Hi all...
I am new here. I have read several threads on urinating issues and would like to share my story to see if you can add any more advice before I make any drastic decisions.
We have had our Spencer cat for about 11 years. He is probably 12. We got him from a friend before we got married. He has had issues with pooping outside the litterbox for as long as I can remember. He really started it after we moved the first time...and continued it at every apartment and house we have been at. The pooping, although aggravating, I was dealing with.
THEN, about a year and a half ago...he also started urinating. It took me awhile to realize it, so I really don't know how long he had been doing it before I found it. He picked my daughter's room and the area in front of my dresser and closet.
Cat urine and cat poop are two different stories as all of you know.
I took him to the vet and had many tests run. He had been on Ovaban for some time for the pooping problem. After not finding any urinary probs they concluded it must be behavioral and put him back on Ovaban for some time...but that was not helping. I quit the Ovaban b/c I hated giving it to him if it was not helping. I did everything the vet suggested. New litter boxes, enough litter boxes per cat, cleaned the area, moved food and water...yada yada yada....We have done it all. I even started covering the area he was urinating on in dog wee wee pads that my Maltese used. That way I could at least tell when he urinated. For awhile he stopped. Then he just used the wee wee pad-which I decided was better than the carpet.
This weekend he went a step further. My maltese uses wee pads in a large dog litter pan. He does not go outside. Well, Spencer started using the dog's wee pad box in the kitchen. At first I was not bothered by this. Again, it was better than my carpet. Brinkley, the dog, seemed ok with it (although obviously confused)...so, me, at my wits end with the cat...said "Whatever!"
THEN he decided to continually MISS the litter pan. So he was urinating on the wall, on the floor and making a HUGE mess that was causing me to clean and sanitize the litter pan and floor/wall area several times a day. My patience is waning.
Two vets have looked at him and concluded it is behavioral. I don't know what else to try. He gets along with the other two cats. He gets along with the dog. He is healthy and normal in every other way. It is definetely urinating, not spraying. I would have to put Feliway things all over my house for that solution. There is really no room that I can put him in b/c of the layout of our house. The litterboxes are in the only room they can go in without putting another in the kitchen. That is the dog's space...
It is getting as so I am despising the cat. I hate that I am feeling like that because he was our first baby...fur or skin. But I cannot stand this urine all over my house either. It is enough to take care of and clean up normally after a husband, two kids, three cats, and a dog inside the house. This extra stress is going to put me in the looney bin.
Others have suggested he needs to be in a one cat household. But how do you get someone to take that chance? I can 't imagine someone asking why we are getting rid of him..."oh, he pees on the carpet!"
"I hope that doesn't bother you!" Something tells me that would not get him a good loving home.
It would be so much easier to handle if I knew he was sick-incontinent-etc.
Even choosing to put him to sleep in that case would be easier. But only for behavioral reasons is disturbing me greatly. I, along with the rest of my family...adore this cat. He is a part of us....the entire family. But surely I can't be expected to live with this as a normal part of our everday lives....?!
Should I?
I just need advice/help from other fellow cat lovers.
PLEASE!
I am new here. I have read several threads on urinating issues and would like to share my story to see if you can add any more advice before I make any drastic decisions.
We have had our Spencer cat for about 11 years. He is probably 12. We got him from a friend before we got married. He has had issues with pooping outside the litterbox for as long as I can remember. He really started it after we moved the first time...and continued it at every apartment and house we have been at. The pooping, although aggravating, I was dealing with.
THEN, about a year and a half ago...he also started urinating. It took me awhile to realize it, so I really don't know how long he had been doing it before I found it. He picked my daughter's room and the area in front of my dresser and closet.
I took him to the vet and had many tests run. He had been on Ovaban for some time for the pooping problem. After not finding any urinary probs they concluded it must be behavioral and put him back on Ovaban for some time...but that was not helping. I quit the Ovaban b/c I hated giving it to him if it was not helping. I did everything the vet suggested. New litter boxes, enough litter boxes per cat, cleaned the area, moved food and water...yada yada yada....We have done it all. I even started covering the area he was urinating on in dog wee wee pads that my Maltese used. That way I could at least tell when he urinated. For awhile he stopped. Then he just used the wee wee pad-which I decided was better than the carpet.
This weekend he went a step further. My maltese uses wee pads in a large dog litter pan. He does not go outside. Well, Spencer started using the dog's wee pad box in the kitchen. At first I was not bothered by this. Again, it was better than my carpet. Brinkley, the dog, seemed ok with it (although obviously confused)...so, me, at my wits end with the cat...said "Whatever!"
THEN he decided to continually MISS the litter pan. So he was urinating on the wall, on the floor and making a HUGE mess that was causing me to clean and sanitize the litter pan and floor/wall area several times a day. My patience is waning.
Two vets have looked at him and concluded it is behavioral. I don't know what else to try. He gets along with the other two cats. He gets along with the dog. He is healthy and normal in every other way. It is definetely urinating, not spraying. I would have to put Feliway things all over my house for that solution. There is really no room that I can put him in b/c of the layout of our house. The litterboxes are in the only room they can go in without putting another in the kitchen. That is the dog's space...
It is getting as so I am despising the cat. I hate that I am feeling like that because he was our first baby...fur or skin. But I cannot stand this urine all over my house either. It is enough to take care of and clean up normally after a husband, two kids, three cats, and a dog inside the house. This extra stress is going to put me in the looney bin.
Others have suggested he needs to be in a one cat household. But how do you get someone to take that chance? I can 't imagine someone asking why we are getting rid of him..."oh, he pees on the carpet!"
"I hope that doesn't bother you!" Something tells me that would not get him a good loving home.
It would be so much easier to handle if I knew he was sick-incontinent-etc.
Even choosing to put him to sleep in that case would be easier. But only for behavioral reasons is disturbing me greatly. I, along with the rest of my family...adore this cat. He is a part of us....the entire family. But surely I can't be expected to live with this as a normal part of our everday lives....?!
Should I?
I just need advice/help from other fellow cat lovers.
PLEASE!
