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Help with Cat problem- I can't stand this!

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Laurul Feather Cat

Cruising the avenue
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Joined
12/12/10
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11,162
Location
Steelton, PA, USA
Real Name
Lois
Angela: This cat is new to you and new to the place you are living in, correct? That alone will cause a normally trained cat to make new messes. Then you say you left the cat in the apartment alone and the feeling of abandonment may have had a factor as well. Then there is the fact the cat is very old and probably set in it's ways; doesn't help either, as cats are creatures of pattern.

First of all, Science Diet generic catfood sold in stores is not worth feeding:(. Their prescription diets are great, but their generic food is trash. Use Iams; high nutrition, low residue, high digestibility and great taste (according to my eight cats). Meow Mix and Friskies, etc is junk food and contains corn which may be one of the reasons your cat is throwing up. Cats cannot digest corn and it ferments in their tummies causing gas and vomiting.:eek:

Second: Is the elderly cat able to actually get into the litterbox easily. My fifteen year old Apache must use a lower pan due to her arthritis:p. A vet check will rule out disease systemically and physically and really does need to be done before you make any decisions. I know, you do not need another expense, but if it was one of your birds, you would take them; so do the same for the old cat, please:scared5:.

Three, the easiest way to manage a cat doing inappropriate elimination is to quarantine it and start with a litter box retraining program. Put the cat, their litter box and their food and water in a small room with a non-porous floor; an extra bathroom is an ideal area, or a laundry room. The cat does not leave that room until it is reliably urinating and defecating in that litter box only. The retraining reminds the cat about using the pan and repatterns their thinking and actions. I have used this method successfully to retrain over one hundred cats over the past 30 years. Often cats who were on the brink of losing their homes as yours is.:sad1: I have never had it fail to change behavior. Of course after a year or more, sometimes cats relapse and have to be retrained, but is it easy to do and does save the cat from relocation and perhaps death if they happen to get sent to a shelter. At least trying this retraining will show you husband you are doing your best to accommodate his wishes to keep the cat, if possible. Let alone keeping the cat in your care, where I know he will get great care in the future once this problem is solved.:)

:highfive:
 

Cephus

Jogging around the block
Joined
5/27/11
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606
Location
Redlands, CA
Real Name
Brian
Actually, there is a better product out there, it'll take the smell out of anything. It's called Zero Odor, it's mail-order only, but I have never met a smell it couldn't eliminate. Cats will keep coming back to the smell of cat pee, eliminate the odor, eliminate their reason for coming back (such as a full cat box) and you should eliminate the problem.
 

Sharpie

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
11/5/09
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4,376
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Now TN
How did this turn out?
 
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