When you gotta go, you gotta go
Play
If an animal starts urinating inappropriately, it's usually the sign of a health problem not naughtiness
It’s morning, and as I open Susu’s bedroom door and look inside, my heart falls. There’s urine, urine everywhere.
Well, not everywhere. The elderly cat does her best to use the litter box, but her back legs are too stiff for her to step inside. Instead, she backs up to the box as close as she can, lifts her tail, and squirts into the litter. Sometimes she misjudges, and the urine falls outside the box.
Why don’t I find a container with low sides, so that she can step in more easily? In fact, I once installed a box with sides barely three cms high. She wouldn’t use it. The other cats loved it, though, scattering kitty litter all over the room.
Since Susu prefers the box she has, I put rubber mats and flat nappies all around it to catch the urine that doesn’t go inside. For months, this alternative has worked well. It’s much easier throwing away a nappy than washing the floor every time she pees.
Besides, as I said, she does her best to aim inside the box – that is, until now.
In the mornings, I now find the floor near the nappies covered in urine too. She obviously can no longer hit the nappy, and in addition, she’s gradually been releasing ever-increasing amounts of urine. It’s pale, almost colourless, and if cleaned up immediately, without much odour.
I know what's happening. After years of reigning as my household’s oldest and healthiest cat, Susu now suffers kidney failure, along with the rest of my senior cats.
Slowly, very slowly, her kidneys can no longer clean blood efficiently or remove waste products properly.
I know that Susu has kidney problems because my vet checked her blood last week. The indications for kidney failure were much higher than they were six months ago, when we last checked her blood.
One way to help the failing kidneys is to change the diet. No longer can Susu enjoy whatever food she wishes. She, like the my other elderly cats, must eat food specially developed for cats in renal failure. It’s not as flavourful as she’d wish, but much easier on her kidneys.
She must also have saline injections to ensure that her body is hydrated properly.
Kidney failure is, of course, not the only reason an animal starts to urinate inappropriately. There are other illnesses that may cause this problem.
Too often, however, people assume that if their dog or cat suddenly begins urinating in the wrong place, then the animal is doing it on purpose – as if their pet is making a conscious choice to disturb others in this way.
I doubt that. Animals don’t use urination as a revenge tactic.
Besides, to me, there’s always a reason, and if that reason is related to health issues, then you might have an opportunity to improve the situation.
