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Old 12-15-2015, 08:05 AM
 
4,676 posts, read 9,994,516 times
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I suspect bladder gravel which doesn't show up well in radiology.

Me...I'd start her on prednisolone..........and a urinary diet.
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Old 12-15-2015, 08:08 AM
 
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
10,358 posts, read 7,990,783 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by =^..^= View Post
The Amatriptyline (sp?) was what the vet in TN and the one here thought best. Prozac is more for depression, not anxiety and stress.
Prozac and amitriptyline are both antidepressents, but they have different mechanisms of action. A critter may respond very well to one, but not the other. So don't give up hope yet!

Could you construct a catio just for Callie, with no entry to the RV, so she could stay safely outdoors while you're in FL? It would be less stressful on you.
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Old 12-15-2015, 08:54 AM
 
Location: Virginia
10,093 posts, read 6,436,538 times
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I'm sorry to disagree with you on the use of Prozac, but whether it's intended for depression or not, it WORKS extremely well to calm anxiety and stress in cats. I've seen it and dealt with it personally. Kiska, my Russian Blue, had been rehomed several times before I got him, which is especially stressful to RB's. They are a one-owner cat. When I first got him, he literally foamed at the mouth from fear and stress. It took two YEARS of dealing with aggressive behavior, inappropriate urination everywhere, and biting to finally get him to acclimate to me as well as the other cats. Prozac was my last option. It worked fantastically. At this point, why not at least TRY it for Callie. It certainly couldn't fail worse than your other methods have.
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Old 12-16-2015, 02:37 PM
 
Location: New Jersey
149 posts, read 166,634 times
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Sorry I'm not up to figuring out how to quote so much as I'm recovering from a surgery but I did want to answer your questions to my last response. It only took 5 days on prozac for my cat to stop peeing constantly outside of the box. He had two accidents in the first month after those 5 days but he went from using the box a sixth of the time to peeing just twice out of the box. It felt like a miracle. My vet and behaviorist both said that it's not unheard of for the meds to work that quickly but typically it can take a few (3- 8) weeks. We were a bit lucky. For the first 4 days he was on it we couldn't tell any difference. He peed all over like normal. But on day 5 he was good. His two accidents were probably due to not getting the old odor completely out of one of his prior spots and another time because we had company (he used to pee right in the middle of company- pretty much on whatever was in the center of the circle of people).

Yes, prozac is an antidepressant SSRI. Using it in cats is considered "off-label" but growing research is showing good results with it and other SSRIs for inappropriate elimination problems. There are a few different meds that have all been cited as working for this problem though. Just like with people, sometimes a little experimentation is necessary when working with pets. We do like the prozac though and it's pretty cheap!

I think the outdoor catio looks great!

At our shelter we frequently turn down people who have taken in and vetted a stay because while they are not permanent solutions, they are stable. I'm not saying it's fair or even that I agree with it, but once someone has taken a cat and shown a willingness to hang in there until the cat has a home making space for that cat is lower in priority. Strays on the street or cats whose owners are hinting at having to put them down due to behavior issues or eviction are higher priority and unless the cat is very very old ( 17+)there will be room made at the shelter or a frantic email sent to all our fosterers to see if they could take the cat in.

Sometimes offering a donation helps too.

There are also sanctuaries that will take cats in but they tend to want $1000 or more. It's worth it when you consider they are promising lifelong medical care but it's a lot of money to come up with all at once.

I'm still learning how this site works so I've only been following Callie's story for your last 2 posts. Have you already tried:
confining her to an elevated crate with a litter box
different types of litter- different grain size, alternative litter materials, wee wee pads etc.
cat attract litter
Storage bins as litter boxes- most commercial boxes are too small for a full size cat
unhooded/ unlined litter boxes.

Also what do you clean your litter boxes with? How often do you scoop?
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Old 12-16-2015, 09:21 PM
 
Location: Near Nashville TN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ocngypz View Post
How many times a day does Callie pee?
With 5 cats it's not possible to know that.
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Old 12-16-2015, 09:29 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mishigas73 View Post
OP, you can only do what you can do. That others would do things differently means exactly zilch when you are the one who is dealing with the issues.
^^^ This.
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Old 12-16-2015, 09:37 PM
 
3,974 posts, read 4,260,829 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by catsmom21 View Post
Amitriptyline is also an antidepressant. It's generic for elavil. In general, any medication of this type is going to need at least 8 weeks to be effective, and the dose may need to be changed. And of course the obesity is still a factor, and the fact that her urinary tract is probably constantly inflamed causing such discomfort, since you won't do anything for her along those lines.
This is incorrect information. In cats, amitriptyline works very quickly and does not require 8 weeks to work. It is also a very effective anti-anxiety medication, although it was developed as an anti-depressant for humans and *does* need time to build up to a therapeutic dose in humans. If Callie wasn't showing any positive response to the medication within a week, it is doubtful amitriptyline is the correct medication. For my 2 cats who took it, the results were almost immediate.

Why do you feel the need to be so judgmental toward the OP? "You won't do anything for her along those lines". Really? And you took the mention of the suggestion that the cat be put outside and ran with it and started ranting about it -- even though the OP gave NO indication she was even seriously considering putting Callie outside. Let's be supportive and helpful to someone in a tough situation.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:07 PM
 
Location: Near Nashville TN
7,201 posts, read 14,995,469 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mishigas73 View Post
OP, you can only do what you can do. That others would do things differently means exactly zilch when you are the one who is dealing with the issues.
We are doing everything possible for this cat. No matter what we try someone is going to find fault with it and suggest something else they heard on TV or read online. Feliway alone is supposed to stop the inappropriate urinating. It's recommended here on this Forum ad nauseam. You would think it performed miracles - now it's Prozac cream that can take up to 8 weeks to work - if it works. What do we do with her for those 2 months? If the Prozac cream fails it'll be something else. My SD went through all this and nothing stopped her cat from peeing everywhere. The vet here examined her and found her healthy though overweight. He saw no signs nor does she exhibit any signs of a bladder infection or inflamed urethra or vulva. This is a behavioral issue he and the vet in TN believe. She isn't showing an signs of stress until it's time to medicate her ear. Knowing this cat the day is coming when that too will take several people and a lot of stress to accomplish. She was fairly easy to pill at first also.

From what we see, the only time she uses the litterpan is to poop and has never covered it, which is OK. We scoop it when we see it. We have not seen her use the litterpans (totes) to urinate for over a week now.

She peed on both new throw-rugs we bought. I don't think they stained like the last ones that had to be thrown out. I hope not. We had to toss my husband's quilt outside tonight as she peed on that also. We didn't notice until it got rancid and stunk. Fortunately it's an older quilt with a design so if it stains it's no big disaster. We don't have a washer/dryer in our RV so it'll have to wait until laundry day. My husband is talking about euthanizing her because the odor of cat urine and the sprays we're using in this closed up RV is making him nauseous. We pulled everything out today to find any hidden spots she may have gone... this is turning into days of trying to get rid of odor, watching her like a hawk, doing extra laundry on laundry day, tolerating stale unhealthy indoor air for the sake of the Feliway yet still feel we're living in a nasty used litterpan. We cannot get rid of the urine stink. sorry but I needed to vent.

Quote:
FWIW, that catio looks absolutely terrific.
Doesn't it? He did a good job for it being portable. They have a similar one on the deck back home in TN. It has an indoor-outdoor carpet plus two throw-rugs for their comfort - but I noticed a cat urine smell near the Catio and fear she is also urinating out there on the carpets.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:31 PM
 
Location: Near Nashville TN
7,201 posts, read 14,995,469 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ocngypz View Post
I suspect bladder gravel which doesn't show up well in radiology.

Me...I'd start her on prednisolone..........and a urinary diet.
Unfortunately Pred' is not an OTC med. A Urinary diet also needs a prescription. I can't go back to the vet and tell him I want to put her on Pred and a urinary diet because someone on the internet suggested it's what they would do. You can understand that. Both my vets said this is the hardest problem to treat effectively in cats. We all know it's one of the main reasons people take them to shelters, ie, get rid of them. The cat simply fails to see anything wrong with urinating on anything absorbent. In Callie's case she never saw the point in burying her waste. She'd defecate or urinate and jump right out of the litter tote.

They're doing what they can for her going by her lack of symptoms and lack of bladder infection at this time. The only symptom, if you can call it that, is the inappropriate urinating.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:44 PM
 
Location: Near Nashville TN
7,201 posts, read 14,995,469 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Aredhel View Post
Prozac and amitriptyline are both antidepressents, but they have different mechanisms of action. A critter may respond very well to one, but not the other. So don't give up hope yet!
I would like to meet someone who actually had one of these meds work after a cat peed 5 or 6 months everywhere in the house. Expensive Feliway (total waste of money) was supposed to work and does nothing but suffocate the inhabitants since windows must be kept closed to keep it from escaping/diluting. Neither of us can see any effect on any of the cats from the Feliway.

Quote:
Could you construct a catio just for Callie, with no entry to the RV, so she could stay safely outdoors while you're in FL? It would be less stressful on you.
No, that isn't possible. These RV lots are only so big. And even if we had the space, what happens when we get back home to TN with half the rooms having wall-to-wall carpeting?
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