Agatha is 17

[nlbarber]

I almost forgot to mark the day...it's Agatha-cat's birthday! (Well, it's the day we fixed on--as she was a rescue, the exact date is unknown.) There won't be many more years, I don't think, but she's doing pretty well for now. She is navigating the house quite securely now, and seems to see even more light/dark--she spotted an open cabinet door this morning and came over to investigate. I assume she saw the black opening instead of the light wood of the closed door that's normally there. She still is eating well, and over the last week or so she's gone back to being vocally demanding. She either sits by her feeding spot until I come by and then speaks to me to tell me to put her food bowl down, or if I'm slow to realize that she's waiting she will come find me and tell me about it. Oh, and the last few days we've had a cat-spat on the bed in the early morning before I get up, when she decides that Fish needs to leave the bed. Agatha wins. She's still getting 2 pills a day for the kidney disease and high blood pressure, and will probably start getting periodic sub-Q fluids when we go back for the next check...though I may postpone starting that until I get back from my DisneyWorld vacation in early December.

The one thing I wish I could figure out how to deal with is her litterbox habit. She doesn't step far enough into the box to pee, and thus pees over the edge. I keep puppy pads down under the box (and sticking 6-8 inches in front of it) to catch the pee, but it would sure be nicer if she'd walk all the way into the box before she lets go. Or just turn around, like she does to poop. All the solutions I've thought of seem impractical to implement with a blind, aged cat.

Comments

[norabombay.livejournal.com]

awww. As the owner of a 14 year old dog, I totally understand. And she has better litter habits than the Tucker. Who isn't nearly so good about usign the pads.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Tell her I said "Happy Birthday". Here's hoping there'll be more!

[nlbarber]

Agatha says thanks!

[ann-mcn.livejournal.com]

Sounds like she is aware of high contrast, and she's smart and notices when there is a change (open cabinet!). Glad she's feisty with the other one.

As to the litterbox issue - would a deeper box help? My cat seems to pee in that same area that Agatha does, but the box is deep, so she's all inside. (It's a hooded box)

[nlbarber]

I worry that she can't/won't want to jump that high. The other litter boxes in the house are big, deep Bouda domes, and in those she used to manage to pee over the edge about 60% of the time--but the pee (mostly) was caught by the well at the bottom of the ramp. She abandoned those boxes when I put out this one when she went blind, and I wanted a box in another part of the house so I could isolate her as necessary (hasn't happened yet). I bought it for the 3 high sides plus a lower one so she doesn't have to jump....but that's what she pees over. (sigh) Maybe I'll experiment by turning the box around so she has to jump in, and see what happens. She can always go back to the other boxes if she doesn't want to jump, though she really seems to have completely switched to this one.

[growlycub.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday to Agatha from all of us here at the Firemountain Cat Gang!

I'd try turning the box around like you said and see what she will do. It might work.

[nlbarber]

Box has been turned around and pushed up to the wall so she won't (I hope) just walk around and find the low side. We'll see!

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday, Agatha! And I hope you have more.

Morgan and Linnet turned 15 on August 1st (yes, I was a Bad Cat Mommy and was in Denver at the time [g]). They're both still healthy, thank goodness.