This post is going to be LONG --- I will warn you. I am wanting to give you some background about our little girl to see if you can guide me in the right direction.
My husband and I picked up our little girl Zhazha exactly one week ago today. We got her (rescued in my opinion) from a breeder who was getting rid of all of her cats because she was getting down in health and she simply couldn't keep up with it all since her husband passed away several months ago.
A little background about her -- she was born 6/28 has had ZERO shots, never been dewormed, and was eating crap food. She does appear to be litter trained (I'll get into detail about that later). She is VERY shy and skiddish. I know it's not uncommon for them to be skiddish when they come to a new home (any cat), so we are working with her daily and feel she has made some amazing improvement.
Saturday through Tuesday we kept her locked in the bathroom with food, water, and her crate she traveled home in. She wouldn't come out of the crate much and seemed to use is at a 'safe' place. My husband and I would spend time in the bathroom with her alone daily trying to get her to come around. She has never hissed or bit us, but she does take off really quick when you get near her. Well, over the past week my husband is to the point with her that he can get near her and slowly put his hand down and she will sniff it and then let him stroke her. She is playing with the fishing pole like toy, eating GREAT, and going in her litter box. We have taken the crate away and replaced it with a bed/hide type thing and she does go in there sometimes, but for the most part is staying out and getting familiar with her surroundings. Since Tuesday she has had free roam of the master bathroom and bedroom and seems much happier.
We took her to the vet and she weighed only 4lbs, but I am pretty sure she is 5lb+ now --- she is eating everything we give her. We are basically giving her all she can eat (within reason). She got her first set of kitten shots as well as her first booster. She was also dewormed after the fecal test showed she had worms (nothing harmful). Her litter mate that I brought back for a good friend was found to have ringworm so we have got some shampoo from the vet and need to bath her this weekend. She will go back in three weeks for her next set of shots.
Now that I have given you some information about her I have a few questions.
When she came home I had just picked up a cheap $3.00 litter box and a bag of World's Best Cat Litter because I wasn't sure how big she would be and such. She was getting the litter EVERYWHERE so last night my husband and I picked up a new litter box (looks like a rubbermaid box with a snap on lid and has a hole in the top of the lid for her to climb down into the actual litter box) and got everything set up. I filled it with the cat litter and left the lid off until she has gone in a few times as directed. Well, Thursday she discovered our bed and how it is a much better place for her to be. I don't have a problem with her being on our bed (more so how am I going to keep her off of it anyways) but she has started urinating on the comforter. She is still urinating and going #2 in the litter box, but is urinating on the bed as well --- what can be the cause of this? Keep in mind the first time she did this I hadn't changed her litter box yet, so I don't think that is the reason. After coming home tonight from doing some shopping I discovered she had once again urinated on the comforter. This morning she woke me up by urinating on my side of the bed on ME! We are washing the comforter and she does it again everytime. Is washing it simply not getting the smell removed and she is marking it again because the smell is going away. Is this happening because she is jealous of me? (She has bonded with my husband pretty well -- but is still VERY skiddish of me).
HELP!
I want to get this stopped before it goes any further.
My husband and I picked up our little girl Zhazha exactly one week ago today. We got her (rescued in my opinion) from a breeder who was getting rid of all of her cats because she was getting down in health and she simply couldn't keep up with it all since her husband passed away several months ago.
A little background about her -- she was born 6/28 has had ZERO shots, never been dewormed, and was eating crap food. She does appear to be litter trained (I'll get into detail about that later). She is VERY shy and skiddish. I know it's not uncommon for them to be skiddish when they come to a new home (any cat), so we are working with her daily and feel she has made some amazing improvement.
Saturday through Tuesday we kept her locked in the bathroom with food, water, and her crate she traveled home in. She wouldn't come out of the crate much and seemed to use is at a 'safe' place. My husband and I would spend time in the bathroom with her alone daily trying to get her to come around. She has never hissed or bit us, but she does take off really quick when you get near her. Well, over the past week my husband is to the point with her that he can get near her and slowly put his hand down and she will sniff it and then let him stroke her. She is playing with the fishing pole like toy, eating GREAT, and going in her litter box. We have taken the crate away and replaced it with a bed/hide type thing and she does go in there sometimes, but for the most part is staying out and getting familiar with her surroundings. Since Tuesday she has had free roam of the master bathroom and bedroom and seems much happier.
We took her to the vet and she weighed only 4lbs, but I am pretty sure she is 5lb+ now --- she is eating everything we give her. We are basically giving her all she can eat (within reason). She got her first set of kitten shots as well as her first booster. She was also dewormed after the fecal test showed she had worms (nothing harmful). Her litter mate that I brought back for a good friend was found to have ringworm so we have got some shampoo from the vet and need to bath her this weekend. She will go back in three weeks for her next set of shots.
Now that I have given you some information about her I have a few questions.
When she came home I had just picked up a cheap $3.00 litter box and a bag of World's Best Cat Litter because I wasn't sure how big she would be and such. She was getting the litter EVERYWHERE so last night my husband and I picked up a new litter box (looks like a rubbermaid box with a snap on lid and has a hole in the top of the lid for her to climb down into the actual litter box) and got everything set up. I filled it with the cat litter and left the lid off until she has gone in a few times as directed. Well, Thursday she discovered our bed and how it is a much better place for her to be. I don't have a problem with her being on our bed (more so how am I going to keep her off of it anyways) but she has started urinating on the comforter. She is still urinating and going #2 in the litter box, but is urinating on the bed as well --- what can be the cause of this? Keep in mind the first time she did this I hadn't changed her litter box yet, so I don't think that is the reason. After coming home tonight from doing some shopping I discovered she had once again urinated on the comforter. This morning she woke me up by urinating on my side of the bed on ME! We are washing the comforter and she does it again everytime. Is washing it simply not getting the smell removed and she is marking it again because the smell is going away. Is this happening because she is jealous of me? (She has bonded with my husband pretty well -- but is still VERY skiddish of me).
HELP!
I want to get this stopped before it goes any further.
