Sophie Pooped on my bed!!! I'm DESPERATE for help!!!

If none of these suggestions fix your kitties problem, you may need to consider rehoming her.

I know you want to keep your baby, but it's possible that she would do very well in a home where she is the only kitty. As long as the new owner(s) know that there have been problems, they can start with litterbox retraining immediately.

I am also wondering if her surgery and her dislike of the litterbox are of the same issue. Did she use the litterbox prior to her injury? And how did she behave with you and the other cats before surgery? Maybe a feline specialist would be a very good idea, I agree with you, she may not be "adoptable" to anyone else right now and it sounds like you love her so much, you are pretty much willing to try anything. How old is she? This may just be like a "perfect storm"-alot of different issues going on at the same time-her personality and her health. Good luck and please keep posting!

Originally Posted by KRZ

I am also wondering if her surgery and her dislike of the litterbox are of the same issue. Did she use the litterbox prior to her injury? And how did she behave with you and the other cats before surgery? Maybe a feline specialist would be a very good idea, I agree with you, she may not be "adoptable" to anyone else right now and it sounds like you love her so much, you are pretty much willing to try anything. How old is she? This may just be like a "perfect storm"-alot of different issues going on at the same time-her personality and her health. Good luck and please keep posting!

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First, thanks again to everyone who posted, it means the world to me. I've been in tears all day because it's causing a lot of hostility between my husband and me.


Prior to her surgery she never had a problem using the litterbox. I blame myself completely for her falling out the window because I was watching her and didn't think it was an issue when she was playing......I didn't ever anticipate, and I should have been more careful. I have this huge guilt issue regarding the whole thing.

She is mean and has a lot of issues, I know she couldn't be re-homed. You can't pet her, she attacks and scratches and is generally ALWAYS in a bad mood. I would do it in a second if it would make her life better, but having other cats in the home isn't the problem. After the surgery she actually warmed up a lot to our "baby" who is a year younger than her and they sleep together and groom each other. It was nice to see her bond and show affection after her personality change.


She used to curl up on my husband nightly and purr herself to sleep. I honestly can't remember the last time she purred.

I think the fall out of the window and the surgery damaged her and now I just have to find a way to make her better.

Seriously, thanks to everyone who has responded to this...I just got through a huge cry because I really do feel responsible and I want to do whatever I can to make her better and not have this perpetual tension in the house.


OH and she's going to be 2 in February.....so she's a 1 3/4 years old.

Is there any way without isolation that I can prevent the other cats from using "her" box???

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DaniMarie, just very quickly. When a cat has the kind of problem your Sophie has, sharing the litter box with other kitties is not what's causing it. Just simply sharing it I mean. And so there is no need to keep the other kitties away when you try new things for Sophie. Plus, putting a special box in a closet, etc, would only make things worse.

You need to start with looking for aversions directly related to the litter box, location aversions, substrate aversions, preferences for substrates and locations, looking for a number of physical problems that can lead to elimination disorders, and making a careful evaluation of everything in the environment that can cause stress for a cat. Sometimes cats are literally scared away from using the litter box, so this is also something to think about. Very seriously, in fact.

Also keep in mind that stress can lead to actual urinary problems in cats that in turn can lead to elimination disorder.

When you start working on this problem, the first and most important thing you have to do is get Sophie to the vet for a very thorough physical exam. It is crucially important that you start with that. In addition to complete blood work and a urinalysis, your kitty needs X-rays of the bladder and the kidneys, and an abdominal ultrasound (also to look at the bladder and the kidneys). There are situations where the usual tests or even an X-ray can't pick up a problem and without an ultrasound the problem remains undiagnosed.
Ultrasound is a painless, non-invasive test that does not require anesthesia.

Physical problems and underlying medical issues that need to be ruled out before one can concentrate on starting to treat an elimination disorder include digestive problems, bacterial diseases, inflammatory disease, IBD, constipation, pain, conditions that affect the joints or even the spine, metabolic disease, allergy. And, last but not least, if a cat is declawed, that can also be a very important factor.

Gastrointestinal disease can be involved in situations where defecating outside the litter box is also a problem, so there is really a lot to think about when one gets started with problem solving. Medication to treat the behavior aspect of the problem should not be used before all possible underlying physical and medical causes have been ruled out. Because of side effects and the fact that different medications are required in different situations (there is really no one size fits all treatment when it comes to medication), medication should only be prescribed by a behaviorist. Since you live in MA, you would want to go to Tufts in Grafton and have Sophie seen by one of the behaviorists in the Behavior Department.

Well, this is much more than I wanted to write, but hopefully it will be helpful to you.

Stress for various reasons is a whole separate issue. Also, how you and other family members react to this situation and treat the cat as a result is vitally important. How the cat is being treated can make successful treatment impossible. So while you start working on this, you also have to work on your own (and other family membersâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]) stressed out state and make some desperately needed changes. You simply canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t allow yourself to get stressed. Then it will be much easier for you to address Sophieâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s issues and find things that will work for her.

I just read this thread and I am so sorry for all that you are going through.

I have nothing I can offer but support. From reading it seems that this started after the fall and surgery. Sounds like you are doing the right thing by taking her to the feline specialist because she has been evaluated already by her vet.

There may be something that was not repaired or unknown wrong due to the fall. The specialist will evaluate everything from the beginning and may have a different perspective than the present vets.

I hope you and your husband can find a way to be less stressful until she can get to the specialist. This will go a long way for her as she probably cannot help what she is doing. Hang in there and things will get better.

I used www.urineoff.com in the past with great success.

Well she's been checked for physical problems multiple times and everything has come back normal but I will definitely be consulting a feline behavior expert.

On a side note, this is a little corny but just made me very very happy.

I think it was Sophie letting me know she knows I've been agonizing over this issue all day, because I just heard a peeing sound and looked over and she was peeing in one of the litter boxes.

She never, and I repeat NEVER pees in the litter boxes. Usually I leave out a box without any litter in it and she'll pee in that (strange, I know)...but that's the system that's been working for a while now. Then I'll clean the box after she pees in it and put it back out again with no litter and when she has to go, she'll use it again.

But alas, I just caught her peeing in an actual box with litter in it!!!



I think my little baby telepathically knew my stress.


OH and thank you for the urine remover suggestion. There's a TON of them on the market!! I'm trying to find the best one and it's so difficult. The pet stores make recommendations, but I generally don't trust them because I've been fooled before buying their products.

Sorry I haven't rechecked here sooner.

First, I want to stress that I don't think medications should be first lines of defense, but having gone through the same type of situation long term (with all medical rule outs done like you have) medications do have their place.

For me the prozac is very inexpensive. My vet calls it into Wal Mart for their $5 generic. I get 30, 10 mg pills and Izzy gets 1/8 of a pill daily.
Izzy will eat her pill if it is wrapped in a pill pocket and put in her wet food.

I do have Izzy get a complete blood count, Chemistries and UA every six months. This costs $150.00 for me. My vet sends all tests to be run at Antech.

As I said earlier, talking to the vet about doing a dose of pain medications as a trial to see if she feels better is an easy way to see if pain in present somewhere.

Sophie may have cystitis. She would not show any blood or bacteria in her urine, however she would have bladder pain with this. This alone could cause inappropriate urination. She now also may have some arthritis starting from the injury.
.

This is a great article on feline aggression and elimination disorders
http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...1038&O=Generic

I hope you can find a vet that is will to work with you. Some vets are very good vets, but just are not into treating cats. You really need a vet that "gets" cats.

Lots of good kitty going out to Sophie for using the litter box.

I feel so terrible about what your going thru, no doubt depressing.

I recently put my girl on Prozac. My vet had me go thru a special pharmacy that turns pets meds into flavored liquid or treat form. I just recently ordered a 3 month supply of fish flavored liquid, it was $45... so thats about $15 a month.

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

If none of these suggestions fix your kitties problem, you may need to consider rehoming her.

I know you want to keep your baby, but it's possible that she would do very well in a home where she is the only kitty. As long as the new owner(s) know that there have been problems, they can start with litterbox retraining immediately.

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I agree... Stress will do horrible things for a cat, and maybe she needs another home... Maybe she needs to be the princess, and spoiled... I hate to say this, but your husband hating her, wanting to put her to sleep, and throwing things at her will just make the matters worst. IMO Sophie will never get better unless she is removed from there... Again, this is my opinion only. Good Luck!

I am sorry for all these issues, it sounds so stressful! Many cats have litterbox issues and are able to work through them, from what I have seen on this site. How often do you clean the boxes a day? At least twice a day is recommended, many cats require very clean boxes or won't go. I hope cat attract helps!
There have been some great suggestions in this thread and I really hope they help. I think you are such an angel for trying so hard and working with your cat and loving her despite all her problems. I think your husband has tried to be there, but is at the end of his rope, please sit him down and have a serious talk with how you feel about this cat and how important it is to help her to you and to her life as you said you both know she can't be rehomed due to all her problems.

I don't have any direct experience with the situation you're going through, but I couldn't read this thread and not reply to your distress.

I feel for what you're going through and I can only imagine what a weight you're carrying around right now.

It sounds as though you've tried just about everything you possibly can. I think, sometimes, we take on more than we can or should because we don't want to give up, or we think we're responsible, or we think we just have to find the right thing to do and everything will be ok.

I can't recommend anything you haven't already tried. But I can tell you that sometimes it's ok to say, "I've done everything I can."

Is the quality of life of all involved good enough to justify continuing as you are? Maybe you could try a foster mom through a shelter, someone that has a quiet environment that could give your kitty a second chance.

Don't beat yourself up about the accident anymore. Not for one second longer. None of us can anticipate everything that could possibly happen, so we can't possibly be responsible for everything that actually does happen.

Whatever you decide, we're here for you.