WWYD: Cat with Colitis Will NOT Use Litter Box

[shiningwizard255]

I’m bawling my eyes out typing this so don’t ream me too hard, okay?

After cleaning up eight diarrhea accidents this evening after a very bad day at work – three of which dried on tile floor while I was at work, so that was a lot of fun – I am at my wit’s end with my cat. He was diagnosed with colitis about 5 years ago and he will NOT use his box to poo. I have tried everything. Every vet, every treatment, every food, every diet, every litter, every shape, model, length, depth etc. of litter box…nothing stops the diarrhea, and nothing will make him use his litter box. NOTHING. I have six litter boxes set up. He will go next to the box, but he will not go in the box. He urinates in the box just fine.

Short of putting him to sleep, I don’t know what else to do. I’m not ready for that step…HE’S not ready for that step. If you didn’t know he had chronic diarrhea you would think he was perfectly fine. He’s 16ish but he plays, he eats like a champ, he takes care of his coat and is shiny…he doesn’t act sick. But I cannot handle the accidents anymore. He has gone on my BED, for crying out loud. I have watched him jump up on the bed and go to the bathroom before. He’s ruined things. He will knock papers down and go to the bathroom on them. He went to the bathroom on one of my work bags tonight and it’s probably ruined. It’s not even solid and easy to clean up, it’s mushy diarrhea. I have bought more carpet cleaner, towels, and cleaner for tile floors than I care to admit.

I’ve dealt with it and dealt with it because I love him but I just don’t know how much more I can deal. I am sobbing right now. This is the second time in a couple of months he’s went on a giant pooping spree. What can I do to stop this behavior? I’m not even sure how much of it is the colitis, or if it’s behavioral/ Obviously I need to close him in a room, if not buy a crate, but what kind of life is that? Is it fair to separate him from my other cat during the day? Should I put him down? I don’t know what to do but I just cannot do this anymore.

if you made it to the end, thanks for listening. I promise I love him very much and don’t want to put him down but I just can’t do this anymore.

[Louise]

He probably associates the litter box with the discomfort of the diarrhea. Can you surround the litter boxes with those doggie litter pads? That way, at least if he does go next to the box, all you will have to do is pick up the pad and put down a fresh one.

And, I know this sounds weird, but, when was the last time you had his teeth cleaned? I ask that because one of my cats had constant diarrhea. Nothing that the vet and I tried would fix it. Just by chance, I had her teeth cleaned and, after that, the diarrhea was gone, within one day. She had a couple of teeth pulled and was on antibiotics. Vet thinks that she had a low grade infection in her mouth that was affecting her whole body.

If you have to put him in a room during the day, that’s not the end of the world. They sleep most of the day, anyways, and he’ll probably not miss the other cat at all.

I feel so badly for you. It’s got to be so tough. You love them so much, but, when they have a problem like this, it’s so hard on you. If it comes to putting him down, don’t blame yourself. He will have had sixteen years of great love and caring in his life. Many hugs.

[Simkie]

I agree that he’s probably painful when he poops Poor fellow. (And, good lord, poor you, too. A cat that has liquid crap everywhere has just got to be awful.) Perhaps ask your vet about some pain meds that he can stay on long term, and then do the crate/little room protocol? Perhaps if you can aggressively treat his pain and “force” him to use the box, he will break through his aversion.

What all have you done for his colitis? Perhaps we can help brainstorm things that might help.

[shiningwizard255]

He’s been on several prescription cat foods, prednisone, antibiotics, raw food, all wet food, no wet food, every decent cat food brand under the sun, this regimen: http://www.vitalityscience.com/v/AllProducts/cat-diarrhea/feline-treatment.asp , kitty kaopectate, boiled chicken and rice, boiled hamburger and rice, wormers, plain yogurt, acidophillus capsules I’ve ground up and sprinkled on his food, cottage cheese, a few digestive supplements, and I’m sure there is more I’ll remember later. I’m willing to try anything so any suggestions are welcome.

Louise, I’ve yet to have a vet say anything about his teeth, but your story makes me wonder. I can schedule a cleaning, it has been a long time since his teeth were done. Did your kitty have any other symptoms with her diarrhea, or was she similar to mine in that aside from that she seemed healthy?

I’ve never been offered pain medicines, either, that I can remember. I will talk to the vet about this, too. Thanks, I never thought of that.

I won’t put him down yet; I was just upset earlier. His quality of life is otherwise good…I’ve even managed to get the weight he lost when he first got sick back on, he honestly looks great for his age even with diarrhea. I just wish I could get rid of the diarrhea. Any suggestions are appreciated!

[In_The_Gate]

I’m sorry you and your cat are going through this. If he’s having diarrhea constantly, you need to try and solve that problem and see if the litter box issues resolve if you can fix the diarrhea. Colitis is a non-specific diagnosis that means inflammation in the colon from any cause. You need a more concrete answer as to why he is having diarrhea to find out if anything can be done. I’d recommend getting him to a veterinary internal medicine specialist (vets listed by location here: http://www.acvim.org/ ) for evaluation.

A general outline of what may happen is as follows:
Basic work up - CBC/Chemistry/T4/fecal/ GI panel
Empiric therapy - diet trials (sounds like you’ve done a lot of these!), B12 supplementation, deworming even if fecal is negative
Abdominal ultrasound - looks to see if the intestinal tract is thickened, abnormal or has masses.
Intestinal biopsies (usually with endoscopy)- Inflammatory bowel disease or a low-grade intestinal lymphoma are very common in cats and often very treatable! If he’s been on steroids alone without a response biopsies are going to be important to help you figure out what is going on as many cats with IBD will respond to just steroids. The fact he didn’t respond to steroids is going to make the doctor want a biopsy if worried about IBD or lymphoma as prednisone is the go-to empiric therapy when IBD or low grade lymphoma is suspected and owners elect not to do biopsies.

Best of luck to you and your kitty.

[Louise]

shiningwizard, my cat was perfectly healthy except for the diarrhea. That, by the way, was several years ago and there has been no recurrence of the problem. It may have been a coincidence, but, the diarrhea ceased so quickly (within 24 hours) after the cleaning that both my vet and I figure that it had to have something to do with it.

[oliverreed]

So very sorry for both of you. I hope the teeth cleaning works. I have one with inflammatory bowel disease but he is easily managed (knocks on wood) with prednisone.

[awa]

What a difficult situation. Have you tried giving him some canned pumpkin every day?

[Snowflake]

I suffer from GI problems myself. Colitis flare ups are PAINFUL. I have a kitty with IBD and we’ve gotten her under control by feeding a high fiber dry food and supplementing with a raw food. In the raw food she gets prednisone, hairball care treats for extra fiber, probiotics and diatomaceous earth. I’d ask the doctor about doing some flagyl and/or Sulfasalazine if you haven’t tried this already. Colitis causes painful spasms of the colon and intestines and sometimes this results in an urgent need to go RIGHT NOW. Kitty is in pain, doesn’t want to move but has to go. So, I can understand why he has accidents or has aversion to the litter box. Colitis can also be caused by allergies. Have you tried an elimination diet? I think there is still more that you can try in this case to get this under control. If you have to, get a giant (52") dog crate and keep the cat in there with a box, bed, toys. This crate is big enough to create multiple levels and have separate areas for food, sleep, play and potty. That way, you don’t need to worry about coming home and finding surprises. If he does have an accident it will be contained. Not ideal but certainly not inhumane while you work on finding a solution.

[RacetrackReject]

Can cats take bio sponge? It might be worth a try as I know it has worked well for horses and dogs. If the vet says that it is ok to try, I might give it a go, if I were you.

So sorry that you and the kitty are having to deal with this.

[Snowflake]

[QUOTE=RacetrackReject;7916377]
Can cats take bio sponge? It might be worth a try as I know it has worked well for horses and dogs. If the vet says that it is ok to try, I might give it a go, if I were you.

So sorry that you and the kitty are having to deal with this.[/QUOTE]

Oh! Good idea! Looks like it might be! http://www.platinumperformance.com/pets/totalfelinehealth/

[RacetrackReject]

It looks like they do have the Bio sponge paste listed for cats.

http://www.platinumperformance.com/Small-Animal-Bio-Sponge0153-Syringes/productinfo/SBIOS1/