Our Prozac Cat

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As some of you know, Puck developed a bladder issue a couple of weeks ago and started peeing at random places throughout our house. He has poopd outside the box, on and off, for over a year but he settled in on pooping in front of the litter box which was easy to deal with. Now he is pooping all over the house too.

My wife wanted to put him on Prozac a week ago but I hate the idea of giving a long-term medication to any our cats. I was pretty certain that what started as a physical problem had now morphed into a mental problem and I wanted to try every possible solution I could think of before resorting to drugs.

I mentioned a few things I tried in previous posts, like buying another litter box and putting it here, there and everywhere around the house. We bought a water fountain so he would drink more water. We bought a refill for our Feliway plug-in. I bought a calming collar. We sprayed areas with orange essential oil. I used oxy cleaner on the pee spots. I put him in the box when it looked like he had to go. I’m sure there were a few more things that I can’t remember but you get the idea.

Last week I noticed Puck put his front paw in one of the litter boxes and then run away from it like he stepped n the Lake of Fire. I then saw him squat to poop and I picked him up and put him in the box. He quickly pooped and then jumped out so quick that some of the poop came flying out of the box.

I then thought maybe he suddenly had an issue with the litter so I decided to buy something different. I tried World’s Bes Cat litter several months ago but our cats rarely used it, if ever. This time I bought Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh Cat Litter. It is made from walnuts and it seemed like a great idea for litter so I bought a bag and put it in the middle litter box. If it was our brand of litter that was an issue, Puck would have another option.

After a week of zero usage, I had to throw it out and replace it with our normal brand.

We saw some progress with Puck this last week. A couple of times he went more than a day without pooping or peeing outside the box and then he would do both.

Rose wanted to bring him back to the vet to make sure his bladder was no longer the problem. If it wasn’t, that would open the door to a Prozac prescription. Since I had done everything I could think of, I could not argue with her. I did say that if he returned to litter box use, I wanted to reduce his dosage and then take hm off of it to see if he continued to be good.

I made an appointment for Puck at the vet for 8:00 Saturday morning. We were packing that morning for an overnight trip to Anna Maria Island for my birthday. Rose wanted to use her girly, designer suitcase because it is pretty and because it has two sides, one for her and one for me.

I packed my side that morning while Rose was getting ready. I talked to her about how Puck was better this last week than the week before and he may be on the road to recovery. A few minutes later he jumped on the bed and started exploring the suitcase. Then he squatted on Rose’s side of the suitcase and started peeing. I immediately pushed him off but now the lining of the suitcase was wet with pee. He couldn’t pee on my side where I could have just washed the top layer of clothes. Rose was very upset because now she had to throw away her good piece of luggage and buy another.

Waiting for trash day

I took out the other suitcase which is a perfect claw sharpener.

After bringing Rose’s suitcase outside I brought the cat carrier inside. Of course, Chris had to get inside.

cat in carrier cat in carrier

We brought Puck to the vet which he wasn’t too happy about. Chris or Frankie would have been our exploring the exam room but Puck was content to stay in his carrier.

cat puck in carrier

Eventually, the vet tech came in and put him on the table. She held him while she waited for the vet who was taking longer than she had anticipated.

cat puck

I told her she didn’t need to hold Puck, he wasn’t going anywhere, so she let him go and he stayed put.

cat puck at vet

They didn’t do any tests and the vet agreed with my wife and gave us a prescription for Prozac. She said she wanted to start him at a low dose and told us to give him a half of a 10-milligram pill once a day. Considering that the10-miligram pill is considered a low dose for a human, wouldn’t a low dose for a cat be something like one tenth of a human pill? Perhaps someone can explain how that works.

I gave Puck the first half of a pill Sunday evening. I crushed it and put it in his food. Unfortunately, he only ate half his food and I had to throw the other half away before our other cats ate it. The same thing happened Monday evening.

Monday morning Puck peed on the living room floor after I went to work so Rose had to clean it and was not very happy with him. We have tried just about everything so if the pills don’t help I don’t know what we will do about Puck.

 

Related Posts

What are we going to do about Puck

We still don’t know what to do about Puck

Our New Petsafe Drinkwell Stoneware Pagoda Water Fountain

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My wife and I were talking on Monday about how both Frankie and Floki have suffered from bladder problems but Chris has not. In fact, Chris has only visited a vet for a medical problem once in the almost eight years we have had him. That happened after we adopted Floki last year and he spread his eye infection to everyone in the house. What makes that amazing is that Chris is our resident dry food addict and dry food is a major cause of bladder issues.

To understand why dry food is an issue, consider where our domestic cats came from. They evolved from the African Wild Cat which is a desert animal. Since water is scarce in the desert, this cat has adapted to get most of its water from the food it eats. Selective breeding has changed the domestic cat from its wild ancestors but they are still very similar.

Since cats who eat dry kibble can’t get moisture from their food, they must make up the shortfall by drinking more water than their instinct tells them to. If they don’t, they become dehydrated and develop bladder issues.

Of course, just like humans, every cat is different. Some cats drink more water than others, which brings me back to my conversation with my wife, Rose. I mentioned that Chris was probably spared bladder issues because he drinks more water than our other cats. I would even say I see him drinking at least as ofter as the other three cats combined. That’s when we decided to go to Petco and buy a water fountain. The general consensus is that water fountains get cats to drink more and we needed Puck to drink more.

We bought the most expensive fountain they had, which cost $100. It’s a Petsafe Drinkwell Stoneware Pagoda Water Fountain. We liked that it was porcelain and that it looked easy to clean. I found out today I could have got it from Amazon for $60. I even saw it for $60 on the Petco website, which made me feel foolish for not researching it first.

pet water fountain
Putting it together was relatively easy. It seemed easy looking at the parts and I almost started without reading the directions but I’m glad I didn’t.

Mounting the pump was pretty straight forward.

pet water fountain

The rubber plug was a bit more hard to understand without direction.

pet water fountain

It had slots cut out that lined up with the wire. It then folded over the tube to keep water out.

pet water fountainI then put the carbon filter in its housing and put that on top the pump.

That is when I attracted the attention of Frankie.

pet water fountain

Puck showed up as finished putting it together.

pet water fountain

They were interested in it dry but what about after I put water in it?

pet water fountain

As you can see from the video below, Chris was more interested in eating his dry food but our other three cats showed a mild interest. Floki even spent some time drinking but it was not the hit I was hoping for.

Now, almost three days later, I don’t notice any more water drinking than I did before. My hope is that it just takes a little time to get used to it. We did have one several years ago and I seem to remember it wasn’t very popular at first either.

 

We Still Don’t Know What to Do About Puck

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It has been over a week now and Puck is still pooping and peeing outside the litter box. If you haven’t read the first part of this story, you can see it here.

It a nutshell, Puck had crystals in his urine which probably made it painful to pee. It is possible he associated that pain with the litter box but if that is the case, why did he not associate the pain with peeing on the floor? The pooping on the floor has been an ongoing issue but the peeing is new and a much bigger problem because our laminate floors are already swelling at the seams where he has peed.

We started feeding Puck a special canned food the vet sold us from Science Diet. I have read many articles about how prescription diets are not good for your pet and I heard bad things about Science Diet but the vet said this would help acidify the urine and break up the crystals. If it did that one thing, it would be worth trying.

Science Diet Urinary cat food ca

We also bought a package of pee pads that I spread around the house, especially in areas where he has already peed.

This past week has been filled with ups and downs. One day he would go 24 hours without peeing or pooping anywhere outside the box. The next day he would do both. I tried moving one of the litter boxes across the room. I thought maybe he might have suddenly developed a problem with the boxes’ location.

cats litter box

That didn’t work, so I moved it back.

One day he pooped next to the couch and peed on a pillow that was on the couch. He didn’t pee on the couch because I covered it with toys. I didn’t consider the pillow.

My wife said if he didn’t stop peeing on the floor he would find himself in a new home. She then suggested we might have to put him on Prozac because that is what her sister said might help. I said no to both. I understand Prozac might help but any long term medication is bad for the health of any cat . . . and person. I thought maybe a calming collar might be an alternative.

I read some articles online that offered some suggestions. I already tried most of them but a couple I did not know about.

I did not know that cats prefer one to two inches of litter. I usually fill it higher because it is easier to scoop if it is not stuck to the bottom. Apparently, some cats don’t like it when it is too deep. I didn’t think this was the problem since Puck never had a problem with it before but I thought every little bit counts.

A few posts said the litter should be far from their food and water but one post said it should be close. I decided far was the better choice. Our boxes are eight to nine feet from the food, Not close but no far either.

I also read the boxes should be spread out around the house and that they should be relatively private with an escape route in at least two directions. We put our boxes in one place because that is what ultimately stopped Chris from pooping on the floor. If one box was not to his liking, he could use the one next to it instead of the floor.

Rose and I went to Petco on Saturday and purchased another litter box and a calming collar, along with various other things. I put the box near Rose’s chair but on the other side of the end table. I then pulled the table out a little to offer an escape route in that direction.

cats' litter box

I then put the calming collar on Puck, which wasn’t easy. In addition, there was a big mess of white, flaky stuff that fell off the collar while I struggled with it.

cat Puck with calming llar

I was very hopeful when I went to bed and was happy to see that everything was normal when I woke up. It didn’t stay that way. About and hour later I smelled pee and found pee next to the chair, half on the pee pad and half off, where it could get under the pad and have no chance of drying It was the third time that has happened since I bought the pads. I also found poop behind Rose’s chair. It looked like Puck pulled the pad away from the wall far enough so he could poop directly on the floor. Why does he have to make things so difficult for me?

I moved the litter box behind the chair to see if that makes a difference.

cats litter box

We are planning on buying some cranberry supplements today but other than that, I don’t know what else to do.

The Instigator

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Floki is our resident fight instigator. Sure, all the cats will start fights occasionally but Floki excels at it. Often, Floki’s “victims”  turn the table on him and he will cry for help. I’ll usually just look at him and say, “You started it so you get what you get.”

The video below shows Floki picking a fight with Chris who just wants to relax on the cat tree.

Do you have any instigators in your house?

What Are We Going To Do About Puck?

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Thursday evening I got home from work just before my wife and I helped her bring some of her stuff in the house. I had her bag with her laptop and other stuff as well as her lunch bag. I set the laptop bag on our bed and as I was walking out of our bedroom I noticed water on the floor. The water looked clear so I thought I spilled her Yeti cup but it was empty. Of course, it could have been empty because I spilled it.

The water looked clear so I thought I spilled her Yeti cup but it was empty. Of course, it could have been empty because I spilled it. I wiped up the water and smelled it but didn’t smell anything so it remained a mystery.

Early the next morning, around 3:30 or so, Rose got up to use the bathroom and let Puck in the bedroom on her return trip. Puck is fine in the bedroom, unlike Chris. He usually just sleeps at my feet. This particular morning he was a bit restless, moving from my feet to my head and eventually lying down somewhere in the middle, on top of my arm. Suddenly my had felt very hot and, in my half-awake state, I thought there was something wrong with Puck, like he was running a fever or something.

Then it hit me and I was fully awake instantaneously. I announced very loudly, “Puck is peeing on the bed!’ and then got up so fast I scared him away.

Now we had to get up and pull the sheets off the bed and wash them and put new sheets on. I also found more pee on our laminate floor. I wiped it up and this time I could smell it was pee.

Friday I came home to more pee on the floor and I even found poop on the living room floor, though I don’t remember when I found that. Puck’s problem has always been pooping outside the box, which we have not been able to stop, except briefly, for a couple of years. I was always grateful that he didn’t pee on the floor and the poop was always on the tile floor next to the box (except when he pooped on the couch).

Saturday morning I found pee on the floor in the living room. It was next to a table with a glass to that holds a large lamp. It was quite the pain to take it apart so I could clean the bottom of it.

I left a message on the Vet’s answering machine Friday evening to ask for a Saturday appointment. I called them just before they opened that morning and she said I could have an 8 a.m. appointment if I could get there in seven minutes. We walked through their doors at 8:00 exactly. Puck was not happy to be there and wouldn’t come out of his carrier.

Cat Puck at Vet
The vet tech examined Puck in their secret back room lab and brought him back with the top off his carrier.

Puck was not happy to be there and wouldn't come out of his carrier.
I picked him up and let him lie on my lap for a while but he was nervous and go off my lap so he could hide behind me.

Puck was not happy to be there and wouldn't come out of his carrier.

The vet said they found some bacteria and crystals in his urine and gave him – you guessed it – steroids and antibiotics.

Some of you probably know that every time I bring a cat to the vet I make some kind of a joke about how I could be a vet if I only had steroids and antibiotics because all feline ailments are caused by a steroid and antibiotic deficiency. I joke about it but it is really kind of sad. We also got some Hills urinary canned for to try to help break up the crystals. Hopefully, that will help but nobody likes it much so perhaps not.

I cleaned one of the litter boxes later that day and put in fresh litter and put it in a different location. My thought was that he may be associating pain while peeing with the litter boxes and new litter and a new location might help. I also bought a refill for our Feliway plug in and plugged that in between the patio and living room.

It did help, at first. Puck peed in the box as soon as I poured the litter into it . . . then he peed on the floor two hours later.

I had a half-bottle of Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract that I bought for Pucks pooping problem. It didn’t work for that but I put it in the boxes with hopes it would work for pee. It didn’t.

Now we are going to have to lock all our cats on the patio while we are at work. I hate to do that but if pee stays on our laminate floor all day it will ruin it. Also, maybe close proximity to the litter boxes will help.

Update: This morning, shortly after this post published, I woke up to find pee on the floor in the living room. I then found something worse. Despite the obstacles we keep in his way, Puck pooped and peed on our sofa. We keep a cover on it for the poop but the pee soaks through.

 

Photo Friday: I Told You There Was Room

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Frankie is always in the bathroom when I take a shower. For some reason, he is fascinated by it but only as an observer, not as a participant.

The other day, after I got out of the shower, Frankie turned his attention to the linen closet. He got up on the toilet seat and opened the closet door for a peek inside. He looked up and down for a place to jump up onto but decided against it after seeing how full it was.

Chris had come into the bathroom as Frankie was pondering what to do. “Stand aside Frankie, I can fit in there,” Chris said, or at least implied, and proceeded to jump into the closet where he pushed stuff out of his way and forced his way inside enough so he could turn around. Even I was impressed.

Frankie just sat on the toilet seat and suddenly became a bystander in his own game.

My computer is having problems and is running very slow and freezing up so I posted this from my phone for only the second time ever. I don’t like doing that because I don’t have an app to reduce the resolution of my pictures so they will load quicker. Hopefully, nobody will have trouble viewing this post today.