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

[Yoshi]

I'm amazed that someone with just one horse hired a worker - unusual. Around here the only ones that hire workers are active breeding or boarding farms or working cattle farms - except for maybe covering while out on vacation or something but thats not really working at these farms.

We are not talking about dropping off a cat. Just dropping off a cat is irresponsible and I would be annoyed with such people too. We are talking about seeing if any small farm is interested in one. i.e. asking which is totally different than just dropping off. For example we only have 2 barn cats and if someone nearby really needed to place a cat on a farm I would probably take it as long as it was neutered before hand.

 

[Brigidt36]

I haven't had time to read all the posts. Just want to say a few things, first and foremost, it's always easy to arm chair quarterback and say "I would never do....this or that". Until you walk in that person's shoes, please don't judge. Never say never because Karma will come and bite you at some point in time. Just saying.

2nd, poster is asking for advice, suggestions and ideas. Not judgements or criticisms. Sometimes people just need to express their frustrations about their situation and sometimes find something that works for them. Some of the best problem solutions come from collaborating and thinking outside the box.

Like I said, haven't read all the posts so I may be asking questions that have already been asked...

How many litterboxes do you have? Ideally, there should be one litter box per cat.

Is your litter box(es) covered? Open litter boxes work best. Placement of litter boxes is also crucial. They should not be placed in a busy area with lots of traffic. Do not place litter boxes in the same area with other litter boxes. Have them in different, low traffic areas of the house/apt. I find that corners work best, it gives them a bit of privacy and 'safety' with two walls, yet still open enough for easy access. Do not place litter boxes in dark areas, and use a night light near the box if the room(s) are unlit at night, or place them under tables.

Have a deep litter box and use TONS of litter. Scoop boxes several times a day. Cats are fussy about cleanliness and do not like messy, smelly, dirty litter. They like to bury their stuff. The more litter, the better for the cat(s). Do not believe that more litter means you don't have to clean it out several times a day.

Try different types of litter. Clumping litters are what we humans like, but your cat(s) may not like it. Avoid dusty litter, it makes them sneeze. I advise not trying to save money by buying the cheap litter in bulk. With litter, I do believe you get what you pay for.

You said your cats have been vet checked. Did your vet check for diabetes or low thyroid levels? With both diabetes and low thyroid levels the cats will drink lots of water and pee often. The pee output is ALOT! Medication can help with these issues but it takes time to get the correct dosage right for the cat. Each cat is different.

Sometimes it's just one cat who causes the behavioral type peeing issues. Changing the group dynamics may help. If looking to rehome one or more of your cats, be HONEST with the person considering taking in the cat about the peeing issues so there are no surprises; someone who is fully informed of issues and is willing to take the cat (s) on will less likely rehome the cat. Some cats prefer to be single pets, some like having other cats around. Some cats get overly stressed with sharing the home with other non cat pets; birds, dogs, rodents, etc.

Praying that you are able to resolve these issues, or if you have to rehome, praying you are able to find the perfect forever home (s).

 

[TextsFromParrots]

Most of the farmers I know, including my Uncle, have a huge problem with people dropping off cats. Most are kittens that aren't spayed or neutered so at times the populations of cats peak by massive amounts. At one point several farms nearly topped 50 cats wandering around because they couldn't afford to spay or neuter the drop offs. Thankfully they now have a charity that does spay/neuters for feral/barn cats. You also have to remember that barn cats are a mixed bunch. Some are former pets, but litters are raised entirely feral since a farmer doesn't have time to pet or care for them. So a house pet dropped off is likely going to have several fights right off the bat. I'm sure there are farms that care, vet, and love their barn cats, I've just never seen the bulk of them that way. The only times I've seen people wanting barn cats it's been new farms that haven't been treated to people doing drop offs, or farms WAY out of the way so no one thinks to toss off cats.

 

[Yoshi]

Maybe it depends on the location and some areas have more problems than others. We have more problems with dumped off dogs than dumped off cats. In fact I've had problems with people (especially one little girl) trying to take my friendliest cats home.

 

[Somebirdie]

The Animal Planet show someone mentioned (Cats from Hell?) Makes a big point about LOCATION and TYPE of litterbox, perhaps you need to look into this? I mean...we don't expect our birds to use something they don't like or in an area they don't like or perhaps find natural.

A carpet steamer will work wonders for your couch, my cat Vegemite every now and then goes on a bit of a marking stint, and it comes right out with a good steaming effort with the usual carpet shampoo we use (unscented)

 

[dexterbirdie]

I'm not looking to just dump her off and forget about her.

We have 4 litter boxes, one is covered for Katie, and one has paper pellets for Allie to poop. (Don't ask, I don't know why she prefers that just for #2)
.
Three are in the laundry room, and Katies box is in the bathroom. I plan on putting one box over by the back door.

Natures miracle used to work really well for the pee removal, but they changed their formula a couple years ago, and it just doesn't work anymore

 

[cosmolove]

I'm amazed that someone with just one horse hired a worker - unusual. Around here the only ones that hire workers are active breeding or boarding farms or working cattle farms - except for maybe covering while out on vacation or something but thats not really working at these farms.

We are not talking about dropping off a cat. Just dropping off a cat is irresponsible and I would be annoyed with such people too. We are talking about seeing if any small farm is interested in one. i.e. asking which is totally different than just dropping off. For example we only have 2 barn cats and if someone nearby really needed to place a cat on a farm I would probably take it as long as it was neutered before hand.

Well I guess that's where you're wrong then

I would be more than happy to give you her contact info but I don't do that over the internet sorry. She has a national champion Paso fino. I know she was looking into a second but last I talked to her she still hadn't had one. Me and another girl worked for her almost a whole year. I was working at another farm that was paying more and taking more time so I had to stop but I mean

I've also worked at a farm with only three horses (it happened that two of which were mine so I was being paid to care for their ONE horse). Craziness. Then I worked at a farm with only 3 horses that none of which were mine. That was one of the ladies with 20+ cats.

I can keep going if you want, basically I've been working at or boarded my horse at around 10-15 different barns over the years not all of which were horse farms and zero of them wanted cats. They were being dropped off all the time.


I personally think its rather unfair to take an indoor cat that has been living indoors all of its life and giving it to a farm even if the farmer wants it. Do you know just how many cats I've seen killed at farms where they were OBVIOUSLY an indoor cat? Too many. Its rather sad all the stories I can tell you. If you don't want the cats simple take them to a shelter to give them a fighting chance. If not keep them and try to work towards a solution to your behavioral problems. You've been given quite a bit of advice now so its up to you what to do with it.

"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink"

 

[Mizzely]

I would move one or more boxes out of the laundry room. That may help give everyone their own "territory" especially if they don't want to share. Ideally, you will want each box in a different room for that reason.

Citrus Magic has an odor eliminator and cleaner, but I'm not sure how well it works,but you can find it at Walmart. The best odor remover I've found is Clear the Air.

 

[cosmolove]

I'm not looking to just dump her off and forget about her.

We have 4 litter boxes, one is covered for Katie, and one has paper pellets for Allie to poop. (Don't ask, I don't know why she prefers that just for #2)
.
Three are in the laundry room, and Katies box is in the bathroom. I plan on putting one box over by the back door.

Natures miracle used to work really well for the pee removal, but they changed their formula a couple years ago, and it just doesn't work anymore

I use natures miracle here quite a bit and it's working well for us but the trick is getting it before it soaks in. Cat urine is nasty and leaves behind the worst odor if you don't catch it right away. I use natures miracle now more so when my dogs get sick and have the runs because it cleans well and I don't have a cat problem anymore thankfully.

I also noticed there are quite a few foam carpet cleaning sprays you can use. I found the foams work pretty well on stuff you didn't catch right away. I would just spray it and leave it for like 5-10 min then come back spray a little more and scrub until my arms felt like they were going to fall off. We also shampoo our carpets pretty regularly which helps. If the cats can smell were there was pee it actually will encourage them to pee there again.

 

[cosmolove]

I would move one or more boxes out of the laundry room. That may help give everyone their own "territory" especially they don't want to share. Ideally, you will want each box in a different room for that reason.

Citrus Magic has an odor eliminator and cleaner, but I'm not sure how well it works,but you can find it at Walmart. The best odor remover I've found is Clear the Air.

oh yeah I agree, I just forgot to comment on placement of the boxes. When my cats were having their war we started out with the two boxes next to eachother but there wasn't much improvement until I moved one into the bathroom upstairs where the one cat stayed most of the time and then the other into my room (the basement) where she was most of the time.

 

[Somebirdie]

I'm not sure having the litter boxes in the same room for the most part would help.
It'd make it awfull tense in there and hard to feel like they had their own territory.


If you do decide to rehome, please don't take them to a shelter or a farm.
It's so bad for native animals to dump cats on farms, spayed or not. And yes, I know you haven't said you want to do this.

If you take them to a shelter, they're likely already overwhelmed in animals.

Their best bet would be you personally finding their new home, as I doubt a shelter will have the time and resources.


But I'd try moving the litter trays.

 

[dexterbirdie]

Let me clarify a couple things: I don't WANT to get rid of her. I do like the little sadist. I know how full our shelters and no-kill centers are. I've seen it. It's horrible. I would like to find her a home where she would be an only cat, indoors, with someone I know and somewhere that knows her and her... Quirks.

There is no WAY she is going to a shelter. If she were going to to a barn, It would need to be an insulated barn with a heat source and attention (like she would have had at my bosses house)..

She has had a full blood panel done with urine and fecal to look for crystals and other problems with everything being as normal as possible.

Same goes for Allie, but Ponyo seems to be the ringleader of peeing and general jerkiness with Katie.

 

[suileeka]

The best odor eliminator I've found so far is Anti Icky Poo. Make sure you're using a carpet injector (looks like a big livestock syringe) to get whatever enzymes you're using down into base of the carpet and/or upholstery.

 

[Yoshi]

Dexterbirdie - I wish you the best of luck in figuring this situation out. We had similar with an 8 year old cat that was just miserable with the other indoor cats and refused to use the litterbox. He checked out as healthy except for being overweight despite being on a specialized diet measured out just for him.

Thankfully we are a small farm and we had the option for him to go outside. It was the best move ever for him. He is now super fit and all muscle, no longer wheezes due to his weight, acts like a cat half his age. In fact I don't remember him ever having this type of energy except when he was a kitten. He has been outside almost 5 years now. Seeing the change in him really makes me question the logic of keeping a cat indoors-only and if we really are doing them any favors.

Your boss's barn sounds wonderful if you can't find an alternate indoor option.

 

[dexterbirdie]

She is a little... Plump... Katie is still a slim 6 lbs, and Allie fluctuates, depends on when she is shedding her undercoat.

 

[meaggiedear]

i didn't read how many litter boxes you have. you need at least four. and they need to all be in different places around the house.

i don't know how feasible it is, but the couch needs to go.

when our kitten peed on our mattress, we knew it had to go or it would be a territory thing. we bought a new one the next day and no more problems.

 

[Ziggymon]

I have dealt with a number of cats with litterbox issues over the years. It's not easy, but I made adjustments to my household to deal with it, because the alternative is a death sentence for the cat. No more carpeting or even area rugs, for instance, and everything is fully washable. Matresses and chair cushions encased in waterproof mattress pads under their covers. Anything that can't be fully washed has to be thrown out if it's peed on, otherwise it becomes a magnet to be peed on, not just by the original problem pee-er, but by others.

Lindsay has given good advice about micro managing.

The only people around here who actively want farm cats are the ones whose cat populations are wiped out annually, by a combination or predators, vehicles, and disease. My neighbors, for instance, look for cats every year to keep their rodents down, but then, their cats live a year or less. (I actually have two of their cats, who I decided to keep after nursing them back to health - I didn't feel like returning them to meet their respective fates.) Everyone else is full up, and I'm the only person in the county who bothers to spay/neuter and feed the many cats who are dumped here (eleven just this year).

 

[waterfaller1]

I hope you can find a solution.

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

I would euthanize my cat before I would turn my cat into a barn cat. My favorite great uncle was a farmer who did care for and about his barn cats, fed them regularly and had them vetted; but still I would never want my pet to have to be a farm cat. No way. Since I have never euthanized a pet that was not terminally ill, I have always micromanaged my cats' interactions. I would rather put that time and effort and money into making them into an indoor colony than give up a pet: ever!

I have had large numbers of cats since 1983, never fewer than ten and at one time 26. In that time I have always monitored and managed my cats, they were all handleable, vetted, and all had to be able to be picked up and held without struggling on their part. In that time, I have had ONE cat with an abcess from fighting in the colony. One cat. Abcesses are common to a colony which has failed. I have never had a failed colony. If you work at it, you can solve this: even if it means splitting the cats up into separate rooms for a month to break the cycle and get the house completely clean. Your decision.

 

[Ziggymon]

Like Lois, I've had 10 or more cats since the mid to late 1980's (and now a lot more, due to the high numbers of cats dumped here - I've taken the most vulnerable into the house), and have never had any serious fighting - just the odd argument between two that entails some growling and perhaps swatting, but that is over within seconds. It is a matter of giving everyone a *secure* area in which they feel comfortable. Vertical space plays an important role in this - if two cats are occupying a 12 x 12 room at the same time, but one is at ground level and the other one is on something five feet off the ground, in cat terms they each feel as though they have a 12 x12 area to themselves.

My vet says he has had a very good success rate with his patients with respect to behavioral peeing and spraying issues with the use of Prozac for 2-3 months. The Prozac is not a substitute for managing the cats in the ways Lindsay and Lois have described - it's purpose is just to mellow the cats out for a period to allow the household changes to take effect and give them all a fresh start. I haven't used it, but my sister has with one of hers, whose addition to the household caused him (and therefore all her other cats) a great deal of stress.