Rescued kitten cannot control when she pees or poops

by Kristen

I have a rescued kitten with nerve damage. She is not able to control when she pees or poops. What should I do?

About two months ago, I stopped to get gas around midnight and a kitten came right up to my feet, meowing and begging for attention.

I have two dogs and love all animals so much, but I’ve never had a cat. I’ve adopted animals before but never rescued from the wild.

However, it was going to snow 18 inches the next day and I knew I couldn’t leave her out there. She crawled right into my car just fine and came home with me!

Very quickly I could tell she had some kind of injury because her tail didn’t move. I took her to the vet the next morning. She was only about 7 months old and had most likely been hit by a car.

I got her spayed and the vet decided it was best to remove her tail since all the nerves were damaged. Surprisingly her legs still work just fine despite the injury, but she cannot control when she pees or poops.

You can tell she knows she has to because she goes to the litter box. She stands there for a while, but eventually walks away. Then she will end up doing both as she walks.

I would never give her up. She is so sweet and I have fallen in love with her, but she is peeing and pooping everywhere. I’ve kept her confined so far as she heals from surgery.

I just want to know what others would do in this case. The vet says she doesn’t know if the cat will ever get control of the nerves back, but I don’t want to live in a stinky home. Do you have any suggestions?