Is your home organized and comfortable?

Lil

Well-Known Member
Oh Copa! I'm so very, very sorry. I know you would not have made this decision without it being necessary for your Dolly's best interest. It's such a terribly hard thing, which we've all faced and I'm going to be facing again quite soon. I hope M or someone was with you.
:group-hug:
 

Elsi

Well-Known Member
Oh Copa I am so sorry. It’s never an easy decision. I know you made it in love with her best interests in mind. Big hugs to you. I know how painful this is, even when you know in your heart it is the right decision.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Thank you Swot, Nomad, Elsi and Lil. The doctor said she was in a lot of pain from arthritis in her hip and thigh, could not stand up correctly and it could well be that she couldn't squat in order to pee. She asked me if I couldn't see how Dolly didn't stand fully up, and I felt horrible. What is my problem, that I don't want to see things that are real? She said her heart had deteriorated in the 9 months since she had seen her last. She was a boxer and they have heart problems and cancer and Dolly had both. She has had mast cell tumors for 5 years, and it is amazing that she lived this long. The Vet said that she would run studies on the pee and try to extend her lifespan but I thought, why? She said Dolly would not get better. It felt to me to be a vanity project to extend Dolly's life, if she was suffering and could not be treated.

I called M and he came. He was against the studies. At first he proposed to bring her home for 15 days and try Mexican medicine: plants, massage, walking her. But admitted this Plan B would be on my account, so that I did not have to face the inevitable. I felt that delaying it was wrong for Dolly and bad for me. And it came out that he felt, at heart, we should let her go. I asked the doctor: is there 1 percent chance we can make Dolly better? The Vet said no. And that was that. M stayed with Dolly throughout. I couldn't.

I'm wiped. Thank you very much. I'm going to study my Hebrew.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Thank you about all the ideas about the pee. I will get a black light, and do the other stuff. The vet says to get another litter box, and to have two. She says she has three. So I will take the steps you all recommend and I will get another litter box, too. But right now I will just try to get through today.
 

Elsi

Well-Known Member
Oh, Copa, it absolutely sounds like you made the best possible decision for Dolly. It doesn’t stop the heartbreak, but in time I hope you will be able to take comfort from that. I’d like to think she and Lady D are frolicking somewhere together, with all their pain gone.
 

Tired out

Well-Known Member
I'm afraid in the night. That I won't hear an intruder enter. I can't hear anything. Until it's on top of me. Ohhh no. Dolly.

I am so sorry. I feel horrible for you. I am so attached to my crazy cats, (OK I am the crazy one) .
If you continue to feel the anxiety not having your doggie alarm system perhaps you can go to the pound and save a life?
I hope you can get the pee smell out of the mattress , etc.
Usually cats stray from their litter box when they have a urinary track infection, many times caused by stress. Maybe all the cleaning up and out freaked her out?
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Thank you apple. No. I don't have an alarm system. That's a good idea. My mom always had one. Does anybody have an alarm system and dogs who go in and out? I would worry that I would forget and set off the alarm by accident every night.

Do you have an alarm system?

The funny thing is I never had any fear of anything until the last 12 years. Well. Not so funny

Thank you.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
We have an alarm system and motion lights on our house. I cant say our town has huge crime. There is almost no murder. One last year and it shocked everyone because it was in a bakery but it was a domestic thing.

I would not take walks alone at night. Our entire area jas lots of drugs with dealers driving up from The Big City to get more money from the richer people up here.

Our alarms are to keep our house from of drug theft which, according to Jumper who works in the jail, is why most people are in jail here. Ronberies/assaults due to drugs. Mostly robberies and mostly stores.

I feel very safe.

All of our dogs only go out with us when.we take them. A dog going out would trigger our alarms. Plus we dont like our dogs out alone. Even though we have a six foot tall wire fence.

I love our system. When we are away from home, we can bring up pictures of our house on our phones and check the dogs. Or talk to them which confuses them!!

The entire county plus surrounding counties are solid middle class but that doesnt mean no drugs. We have heroin and meth. So when we moved here we decided in advance to be safe. My two kids live very close and we chose this neighborhood to be near them. We bought and installed a system in Jumper's house too.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
Well, I am cleaning out the baking cabinet today.

A while back, I saw this recipe that promised a seventeen-calorie peanut butter cup, so yesterday I went to the store to get the ingredients for it (and some other stuff I needed).

When I looked in the baking cabinet before going to the store, I realized that quite a few things were expired because I haven’t done any baking in quite a while, due to trying to watch calories and eat healthy. It needs some attention.

By the way, I did attempt to make the seventeen-calorie peanut butter cup (which had rave reviews) and realized that it tasted NOTHING like an actual peanut butter cup. If you enjoy cacao nibs (the Mayan superfood as it says on the package) this could work for you, but otherwise, no. I had to add sugar and while they tasted quite good, they were nowhere near seventeen calories.

Anyone else doing any organizing?
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I am still dealing with pee. Everywhere When I spoke to the vet about the issue she said she'd get rid of Stella.

I will bring her in for testing. It could be she has a bladder infection or her kidneys have deteriorated.

I will refocus on organizing tomorrow. Thank you apple.
 

Elsi

Well-Known Member
When I spoke to the vet about the issue she said she'd get rid of Stella.

What? No, no, no...I would be looking for a new vet if mine said something like this to me.

What I would try is confining her to a small room for a bit with a litterbox and food and water. Perhaps a room with hard floors or consider getting some of those nursing home bed pads I talked about up above and lining the area with it. Let her stay there while you are getting the rest of the areas cleaned and deodorized and she is relearning litter box habits. Clean the box twice a day. Consider getting a box with low sides if you think arthritis is the issue. And yes, absolutely get her kidney values rechecked and check for infections. Sometimes these kitties need some time in a different setting to break the bad habits they have developed, and to give you time to clean up the problem areas. As long as they can still smell the urine, they are likely to pee again in the same spots. That's why the enzyme cleaners are so essential. But they really have to have time to soak in there and work, especially if carpet and padding are involved.

Stellaluna spent her last several months in the guest room when she wasn't being directly supervised. The room was set up for her needs and comfort. We used a baby gate to keep her in and dog out. The younger cats could jump over it to visit. We spent lots of time in there snuggling with her on the twin beds we have in there. When we weren't snuggling, they were kept covered with the bed pads. So was most of the floor. But she had few accidents when kept confined to that room, except at the very end when she just started leaking involuntarily. If the space is small, they tend not to want to pee indesciminantly because they won't want to pee near sleeping or eating areas. She actually seemed much calmer and less stressed with her own room.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I have the greatest peace when she sleeps with me she sleeps as close as she can get to my aorta. I guess that's what it is called. In my neck. If I confined her to my bedroom I am not sure she would generalize that the whole space is hers. But it's worth a try.

Thanks elsi.
 

Elsi

Well-Known Member
Stellaluna liked to sleep that way too. I had to move her to the guest room, with the bed pads, after she stood up on my bed beside me and peed right where she was. I honestly think she forgot where she was and what she was doing. But she was 19 by then.

I was worried she would be upset by the switch but she wasn't. I was. But she seemed content to have her regular snuggle time and then have the room to herself.

I've also seen situations where the confinement is only temporary until new habits are established. Maybe a month. Or less if a medical problem that can be fixed with medications is established. The most important thing is to give yourself time to get the rest of the house cleaned up and break the cycle. Good luck!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I know Im strange (been establushed already:)) but I would never put down a sick animal for peeing. I would worry about getting the house cleaned after her time is up. If the vet sees her and says she is so much in pain that its her time I would do it only then. But again I am very odd!

You just lost Dolly. It would kill your heart to lose Stella too.

I have done this and cleaned up after the fact. My pets trump my house. Put her in a comfy bathroom with her box and see! At least then its not your rug.

This is jmo. If you do put her down I do not judge you or anyone.


Love and hugs.
 

Elsi

Well-Known Member
SWOT, clearly I share your weirdness here. I had a husky in diapers and wheels for almost eight years. :confused: And then an elderly cat with kidney issues and dementia. But I know we are very fortunate that I work from home and was able to be there to supervise, clean up, run laundry, and give attention during the day. I recognize that not every family is able to make the accommodations we did for so long. It is definitely a commitment to make accommodations work and stay on top of everything so the house doesn’t smell.

I almost don’t know what to do with myself without my problem pee-ers. I don’t miss the pee but I sure miss them! :(

New carpet will be nice eventually, though. We’ve been in our house three years but held off on any redecorating while our elderly girls were with us. Also painting - our walls are covered in dings and black marks from Lady D’s wheels.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
I am still dealing with pee. Everywhere When I spoke to the vet about the issue she said she'd get rid of Stella.

What? No, no, no...I would be looking for a new vet if mine said something like this to me.

I'm a person who can't STAND the ammonia smell of cat pee...and I agree with Elsi! I can't imagine a vet telling you to get rid of an elderly cat as opposed to having her brought in for tests!

Cats do NOT like to pee on a hard surface, so a large bathroom or sun room is a perfect place to put her with her litter box and a bed to sleep in and even her food. That's how you get a new cat to know where to go; it should work for an cat with potty issues. I know you like her to sleep with you, but would you rather she pee all over your bedroom or sleep by herself?

They make doggy diapers. Do they have a similar item for cats? Maybe that would help at least at night...then you could have her in the bedroom at night and in a room where she would be confined during the day? Just a thought.

Jabber and I hit a cleaning standstill with just not feeling well lately. Not "sick" but just exhausted beyond all reason. He's sick. Coughing, sneezing, honking nose, etc. I'm just tired. We'll get past it in time.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
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