question about urinating

I found this site a couple years ago when my cat was first diagnosed with diabities, and the information I gained from everyone here was immensley helpful in treating him. Now, I have a new concern that has come up. First off, just for clarification, I will be contacting my vet first thing in the morning to have Ernie looked at to make sure there isnt a medical problem causing this. I just want to get insight from others to see what other than a medical ailment could be causing this.

Ernie is now almost 14 years old. He has never had an issue urinating out of the litter box. Last week I caught him urinating in a corner of our basement. It was an isolated incident so I didnt think much of it. I just stopped allowing him to go to the basement.

Then tonight, he was meowing alot to get my attention like he does when he is hungry. So of course i fed him, but he persisted. Then I thought maybe he had to go to the bathroom. So i put him in his litter box. He jumped out. Then a few minutes later I noticed he was urinating over in the corner of one of our bedrooms. Now, like I said he is getting older and I know he dont like to jump much anymore (probably due to arthritus) , and the litter box is a very deep one. So I immediately switched to a more shallow box, hoping this will fix the problem.

Assuming there isnt an underlying medical problem (UTI, ect) what else would you suggest I do?

 

Hi there,

Is Ernie still on Insulin? And are you hometesting?
I ask because frequently cats that are not regulated urinate outside the box because they pee more. Cats that are not regulated have more glucose in their urine which is a perfect medium for bacteria to grow.

Make sure the vet does a urinalysis and culture and sensitivity to see if there is infection before giving antibiotics blindly.

Meanwhile, make sure you are cleaning the spots he is urinating in with a good enzyme cleaner. Petastic is good, ZeroOdor, maybe others will have other suggestions.

 

He is on insulin and we do home test still.

 

Yes, get to the vet.

Sometimes painful urination will cause the cat to go elsewhere than the box.

They associate the box itself with the pain.

Possible urinary tract infection.

After the vet, you might want to obtain some Dr.Elsie's Cat Attract litter,
to lure Ernie back to the litter box.

 

Ok went to the vet. No UTI. Everything seems fine. And the new shallow box at least for the time being has lured him back to using the box. Something else I wanna do now is change his insulin. For the past two years we've been on Humilin N ( i know its the devils insulin lol). Anyhow, our curves are getting to be no longer acceptable. I would like some suggestions on what to switch to Lantus seems pretty popular around here. Also, will I need to get a prescription for this or can I buy it OTC like the Humilin? How do you go about figuring dosage? I think this may also be part of our problem. Please let me know where I can buy it the most economically too.

 

Hi Jason,

Yes, an insulin like Lantus should work much better for you. Check out the Insulin support group page for information on how Lantus works etc. You do need a prescription. You might also start a new topic and ask specifically ask for Lantus help.

 

Here is a link to the petdiabetes.wiki page about Lantus: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Lantus