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I'm coming here about my cats because...

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FLmom

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I dealt with this exact issue. Had the cat for 4 years. I tried everything. Even put the cat on anxiety meds daily. I got all the pee away stuff. The sprays the powders. I even tried some kind of oil that supposed to be good for the cat. I'm saying I seriously tried all I could find to try. Money was not an issue at the time and I bought everything. Eventually it got to the point where she was peeing on the beds yes the beds. It was horrible to go to bed at 11pm and find a big ole pile of cat pee. And this would be after I had just changed the last pee. There were times I would be in bed asleep and hubby would come to bed at 2am and find pee on his side of the bed. That really was NOT pleasant. I was lucky and found that my groomer was willing to take her into his dog boarding ad grooming place. She would be like a store pet. No furniture to pee on and she had run of the place. Plus we could visit. I got a lucky break on that one but if he had not offered I would have had to either make her an outdoor cat or give her back to the breeder who was also willing to take her back. I don't have an answer for you but you can't live your life a prisoner to cat pee in your home. It's tough and part of the reason I have not even considered getting another cat. It was heart breaking to let my cat go. I've had cats my whole life and never ever had a cat that didn't use the litter box. Now I'm terrified to love another cat. I believe in forever homes. Any animal lover wants that. But sometimes they make it nearly impossible. No answer but just wanted to let you know I understand. You need to do what suits you. You don't have to share your choice with those that won't understand.
 

orphansparrow

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I'm a pretty big believer that some cats need to live outdoors. Ideally indoor/outdoor, so that they have a choice. I believe most cats are happier that way. Can they not go outside?
 

dexterbirdie

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I have a friend that is a behaviorist and donates a lot of her work to rescues in the area where she lives.

We will have to get some more catattract and try again.

They have never been outside since I've had them. For Ponyo, its her entire life. We live by a busy road, but if I had property, they'd be outside.
 
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ThatDarnBird

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Or worse. :(

I have been able to resolve the issue with one of my cats, whose problem peeing stemmed both from being spayed too late and from being terrorized by more dominant female cats.. But it required a lot of time and micro-managing of the household cat dynamics. In Spook's case, she was given the more 'desired' portion of the house - which was the living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc. - and Storm (her terrorizer at that time) was given a less-desirable part of the house (a back bedroom) and only allowed out with strict supervision. I would say it took about 6 months to a year of this for Spook to gain enough confidence that she wasn't peeing nervously and trying to mark out territory for herself all the time, and for Storm to stop trying to intimidate her all the time.

I was never able to solve the issue with my boyfriend's late female, whose problem went unaddressed for a decade before we moved in together. :mad: We just put up with it and managed the issue as well as we could until she passed away last year. Feliway has never done a bit of good for any of my cats.
At the vet I worked at I found Feliway helped with getting cats to eat better when boarding but I don't think I ever heard of it successfully treating an established litterbox problem. It probably helps with minor anxiety issues and boosts a general feeling of wellbeing but it's not going to do much beyond that.

I think micro managing is probably going to have the best chance of success. Medications can be used to but at what cost to health and happiness I don't know. Rehoming is going to be virtually impossible.
 

ThatDarnBird

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I have a friend that is a behaviorist and donates a lot of her work to rescues in the area where she lives.

We will have to get some more catattract and try again.

They have never been outside since I've had them. For Ponyo, its her entire life. We live by a busy road, but if I had property, they'd be outside.
If your friend has not been able to help then it's time to look for someone else. Maybe your friend can help you search for someone that specializes in cat issues.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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There are no easy fixes for these types of problems; no fast techniques, no miracles. Only hard work and micromanaging or 'getting rid of' the worse offenders. Whether you give them to a shelter or find a new family to take them, you are just passing on their problems and hoping a new environment will break the cycle. It is true you have to make the decisions and manage them and your house as best as you can. I do very much understand your problems; I have lived with them and worked with cats almost identical to the ones you describe. It is not easy and it is not fun. I chose to micromanage and it worked and eventually everyone was living together peacefully and I had only a few marking incidents and none on furniture or beds. But it did take years.

One other observation. Ponyo probably needs to be in an only cat home because she does not know how to interact socially with other cats due to her lack of early socialization with cats; this is common in hand raised kittens since their mother never got to teach them to be a cat and interact with other cats. In other words, they do no speak fluent cat and only know how to have aggressive relationships with other cats.

I hope you find a solution.
 

cosmolove

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I know I had problems with my cats before one of them passed away. It was a good 4-5 years of fighting with them about their peeing habits before things got better but I guess I'm the kind of person that when an animal comes to live with me they should never have to worry about losing their home again.

Basically here's what happened with mine.

I had a cat long long ago (she died quite some time ago) but her name was Maggie. She had an oops litter of kittens, we got her fixed right after and all of the kittens went to wonderful homes. Well we kept one of the kittens which was Piglet (yes I named her that, I was like 3 when it happened lol :cool:). Well after like idk 10 or so years maybe Maggie was put down because she got a tumor in her brain. Well my brother was devistated because this was the only animal in the house that liked him. So for christmas that year we bought my brother another kitten, named Sydney. Well Sydney and Piglet got along for like 3-4 years then out of no where they just kind of had a peeing war all over my house that lasted years. If we stayed consistent with them they stopped but as soon as we stopped they started.

We figured out where both of their favorite spots were and we covered the floor in that entire room in foil. Cats hate it, TRUST ME. Now dogs love the noise but the cats don't at all. We also started spraying the Cat away stuff in there 2-3 times a day. We also cleaned the litter boxes ATLEAST once a week usually more often and added the cat attract stuff in it. Then any time they would pee somewhere we would scrub it up with Natures Miracle "No more marking" which is a cleaner and a deterent.

Cats are VERY clean animals. They don't like to use dirty litterboxes and they also don't like to share litter boxes. We noticed an instant improvement when we got them each their own litter boxes everything also stayed much cleaner as well.

I hope you don't rehome your cats, there are so many already looking for homes.
 

AmberMuffinz

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How about adding a fenced in area attached to the house so they can go outside but be kept in an enclosed area? That way they won't be in danger of predators or getting hit by a car. Maybe the extra space would be helpful as they could get away from each other and watch nature. I was also looking up videos of the cat trainer I was talking about "My cat from hell" I was specifically looking for an episode but I can't seem to find a place to watch it online for free. It's Season 3 Episode 3 called "Kitty Dearest" though, if you want to pay $2 it's on amazon and iTunes or if you can find it on demand or watch it when it's on or something.

I don't really have any experience with this as I moved out of my moms house a couple years ago and the cat that pees there is still doing it. She's also doing it because she has a problem with the third cat (who wasn't supposed to be there permanently anyway.) All my moms cats are indoor / outdoor though so whether it fixes the problem is really 50/50. If they are having marking wars you really need to clean up the pee completely. Take a black light and look around the rooms they most often pee in.
 

ThatDarnBird

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I think also besides all the suggestions to micro manage the cats you should consider getting rid of the couch and ideally the carpet too. If the couch has been peed on that often it's probably gone already regardless of what you've been using to clean it. I would not replace it until you have a better handle on the problem. I know that sound awful and drastic but so long as that contentious couch is there smelling of pee it is going to be a problem. Maybe a futon with so you can pick up the cushion and store it away when you are not using it and never let the cats in the room when it is in use. That would also have the benifit of modifying your (and your family) behavior because the problem is the dynamic between all of you. You are involved in the cycle too.

I wish you the best of luck. There just aren't any easy answers.
 

SunUp

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I haven't read all the responses, but is there a cat group in your area that places cats as barn cats? Having had horses all my life, I've known many a barn cat, and they were well cared for, well fed, happy cats. I've known many to live long lives indeed. Just a thought. Either that, or they may need to go to homes where each one is an only cat.
 

cosmolove

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I haven't read all the responses, but is there a cat group in your area that places cats as barn cats? Having had horses all my life, I've known many a barn cat, and they were well cared for, well fed, happy cats. I've known many to live long lives indeed. Just a thought. Either that, or they may need to go to homes where each one is an only cat.
Most barns don't want more cats. Most barns don't even want the ones they have and most barns do not feed the cats or get them any kind of vet care or anything. Out of all the barns I've been to and worked at only 2 fed the cats and only one of those two fed the cats enough and also took them to the vet and such as needed.
 

Yoshi

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There are a lot of private farms out there that do take care of their barn cats. Not talking commercial farms that hire workers, but private owners - usually with just a few horses. Typically the barn cats at homes like this are pets that also do a valuable job of keeping the mice population in check. We have a couple here that are fed twice daily - including soft food for the older boy who is in his mid teens now and they go to the vets for rabies shots and if they were ever ill.
 

cosmolove

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All but one of the farms I worked at were private farms. The one commercial one didn't allow cats at all.
 

Yoshi

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The farms I'm talking about are not big enough to have anyone work for them. Most of the people I go horse riding with have well cared for barn cats but with a few horses there is no way hobby farms of these small sizes hire workers. Every animal on the farm is usually considered a pet and they make no money off the farm unless its a few garden veggies being sold. Totally different mentality than a farm being run as a business and hires workers. That is what I meant as commercial. I might of used the wrong wording and working business farm vs. hobby farm might have been more accurate.
 

SunUp

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Most barns don't want more cats. Most barns don't even want the ones they have and most barns do not feed the cats or get them any kind of vet care or anything. Out of all the barns I've been to and worked at only 2 fed the cats and only one of those two fed the cats enough and also took them to the vet and such as needed.
That has not been my experience at all. And in my area there is a group that places cats with barns that DO want cats and DO take care of them. Sorry you've been in barns with people who don't care.
 

cosmolove

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That has not been my experience at all. And in my area there is a group that places cats with barns that DO want cats and DO take care of them. Sorry you've been in barns with people who don't care.
I mean I can't really blame them. Its not like they want all of these cats. I mean two of the barns I've been at simply couldn't afford to feed them. They each had 20+ cats and all of which were just dropped off to them. Seems really fair to the barn owners for people to just drop off their unwanted pets to me. I mean I guess that'd be like going to florida and just releasing your bird outside and hoping someone else leaves food outside.
 

cosmolove

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I've helped at and worked at farms with only 1 horse all the way up to farms with almost 100 animals on it. All of them do not WANT more cats, they actually hate people who just think its okay just to drop them off as they please just because you don't want to deal with YOUR problem. Now if they have the money for it yeah I'm sure they'd feed them. The farm I talked about that actually vets her cats only has one horse and hired me to care for the 15 cats, 1 horse, and bring her dog down to the farm with me twice a day. All of her cats were just dropped off and I know exactly how much money she spends on food and its outragious. I'm shocked she can afford it. Just because she cares for them doesn't mean she WANTS them. Like she loves them but she was not wanting more cats when each one came.
 

cosmolove

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Actually an even better example. Would it be okay for me to just box up both of my birds and go to some random person with a bird and say here you go I can't keep them anymore they scream and just walk away? Why should my problem be shoved onto someone else who at that point doesn't really even have a choice. Seems extremely unfair to me for the person and the animals.


Off my soap box now.
 

suileeka

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Most of the farms I've been at throughout my lifetime have already had more than their share of cats... and people dumping off more is a common problem.

I second Renee's suggestion of getting rid of the couch and carpet.. the cycle needs to be drastically broken for things to change. As I said, Storm continued to be a problem throughout her entire life, but we identified her favorite forbidden objects (throw pillows and blankets were strictly OUT.. no laundry baskets accessible, etc.), restricted her access to things that she could pee on (she was never allowed in the bedroom, because she would immediately jump on the bed and pee right between our pillows), and used puppy pads on the areas of the floor that she refused to stop peeing on.. That might sound like 'encouraging' the behavior, but better to have it limited to one corner of a room than all over the house, you know?

I do think you can get an unsocialized cat to get along harmoniously with others, but it takes years, and new additions can throw them off.
 
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