Dracaena trouble

I have had this dracaena for a couple of years. It started acting a bit unhappy (more brown spots) and was still in the original (small plastic) container so I repotted it last fall, into a pot  about twice the size (perhaps my first mistake?). Is heard that mixing perlite into the soil was a good idea, so I did. The plant started to decline. After a few months, I thought perhaps I'd put in too much perlite & the plant wasn't getting enough nutrients, so maybe a month ago I took it out of pot, changed most of the soil so there would be less perlite. It has continued to decline. A little bit of yellowing, mostly leaves turning brown & crispy. There are some small new leaves growing,but several of them have brown tips. 

The plant is in bright indirect light, not near any windows. When I repotted it last time, I have it a good drink of rainwater. Since my cats started digging in it almost immediately I covered the top of the soil with a pretty good layer of decorative pebbles. The soil seemed pretty damp to me when I last checked, so yesterday I took off the pebbles thinking it would dry out better that way. 

Today I read that perlite has fluoride in it, and of course dracaena plants don't like fluoride. 

Trying to attach some photos, hope it works. I'm really at a loss for how to improve this plant. Thanks. 

Last edited: 08 April 2017 23:03:16