need advice

My wife and I have had Sunshine, our cat since 2001. She was abandoned in the street, and we adopted her from a shelter. Unfortunately, her mental health and behavior has been on the decline for since the summer of 2002. Early in the Summer, she had a fight with another cat through the window of our ground floor apartment and started to become skittish and aggressive. When we went to Florida for a week later that summer she greeted us happily when we came in the door and then expressed her displeasure with us by defecating on our bed. The short version of the rest of this story is this:

She was put on Fluoxitine (prozac) and has been on it for the last few years

She has defecated on the bed and couch many times, both behaviorists and the vet both seem to agree that when she gets a stomachache this is her way of telling us.

She can be aggressive; sometimes she will hiss and bite for no reason at all, other times she will come looking for attention and after a few minutes will attack. This has been happening less, with the higher dose of the fluoxitine.

Over the last year she has developed a habit of scooting on the floor, leaving brown streaks behind her. (we clean this with bleach to remove both stains and smells)

Don't misunderstand, 95% of the time, Sunshine is the most lovable feline that I have known, she is a great companion and friend. The other 5% of the time she exhibits the behavior that I have detailed above.

My wife and I love this cat, however now we are expecting a child and we cannot raise our child on a carpet that has cat feces on it. Or run the risk that Sunshine would be aggressive with an infant (although we really doubt that)

Sunshine needs a home where someone would understand that she needs medicine daily (transdermal gel in the ear), needs her stuffed animal, there is only one kind of food that she will eat, and she dosent know how to groom herself. I swear that she is a great cat, but she needs someone very patient to take care of her. It breaks our heart to make this decision, but we feel that we have no choise. Do you know of a person or organization that can care for this "special needs" kitty? We know that most people would have givin up on her a long time ago, so we need to know that she will be well taken care of and loved. We cannot bear the idea of her going from shelter to shelter.


Please give us some guidance.

What are the chances that she could live in part of the house that the baby would never get to, and yet still get enough attention throughout the day (I know what a new baby's like!) that she'd manage to be content - possibly even feel more secure in her very own place? And has anyone considered trying her of the Prozac for a while? It does weird things to people sometimes, never mind cats! Sometimes a behaviour will show up in an animal (like the messing) but might be self-limiting, however people overreact and go to great lengths to fix it, thus creating new 'side effects' of the treatment (and I don't just mean the prozac) and a worse situation, rather than anything - though I do understand that you needed to act at the time after all.

First of all, get her off of the drugs! This is a major NO NO! I firmly believe pets should not be on any mind altering, emotional prohibiting drugs for any reason!
My beloved Pandi use to poop on my bed when I would go away for more that a couple of days................ understood her disagreement with the situation..we need to think of their living situation that we confine them in and sometimes cause emotional stress on them by breaking thier everyday associated living relation-pattern suddenly............of course there is going to be an emotional effect, sometimes more personal or offensive than others. If you think about it, you have a smart kitty on your hands, she targeted the place where you spend the majority of your time when you are home. She is simply trying to make a statement of displeasure. You need to do the same, by showing both reassurance and encouragement of love and that it was a temporary situation, as well as your displeasure to this behavioral reaction, but not while any influence of drugs is present! nipping or aggressive play can be corrected seperate and accordingly.

Ok im gonna disagree with chey for a second. It sounds like dave had tried a lot with the cat and putting on meds might have been a last resort.
If it came to me either meds or getting rid of the cat i would have chose meds.
Now maybe trying to wean her off might be worth a try but not with a new baby comming. I dont think with a new baby comming it would give the cat a fair chance. Since it will disrupt her life again.
I like the idea of putting the cat someplace where it couldnt get the baby and only letting it around when someone is right there to watch her.
Whatever you decide we will support you.

No matter what, I have to say, your baby's interest is the most important! If there is no common ground found, try looking for another loving home, there is already a display of negative social behavior, maybe a home without devided attention would be more appropriate ........................for the kitty!

yes, going onto the drugs was a last resort for aggresive behavior, we tried to wean her off it once and she began to display that very aggresive behavior again. Unfortunatle, we live in a 2 bedrrom apartment, so we cannont segrigate the cat from the baby. I have tried everything with her, if we could only find a way to stop the scooting, we could keep her; cat feces and babys just can't be on the same floor. Sunshine is the most lovable cat ever, but she has her problems so if we had to give her up, I do not know how to find her a home where she will get the love she needs.


Although I have tried everything (I have brought 2 differant behaviorists into the house) any advice on the scooting issue would be great. Note that it is not her anal glands, and it is not worms.

Dave

If she's scooting, and her anal glands have been checked for trouble (it's not uncommon, tho' more common in dogs), maybe her diet is keeping her stools too loose and she needs a change in food. Discuss that with your vet - it could make a big difference.

It's funny that you should say that because I came up with that last night. I will call the vet today and keep you posted. A few years ago the vet took her off dry food, because of her weight and put her on a wet food only diet. Part of her daily regimen is benefiber, but now that you mention it, her stool is not loose, but it is not super firm either.....

I hope that works. It is extremly difficult to think of having to maybe give up any animal. Keep us posted please.

Originally Posted by cheylink

First of all, get her off of the drugs! This is a major NO NO! I firmly believe pets should not be on any mind altering, emotional prohibiting drugs for any reason!
My beloved Pandi use to poop on my bed when I would go away for more that a couple of days................ understood her disagreement with the situation..we need to think of their living situation that we confine them in and sometimes cause emotional stress on them by breaking thier everyday associated living relation-pattern suddenly............of course there is going to be an emotional effect, sometimes more personal or offensive than others. If you think about it, you have a smart kitty on your hands, she targeted the place where you spend the majority of your time when you are home. She is simply trying to make a statement of displeasure.

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Most of the users on this site have said that cats to not do things out of spite (like dogs do). So, do you really this the pooping on the bed is to get back at them for leaving? Maybe that, along with the scooting, is a medical problem.

Well stools shouldn't be 'super' firm, just formed. Is she drinking milk - that can definitely disagree with her.