Post your questions & nuggets for Gold & Platinum Members Q&A call Sept 14, 2019

Hello Val,

Lily-Grace, a cat who has lived with me since September 2012, continues to pee and poo outside the litter boxes despite different types of litters, levels of litter, types of boxes, and their locations. She uses the main bath ceramic tile floor and the wood floor in the hall outside the bathroom (not the bathtub because I’ve lined that with aluminum foil). During the laser session in April(?), you emphasized possible reasons for her behavior and ways to accommodate her. At her annual wellness exam in June or July, the vet pronounced her healthy.

My guess was that if the feline matriarch pooed outside the boxes, then why shouldn’t she do so also–and pee outside them too. Would you ask her why she changed her habits one to two years ago? And under what conditions she would return to using litter boxes? Thank you.

Hi Val,
Since Knight passed (1 year and 3 months) I didn’t have the willing to have a new dog. I felt for a while that I’m waiting for him to come back and I feel it was a part of the grief process. I understand that He will come back at the right time for him and I’m totally OK with that. I don’t use to be without a dog in my house for a long period and I miss it …and still I don’t feel the urge to adopt a new dog… Maybe it’s not the right time for me.
Can you check with Knight for new info about his coming back? I’ll also be happy to hear what you have to say or advice about this kind of situation.
And can you ask him about his end of life. I don’t know why, maybe I need to hear it from you, like a second opinion or more correctly 4th opinion. Can you check with him if the euthanasia was at the right time and place for him. I feel that I need to make sure again.
Thank you so much!
Yaarit

This is Liberty we got her 10 days ago at 6 weeks old. She died last night the result of a freak accident with an electric recliner. All the CPR and breathing for her I did couldn’t save her. We ask for prayers as we are devastated. She was a perfect angel who completed us. She was connected to our previous Boston Terrier Haley. Can anyone contact her and ask why she kept going under the chair. Will she come back to us?
Does she have any messages for us? Does Maddie our Maltipoo understand, she was winning her over.

Strolch has lost a lot of weight over the last year. By now he is only bones and skin. He does eat and there are no signs of disease. He behaves like he always did. I cannot figure out what is wrong with him. Neither can the vet.
Can you do a quick check, if he has any information that might help us get him back on track?

Thanks.

This is a pic of Strolch. First had to resize.

Obviously the upload of pictures is not working.

Hello Everyone – I’m Grace.

I sit for a cat name Ava, a rather small torti about 5 years old. She was originally an indoor cat living with her current owner’s daughter. About 3 years ago, Ava came to live with her current owner, Wayne, who told me how he retrained Ava to go outside as well.

I didn’t realize initially when I offered to help him with his cat, that she goes in and out. In my area (filled with coyotes, mountain lions and occasional puma), it’s not the wisest choice.

I’ve “spoken” to Ava – she is very tuned in to me, and vice versa. She’d given me a lot of information about herself as well which I’ve verified with the owner, so I’m sure she and I are on a good wavelength in terms of information flowing back and forth.

However, she seems to be wandering further and further away from home, staying away for longer periods, and is not findable on her own property for many hours in a day.

(Note: I usually stay with her Saturdays, Sundays and sometimes 10 days in a row if the Owner travels. About 2 weeks ago, Owner Wayne broke his leg and cannot travel now, so for many weeks I’ll not be with her on weekends.)

When I stay with her for a week or two, she sticks close to home in her own yard more.

I love Ava, and enjoy the time spent with her, but it’s stressful for me when I can’t find her, and I do worry about her safety.

We lost a cat a couple of years ago due to the child of 30 letting the cat outside at 3 am, so I’m uber sensitive to this.

The complicating factors about Ava are that her owner doesn’t like her leaving the property, but clearly wants her to be outside to “do her business” and prowl her territory.

If I don’t sit for her for awhile, she stops using her inside litter box also, relying on the outdoor experience instead.

My questions are:

1) Given the fact that the Owner also doesn’t like her being gone for hours, I’m taking the approach it’s ethical to speak to her about staying “at home” and close by. Is that correct?

2) I show her the consequences of meeting unfriendly animals, and I can see in her eyes she understands me, and I see a difference in her behavior after those conversations. But then, the Owner comes home and we regress to not being able to find her for a whole day. How is that to be overcome?

3) I question at moments whether I’m the best pet sitter for her, because it really bothers me that she’s outside (only during the daylight hours by the way) but often as dark approaches, I still cannot find her and it’s extremely stress producing for me as I worry about her, so how does that transmit to her? I’m assuming not so well. And how does that translate to me – I go back and forth with “I’m here to help protect her” to “this is not making me happy”.

Thanks for any input that will help Ava (and me).

Gracie
(for Ava)

Hello again – I’m Gracie –

I’m submitting a second question. If there isn’t time for both, I fully understand. The Ava question is more immediately important right now.

I have a beautiful winning racemare, 8 y.o., who was trained hard and raced hard at 2 y.o., had a series of awful situations too lengthy to discuss her but ultimately colicked and I took her off the track at age 3, literally to save her life.

She’s a mystery horse, meaning no one can figure out what ails her. She clearly has two legs in the front that don’t match, which doesn’t help, and has been diagnosed with LLD (Limb Length Disparity) by a world-class Farrier. Her current Farrier states that her right front leg is 1=1/2″ longer than her left front. He compensates with shoeing, but in truth, only one leg (the right hind) is always sound; all other feet test sore.

I’ve had Vet after Farrier after Chiropractor and recently brought on an old-time Vet last week who, I felt, nailed her personality, her symptoms, and many other things that I, as her attentive owner know about her. So of course, I like him.

He suggested an injection called “Osphos” which is a heavy anti-inflammatory, as he felt whatever is going on in her feet/body would be aided by that and might give her the comfort to exhibit no or reduced lameness. It’s a product that can be administered every 4-6 months forever and could buy her relief and a more normalized life. Right now she has controlled exercise in a Eurociser and controlled turnout in a small pen.

I’m curious to know how to assess, in my chats w/her, whether this is a product she is finding helpful, whether it has any side effects for her she doesn’t like, and so on.
And if anyone here has experience with this product and what that experience has been.

I’m also concerned that the medicine might give her a false sense of well being so that she rams around, bucks, kicks out, and generally acts up like the zealous thoroughbred she is, and since she isn’t as sore or lame, that she’ll injure herself since she may not be as self-protecting if soreness/discomfort isn’t registering in her brain. That may be a discussion for another time.

I have many more questions about this, and about Hattie the mystery horse but that’s the immediate concern (the medication) as I have to talk to the Vet in the coming week to decide whether to increase her controlled exercise.

Thank you.
~~Gracie and Hattie

We decided to get another Boston puppy BeBe to help with the grief and we were already in puppy mode. BeBe will be 8 weeks on Sunday. Maddie seems to really good with her. BeBe picked my husband giving lots of affection. Are there any messages from Liberty, Maddie or BeBe? I don’t feel BeBe is connected to our previous dogs Dixie,Lizzie, Allie, Haley or Shelby. Am I correct?

This post is not under “Reply” to my question because the column would be too narrow. Lily-Grace told Val she’d consider using a litter box open on all four sides. There was one already in the den, but I added one in the large main bath. Except for maybe two weeks when I didn’t notice a packaging change, the litter has been unscented, and there hasn’t been a scent diffuser since before she stopped using the boxes.

Lily-Grace’s decision was to continue using the bath’s tile floor and the hall’s wood floor the next three days (Sun, M, T). My legs mostly stopped working, so I could only bend to scoop the boxes. With help from a vet-tech, Lily-Grace and I got to the clinic for her euthanasia. For months, I’d been telling her she had to use the litter boxes or she’d go to a new home.

We had about an hour together in the room before the procedure. I recounted the reasons I loved, liked, and admired her and the good times we had together. This spring, after I had begun to shut the bedroom door at night and she hadn’t been sleeping on my side, she’d scratch at the door and call to wake me in the morning. In the evening, when I watched a film on the laptop, she’d lay on the table along my left arm, often with her head in the crook of my elbow. While waiting, I told her I regretted not being able to accommodate her outside-the-box habit any longer. If she responded, I didn’t receive it.

A vet-tech and the vet took her to another room to insert a catheter in her front paw. On her return, she briefly sniffed at it, then rested. When the vet inserted a needle, she shrieked and jolted upward, so he and the vet-tech held her down. A second or so later, he held a stethoscope to her heart and confirmed there was no heartbeat. On two previous occasions (2000 and 2011), when my near-to-death cats were euthanized, there was no catheter and anesthesia and euthanasia were separate, not simultaneous. Their passing was outwardly peaceful.

Since then, I seem to see her looking beautiful with four limbs and content exploring a flower garden, and I imagine her sleeping on my side in the bed. But I haven’t had even the brief connection I had with Shoshana after her death. It seems I’m experiencing the deaths of my parakeets, squirrels, and cats all together now with the death of Lily-Grace. I would like to get well enough to thoroughly clean and sort the house (Swedish death cleaning–dostadning), then get a shot for my transition.