Sunday, April 18, 2010

One last chance


I was hoping to share a new post of something creative I have been working on, but alas, my life has been stalled by my loving furry babies. If you've read my blog before, you know that my baby Roscoe has had a pee problem since the day I've adopted him. He has a penance for peeing on carpet. I used to take it as, "this was life with Roscoe." But since Cinnamon started to develop serious urinary infections, that sent us to the emergency room at 3am, we finally put two and two together. Is it possible, that Cinnamon is getting these infections while lying on the carpet that Roscoe soiled, and that we doused in cat urine enzyme killer? We thought so, the vet said it could be a possibility. So the debate began, although I adore my baby Roscoe, I have lived 10 years of the competing smells of Lysol and cat pee. 10 years, of vet visits, special foods, behavioral visits, natural anti anxiety medications and closing the door to my bedroom (he prefers the bed if no carpet can be found).

After crying like a kid, (nose running, blubbering, eyes puffing, incoherent speech) we decided that Roscoe needed to be put down. I couldn't do it, so Hubby brought him to the vet. Then called me, and admitted he couldn't do it. The vet suggested a drug called Ketofen, which also helps humans with an overactive bladder. He says this has saved many a cat's life, so my sweet souled Hubby agreed to give it a try. One of the stipulations is that while on the medication we have to keep Roscoe kenneled for a month to break the carpet fascination. He's allowed out on supervised visits but not allowed in the area he previously soiled. It's a tad tough, as we live in a small space but we're dealing. It'll be a long month but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I am a tad leery to be honest, as I've had the "this will work" conversations before, but I am hoping, beyond hope that this truly will work. I don't want to give off the impression that I feel animals are disposable. In truth, it has been difficult to live within the restrictions of a cat who thinks outside his box. What is even most infuriating is there seems no rhythm or reason. Some days he uses his litter constantly, or he'll pee on the carpet, then walk into his room and use his box. :(

During his confinement we borrowed a friends' Bissel 2x Pro Heat carpet steamer. I am in loooove. It works like a charm. The carpet looks better than it did even when we moved in! So hopefully this is the change we all need and then we can live in peaceful harmony!

~ Marcia

3 comments:

  1. Marcia, I can certainly understand where you are coming from, the smell of cat urine is VERY hard to get rid of. Although nothing is garenteed to work in every situation, it certainly is worth a try, I hope it works out for you and Roscoe:)

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  2. Oh my gosh! You scared me. I was so sad when I read you were going to put your cat down on a "maybe" that was the problem.

    So happy you guys couldn't go through with it.

    I had a dog that I adopted who had a pee problem and I have to admit that he went everywhere. He couldn't help it. He destroyed my couch, bed and carpets. But I still didn't put him down. I was his mommy and if I had a child that did this I surely wouldn't put him down either.

    I also had a cat that was just super picky about going pee only in a clean box. So the vet told me to put a few cat boxes around and to make sure they were always clean. It took awhile but finally she started to go only in the cat boxes. I had to clean them daily and every few days dump the whole thing and clean the box with hot soap and water and put litter in. But hey, it worked.

    I know you love your kitty and I know you will continue to try new things until you finally find the right one to work.

    Good luck. I know it's hard and it's a pain and sometimes you just want to give in but I know you won't. I mean look at that face! How could you? You can't.

    My heart goes out to you.

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  3. So sorry to read about your kittys problems. You may want to consider a diet change. www.catinfo.org and www.catnutrition.org will get you started in the right direction. Good luck!

    Carmen

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