Thursday, July 30, 2015

Jewel's Journey

I'm sure that many of you can relate to this when I say that I would do anything for my kitties.  I will do everything I can to ensure my fur babies have happy and comfortable lives and stay as healthy as possible.

Sometimes being a cat parent means we have to clean up after our fur babies.  This was the case with Jewel.  As Jewel aged, she began to defecate outside of the litter box occasionally.

As her arthritis and kidney disease progressed, the frequency of these occurrences increased.  Of course I never yelled at her, punished her, or got angry with her.  It wasn't her fault that her body was failing.  Instead, I dutifully cleaned up the messes whenever she made one.

Sometimes I could tell she had made a mess because she would hit the door stop on the back of the bathroom door as she was coming out of the room.  The boing noise would alert me to go check the floor for a mess.

Unfortunately, she didn't always hit the door stop and I would squeal when I accidentally stepped in a mess (the joys of living a life with low vision, haha!).  I learned pretty quickly to check the bathroom floor before stepping into the room!

Jewel was such a trooper.  She almost always made it into the bathroom to do her business.  I was thankful for that as the linoleum floor is so much easier to clean than the carpeted floors in my living room and bedroom.  Jewel was so intelligent; I think she knew the best places in the house to make a mess if she couldn't make it to her box.

What do you do for your kitty as a loving cat parent?

12 comments:

  1. Oh yea, we know what you're talking about. Messes happen and a no-fault rule is always appreciated!

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  2. I do everything I can do.
    My cats are my babies and now, they are old cats.
    Now the care increased because the problems arising from age begin to appear.
    Just like you, I want them have comfort and love, always.

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  3. Yup, we agree, there are always messes to clean up. Luckily, not too often. You all have a great day.

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  4. I also had messes to clean up with Abby. She didn't like getting into the litterboxes everytime so I started putting kitty pads out and she would use those. It took me a long time before I realized it was probably hard for her to get into the box itself even though it was low not low enough. I know it will sound strange but I miss cleaning after her. I would give anything to do it again. I know you understand.

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  5. My human was lucky with Sparkle - she was able to use the litter box to the end. Although perhaps that was one of the reasons why my human was in denial about how sick she was - she managed to carry on like normal in so many ways.

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  6. Our Mommy is a pushover and lets us get away with anything. She will get out of bed to clean a hairball or stinky mess anytime through the night. She has even sat up all night with one of us if we were sick. We're her babies! (much to the human sister's dismay. mol!)

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  7. When you love them, you do whatever it takes to keep them happy. A mess caused by old age or illness is nothing to clean up in return for the lifetime of love they give us.

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  8. There were times towards the end that Tara couldn't make it in time and it was heartbreaking to watch.

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  9. Even though messes can be yucky, Mom Paula is always a trooper cleaning up after us.

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  10. The mom cleans our yaks up without complaining because she knows we didn't mean to do it.

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  11. Lucy is 16 and gave u on litter boxes 2 years ago. She pees on the puppy mat near the box, but if she goes near the edge it leaks and I have stepped in it first thing in the morning. I never get mad either because I know someday I will actually miss that.

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  12. I am right now experiencing this kind of issue with the constant feeding of Minko....up to 30 minutes or so, 2 to 3 times a day...and he won't let anyone else feed him, that would at lest let me have a break now and then...love does a lot of things we nevfur thought we would/could do...

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