Ok, I need help... bad.
I have an 8yo calico (Frankie) that has a peeing problem. It's been on-going for years (4+) now and has become more frequent lately. I'm at the end of my rope and if something doesn't work soon I'm afraid I'll have to adopt her out. I really don’t want to. I’ve had her since she was a few days old. She was abandoned by mom (or mom got hit I’m not sure) and when I found her, her eyes weren’t even open yet. I took her to work with me…bottle fed her and taught her to potty so she really is part of the family.
Some details...
-As I said she's about 8
-This has been a problem for years
-She's been given a clean bill of health (more than once) and the vet says it's behavioral and doesn't appear to be spraying but is actually peeing.
-We also have a kitten (about 1.5 yo, male {Wicket})
-They are both fixed
-Her peeing behavior didn't changed at all when we got him
-I've tried deterants like tinfoil, chilli powder, and various other things including the Feliway diffuser for around 3 months (which she peed right in front of more than once)
-I always throughly clean the areas when she pees
-It's typically when we're asleep or gone that she pees but she does do it when we are home too occasionally
-I always praise her when she does use the litter box for anything
-She always poops in her box
-I clean the box everyday
I've read that you can begin to re-train a cat by limiting their access to other rooms in the house but I'm afraid confining her would cause seperation anxiety for Wicket (and possible her as well) and I don't think it's fair to confine them both for 2 reasons 1) being locked up together might stress her out because he is high energy and 2) I feel it's unfair to confine him when he's done nothing wrong. I'm gratefull everyday that he doesn't pick up Frankie's bad habit. I'm also worried about deterants because in the past if it has kept her away from a particular spot it only causes her to find a new bad spot instead of sending her back to the box. I'm going to change their feeding schedule so that I can maybe confine us both to the litter room after shes eaten so I can encourage her to use the box and praise her if she does. I'm also going to schedule playtime for just her and do the same thing after playtime (visit the box). Plus, I just read about Vodka to clean up the smell and citrus to deter her which I'm going to try. The vet suggested anti-depressants as a possible solution but with no gaurentee and the way my cat react to pills I'm not ready to try that (she foams at the mouth at the very site of pills) But any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If you need to know anything else let me know… I tried to include everything I could think of that is related to this.
I have an 8yo calico (Frankie) that has a peeing problem. It's been on-going for years (4+) now and has become more frequent lately. I'm at the end of my rope and if something doesn't work soon I'm afraid I'll have to adopt her out. I really don’t want to. I’ve had her since she was a few days old. She was abandoned by mom (or mom got hit I’m not sure) and when I found her, her eyes weren’t even open yet. I took her to work with me…bottle fed her and taught her to potty so she really is part of the family.
Some details...
-As I said she's about 8
-This has been a problem for years
-She's been given a clean bill of health (more than once) and the vet says it's behavioral and doesn't appear to be spraying but is actually peeing.
-We also have a kitten (about 1.5 yo, male {Wicket})
-They are both fixed
-Her peeing behavior didn't changed at all when we got him
-I've tried deterants like tinfoil, chilli powder, and various other things including the Feliway diffuser for around 3 months (which she peed right in front of more than once)
-I always throughly clean the areas when she pees
-It's typically when we're asleep or gone that she pees but she does do it when we are home too occasionally
-I always praise her when she does use the litter box for anything
-She always poops in her box
-I clean the box everyday
I've read that you can begin to re-train a cat by limiting their access to other rooms in the house but I'm afraid confining her would cause seperation anxiety for Wicket (and possible her as well) and I don't think it's fair to confine them both for 2 reasons 1) being locked up together might stress her out because he is high energy and 2) I feel it's unfair to confine him when he's done nothing wrong. I'm gratefull everyday that he doesn't pick up Frankie's bad habit. I'm also worried about deterants because in the past if it has kept her away from a particular spot it only causes her to find a new bad spot instead of sending her back to the box. I'm going to change their feeding schedule so that I can maybe confine us both to the litter room after shes eaten so I can encourage her to use the box and praise her if she does. I'm also going to schedule playtime for just her and do the same thing after playtime (visit the box). Plus, I just read about Vodka to clean up the smell and citrus to deter her which I'm going to try. The vet suggested anti-depressants as a possible solution but with no gaurentee and the way my cat react to pills I'm not ready to try that (she foams at the mouth at the very site of pills) But any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If you need to know anything else let me know… I tried to include everything I could think of that is related to this.