Just as a follow-up.  I love cats and know they have brought me much
joy during my life.  I don't want to come across as insensitive and
uncaring.  I just feel like I am at the end of my rope and I feel badly
about the situation.

Also, I had a phone consult with Sonya Fitzpatrick (the Pet Psyhic from
Animal Planet) about this cat.  I asked her to ask him to stop peeing.
She said she did and that he told her there were not medical issues at
the time (this was in 1/05).  She told me to put some of my urine in
the litter boxes, which I did as well.  But of course, the peeing
continued.

Thanks for your comments.

First, I really think you need to change vets. this idea of isolating
your cat one week a month is ridiculous, and pushing prescription food
on you without further investigation of the issue is also troublesome.

It sounds to me like your cat may have a condition called Interstitial
Cystitis. This is a chronic inflammation of the bladder that happens
because there are flaws in the protective lining of the bladder and the
urine irrtates the bladder wall casing inflammation, blood and symptoms
of a urinary tract infection.  I have two cats with this condition and
have been able to control it, and I suggest you try my approach for a
few months and see if you see improvement.

1) The first thing you'll need to do is eliminate dry food.

Dry food diets have been shown to exacerbate or cause urinary tract
issues. Cats have evolved to derive most of their moisture intake from
what they eat. As a result the cat does not get enough water from dry
food and usually doesn't drink enough to make up for the losses, thereby
not allowing the bladder to be properly flushed and keeping the cat in a
constant state of dehydration, which puts a lot of stress on other
organs as well. The fact is dry food is not a species appropriate diet
and is now suspected to cause diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease,
kidney problems, etc., and it was shown in one study that it often
exacerbates urinary tract issues.

Some good websites that address a lot of the problems with dry food are:
http://catsincanada.com/articles/feeding.html
http://www.catnutrition.org

When choosing a canned food, it is also important to only feed *high
quality* foods, which generally use a fixed formula and are more
digestable as they contain quality ingredients (no by-products), where
grocery store foods generally are made with whatever is cheapest. The
food I would recommend, and use myself is Wellness, (which also promotes
a neutral urine ph of 6.1-6,4, which is very similar to Hill's c/d and
may help to keep crystals from developing.) To find a supplier of
Wellness near you you can go to
http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/locator/locator_form.asp

2) The next thing you'll need to do is put your cat on a 12 hour feeding
schedule. Free feeding is not a good idea, and can't be done with canned
food anyway. I also recommend that you give your cat a variety of
flavors (something different each day), so you don't risk the cat
getting fixated on one particular food to the exclusion of all others,
and also to alleviate boredom with a food where the cat gets sick of it
and stops eating it altogether.

3) Supplement your cat with Glucosamine. While it is generally used for
joints and arthritis, it also works to rebuild the protective layer of
the bladder, which in turns stops the pain and irritation that causes
the cat to exhibit symptoms of a UTI. For this purpose your best bet is
to buy Cosequin for Cats, which can be given by capsule or mixed in with
the canned food. It is available through your vet, or can be purchased
online without a prescription. The dose is 1 capsule for every 10
pounds. If your cat is larger, say 12-13 pounds. I would suggest you use
a capsule and a half rather than try to get away with using one capsule
as it would be better to do a little extra than not enough. If your cat
is smaller than 10 pounds, just use one whole capsule.

4) Try to determine, then eliminate, what any stressors might be in
household. Stress can exacerbate or cause flare-ups in cats with IC. You
can also buy Feliway plugins and use those as they have a calming effect
on cats and can help reduce stress. http://www.valleyvet.com is a good
source for buying these at a reasonable price. The refills last longer
than the packaging says, and the ones I have last close to two months,
so the long term expense is minimal.

5) Keep the litterbox immaculately clean. Generally, as a rule, using a
clumping litter (natural litters such as World's Best Cat Litter or an
*unscented* clay litter such as Everclean are good) and scooping a
minimum of twice a day will keep the litterbox clean and to the cat's
liking. It is also important to regularly disinfect the box (every 2-3
weeks) and completely change the litter *at least* once a month. Having
a dirty litterbox can be really stressful for cats, and the routine I
have described to keep the litterbox clean takes no more than a few
minutes a day for scooping and maybe 10 minutes every few weeks for the
disinfecting and litter change.

If, after a few months (it probably won't take that long to notice a
difference,) you aren't seeing improvement, then it would be wise to
investigate other possibilities such as bladder stones. HTH.

Megan

                                   

Google feline interstitial cystitis. Buy Feliway diffusers for the rooms in
your house. Increase water intake by placing bowls of water around the house
and feeding at least 50% of the time wet food. I know others will chime in
too.

Has you vet done x-rays to see if it is kidney stones or bladder stones?
This might be the cause of urinating outside of the box, and might not show
up as crystals. He might not be able to make it to the box each time. If
this is the case, you might have to try Science Diet XD and giving the kitty
fluids.
Also - and this won't be a popular suggestion - does your cat go outside? We
had a cat that peed EVERYWHERE - even on top of the foil, newspapers, dirty
laundry. He was an indoor only cat. We were at the end of our rope. He had
NO medical problems, and we tried ALL solutions found here. We started
letting him out. supervised,  and he stopped peeing inside in inappropriate
places and started using the litter boxes. There was just something going on
in his little head that he had to go outside.

I appreciate how depressing this is. We were doing laundry everyday (towels,
pillows, blankets, rugs). Had to get a heavy duty washer!! But the damn
little buggers work their way into your heart, and you have to do anything
you can to help them out.

I would also ask the (new) vet about the cosequin that the other poster
suggested, or some amiltryptiline (sorry on the spelling). They can both
help calm the cat and help with the Interstitial Cystitis. You have to be
patient, though, because it does take awhile to build up the dosage in the
kitty.

Good luck.