My cat is newly diagnosed and can't stop urinating on the floor, help

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CJK

CJK

Member Since 2023
VERY LONG, I'M SORRY. PLEASE HELP, MY CAT IS PEEING ON THE FLOOR. Hello, my name is CJK and my cats name is Tobi. She is a stray we took in, she had previous owners but they threw her out and never let her back in...I wasn't looking to get a cat but she was at our door crying all day and night so we took her in. It took months to get her to the vet, as where I live we have a shortage, but what we thought was an initial health check up, it was alot more. The vet thinks Tobi is about 12 years old, female, and was diagnosed with diabetes June 22nd, 2023 after her bloodwork. They started her off on 1 unit of Caninsulin twice a day. About a month before she was diagnosed, she started peeing outside her litter box, she's done it a few times before but mostly used the litter box since we took her in months ago. She will poop in her box and then walk out immediately after and pee by the box. She has her own room that has a gate she can walk under, but our dog cannot get in there so she has a safe place to herself. She has 3 litter boxes, different sizes and shapes, two in her room (upstairs) and one downstairs by the front door. She pees in various spots in her room and by the front door. It will be like 6-7 pees a day on the floor and maybe 2 in her box. The vet did a glucose curve and increased her Caninsulin to 3 units twice a day (around July 10th), her next appointment is August 7th. We have tried paper pellets, wood pellets, corn litter, walnut shell litter and clay litter. She will only pee in the cheap clay litter. I bought the Feliway plug in diffuser that's supposed to her calm her and help with the urinating but it's done nothing. She gets the classic fancy feast wet food twice a day with her insulin and she has Boreal dry food available to her whenever she is hungry. She eats and drinks CONSTANTLY and then pees so much. She used to sleep with us months ago but lately she seems a little detached. She doesn't seem to be in pain at all, has no issues going up and downstairs or jumping on her different levels of her cat tree. I give her treats when she pees in her box and I clean it up immediately, her box is never dirty. I used vinegar and water at first to try to clean the pee on the floors (we have no carpet), and then I bought the Nature's Miracle enzyme cleaner, that doesn't seem to deter her. We rent our appartment so it is stressful and tiring to clean 6-8 pees off the floors a day. I have tried researching alot of different things and tried so many different ideas. She is a smaller cat, around 8 or 9 lbs, she gained 1 lb which the vet was happy about, she was apparently underweight at first, but she has a very large belly for such a small cat. We play with her and give her the freeze dried pure bites chicken treats (1 ingredient), she doesn't show much interest in going back outside like she used to before we owner her, we took her out a few times to see if she will pee out there but she isn't a fan. I always had indoor cats so I prefer to keep her inside anyways but I'm trying everything. We only have the 1 cat (Tobi) and 1 dog, and the dog gives her space. She seems to be happy and not in pain, doesn't have any trouble mobilizing. It is just the constant peeing on the floor that is stressful for myself and my partner. I'm not planning on abandoning her like her previous owners, please someone help me though. There has to be something wrong if she is peeing on the floor so much but will poop in her box and used to pee in her box regularly before. I'm not sure if the vet will increase her dose again for the next curve, could this help with the peeing? I don't know what to do, any tips or suggestions is appreciated. Thank you for reading my long introduction. I'm desperate, anything will help.
 
welcome. waving from ontario. hope you were not deluged.

and speaking of deluged ... i need to be blunt because i've just had surgery and have to lie down again quick - i'm terribly sorry for thid ... it is likely that your cat (thank you for taking her in) is not feeling not as great as she should be for two reasons. one: unregulated diabetes. two:caninsulin - it is meant for dogs who have a different metabolism than cats. in cats, this insulin hits hard and fast (think rollercoaster) and rarely lasts the full twelve hours.

Some reading for you but esp. for your vet:
I'm tagging a couple of late night people for you who can explain in better (and less blunt) terms.
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@tiffmaxee
@Bandit's Mom

and
@Laurasboyz (haven't seen her on the forum for awhile - she lives in Halifax)
 
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The first symptom I missed was peeing on the floor. I thought it was the dog. He died and it continued. A year later the cat with Lymphoma died and then I knew who it was. It's a symptom of uncontrolled diabetes. I'm NOT very experienced but I do know that caninsulin is not suitable for cats. It was developed for dogs. The fact that your vet put the dose up means it's uncontrolled. We never put a dose up by more than 0.25U at a time. They're tiny creatures compared to dogs and work differently. You need a different insulin and a different dose. As soon as my cat went on insulin she stopped peeing outside the letterbox. Your cat will stop when she gets the right insulin and stops peeing so much. Do you know how much water she's drinking? Remember if you're feeding wet food there's water in the food.
This is beyond my expertise so I'm sure some one else will reply with information on how to help you.
I'm in Australia so don't know anything about sourcing the best food - a lot of us use Fancy Feast Pate and cats have been known to go into remission with diet alone.
If you don't get a reply you can try the FB group as many members are in there as well.
I'm available if you need to vent and chat but I'm inexperienced. Change the title of your post to "uncontrolled diabetes on canninsulin" if you don't get a reply as that will attract more attention.
Debbie & Bonnie

Goo
 
I’ve known people with diabetic cats that peed outside of the box due to not feeling well. I’d ask your vet for either lantus or Prozinc. As Kelly mentioned tge insulin you are using is for dogs. Rather than mention that at first I would simply say something like this insulin doesn’t seem to work for my cat. Can I try one of the others please?
I would get a human meter and start testing her bg at home. Caninsulin is very harsh, can cause big drops in bg and then the bg goes sky high. You want to make sure it doesn’t dip too low,
 
I agree she must feel unwell because her diabetes is still unregulated. Doing curves at the vet only won’t tell you the whole picture. Also cats are stressed out at the vet and the numbers are usually stress inflated. You can learn to home test and do the curves at home which is better for her and will also save you a lot of money. In the meantime, pee pads are your friend. Minnie peed everywhere because she had neuropathy so I had pee pads under all the litter boxes and in all her favorite spots.

With a diabetic cat you need:
  • A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
  • A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
  • We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
  • HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly
A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.
 
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Was she checked for a UTI during her exam? Diabetic cats are more prone to UTIs than other cats because of the sugar in their urine.

Jess always pooped in the box but piddled on the floor when she had a UTI. At first it was right beside the box, so I thought 'someone' just missed, then a couple a little further from the box and then in the hallway just outside the litter box room - in our case, going further & further from the box was her way getting my attention, getting me to notice and telling me something wasn't right.
 
Setting aside the issue of Caninsulin, feeding Toby a partially dry food diet is likely not helping. There are very few dry foods that are low in carbohydrates. Even if you're using the variety of Boreal that's ostensibly low in carbs, it's still approximately 32% carb. We consider low carb under 10%. In all likelihood, even if you were using an insulin that is better suited for cats, the dry food you're using would be defeating the purpose of the insulin by driving the numbers up. We can provide you a list of foods available in Canada that are low in carbs. To be honest, a canned food diet is far more preferable to any dry food.

When a cat is poorly regulated, one of the primary symptoms of diabetes is that they urinate excessively. Unless you are going to station yourself by Toby's litter box, chances are that the excessive urination makes it unpleasant for her to use the box even though you've given her quite a few boxes. As a temporary measure, I'd suggest getting pee pads to put in the areas around the box or where you're finding that she pees.

As for a larger scenario, I'd encourage you to start home testing. This is a link that contains information on home testing. Given the nature of Caninsulin, I would not change Toby's food to something lower in carbs until you start testing her blood glucose (BG). Changing to a lower carb food will drop her BG numbers and you need to be able to monitor to be sure her numbers don't drop so low that she's in danger. We are very committed to having people home test. It is the best, if not the only way, to ensure the safety of your cat.

Please let us know how we can help.
 
Btw, the freeze dried treats are great and so is the wet food. It’s just the dry that’s an issue as Sienne said.

I also just wanted to say thank you for taking her in! I can’t imagine who can dump a 12 year old cat without any remorse but I know it happens. I rescued a cat last year under the same circumstances. A lot of folks can’t deal with any health issues so they abandon their pets and I commend you for not giving you on her.

We can help get her regulated and once she is, the peeing issue will go away. As everyone said, home testing is key. I’d also talk to the vet about switching insulins. Lantus is very affordable in Canada that’s where I ordered mine from. Then last step would be to transition her off the dry food. She can continue to eat multiple times a day, it’s actually easier on her pancreas and helps avoid big sugar spikes, it just needs to be low carb foods or treats.
 
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My first diabetic cat was Unkie, nearly 20 years ago. He frequently peed in inappropriate places. Long story short, I was able to observe that was happening when he was sleeping! He had an increased need to urinate early in diagnosis and I guess he was so relaxed during sleep, he simply passed urine when his bladder became full. Otherwise he used the litter box. I provided many small, washable throw rugs that he would choose to lay on for naps and was able to catch those accidents most of the time. At the time, I did not try puppy pads, but I'm pretty sure he would not have chosen to lay on. In time as he progressed in treatment that issue disappeared.

I don't know if you have said that you have observed Toby choosing to pee outside of the box, or that you are just finding the resulting puddles.

Just a thought that my experience with Unkie could offer a different angle to consider.
 
Shelley & Jess said:
Was she checked for a UTI during her exam? Diabetic cats are more prone to UTIs than other cats because of the sugar in their urine.

Jess always pooped in the box but piddled on the floor when she had a UTI. At first it was right beside the box, so I thought 'someone' just missed, then a couple a little further from the box and then in the hallway just outside the litter box room - in our case, going further & further from the box was her way getting my attention, getting me to notice and telling me something wasn't right.
Click to expand...
Yes, they checked her urine sample last week and said there was no issues.
 
Linda and Newman said:
My first diabetic cat was Unkie, nearly 20 years ago. He frequently peed in inappropriate places. Long story short, I was able to observe that was happening when he was sleeping! He had an increased need to urinate early in diagnosis and I guess he was so relaxed during sleep, he simply passed urine when his bladder became full. Otherwise he used the litter box. I provided many small, washable throw rugs that he would choose to lay on for naps and was able to catch those accidents most of the time. At the time, I did not try puppy pads, but I'm pretty sure he would not have chosen to lay on. In time as he progressed in treatment that issue disappeared.

I don't know if you have said that you have observed Toby choosing to pee outside of the box, or that you are just finding the resulting puddles.

Just a thought that my experience with Unkie could offer a different angle to consider.
Click to expand...
I used old rugs and cheap dog beds for Minnie too that I could wash easily but I also laid pee pads under them all so the pee wouldn’t sip down to the floor. Easier to do a wash than clean the floors every day! One of the dog beds has a removable cover so I’d put a pee pad inside on top of the cushion and then zip the cover over it. Desperate times!
 
I have fostered many diabetics and almost always, the peeing outside the box stopped once the diabetes was regulated.
I did not think Caninsulin was ever sold anymore, I thought it went off the market, reformulated, and rebranded as Vetsulin. Getting a longer lasting insulin like Prozinc or Glargine wl help with regulation.
 
CJK said:
VERY LONG, I'M SORRY. PLEASE HELP, MY CAT IS PEEING ON THE FLOOR. Hello, my name is CJK and my cats name is Tobi. She is a stray we took in, she had previous owners but they threw her out and never let her back in...I wasn't looking to get a cat but she was at our door crying all day and night so we took her in. It took months to get her to the vet, as where I live we have a shortage, but what we thought was an initial health check up, it was alot more. The vet thinks Tobi is about 12 years old, female, and was diagnosed with diabetes June 22nd, 2023 after her bloodwork. They started her off on 1 unit of Caninsulin twice a day. About a month before she was diagnosed, she started peeing outside her litter box, she's done it a few times before but mostly used the litter box since we took her in months ago. She will poop in her box and then walk out immediately after and pee by the box. She has her own room that has a gate she can walk under, but our dog cannot get in there so she has a safe place to herself. She has 3 litter boxes, different sizes and shapes, two in her room (upstairs) and one downstairs by the front door. She pees in various spots in her room and by the front door. It will be like 6-7 pees a day on the floor and maybe 2 in her box. The vet did a glucose curve and increased her Caninsulin to 3 units twice a day (around July 10th), her next appointment is August 7th. We have tried paper pellets, wood pellets, corn litter, walnut shell litter and clay litter. She will only pee in the cheap clay litter. I bought the Feliway plug in diffuser that's supposed to her calm her and help with the urinating but it's done nothing. She gets the classic fancy feast wet food twice a day with her insulin and she has Boreal dry food available to her whenever she is hungry. She eats and drinks CONSTANTLY and then pees so much. She used to sleep with us months ago but lately she seems a little detached. She doesn't seem to be in pain at all, has no issues going up and downstairs or jumping on her different levels of her cat tree. I give her treats when she pees in her box and I clean it up immediately, her box is never dirty. I used vinegar and water at first to try to clean the pee on the floors (we have no carpet), and then I bought the Nature's Miracle enzyme cleaner, that doesn't seem to deter her. We rent our appartment so it is stressful and tiring to clean 6-8 pees off the floors a day. I have tried researching alot of different things and tried so many different ideas. She is a smaller cat, around 8 or 9 lbs, she gained 1 lb which the vet was happy about, she was apparently underweight at first, but she has a very large belly for such a small cat. We play with her and give her the freeze dried pure bites chicken treats (1 ingredient), she doesn't show much interest in going back outside like she used to before we owner her, we took her out a few times to see if she will pee out there but she isn't a fan. I always had indoor cats so I prefer to keep her inside anyways but I'm trying everything. We only have the 1 cat (Tobi) and 1 dog, and the dog gives her space. She seems to be happy and not in pain, doesn't have any trouble mobilizing. It is just the constant peeing on the floor that is stressful for myself and my partner. I'm not planning on abandoning her like her previous owners, please someone help me though. There has to be something wrong if she is peeing on the floor so much but will poop in her box and used to pee in her box regularly before. I'm not sure if the vet will increase her dose again for the next curve, could this help with the peeing? I don't know what to do, any tips or suggestions is appreciated. Thank you for reading my long introduction. I'm desperate, anything will help.
Click to expand...
Hello everyone, thank you for all the info. It's taking me awhile to get back to everyone because I'm doing alot of research. I was very disappointed today, I called my vet and asked to be switched off Caninsulin, they told me they never heard of Lantus... they said, "those symptoms are expected until we do a couple more curves to find the right dose and stay on the current treatment for now." I am very disheartened and I will try to call the few other vets on my island, everyone is so booked up. :(
 
CJK said:
Hello everyone, thank you for all the info. It's taking me awhile to get back to everyone because I'm doing alot of research. I was very disappointed today, I called my vet and asked to be switched off Caninsulin, they told me they never heard of Lantus... they said, "those symptoms are expected until we do a couple more curves to find the right dose and stay on the current treatment for now." I am very disheartened and I will try to call the few other vets on my island, everyone is so booked up. :(
Click to expand...
Any vet clinic that hasn't heard of Lantus, which is the gold standard for treating feline diabetes, makes me nervous! Not to mention the fact that your starting dose is very high, and maybe causing more problems than they realize.
Where in Nova Scotia do you live? I'm in Sydney, and my vet clinic uses Lantus and Levemir for treating feline diabetes.
Also, please remember that you don't need a prescription to get insulin here. Which means you can walk into Shoppers Drug Mart and ask for Lantus. It's more cost-effective to buy the pack of pen cartridges then to buy the 10 mL vial.

PS: Lantus and Caninsulin do not use the same type of syringes. So if you do switch to Lantus, please let us know and we'll let you know what kind of syringes you need to buy. And they are also ones you can just buy at the drugstore.
 
I’m answering your question about SLGS. You are supposed to lower the dose the next cycle if the bg falls under 90. Then you hold for a week unless another drop under 90 sooner. If that happens another reduction is earned.
 
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