[cmoorehead]

My wife and I are at the verge of giving up our cat. What has driven us over the edge is vindictive pissing.

We got him from the humane society as a kitten in 99. We were told that he had been squeezed out from getting milk from him mom early on but otherwise seemed normal. He was fixed before we brought him home. As we lived on a 6th floor condo at the time we made the desicion to make him a indoor only cat. After a couple months the strange behavior began.

First, he would not let us sleep. He would come in during the night pick at the bed mattress to wake us up. We eventually had to resort to placing the vacume cleaner outside our door (turned on but unplugged untill we needed it to be) to keep him from pawing at it all night. This worked for several years.

About 3 months ago we moved in the a new home (all our previous places had been small apartments/condos) with plenty of space. Ever since we moved in here he lets us sleep. He will come in occationally to snuggle but does not try to wake us up.

Second, he used to get night crazys really bad and it would last for hours. Sometimes his sprinting around the condo would wake us up! This problem also went away when we moved in to the new house.

There have been other weird behavior but nothing too serious, a bit of picking, clawing, but nothing overly destructive.

Finally when we moved into a temporary apartment about 6 months ago he started peeing on things - he had never done this before. He at first started peeing on canvas?!?!?!?! Beach chair covers, plants, papasan, bean bags, and travel bags. The travel bags made sense to us as when they came out he knew we would be going on a trip. But here is the strange part, he would only pee on them when we where in the room and usually only when both of us were present.

When we moved into our new home 3 months ago the peeing started on clothing in addition. One of the things he started liking to do is pee on our clothing in our bedroom at night while we are sleeping then pawing at it untill he woke us up to discover it. Our solution to this was putting him in the garage at night, but as soon as his punishment period ended (we would put him in the garage at night for one week after a peeing incident) he would usually do it again within a few days.

We found that crating punishment works very well with him. When we decided we no longer wanted him up on the dining room table, when ever he went up on it we would get him and place him in his cat carrier for 15 minutes before being let out. After about a week of this - he stopped going on the table and rarely does it to this day.

I had been unemployed for a while and was at home all day when the peeing started, so we do not think this has anything to do with our being gone during the day. It shouldn't be the move as he had already gone through 2 previous moves (to NC from WA and back to WA) and done just fine. This is not territorial pissing as he is doing it explicitly for our enjoyment.

What is killing us both is that he can be such a great cat at times, but we can not live with another ~15 years of cat ****! We are considering putting him outdoors full time, but if that does not work giving him up may just as well be a death sentence (with the peeing problem). We are both sick about this but can not go on like this anymore. Please can someone give any thoughts our insight about our problem?

 

[Rayona]

Have you taken him to the vet? It sounds like he might have a urinary tract infection.
You don't say where his box is in the new place, or if you have been cleaning up his messes with an enzyme cleaner. And is he still using his litter box on top of the peeing on things, or has he abandoned the box completely? Any change in diet or litter since you moved?

 

[cmoorehead]

The litter box is always kept in the same place and all the messes are cleaned up immediatly with cat stain cleaner/washing machine.

He is still using his litter box.

He has been on Science Diet his whole life any time we try something new he either gets direrra or won't eat it.

We have not tried the vet yet, but he is only doing it when we are in the room - never when we are not there. If it was a physical ailment, would he be able to wait to show us???

 

[Ariel]

Mt cat used to go to the restroom all over the house all the time. When I discovered her "presents" I would pick her up and put her face very near the "accident" and tell her "NO! BAD CAT " very loudly and tap her on the nose. It worked quite well. I'm afraid thats all the advice I can give you. Good Luck!!!!! :!:

 

[kittygirl04]

I was wondering if the litterbox is kept away from noisy areas in the house. I know that a litterbox next to the washing machine is not a good idea--the noise could scare the cat and he may be afraid to go back in it. I would say that your best bet is to take kitty to the vet for a check-up. Also, if they have a urinary tract infection, they might associate the pain with the litterbox and stop using it.

If you have found a different catfood that kitty likes, the best way to start him on it without diarrhea is:
--70% old food mixed with 30% new food for 2 days
--50% old mixed with 50% new for the next 2 days
--70% new food mixed with 30% old food for the next 2 days
--100% new food from then on......
This should get it into his system slowly without upsetting his tummy!

 

[cmoorehead]

nope the little box is upstairs far away from any noise making device.

We did try giving a new cat food once, eventhough the kibble looked very similar, he sucessfully are around all the new food and only ate the old stuff.

We took him to the vet yesterday and after ruling out any physical ailments the vet gave us a perscrition of Valium. We are both very encouraged by this line of treatment. Since he has always been a very up tight cat, being a more relaxed state may help him quite a bit.

 

[kittygirl04]

Wow, I've never seen a cat that had to take Valium. How do you give it to him--like is it a small pill that can be put in food? I hope this will work for you. Also, I saw a new cat litter in Cat Fancy that was developed by a cat-only vet with 25 years experience. It's called Cat Attract. It says it is natural herbs that help attract cats to use their litterbox. You can read about it at www.preciouscat.com Maybe it would be worth looking into?????