It sucks having multiple old pets at one time

[EmilyGrace]

We used to live in Pontiac ( a city just outside of Detroit) and couldn't have many pets. Once we moved out of our tiny house and into a large house with a large yard, my mom started adding pets to the family. Within our first few years at the new house, we adopted a 2 cats and 2 dogs in addition to the cat and guinea pigs we had in Pontiac. Now, 14 years after moving to our house, our pets are all reaching the senior years.

Sadly, we are thinking about putting our oldest cat and dog to sleep. Tigger is about 15 years old and was our first cat. We got him when he was a young cat. He has arthritis and has stopped using the litter box and has been peeing on our shoes and the rugs near the door. We thought he might have a UTI, but he doesn't. The vet thought that maybe he couldn't get downstairs to the litter boxes since he has a hard time walking, so we started putting him in the bathroom at night with a litter box, which has ended peeing on shoes. Well the other day, I was getting ready for bed in the bathroom and Tig went pee in the box, then got out and pooped in front of the bath tub! I have been picking up after him every morning (both pee and poop) since he seems to pick and choose when he wants to use the box.

Colonel is my mom's dream dog, an Old English Sheepdog. He's about 13 years old. Over the last few years, he's lost most of his sight, has become deaf, has arthritis, has some form of dementia, and most recently, has lost control of his bladder. He pees in his sleep and today peed on the floor while walking to his bed. In addition to the problems he's developed with old age, he also has aggression issues (such as lunging at our neighbor's kids, he's bitten a friend of mine and drew blood on my sister's boyfriend, and attack a neighbor's dog a few years ago).

So my mom is contemplating putting down Tigger and Colonel and maybe my 12 year old cat Daisy (she has been peeing on clothes since she was 2-- if anyone has suggestions on how to stop this, Daisy and I would be eternally grateful). In addition to them, we also have 10 year old Elvis (a cat), 11 year old Libby (a black lab), 3 year old Lacey (maltese), 1 year old Taz (rat terrier), 2 year old Isabelle (cat), and 4 month old Georgie (cat). I hate having my pets so close in age, these next few years are going to suck. :(