I have two neutered male Manx cats who are now 14 years old, totally inside and been together all their lives. They are both such sweeties, and in my house there is just the three of us since my DH's unexpected passing almost 3 years ago. They sleep by me or on me, affectionate and loving. Taking care of them by myself is a big part of my day sometimes with litter boxes, food, water, grooming, cleaning up cat hair, cleaning up an occasional vomit and so on. If you have inside pets you know what I mean. They are big, healthy looking boys, around 14-16 pounds.
About a year ago the older of the two, (older by a couple of months), peed on the bed one morning while I was in it! This was a first time event and I didn't know what to think. I got up and took everything off the bed and washed the sheets, comforter etc. immediately. This happened another time a few months later. I am chalking it up to maybe old age. To jump ahead this happened once maybe every few months, so I then took him to the vet which is a ordeal that I don't like putting either one of us through. However, he got a full workup including ultra-sound, urine drawn directly from his bladder via a needle, blood work, the whole thing. Everything came back good, for which I was thankful, but still no answer to our problem.
Now, in the last month or so it has escalated again. The target is the back of a very puffy cloth sofa. I have used Nature's Miracle for cleaning to eliminate any odor that might remain. It did (as far as I could tell) but he still returned to the same place. I tried another cleaner which was supposed to be fantastic, Angry Orange, and again it took away any smell (to the human nose) but did nothing to keep him from coming back. I have tried special litter with litter attractant in it, I have added litter attractant to their usual litter, and everything I could think of. Feliway for stress, you name it. The thing is he does use his litter box for other things and was using it mostly for peeing too. Then it seemed like the back of the sofa was always getting hit anyway. So I bought some reusable washable "chair pads" for incontinence and put them up there so I could take them off easily and wash them. I also bought a twin size waterproof mattress pad and put that on the back of the sofa, a small blanket or something over it, then the pads. I am washing them constantly. I am about to the end of my rope with this! Yesterday morning I found a spot where he had peed on the carpet! I cleaned it up quickly of course, but I certainly don't want that to become a habit. I also have him on amoxicillin just in case there is an infection, but if anything the peeing has gotten worse.
What went from once every few months is now a daily or multi-daily event.
I thought the waterproof chair pads were going to be manageable and if he went on them I could wash them (I have 5 so they can be replaced when I take one off). I was willing to live with that, but now as I said it is so much and sometimes he even gets to the edge of the pad and the pee actually gets on the sofa! More deep cleaning. Sometimes he scratches like he would in a litter box and the pads are moved or fall off on the floor..... I could go on and on. But like I said, I don't know what else to do and in the back of my mind the unthinkable is coming more and more. Will I have to have him put to sleep? I don't like to think of that but I don't know how much more of this I can handle. Nothing has changed in our household for the past three years, and if that was the reason I would have thought it would have been triggered with my DH's passing. He was the one who did a lot of taking care of them. But, no changes really in our routine or anything of that nature.
I feel like I am held hostage! I know I can't go anywhere because I wouldn't subject someone else to dealing with this in my absence. I wouldn't board them (it is like going to the vet - to get either of them in a carrier is a wrestling match!), and if the time came that I would have to make a final decision it would not be to surrender him because that would be too traumatic for him. This is the only home he has know for 14 years.
I know you may not have any real answers for me, but just wondering if any of you have been through this too and if so, how did you handle it?
Thanks for listening.