Friday, November 18, 2011

Aging Pets

One of the cats crapped outside of the litter box last night. Which wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't been crazy sick diarrhea. And if it hadn't been on THE COUCH. And if it hadn't been directly on the spot where the two cushions meet, meaning that there was crap on both of the cushions and down between the crack between them. Awesome. And that was my morning. How was yours?

Thankfully it was on the couch down in the basement rec room. We never use that couch, but still its a nice couch and fairly new and expensive. And now its kind of ruined. I've removed the cushion covers but still...I will spare you all the details.

How come when you get pets you don't think about what you will do when they get old and sickly and have bowel problems or dementia? We always had pets growing up but I don't remember all of this. Oh I remember dogs starting to lose control of their bladders and having to be put down when they were too old and sickly. But dog pee is not cat pee.

I have two cats that are getting older and having more and more and more problems. Yet they aren't ready to be put down. It is extremely frustrating and getting worse. One cat is about 17 years old. He has had diabetes for several years now with several scares and a very traumatic brush with death earlier this year, but he has bounced back and seems to be doing well. Except we think he is getting a bit of dementia. We've had some recent random messes - of both kind. They are very random in timing and location so I can only suspect that he's just getting a little crazy. He ruined the carpet in our basement. Thankfully that is it. The most annoying thing is that he has started howling. Loudly. In the middle of the night. And its happening more often (pretty much every night) and for longer periods of time. It wakes us up. Its eery and sad and it sucks. And I don't know what to do? Do I start locking him in the bathroom in the basement at nights? That's not fun.

But the worst thing that is happening is that my other cat who has always been sweet and problem free has developed a habit of crapping in random places. That carpet that the other one started to ruin? Its really ruined now. I am constantly cleaning up crap from the floor. And its not the clean easy pick up kind. Its the kind that seeps into the carpet and makes it tough to clean. Sorry for the graphic details but I want to be sure you understand the depths of my despair here. Besides, if you have pets and/or kids, you shouldn't be afraid of talk about excrement. Anyway, the carpet was bad, but we already know its ruined, so c'est la vie. What really irks me is that she also keeps doing this on my antique Indian rugs. They are messed up and no longer on the floors. But I had one sitting up on the couch downstairs (after I had cleaned it) and she decided to climb up there use it again as her own personal toilet paper. Sigh. I've cleaned them, but I am not convinced they are clean. I need to send them to a professional cleaner and put them away until the future. But the worst thing is that this has now moved to the furniture. And its escalating in frequency. But its still random so I don't know why she does this or what to do? I am so frustrated. What can I do? Traumatize her and lock her in a room? I am just at my wits end. Realizing that I have two old cats who aren't old enough to just die or be put to sleep, but old enough to have issues, with the promise of more to come.

I love my pets, but I hate this. I really do.


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