Have you gotten the vet's "It's not a medical problem..." speech?

[bicker]

Okay: A Sunday morning challenge for all the would-be cat psychologists out there. Kali is the queen, calico at age 17+. Murph is a tabby; age 13. Last week, two incidents, a day apart, Murph pees on the carpet. Litter boxes (3) are clean. Nothing unusual going on. This is the culmination of an increasingly troubling situation over the last few months, as she has been peeing outside of the box many times. (We have one litter box inside a huge cardboard box, lined with a shower curtain. We have another litter box in the basement, on a plastic sheet. So no damage when she has done that, in either of those two cases. And the third litter box is enclosed, so I guess she hasn't thought to pee outside of it yet.) She has peed on rugs before, but now she's going on carpets, and we cannot just throw carpets away willy-nilly.

Vet says is it not a medical problem. She's not in pain; nothing wrong with heart, lungs, whatever. She does have some neurological problems -- has had them for most of her life -- that cause her some difficulty going down (only) stairs. She does walk strangely, as well, of course. However, again, nothing has changed in that regard, and there is no correlation between her neurological problems and this behavior.

For a few days, now, we've had her locked up in the basement. (We have a cat door between main level and basement, so the two cats could come and go as they please, and one of the litter boxes is down there.) She clearly doesn't like being kept apart from us when she can hear we're in the house, but we do both visit her down there so she's getting probably even more "face time" with us than she had in the past (but of course she's not getting as much "back of head time"). We've made a little domain for her down there.

We have put some additional rugs out, down there, not just for her comfort, but also as a test. Unfortunately, she has already peed on one rug instead of the (clean) litter box.

I don't mind cleaning the rugs as she pees on them (they're washable, no problem), but I guess I'm getting to the point where I am wondering if this is what the rest of her life is going to be, locked up in the basement, with us "visiting" her a few times a day, instead of her being able to spend time "with the family" as she likes. I'm probably more "upset" about it than she is, but I don't know.

So, if you were in my position, what would you do?

 

[wdwmom2]

My one cat would climb into my Longaberger basket that held the toilet paper and peed there. I took him to the vet thinking maybe a UTI. Vet did the work up and even an xray, all clear. The vet asked me if my cat had been under stress recently. I couldn't think of any stress. Vet gave me a drug for the cat, can't remember what, but it was for anxiety.

After returning home, I remembered a few days before DS was over with his English Mastiff, translate, 150 lb dog!!! The dog is used to being around cats and wouldn't hurt one, but will chase if one ran. My cat ran!!!! So, I am thinking the vet was right about the anxiety! I only gave my cat a couple days worth of the drug because he would just sit and stare at the wall. He also had stopped using my basket. Has been fine ever since.

So, maybe, your cat is stressed for whatever reason. Even just keeping him in the basement, out of his normal routine. I would talk to the vet about this possibility. Maybe her neurological problems have something to do with this????

Whatever happens or you decide, to you. I hope your cat is back to normal soon!!!

 

[Micca]

This is a stretch, but....anything going on between the two cats? Maybe Murph is fed up with Kali being queen(does Kali get more attention?) Is Kali having any health issues that Murph could be reacting to? I know that's far-fetched but that's all I can think of. I'm sorry you have to go through this as cats are part of the family, you don't wanna lock 'em up in the basement. In fact, I might have some family I'd rather lock in the basement than put my cat down there.

 

[JESW]

I recommend to this to all cat owners:

http://www.feliway.com/us

We have 4 cats and when we brought the last two in it caused one of our older cats to start making messes all over the place. The cat was stressed - especially when we went away to Disney and left her with those two new kittens and her sister she didn't get along with.

The stuff worked great - like prozac for cats!

We bought the spray at our local Petsmart.

Hope it works for you!

Jill

 

[cherylp3]

Also while you are at petsmart you can get cat attract litter. I used this with a cat that was having this problem and it worked.

 

[bicker]

I'm sure there is "stuff" going on between Kali and Murph. There has been since Day One. The nature of calicos is that they make trouble for "lesser" cats, and between themselves as well. I suppose that advancing age could just exacerbated that past a tipping point.

We have had this cat on kitty Valium in the past -- she might simply be such a manic cat, by nature, that the only way to manage a situation like this is to keep her sedated. Do you think she'd be happier sedated, like that, all the time, or segregated in the basement?

I saw the attract litter, and actually I saw a container of the attractant, sold separately. As I understand it, it will not work (mixed) with litter that has baking soda in it. We'll think about trying that.

 

[Katieinwonderland]

I am in a situation almost EXACTLY the same as yours! Our female cat , Magic, has been peeing and pooping outside the litter tray for months now, and it's driven us crazy...we even talked about giving her away

Well, after posting on these boards and getting some advice, we ended up locking Magic in the master bedroom/bathroom with her own litter tray (a regular one instead of a self cleaning one like all our others were) - this way she was away from the other two cats (who like to 'play' with her by pouncing on her and biting her tail and generally just being mean). We also used the Feliway plug-in that people mentioned.

It worked great! She hasn't gone outside the litter tray since she's been in there and she seems fine. But I've been wondering the same thing...she's three years old...is she going to spend the rest of her life locked away? At what point should we let her back out and hope she's got the hint?

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I wanted to tell you I'm in the same position. DH says at some point we have to let her back out, it's cruel to keep her locked away but I just don't want to start her up with peeing everywhere again. So I'm curious to see what people suggest.

 

[wdwmom2]

We have had this cat on kitty Valium in the past -- she might simply be such a manic cat, by nature, that the only way to manage a situation like this is to keep her sedated. Do you think she'd be happier sedated, like that, all the time, or segregated in the basement?

If that is your problem, and those where the only two options, I would choose to sedate. I love my two kitties, and even though they are a PITA sometimes, I enjoy having them with me. I wouldn't have it any other way!

 

[bicker]

I think I'd be of a different mind, if Murph was 3, instead of 13 and in declining health. I want to be conservative in whatever remediation we try. If Murph was yonger, I might be more inclined to subject Murph to more aggressive kinds of remediations, remediations that might not be so pleasant for her, since she'd have many years to enjoy the fruits of the benefits of those remediations. However, as she is, as we're continually wondering if this is our last year with Murph, I'm less inclined to subject her to anything that could result in more stress for her. I have to look at separating her from Kali, itself (as is the case now, with Murph in the basement), as something that Murph is perhaps benefiting from, so bringing her back into the whole house, itself, already has one strike against it, because of the cats' enmity for each other.

 

[wdwmom2]

Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Only you know your cats. If Murph is doing fine in the basement and is satisfied with the time you spend with him, then I probably wouldn't change a thing.

But, I was looking at it from my cat's perspective. I too have a cat door that leads down to the basement where their litter box is. Occasionally I must lock them down their for their own safety. It ain't pretty. They sit on the basement side of the kitty door and scream. You would think we were pulling their toenails out!!!!

Good luck on whatever you decide!!!

 

[JESW]

Go to Petsmart - get the felliway - spray it around your house and see what happens! My dh doubts EVERYTHING (he's an engineer..) so even he was surprised when it worked. Calmed the cats in our house right down and no more messes. Give it a try!

Jill

 

[Micca]

We had a cat that stayed under our bed about 90% of the time. The cat we have now is social and hangs around us quite a bit. I'd have no qualms about sticking the recluse cat in the basement, but I know our present cat would be very unhappy. As wdwmom said--you gotta do what you gotta do.
Check out some of the simpler remedies suggested here, they might work for you. Your cats are lucky to have you concerned for their care.

 

[savannahcat]

I second both the feliway spray and the cat attract litter. These both worked for us when one of our three cats began using DH's recliner as a litter box after the birth of our 2nd DD.

 

[mackeysmom]

My Mackey (age 13) developed some anger issues over the past year. (It doesn't help that he is diabetic, with cataracts and mobility issues.)

After trying a load of over-the-counter, pet store remedies - to no avail - my vet and I decided he needed Prozac. I have to tell you, it has worked wonders. His anger issues are so much better - but it hasn't (as I initially feared) changed his sweet little personality.

It is a fairly inexpensive drug - we get the generic - and I purchase it at my local CVS with my vet's prescription. Mackey doesn't really like to take pills, so I have it compounded into a gel that I rub into his ear.

It works wonders. You might want to talk to your vet about it.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about it.

Hope this helps,
Laura

 

[DisMN]

Hi Bicker...yeah cat stuff can sometimes just be *head* stuff. And without going into the details I'll just say that we've been there done that.
In the end............because we decided the cats were 15+ yrs old, because the smell became too much to tolerate anymore and because we were beginning to dislike our beloved pets...and we were increasing the amount of time we were keeping them confined, much too much confinement for our and their own comfort and happiness....

AND because it's not fair to expect anyone else to adopt what amounted to an unsolvable problem......

sadly, we decided to put us all out of our misery and have our two pets euthanized after trying every solution we could think of. Our vet completely agreed with our decision.

Best of luck to you in finding your best solution to this frustrating problem.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

Weird; we are having a very similar problem with our dog. Tara will be 16 in March, so we started to wonder if she's got an "age thing" going on. We took her to the vet to rule out anything physical, which he did (in fact, he marveled at the excellent health she is enjoying at her age). So it seems we have a behavior issue going on. She can still go 8-10 hours per day in the house and not have any problems, but in the evening, around 8:30 p.m., she will get up, wander into the hallway, and pee. Now today, I went out all day with my DBF and my mother had a friend over for the day. She said while she and her friend were sitting there in the kitchen, Tara stood up, right where she'd been lying, and peed. DBF and I came home, talked with Mum for a while (and she told us the story)...her friend thinks Tara may have jealousy and attention issues. I do wonder if she does it for attention...she seems to do the hallway thing when she wants to go to bed. Anyway, while she was telling us this, as if to make a point, Tara walked over to her blanket in the room, and without warning, peed on it. So again...she got the attention she seemed to want!

I guess we need the Dog Whisperer!

 

[Robindianne]

Weird; we are having a very similar problem with our dog. Tara will be 16 in March, so we started to wonder if she's got an "age thing" going on. We took her to the vet to rule out anything physical, which he did (in fact, he marveled at the excellent health she is enjoying at her age). So it seems we have a behavior issue going on. She can still go 8-10 hours per day in the house and not have any problems, but in the evening, around 8:30 p.m., she will get up, wander into the hallway, and pee. Now today, I went out all day with my DBF and my mother had a friend over for the day. She said while she and her friend were sitting there in the kitchen, Tara stood up, right where she'd been lying, and peed. DBF and I came home, talked with Mum for a while (and she told us the story)...her friend thinks Tara may have jealousy and attention issues. I do wonder if she does it for attention...she seems to do the hallway thing when she wants to go to bed. Anyway, while she was telling us this, as if to make a point, Tara walked over to her blanket in the room, and without warning, peed on it. So again...she got the attention she seemed to want!

I guess we need the Dog Whisperer!

Us too with our dog! Vet says she's surprisingly healthy for her age. Carpet guys are coming tomorrow to clean but the smell is killing me. I wish I could figure out what's happening. Maybe the acupuncture vet can do something! (I just thought of this just this minute).

OP, can you try acupuncture DVM? I'm going to call ours tomorrow!