I will be heading out to a cat shelter in about an hour. I hope to return with a kitty or two. Probably not as large as Mr. Martin’s kitty above.
UPDATE: Success! Two tiny adorable kittens are careening around my bedroom at high velocities. It is now 4:32 AM. They have been doing this off and on since I brought them home roughly ten hours ago. I have no idea where the fuck they get all their energy. From cat food? I think I might have to start eating it myself.
@Cassandra- Sadly we don’t really have a “kitchen”- it’s more like one big room with a bar and a fridge on one side and a stove on the other. There’s really no room for a litter box that wouldn’t either be underfoot or near where food is being prepared and served (which is really gross if you have cat urine/feces nearby). Plus we have a 3 year old daughter- she’s just finally getting potty trained herself, and I really don’t think she’s ready to clean out the box.
I really don’t want to have to re-home our cat (he’s a 4 or so year old black cat- that’s basically instant death if he goes to the shelter, so I’m unwilling to put him there). Last time he was having severe urine problems (they magically come and go, it seems- or maybe I just don’t catch him until the smell is gone- my cat has this weird, cranberry juice pee smell but I’ve been assured that there is no UTI several times by my vet), my daughter SOBBED when I put him in his crate to take him to the vet. She loves her kitty and would be heartbroken if we got rid of him. I think that the biggest problem is our neighbor who has this big tabby male who is INSANELY aggressive. She lets him have the run of the apartment complex and he basically jump attacks any other cat that’s outside (almost like a dog attack, it’s freaky), runs around spraying and marking everything in sight, and is basically a huge asshole. I can’t let my cat outside because of him- he’s already run off several other cats in our complex that have taken to staying in nearby fields during the day and end up having to be brought home by their owners at night.
We would desperately like to move, but we’re stuck in a bad situation- most places are either too expensive, in a horrible area, don’t allow pets, or are way out in the middle of nowhere. So we stay where we are and desperately hope that all our searching will eventually pay off. I’m terrified how bad the peeing is going to get when we bring home the new baby.
Actually, your neighbor’s cat may be the source of the peeing problem. A lot of cats will get super stressed out if there’s another cat running around peeing everywhere. It sounds like the neighbor’s cat isn’t peeing so much as marking territory, and I’m sure your cat can smell it from inside the apartment. Sounds like he’s trying to mark his own territory (ie your apartment) in response. Basically from your cat’s perspective he’s boxed in with a (possibly unfixed) aggressive male cat taunting him by marking all over the place and generally being aggressive. In that case moving may be your only real option.
@Cassandra- You will not believe how pissed off I was at my neighbor when I found out that she had put a box up by the window in the back near our bedroom area so that her tabby could get up to the screen and “make friends” with my cat. Well, that’s what *she* called it. I called it “yowling and trying to attack the window”- that cat is one mean SOB. She keeps whining about how I’m “so mean” for not letting my kitty come out and “play” with her cat- she’s really a weirdo- treats her cats as Better than People. So I threw away the box and basically told her that we need our privacy in as nice a way as I could manage.
The inappropriate peeing does seem to be directly linked to soft stuff on the floor or on the couch. He only peed on the corner of the comforter that had fallen on the floor (my husband flails around when he sleeps so this happens sometimes). I do have several mattress pads just in case (he peed on our bed ONCE, but has not since), and that’s good anyway since our daughter is still potty training and likes to climb in bed with us.
I’ve been trying to give him extra grooms and pets and catnip and loves tonight, but I’m not sure if that is going to encourage the behavior or not. Argh…I’m so much better at training and understanding dogs, it seems….
This neighbor is in your building, yes? Any chance you talk to the landlord about this? And this cat isn’t just causing problems for you, so maybe can try get some other tenants on your side?
Your poor cat. No wonder he’s stressed out, with random aggressive kitties yowling at him through the window. It sounds like if that’s not the sole cause of the problem, it’s certainly a big part of it.
hmmm, i agree with Cassandra, i think your cat is super stressed by the other cat. if the landlord can’t help with this (do you share a landlord?), moving may be something you need to plan for. do you have any tenants’ rights groups/helplines you can call for free advice?
nanasha, sorry to hear about the peeing problem. It sounds like the neighbor cat is at least part of the problem. maybe you should pee on your neighbor?
Nanasha! I am a vet nurse (like a vet tech in the US only they get to do a few things we don’t) and have lots of experience with inappropriate urination. I would bet all my money that it’s entirely due to the neighbour’s cat. We’ve had clients whose cats was spraying because the food bowl was by a window and the other cat was *watching them eat*. Most clients dismiss out of hand any stress caused by animals they can’t see: these people went as far as frosting all the (massive) windows in their house along the bottom few feet once they established covering them up worked! We <3 that person.
So. (a) The marking soft things is 99% likely to be marking things of *yours* rather than a texture thing. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Siamese/Abbys have more of a tendency to mark – they have BIG personalities. But it's highly unlikely to be texture so much as clothing/bedding etc being high value items that smell like you.
(b) Feliway spray is weird – Feliway diffusers are far superior. They mean the entire space smells like it's his rather than having to spray everything in the room. The sprays have very limited applications IMO, where the diffuser can be a life saver.
(c) My approach when the easier solutions aren’t working is basically, treat your cat like a brand new kitten. Shut everything down. Your cat is currently over-stimulated like hell and the best thing you can do is alleviate that.
So shut him in the bathroom (this *will* be annoying as he’ll try and escape, but trust me). Give him his litter tray, food and water, and a bed, and keep him there for at least two weeks.*
Make sure you block off any area where the other cat can loiter and stare him down. Find every urinated spot and soak it in a cat-specific product, multiple times. If it’s been repetitive it can take a lot of product. The one you’re using is good; SOX is also a good product. White vinegar is a cheap alternative but then everything smells like vinegar. 😛
Plug a Feliway diffuser into the main living area (not by any windows or anything) and start having him out with you in the evenings when you’re chilling, then put him back again.
Slowly extend his time and eventually give him access to the whole house once he seems ready. This could take months but it works. Every time he starts marking again go back a step. There’s a fair chance it *won’t* take months but I assure you, this is fixable
It’s stressful and not at a good time. But his life is changing, he feels threatened and unsafe, you smell different and act different (whether or not you realise it) and in fact now is the time to get him used to having less of your time anyway as you’re going to be pre-occupied with baby.
Good luck! *hug*
*This is what we do with new cats; we have 8, we have a spare room we set up for them and visit them in the evenings. We kept the 4 kittens we “fostered”, then about 18 months later I took two very skitty kittens home from our vet clinic, then we have adopted two older cats over the last few years (2 girls, 6 boys). We generally have 4-6 cats sleeping on us on a given night. 😛
P.S. Congrats David! We expect regular updates. ^_^
Congrats David! Grey kitten looks a lot like one of mine, and is making me miss my two fur balls. Not helping is that my sister-in-law posted pics of their new husky puppy, Cinna.
*grumbles about having 4+ months b/f I go home*
@hrovitnir, what great advice!
Looks like your new kitten has Kittyupsidedownitis. The only known cure for which is tummy rubs.
Kitty pics! Kitty pics! Kitty pics!!!
Show us the kitties!
Agreed!! 😀 ^
Need to see kitties! I can’t have pets because of a job that keeps me away for weeks at a time but I CAN enjoy other people’s furry companions!
David, SHOW US YOUR PUSSY
Congrats on the KITTIES David! But I need to point something out: you didn’t choose them, they chose you. That’s how it works with cats. When you go to a place where there are many kitties to select from, they look you over and if they like you, they start beaming “Pick me! Pick me!” rays at you, and the one with the strongest signal wins. From your perspective you just think that one is the cutest or the most compatible with you or something, but that’s just how the human brain interprets the pick-me-pick-me rays.
Well, I think I might just leave this here: http://goo.gl/id7n8 even though they’re puppies. The red one on the left is Janus who is almost 2 and a pitbull/boxer/whatever mutt, and the liddul brindle on the left is the new pups, Loki, a pitbull. Possibly a blue nose, but his white spot on his face makes his nose pink instead. They’re already bffs.
Well, I think I might just leave this here: http://goo.gl/id7n8 even though they’re puppies. The red one on the left is Janus who is almost 2 and a pitbull/boxer/whatever mutt, and the liddul brindle on the left is the new pups, Loki, a pitbull. Possibly a blue nose, but his white spot on his face makes his nose pink instead. They’re already bffs. (sorry David, you can remove my double post if you like. Mixed up my emails)
Aw, kitties!!! More pics, please.
We just got back from vacation, and all of them were like “where the hell were YOU?” After that, snuggles for everyone.
Man Boobz: Come for the mockery, stay for the stellar advice on pet psychology. Seriously, I am bookmarking that in case I or a friend ever has a cat with pee issues!
If only one could hug and fuss kitties via internet…
Pix, pix, pix?!?!?!?
Some kitties love the covered litter boxes, others hate them. Also, I can’t stress enough the importance of up space for kitties to de-stress.
I love how Ruby ackwowledges differences in kitten litter-box preferences, but not differences in women’s view of male bodies.
Steve Martin’s cat looks a lot like my Blixa, except Blixa has a pink nose. He weighs 24 pounds.