We (DH and I) have 3 cats, two female and one male. The male, our youngest, we're not having any problems with. The two females are a different story.
We're expecting a baby in a couple weeks, and there have been a lot of changes in our house, a situtation that isn't going to improve any time soon. Our female cats are clearly stressed by all the changes and have started urinating and spraying (one is urinating and the other is spraying) ALL OVER THE HOUSE. They're going on our furniture, the bed (one went on the bed right on me while I was sleeping!), the counters, dressers, table and even the stove. Oh, and, of course, the floors, baseboards and rugs.
This has been going on for several months now. Everything checks out fine at the vet - no infection, etc. One of these cats we've had for 5 years, the other for 4. We've never had these problems before, not even when we introduced a new cat, or when we moved.
We have tried EVERYTHING. We check nightly with the blacklight, Nature's Miracle the spots, Feliway, aluminum foil and tape to discourage them from getting on surfaces where they've gone recently (until the Nature's Miracle can "eat up" all the scent). We've moved litter boxes, added litters boxes (we've been using the same litter for years, so we've kept that the same). We've paid more attention. When we had our shower and received a lot of furniture, we even put much of it in storage and brought it in in little bits, so as to not stress the cats too much. When the urinating seemed to get worse, we removed things until they could calm down (a week or two or three), then brought the item in again.
It's getting to the point now where we're just tired and can't do it anymore. We love our cats desperately, but we're only a few weeks away from bringing a new baby home, and we're afraid the cats will pee on the baby (remember, I got peed on! And they regularly pee in our bed at night while we're in it). It's getting harder and harder to live with tin foil and tape on everything, and finding and cleaning up urine spots has become a part-time job for us both (and we both work 9-5 already).
Is it time to find new homes for our kitties? We hate to do it, but are out of ideas. We're afraid that if they go to new homes, the new owners may not be as patient and just have them put down... NOT what we want to have happen! Any thoughts?
We're expecting a baby in a couple weeks, and there have been a lot of changes in our house, a situtation that isn't going to improve any time soon. Our female cats are clearly stressed by all the changes and have started urinating and spraying (one is urinating and the other is spraying) ALL OVER THE HOUSE. They're going on our furniture, the bed (one went on the bed right on me while I was sleeping!), the counters, dressers, table and even the stove. Oh, and, of course, the floors, baseboards and rugs.
This has been going on for several months now. Everything checks out fine at the vet - no infection, etc. One of these cats we've had for 5 years, the other for 4. We've never had these problems before, not even when we introduced a new cat, or when we moved.
We have tried EVERYTHING. We check nightly with the blacklight, Nature's Miracle the spots, Feliway, aluminum foil and tape to discourage them from getting on surfaces where they've gone recently (until the Nature's Miracle can "eat up" all the scent). We've moved litter boxes, added litters boxes (we've been using the same litter for years, so we've kept that the same). We've paid more attention. When we had our shower and received a lot of furniture, we even put much of it in storage and brought it in in little bits, so as to not stress the cats too much. When the urinating seemed to get worse, we removed things until they could calm down (a week or two or three), then brought the item in again.
It's getting to the point now where we're just tired and can't do it anymore. We love our cats desperately, but we're only a few weeks away from bringing a new baby home, and we're afraid the cats will pee on the baby (remember, I got peed on! And they regularly pee in our bed at night while we're in it). It's getting harder and harder to live with tin foil and tape on everything, and finding and cleaning up urine spots has become a part-time job for us both (and we both work 9-5 already).
Is it time to find new homes for our kitties? We hate to do it, but are out of ideas. We're afraid that if they go to new homes, the new owners may not be as patient and just have them put down... NOT what we want to have happen! Any thoughts?
