Humane things to do when the family pet has just got to go

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:40 am

One of our cats (12 years old, male, neutered 12 years ago) has decided that he needs to pee on things that aren't in the litter box. If we leave Meghan's door open, her bed is the target of choice (or was?). Now it's the sofa and love seat in the living room.

I want the cat gone, but this isn't one that most people want. Here's how the add would read:

12 year old cat.
Antisocial
Requires thyroid medicine and regular vet visits
pees pretty much everywhere but the littler box.

I doubt we get any takers.

I vote for just turning him into an outdoor cat (he's been an indoor cat 100% of his life). Or, take him to the "humane" society.

Unfortunately, I suspect the "humane" society will be no more humane than me taking the critter out back and whacking his head a few times with a shovel. The outdoor cat concept isn't a lot better at his age (at least he still has his claws and some of his teeth).

We do believe that some of his issues are health related (blood in the urine = infection/other problem), but the antibiotics haven't helped the furniture, and I'm tired of being a slave to this critter. Some of this behavior *is* because of Meghan. We clean out the cat box daily, so it isn't an obvious issue of a dirty box.

Did I mention that this is Sally's cat? I think she/we have gone as far as online house hunting for a place with a basement just so the cat can have his own room.

Any useful suggestions. Please don't pollute this thread with poor attempts at cat humor, we can start a new one for that.

Scott

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:54 am

Let him go outside.

We let our indoor cat of 8yrs go outside and he loves it!

Matthew Fortner · **Joined:** Sun Mar 21, 2004 12:21 am **Posts:** 384

We had a similar problem with a cat we adopted. Turned out to be a common problem with male cats where their urine crystalizes. As a frequent passer of kidney stones I am sympathetic.

The cat was put on a special diet (Hills SD iirc) and the his habits returned to normal ever since. That was over eight years ago.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:32 am

Matthew Fortner wrote:

We had a similar problem with a cat we adopted. Turned out to be a common problem with male cats where their urine crystalizes. As a frequent passer of kidney stones I am sympathetic.

The cat was put on a special diet (Hills SD iirc) and the his habits returned to normal ever since. That was over eight years ago.

Thanks for the tip. We fed our cats Science Diet for about their whole lives, but switched to Cat Chow about 6 months to a year ago. THey like the Cat Chow better, however, it seems the problem has cropped up in the last 6 months and has been getting worse...

Why didn't my vet ask about this. Maybe we all need to stop going to Park Vet in Durham?? We've got an appt this week, we'll ask.

Scott

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:20 am

dang, my wifes inherited cat from her granfather is doing the same thing. We were told it was because he was mad at us. Sounds like we might need to change his diet.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 9:55 am

Crystallization of the urine can also be counter balanced with giving your cat vitamin C. My ex-girlfriend's dog had this problem and a daily supplement of 500 mg of vitamin C cured the problem.

The crystallization acts very similar to a urinary tract infection and will cause the animal to pee constantly. - AB

Ash Nelson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 12:20 pm

The cat is definattely trying to tell you that something is not right with him. I think a trip to another vet may be in order. Kidney problems at that age are not unusual.

Good luck!

JamesFeinberg · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:16 pm

scottjohnson wrote:

Why didn't my vet ask about this. Maybe we all need to stop going to Park Vet in Durham?? We've got an appt this week, we'll ask.

That sounds like the best plan to me.

I had a cat many years ago with urinary tract issues and my vet at the time recommended switch our dry food to this stuff. It worked well enough that I kept buying it long after that cat passed away.

Strangely enough, when one of my current cats was but a wee kitten, he had a BIG flea problem. It was serious enough that weekly baths along with medication didn't even dent the problem. I was feeding him Kitten Chow at the time but when I switched to the Purina One mentioned above, his fleas vanished virtually overnight. My vet thought it was impossible that there was any correlation but that was the only change in his routine at the time.

Good luck and I hope you can find a solution that makes everybody happy.

Jim

Gwen Habenicht · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:52 pm

Quote:

I was feeding him Kitten Chow at the time but when I switched to the Purina One mentioned above, his fleas vanished virtually overnight. My vet thought it was impossible that there was any correlation but that was the only change in his routine at the time.

There's a pretty simple explaination to this. Fleas like a certain ph to their meals. Changing the “taste” of their (the fleas) meal to something they don't like, and they find another diner. We used to see that all the time. Two dogs that live together-one covered with fleas, the other, not a one. Don’t see fleas much anymore due to Advantage, Advanix, and Frontline.

jeremy gast · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:54 pm

A guy i used to work with told me that ocasionally sprinkling the pets food with garlic would take care of fleas. I havnt had any issues on any of my animals since then.

ChrisSuich · **Posted:** Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:15 pm

scottjohnson wrote:

I vote for just turning him into an outdoor cat (he's been an indoor cat 100% of his life). Or, take him to the "humane" society.

Scott

We had a similar situation years ago. We let the cat out. That was summer of 2000 and she was around 11 years old then... now she is 18. She seemingly has been happy outside. She did start her life outside, but only for a few months. She was a rescue kitty. Now she mostly stays in the garage with a trip or two outside during the day. Arthritis in the hind leg is starting to limit her motion.

The damn cat is going to out live me to spite me.

Anyway... turning a cat out isn't always bad.

Matthew Fortner · **Joined:** Sun Mar 21, 2004 12:21 am **Posts:** 384

The most humane action is to find out why the cat is behaving the way it is. If it is having painful urinary problems, it should be treated whether it stays indoors or outdoors. The past couple of weeks we've been grappling with making the right choice for our cat. The little guy has cancer. Currently its not affecting his health, but its an aggressive tumor that the vet says will cause him problems in within a year. His comfort and quality of life is our no. 1 priority. Its amazing how much a critter can become such a meaningful part of the family. I grew up in moonshine country of SC...thats most of the state, but I was in near the mountains. We had animals come and go from various afflictions, attacks, accidents and natural disasters. I never thought I'd be as attached to this cat as I am now.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2007 5:39 pm

I just want to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions.

Here's what we've done...

Switched back to Science Diet (from Purina). I suspect this is 90% of the solution.

Added a second litter box (opposite side of the house, closer to where the problems occurred).

Tested negative for crystals in the urine.

Put on a new drug (Amitriptyline).

So far, something is working, we've not had an incident since the one that prompted my last post.

Scott

Ash Nelson · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:39 pm

Yay! That is great news indeed!

JamesFeinberg · **Posted:** Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:45 pm

That is good news Scott. I hope things continue to work out well.

Jim

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