Having trouble with incontinent kitten

[hopesmother18]

My kitten Hope is incontinent after a spinal cord injury she suffered as a kitten. We keep her in a kennel because of this most of the time and my mom is getting to the point she feels sorry for her and wants to euthanize her. During times I can supervise her I will let her out to get some exercise. We tried diapers but they just slipped off of her and her onesie did not stay on her either. Any other advice or suggestion would be appreciated. We would like to keep her.

[critters]

How old is she? Turtleneck Onesies work the best, but they're hard to find. Do you express her? If she's empty she'll be less likely to leak.

[hopesmother18]

She is about 5 months old and ok I need to look for those kinds of onesies. And no I do not express her, I really did not see a point in it until now, I am going to try that today.

[critters]

Expressing takes a fair amount of practice, but it's terrific once you get it down. BTW, there are also meds for peepots. Bethanechol seems to help with floppy bladders, and phenoxybenzamine (PBZ) worked GREAT for my boy with a spastic (tight) bladder.

[hopesmother18]

Ok. Thanks. Her vet did not mention any meds. Maybe I can talk with him about it at her next appt cause that would be great to try. Yeah. Expressing her bladder is going to take work with her. She gets very temperamental and loves to use her teeth and claws.

[critters]

They have to learn about no teeth and claws, but it doesn't usually take too long. Stubbornness, on the other hand...

[hopesmother18]

Yeah. Im thinking she will learn. When she uses them I shake my finger at her and say no very firmly but she just hisses at me and swats at me lol. I had to take her away from her mom when she was only three weeks old cause she injured herself at two weeks old so that might be one reason. When she was younger she just played that way. Then she didnt use them for a while but if she is outside playing and you go to pick her up she turns mean.

[critters]

She'll probably be "mouthy" most of her life, BTW. My wonkers-from-a-young-age are almost always mouthy, but they CAN learn good mouthy manners.

[hopesmother18]

Ok, thanks, hopefully we can teach her good mouthy manners.

[BendyMom]

Glad to see you made it here! Welcome
Please read other threads on this forum too, and also on the mobility forum, there is so much experience on this site!
and somewhere there are suspenders for cat diapers, anyone remember where?

every cat i've expressed i've done a little differently. the vet who taught me usually does what i think of as a belly pinch. she puts her thumb on one side, of the lower abdomen, fingers on the other and pinches. I have never had a cat who liked to be expressed, but it so helpful that I insist. Also, emptying her bladder will help prevent bladder infections, which is very important.

when I had Legume in a onesie I took a cat collar, snipped a few holes in the onesies neck and threaded the collar through the holes. that held it up.

please keep us posted!

[hopesmother18]

I will definately keep you posted and I guess if I have trouble expressing I can always see if the vet will show me. And ok. The cat collar thing sounds like something to try. Thank you.

[FYI]

I took a cat collar, snipped a few holes in the onesies neck and threaded the collar through the holes. that held it up.

somewhere there are suspenders for cat diapers, anyone remember where?

http://www.joybies.com/pagecat.html
http://www.cat-world.com.au/home-made-s ... a-overalls
https://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php/Diapers_and_male_wraps