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- Dec 19, 2012
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So this has been an ongoing problem that I think started when we got our 3rd cat, Sebastian, 2 years ago. We had 4 litter boxes (in our 1200 sqft apt... not a great way to live), but we still had litter box issues that I believe stemmed from aggression issues on behalf of our cat we'd had for years, Gypsy. She would attack Sebastian all the time, so he developed bad habits that eventually turned into a marking war between the two of them. We had success with keeping Gypsy separated in the spare room all the time, but that was not sustainable because we are expecting a baby and needed that room to no longer be a cat room. We decided to rehome her because between the two cats she was the most rehome-able, a beautiful kitty with no previous litterbox issues that just needed a simpler household. Sebastian on the other hand still hadn't fully demonstrated his ability to use a litter box all the time (issues with both urination and defecation), so even though he was the new kid on the block, I didn't feel right sending an untrained cat to someone else who may not be as patient with him.
Fast forward. Gypsy has been out of the house for over 4 months and Sebastian started using the litter box like he should. He still had some issues, but I attributed that to the carpet still having not been properly cleaned all the way. We use Nature's Miracle which does an awesome job with the smell, but there was such a huge volume of pee. I ended up buying a carpet shampooer that I have been obsessive with, so I think things are finally actually clean now within the past couple weeks. I also started him on buspirone (5 mg 2x/day) which is a medication for generalized anxiety disorder. There are some journal articles showing its efficacy in treating spraying issues which seem to be the only "litterbox issue" that is left. He defecates and urinates in the litter box now, but still marks in certain areas. I bought a new scratching post and put it in a hot spot to try and get him to "mark" by scratching, but that hasn't fully stopped it. I also have a plug in feliway diffuser that I want to say is helping, except that yesterday he actually marked ON the diffuser which diffused cat urine smell all through the house. NOT PRETTY.
I'm getting super frustrated here, and then today I found a clue. I went out on my front porch to water a couple plants and Sebastian followed me outside. He began sniffing at the outside wall near the door and I saw that someone had marked there! I immediately put him inside and cleaned it up out there, but when I came inside I found that he had marked not once but THREE times in about 5 minutes. Sooo I think I found the issue perhaps (or at least part of it).
So my question is.. is there anything else you guys recommend I try? And mostly, what the hell am I supposed to do to keep some random cat away from my front porch?? I live upstairs in a quad-plex so I have my own stairs and front porch, but I can't do the typical things I've seen like motion sensored air or water things since it's the only entrance to my house (that would probably prevent amazon orders from ever being delivered lol) and only about a 9x5ft porch. I don't think that anything like cayenne pepper would work just because it's all open and windy and the porch is wood with slits between. I'm at a loss.. maybe putting up a bunch of windchimes and/or wind socks super low to the ground would help? I don't know.
Advice or even just some encouragement would be greatly appreciated. We're going to have a baby in a couple months and my husband is about ready to throw the cat out the front door
P.S. Sebastian does have other anxiety symptoms besides just marking. He obsessively meows and claws at the carpet under the door to the nursery. If I distract him by playing with him he will stop, but he immediately goes back when stop. I can't be playing with him literally all the time lol when I let him in there (supervised, my husband would lose it if he marked anything in there) he just kind of wanders and doesn't seem particularly interested in anything specific. I think he's just one of those cats that can't stand a closed door, but I can't trust him to be in there unsupervised either, so he meows. A LOT. When he isn't meowing or marking he is an awesome cat who loves to cuddle and play, so I can't imagine getting rid of him. Also, I never mentioned our other cat, Rufio. He is a super chill dude who doesn't get involved in any of the crazy. They love each other, so I'm pretty positive he is a non-issue in this whole fiasco.
Fast forward. Gypsy has been out of the house for over 4 months and Sebastian started using the litter box like he should. He still had some issues, but I attributed that to the carpet still having not been properly cleaned all the way. We use Nature's Miracle which does an awesome job with the smell, but there was such a huge volume of pee. I ended up buying a carpet shampooer that I have been obsessive with, so I think things are finally actually clean now within the past couple weeks. I also started him on buspirone (5 mg 2x/day) which is a medication for generalized anxiety disorder. There are some journal articles showing its efficacy in treating spraying issues which seem to be the only "litterbox issue" that is left. He defecates and urinates in the litter box now, but still marks in certain areas. I bought a new scratching post and put it in a hot spot to try and get him to "mark" by scratching, but that hasn't fully stopped it. I also have a plug in feliway diffuser that I want to say is helping, except that yesterday he actually marked ON the diffuser which diffused cat urine smell all through the house. NOT PRETTY.
I'm getting super frustrated here, and then today I found a clue. I went out on my front porch to water a couple plants and Sebastian followed me outside. He began sniffing at the outside wall near the door and I saw that someone had marked there! I immediately put him inside and cleaned it up out there, but when I came inside I found that he had marked not once but THREE times in about 5 minutes. Sooo I think I found the issue perhaps (or at least part of it).
So my question is.. is there anything else you guys recommend I try? And mostly, what the hell am I supposed to do to keep some random cat away from my front porch?? I live upstairs in a quad-plex so I have my own stairs and front porch, but I can't do the typical things I've seen like motion sensored air or water things since it's the only entrance to my house (that would probably prevent amazon orders from ever being delivered lol) and only about a 9x5ft porch. I don't think that anything like cayenne pepper would work just because it's all open and windy and the porch is wood with slits between. I'm at a loss.. maybe putting up a bunch of windchimes and/or wind socks super low to the ground would help? I don't know.
Advice or even just some encouragement would be greatly appreciated. We're going to have a baby in a couple months and my husband is about ready to throw the cat out the front door
P.S. Sebastian does have other anxiety symptoms besides just marking. He obsessively meows and claws at the carpet under the door to the nursery. If I distract him by playing with him he will stop, but he immediately goes back when stop. I can't be playing with him literally all the time lol when I let him in there (supervised, my husband would lose it if he marked anything in there) he just kind of wanders and doesn't seem particularly interested in anything specific. I think he's just one of those cats that can't stand a closed door, but I can't trust him to be in there unsupervised either, so he meows. A LOT. When he isn't meowing or marking he is an awesome cat who loves to cuddle and play, so I can't imagine getting rid of him. Also, I never mentioned our other cat, Rufio. He is a super chill dude who doesn't get involved in any of the crazy. They love each other, so I'm pretty positive he is a non-issue in this whole fiasco.