10 year old cat needs new home (North Carolina)

[racuda]

We have a female calico cat that must be re-homed. My wife wants to take her to the pound, but I know she could never forgive herself if that happened.

Flower is 10 years old, spayed, declawed and in excellent health. We feed her super-premium cat food (Orijen). She hasn't been outside since finding her as a stray kitten.

The problem is that about 6 months ago, she stopped going over a baby gate to her litterbox. She goes on the floor in front of the gate. The baby gate is to keep our dogs from snacking in the litter box.

If you can take her and are in a driving radius of Asheboro or Greensboro, NC, please PM me.

 

[thechickenchick]

She is a beauty! Is she just getting to old to jump the gate? We have a dog that gets in to the litter box too.

I live to far away but good luck finding her the right home.

 

[RabbitMage]

What kind of dogs do you have? How tall/athletic are they? There are different litterboxes you can try to keep the dogs out.

Did you have the vet check out her paws? We've owned two declawed cats, both of them had to have additional surgery as they aged, one of them stopped using the litter box when her paws were hurting her.

Unfortunately, there aren't many homes out there for ten year old kitties.

 

[racuda]

Quote:
She is a very healthy young 10. We have 2 others, 12 and 13 years old that jump the gate easily. She jumps up on a table to be fed with no problem.

 

[racuda]

Quote:
We have a Maltese and a Westie. They are both small enough to go wherever the cats go. I've never heard of a paw problem years after declawing. I'll look into it.

 

[la dee da]

So she won't jump over the baby gate but she will jump onto the table? Have you tried putting a table or something on the other side of the baby gate so she'll have something to jump up on to? I so hope you can keep her, she's absolutley lovely

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[muscovy94]

Have you thought about just moving the litter box to somewhere she can get to it but the dogs can't? she is a beautiful cat and I'd hate for no one to adopt her and go to the pound. our cat looks just like that except she is long hair.

 

[RabbitMage]

At her age she could also be developing arthritis. If you do a Google search for 'dog proof litter box' there are some options out there, even homemade.

 

[patandchickens]

It is usually jumping *down* that hurts sore paws (if that were her problem) more than jumping *up*, so you could quite likely arrange something that she would use if that's the problem.

Otherwise, there are lots of medical reasons for a cat to start urinating outside of the litter box -- she may be not getting there in time, or may not have the time/control to leap the gate first anymore. Has she been to the vet? She probably should, especially if you are thinking of getting rid of her (and realistically I think we all know what happens to about 99.99% of older cats sent to the pound...)

Really, it is VERY likely you can accommodate her and solve the problem, just takes a bit of detective work and trial-and-error.

Good luck,

Pat