Hello everyone. This is my first post and I come to you with a problem my dad is currently facing with one of his cats (who was my cat too until last summer when I got married and moved away from home).
So background. My dad has 2 cats. Snickers who is a 10 year old male, neutered, and Gizmo who is a 5 year old male, neutered. We have had both cats from kitten on, so they have been together since Gizmo was a baby. I also had my dog, Stubbie, and my cat, Hogan (male and neutered), living at home with me but took them with me when I left last summer. So basically it went from my dad, myself, and my daughter along with 3 cats and a dog in the house down to just my dad and 2 cats.
Anyway -- within the past few months, maybe even since the beginning of the year, Gizmo has begun marking/spraying. He has never done this before. It started in the basement and has since gravitated to the main floor of the house as well. It used to be very intermittently, but has since become a regular thing -- and my dad told me that just the other day he found a pee spot so large it seems he actually emptied his bladder in the spot. There have been some other cats running around in our yard, which my dad has noticed Gizmo having a fit about at night as he screams out the window at them. But that's the only thing he's noticed that he feels could be responsible for the stress.
Things he has tried so far: simply cleaning up the urine spots (I do believe he is using some kind of enzyme cleaner to do that) and a pheromone dispenser (Feliway?) for calming his nerves. The pheromones seemed to work for a little while, but then Gizmo decided to actually spray right ON the pheromone dispenser. So maybe it didn't work all that great... He has had a recent trip to the vet, and the vet didn't see anything wrong with him at the check-up. I guess the other thing that really stands out in my mind is that he has picked up a lot of wait. Gizmo used to be a very fit cat. He was 14lbs, but was pretty much pure muscle. Now he looks the Pillsbury Dough Cat and I think my dad said he was over 17lbs at his last weigh-in.
Basically, my dad is really frustrated and is getting to the point where he doesn't know what to do anymore. He loves his cats and he wants to do what he can to try and fix the problem, However, he also knows he can't continue to deal with the spraying and is considering trying to rehome him, but of course -- a cat with a spraying problem probably wouldn't be very easily re-homed. He's also read about anxiety medications that a cat can be put on to help with spraying, but along with that it looks like there's a good chance that the meds would completely strip him of his personality and possibly cause other health issues in the place of the spraying problem. Which he knows isn't fair to Gizmo either and he doesn't want him to have to live like that. He's also concerned about what it would do to Snickers if he were to take Gizmo out of the home. We used to have another cat, Oscar, who passed away right before we brought Gizmo in -- and he honestly has never been the same cat since losing him.
I guess I'm just looking for maybe some first-hand experiences with this problem. Is there anything else that my dad can try for Gizmo? It actually makes me tear up to think about him not being there when I go for visits as he was my cat, too. He is such a cool cat too -- always getting into trouble, sure (opening up dresser and cabinet drawers, throwing the bread in the middle of the floor, opening the REFRIGERATOR!, walking around in the drop ceiling in the basement -- you name it, he does it) but he's got a great personality and is always entertaining with his love of the game of fetch and general charm.
Please help if you can. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
-Jen
So background. My dad has 2 cats. Snickers who is a 10 year old male, neutered, and Gizmo who is a 5 year old male, neutered. We have had both cats from kitten on, so they have been together since Gizmo was a baby. I also had my dog, Stubbie, and my cat, Hogan (male and neutered), living at home with me but took them with me when I left last summer. So basically it went from my dad, myself, and my daughter along with 3 cats and a dog in the house down to just my dad and 2 cats.
Anyway -- within the past few months, maybe even since the beginning of the year, Gizmo has begun marking/spraying. He has never done this before. It started in the basement and has since gravitated to the main floor of the house as well. It used to be very intermittently, but has since become a regular thing -- and my dad told me that just the other day he found a pee spot so large it seems he actually emptied his bladder in the spot. There have been some other cats running around in our yard, which my dad has noticed Gizmo having a fit about at night as he screams out the window at them. But that's the only thing he's noticed that he feels could be responsible for the stress.
Things he has tried so far: simply cleaning up the urine spots (I do believe he is using some kind of enzyme cleaner to do that) and a pheromone dispenser (Feliway?) for calming his nerves. The pheromones seemed to work for a little while, but then Gizmo decided to actually spray right ON the pheromone dispenser. So maybe it didn't work all that great... He has had a recent trip to the vet, and the vet didn't see anything wrong with him at the check-up. I guess the other thing that really stands out in my mind is that he has picked up a lot of wait. Gizmo used to be a very fit cat. He was 14lbs, but was pretty much pure muscle. Now he looks the Pillsbury Dough Cat and I think my dad said he was over 17lbs at his last weigh-in.
Basically, my dad is really frustrated and is getting to the point where he doesn't know what to do anymore. He loves his cats and he wants to do what he can to try and fix the problem, However, he also knows he can't continue to deal with the spraying and is considering trying to rehome him, but of course -- a cat with a spraying problem probably wouldn't be very easily re-homed. He's also read about anxiety medications that a cat can be put on to help with spraying, but along with that it looks like there's a good chance that the meds would completely strip him of his personality and possibly cause other health issues in the place of the spraying problem. Which he knows isn't fair to Gizmo either and he doesn't want him to have to live like that. He's also concerned about what it would do to Snickers if he were to take Gizmo out of the home. We used to have another cat, Oscar, who passed away right before we brought Gizmo in -- and he honestly has never been the same cat since losing him.
I guess I'm just looking for maybe some first-hand experiences with this problem. Is there anything else that my dad can try for Gizmo? It actually makes me tear up to think about him not being there when I go for visits as he was my cat, too. He is such a cool cat too -- always getting into trouble, sure (opening up dresser and cabinet drawers, throwing the bread in the middle of the floor, opening the REFRIGERATOR!, walking around in the drop ceiling in the basement -- you name it, he does it) but he's got a great personality and is always entertaining with his love of the game of fetch and general charm.
Please help if you can. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
-Jen
