Please help with older cat with multiple health issues

[Turkeycat]

Hi all,

My girlfriend has had an 11 year-old female cat named Bitsy, that she has had for 9 years with several heatlh issues. I have read through many posts but I still feel I need some help.

First of all, Bitsy has mostly loose, brown-colored stools about three times a day and NEVER uses the litter box. The three litter boxes around the house are kept fairly clean and they are shared by three other cats, two female and one male, all of which are much younger than Bitsy. Two of the other cats, the females, sometimes pick on Bitsy. Bitsy seems to eat OK. My girlfriend has pointed out Bitsy seems to do better with some brands of food over others.

Secondly, Bitsy always seems hungry, and she always cries vociferously whenever anyone has the slightest hint of having food or even walking into the kitchen. This is annoying to us, but I presume may not be such a big deal regarding Bitsy's overall health. I just want to give an overall picture. Bitsy had a rough life before my girlfriend adopted her and she often had to fight for food among other cats; this is what we are ascribing her behavior to, anyway.

My girlfriend has spoken to the vet about these two issues, and nothing the vet has suggested has seemed to work well enough though putting Bitsy on a bland diet has apparently helped the loose bowels somewhat. Deworming Bitsy didn't apparently help either. I have read Traci's recommendation of having a cat over 7 get a full set of blood tests and examination (did I miss anything in this recommendation?), which I expect to have done with Bitsy.

These are my questions:

Is there anything else I can do? Should I try anti-diarrheal over-the-counter drugs made for humans? If so, which ones? If not, are there ones made for cats I should ask our vet about? Does any of this sound "normal" for an 11-year-old cat? A cat that's been abused?

Finally, Bitsy appears unable to groom herself. She continuously smells like bowel contents. My girlfriend is wary of cleaning her because of not wanting to deprive Bitsy's skin of natural oils, the value of which has been reinforced by posts on here. She is afraid of using any kind of liquid other than water during the rare times she washes her. Bitsy protests the attempts at cleaning somewhat, with a mild whine/whimper. My girlfriend is afraid of cleaning Bitsy because of what she thinks as Bitsy's relatively weak condition, which I'm so sure is so terrible. Bitsy does appear nonresponsive when toyed with by other cats (though Bitsy still runs here and there, jumps on high points, enjoys being loved on, and will still play once in a while).

Is being this dirty and unable to clean herself also a normal condition for an 11-year-old cat? A cat that's been abused?

Is there a kind of shampoo or other substance that can be used to clean a cat and yet NOT rob the cat's skin of essential oils?

THANK YOU for any info you can give and take care.

Chris

P.S. The water here is VERY hard, and that's what we give the cats. Should we give filtered water?

[Tambrey]

Hi all,

My girlfriend has had an 11 year-old female cat named Bitsy, that she has had for 9 years with several heatlh issues. I have read through many posts but I still feel I need some help.

First of all, Bitsy has mostly loose, brown-colored stools about three times a day and NEVER uses the litter box. The three litter boxes around the house are kept fairly clean and they are shared by three other cats, two female and one male, all of which are much younger than Bitsy. Two of the other cats, the females, sometimes pick on Bitsy. Bitsy seems to eat OK. My girlfriend has pointed out Bitsy seems to do better with some brands of food over others.

You say the litterboxes are kept "fairly clean"....they should be scooped at least once a day...I do mine more than once...as well as completely cleaned on a weekly basis...
have you tried various types of litters, or a litterbox with a lid, or without a lid?

Secondly, Bitsy always seems hungry, and she always cries vociferously whenever anyone has the slightest hint of having food or even walking into the kitchen. This is annoying to us, but I presume may not be such a big deal regarding Bitsy's overall health. I just want to give an overall picture. Bitsy had a rough life before my girlfriend adopted her and she often had to fight for food among other cats; this is what we are ascribing her behavior to, anyway.

there could be any number of reasons she always seems to be hungry adn only a vet can determine this through stool and blood samples.

My girlfriend has spoken to the vet about these two issues, and nothing the vet has suggested has seemed to work well enough though putting Bitsy on a bland diet has apparently helped the loose bowels somewhat. Deworming Bitsy didn't apparently help either. I have read Traci's recommendation of having a cat over 7 get a full set of blood tests and examination (did I miss anything in this recommendation?), which I expect to have done with Bitsy.

has your girlfriend actually TAKEN Bitsy to the vet?...that is the ONLY way that she will find out what is going on.

These are my questions:

Is there anything else I can do? Should I try anti-diarrheal over-the-counter drugs made for humans? If so, which ones? If not, are there ones made for cats I should ask our vet about? Does any of this sound "normal" for an 11-year-old cat? A cat that's been abused?

anti-diarrheal for humans?! NEVER!!! There are meds for cats taht only a vet can prescribe, after doing a stool sample, urine sample and total blood profile.
Things like this are never "normal" in any cat, abused or not, and she needs to see a vet immediately to determine what is happening!

Finally, Bitsy appears unable to groom herself. She continuously smells like bowel contents. My girlfriend is wary of cleaning her because of not wanting to deprive Bitsy's skin of natural oils, the value of which has been reinforced by posts on here. She is afraid of using any kind of liquid other than water during the rare times she washes her. Bitsy protests the attempts at cleaning somewhat, with a mild whine/whimper. My girlfriend is afraid of cleaning Bitsy because of what she thinks as Bitsy's relatively weak condition, which I'm so sure is so terrible. Bitsy does appear nonresponsive when toyed with by other cats (though Bitsy still runs here and there, jumps on high points, enjoys being loved on, and will still play once in a while).

Is being this dirty and unable to clean herself also a normal condition for an 11-year-old cat? A cat that's been abused?

Is there a kind of shampoo or other substance that can be used to clean a cat and yet NOT rob the cat's skin of essential oils?

Again...she needs to see a vet...any number of things can be causing her to be so distressed that she will not even clean herself

P.S. The water here is VERY hard, and that's what we give the cats. Should we give filtered water?

yes...we give filtered water to our cats

Please come and let us know what the vet says

[mamabear]

I agree with Tambrey, it is what i would have said.

I would like to add that since you have hard water, do you have a salt tank? Have you had the water tested is so what was the levels? We here have hard water we had the water tested through the township by law we had to so it was like 25 bucks. We found that the traces of (i dont remember the name) were very high. We do not use hot water but for dishes here or we boil the cold water. If we need to use the water we use the cold only for drinking, let us run for a couple minutes in the morning if you have a salt tank. If you have a salt tank make sure you know when it goes off so that night you dont run the washer or dishwasher or sink, if so you will flood the lines with salt and if that is hte first thing you use in teh morning your coffee will be spittable and the cats will hate you.

Get her to the vet and have a geriatric check up done on her. Blood work in essential in finding something that might not be seen with the eye. let us know what vet says

[Tina B and crew]

anti-diarrheal for humans?! NEVER!!

Actually that isn't always true. We use to give our kittens Kaopectate when they had diarrha at the recommendation of a veterinarian however they changed their formula in the last few years and it now contains salycitates (sp?) as does Pepto Bismol. These are NOT safe for cats...period. I THINK Imodium may be safe because it seems we switched to that when Kaopectate changed it's formula. I use to keep Imodium in my "kitten first aid kit".

That said...I wouldn't give an OTC to an animal without a vets recommendation and dosage advice. Dosage is greatly reduced for animals. My first thought was possibly hyperthyroidism....that can cause loose stools and increased appetite without weight gain. I'd get the cat to a vet ASAP to have it checked out thoroughly...