cats at a time. One died in March at age 15 of congestive heart failure; the diabetic one is older and is going strong. A stray dropped in and we found out she was pregnant. Now we are feeding her and her five cute, roly-poly kittens. We plan to get them all neutered and will continue to feed them as long as they stick around. If we can get them socialized, we will work with the local cat shelter to find homes for them.

Check with your local public library reference department regarding finding a vet who will help you. If that doesn't produce results, let me know. (I'm a librarian.)

Diabetes was my first guess too. A diabetic will start peeing more and then drinking more, and that can cause them to also go outside the box. The "funny walk" could be diabetic neuropathy.

If it is diabetes and you seriously cannot afford to go to the vet and treat it, you will have to find a solution. It is not something you can just let go, and not something you can treat with some home remedy. You can learn to treat it on your own, including testing blood sugar at home, but not with a "home remedy." You'd likely need insulin and need to learn how to use it.

As for the 8 cats. I will say two things about that and then I'll shut up about it. First, if you got these cats at a point in time when you could more easily afford it, but things went sour since that point in time, then I can understand why you have them. I think a cat is better off in a loving good home than just put to sleep, even if that means the cat doesn't live as long. At least they had a good home in the meantime. Since there's so many billions of extra cats around, I'm not sure that we can say that, well, someone else could have been taking care of them better. If there were someone else, we wouldn't be putting so many strays to sleep.

However... if you've been collecting up cats while in a financial state that you can't really afford proper care, then you need to not be doing that. You need to at least provide food and shelter, things like distemper (airborne) & then keep the cats in, and neutering. Sometimes shots and neutering can be had for cheap or free. But you also have to have a way to deal with it if something comes up. I have a friend who doesn't know how to say No to anyone and collects cats, can't afford to have them fixed, so there's more kittens, etc. And it's basically a disaster. And in her case, I really think the cats are better off put to sleep humanely than living in that condition. (And yes, she cares about them. That isn't the point.)

Now that said... I can tell you some stuff that you can do. First, if you can afford this much, you can get glucose urine "dip sticks" from the pharmacy. Unfortunately you can't just buy one. But it's cheaper than going to the vet and if the cat is diabetic you can likely find out this way. When they run over about 250, they start spilling glucose into their urine, which will collect up until the next time they pee. So that'll show up on the dipstick. Not really much of another good reason for it to be there.

You also might be able to go to the vet and just get a basic blood test done and it might be fairly cheap, not hundreds of dollars. Might depend on whether they'll do just a quickie blood test, or try to make you get full blood work, fructosamine test, and exam, etc, etc. Although a blood test in conjunction with urine test to confirm is a good idea -- that's the main diagnostic tool.

Once you at least know if that's what it is, you can go from there. But it isn't something to not treat, because it would be a slow, painful death. It might be something else, but you're taking a chance on what's going to happen to this cat. There are some things, if left untreated, would be an awful way for a cat to live. I can try to see if I know of someone in your area who can help you - I have a lot of contacts online for this type of thing.

In the meantime, one thing you can do to help a lot: if you're feeding dry, switch over to a low-carb canned food, the pate style not the pieces. You can stay cheap, just getting Friskies or 9Lives or whatever. There are many of us who have come to believe that diabetes is "man-made" due to the way everyone feeds their cats. I don't think I've ever seen a diabetic cat that wasn't on high-carb food much of their life, and I've seen a lot of them go into remission by switching to low-carb wet food (normally in conjunction with temporary insulin). I can't place enough important on that. That's closer to how a cat was meant to eat, so even if it's not diabetes, it certainly isn't hurting anything.

I just noticed you don't have the PM turned on. If you want to PM me, I can see if I can find someone in your area. Obviously I don't want to put that kind of private info up publicly. And I don't mean help financially, in case your are being proud. (Although I might be able to find you help with that too.) There are places online dedicated to certain diseases, if you can just manage to find out for sure what it is.

You know what sariss; to hell with you and your opinions. I thought this was a site for answers from qualified vets, and not ignorant people such as yourself, with no feelings!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmo21593

you know what sariss; to hell with you and your opinions. I thought this was a site for answers from qualified vets, and not ignorant people such as your self, with no feelings!

No one here is a qualified vet (as far as I know). Most of us who answer do it in our spare time and are cat owners ourselves. It's up to the questioner to sift the answers he gets and follow through with vet care.

F.y.I. Imbisil, all the cats I have I've collected one by one over the years, and each one was stray. I took them to the humaine society to have all of them spayed and neutered and all their shots! They are not interbreeding, and they live in a very clean environment, with clean water, fresh food and are all loved tremendously! Three of them I've had since kittens. When I found them, I tried finding homes for each one as I found one, but no one wanted them. The humaine society and the other no kill shelters are inidated with homeless cats and have not had any room for anymore. I couldn't stand the thought of letting them free again, because someone in my area were poisoning stray cats, and also the other shelters put them to sleep. After having them for a while I couldn't help it but I grew to love them. It wasn't planned to have these many. I started with only 2 whom I've had since kitten hood. You sound like a very cold and heartless person that I don't even want to reply to and waste time writing back to you! You are not worth it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmo21593

F.y.i. Imbisil, all the cats i have i've collected one by one over the years, and each one was stray. I took them to the humaine society to have all of them spayed and neutered and all their shots! They are not interbreeding, and they live in a very clean environment, with clean water, fresh food and are all loved tremendously! Three of them i've had since kittens. When i found them, i tried finding homes for each one as i found one, but no one wanted them. The humaine society and the other no kill shelters are inidated with homeless cats and have not had any room for anymore. I couldn't stand the thought of letting them free again, because someone in my area were poisoning stray cats, and also the other shelters put them to sleep. After having them for a while i couldn't help it but i grew to love them. It wasn't planned to have these many. I started out with only 2 whom i've had since kitten hood. You sound like a very cold and heartless person that i don't even want to reply to and waste time writing back to you! You are not worth it!

Are you talking to me? I have not given you a hard time, but have offered you as much help as I can give, including library help. I too take in strays and also volunteer at our local cat shelter. I will do my best to find you low-cost vet care.

I'm guessing with a high degree of accuracy that your cat is diabetic. Morgaine has given you good information about how to deal with that re food etc. Has your cat's coat changed quality? (When my cat became diabetic, his coat become gradually matted all over.) My cat peed in large puddles, his back legs didn't work as well, he stopped using the litter box much of the time, he drank water like there was no tomorrow.

And I am not an imbecile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Are you talking to me?

I doubt it. :)

I think it was Sariss and me who were the culprits.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmo21593

you know what sariss; to hell with you and your opinions. I thought this was a site for answers from qualified vets, and not ignorant people such as your self, with no feelings!

Sorry, but it sounded like you needed a reality check. :) Your quick anger answers my questions anyway.
I have feelings, but I grow tired of people who own pets as if it's some right. In my years as a tech I've seen far too many animals die in cruel, horrible ways because owners refuse to do anything until it's far, far too late because they can't afford it and don't exhaust every single option - and more often than not they acquired the pet when they were not in a financial situation to do so. So sorry when I hear the same old story and excuse.
But - if you fell on hard times financially while you already had your pets, then I formally apologize. I know what it's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to veterinary care for pets when you lack money. I've gone without food so my pets can get proper care. It sucks that most vets won't do payment plans, but they need to be careful, too. Usually they will only give payment plans to trusted clients (ie, clients who they have had for a while and get their animals routinely vaccinated at their annual exams). But you can always call around and explain your situation..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmo21593

you know what sariss; to hell with you and your opinions. I thought this was a site for answers from qualified vets, and not ignorant people such as your self, with no feelings!

Sariss doesn't sound ignorant or unfeeling to me, just passionate about the well being of cats. When two passionate people clash, there are sparks.

One of the big disadvantages of this site is that you are going to hear things that are hard to hear--like that your kitty is probably sick. That's also one of the big advantages. Sometimes we need to hear things we don't want to.

But you are so right about health care for animals. We don't even provide health care to human children, let alone adult humans, let alone our pets.

I hope you'll go out and get those glucose dipsticks and keep looking for a veterinarian or agency that might help even a little.

Good luck.

I'm sorry if I'm a little excited about this whole thing, but it's a very touchy subject.My mom also feels this way, and her parents were the kind of people who always took in strays as well.These poor little darling creatures at least have a home, and we {my mom and I} will deal with the issues. That was a good idea you gave though about the glucose tabs. We will try it.

I got greenies for a cat post? Really? I'm impressed - usually people are ticked off at me about something. LOL.

New members can't PM? Has that changed?

Um... link...
FelineCRF-FD : FelineCRF-FD
You don't need to actually join it - you just need to request joining. (It requires acceptance from a moderator first.) Just put in the comments section that it's Gizzmo from AMHD, and I'll make sure that gets to me. Note that you have to put your email and that's how I would contact you. If you don't get "accepted" for membership then the email won't show up to anyone but the moderators. (Of course, if you want to join, that's fine too, but a diagnosis would be nice first.)

If this is an issue, I have another idea, but it's a little odd. :-)

Just as an added note -- since I'm one who made a comment about "collecting" cats and mentioned my friend not getting them neutered, I think I may have been some of the subject of that post. I wasn't meaning to imply that they were living in a bad situation. I don't know enough about it to know that, or to know whether they're neutered or not. I was just saying that in my friend's case it's not really a good situation -- only meaning that sometimes there's a fine line between when it's better for them to at least have a loving home... and when it's not. It was just an example. If they're all neutered and they were strays and at least getting basic care, they are probably better off with you. :-) When my cat was diagnosed with diabetes, I couldn't really afford anything either - that was 10 years after I got him and couldn't afford it anymore. It happens. (He lived to be 15 though and had a very good life.)