Anxiety, Peeing And Prozac

[upnorthgirl]

Hello,

My cat is, Loki is almost 3 years old. We adopted him from a rescue when he was 4 months old. He is afraid of his own shadow but he is very playful. He rips out his fur when he gets aggravated or doesn't get his way. After having him a few months we found out he was peeing on the floors, but only along the walls. I also caught him spraying a few times (he was neutered as a kitten). He is an indoor only cat. I've tried everything I could find to fix the problem. Vet suggested Feliway plug in. He sprayed it. I put on a feliway collar and he managed to get out of it. He has been tested multiple times for urinary problems and is always negative. He has been on 5mg of prozac daily for about a year. The peeing and spraying stopped immediately. He still pulls out his fur. Recently i caught him peeing on the floor so I started confining him to "his" bathroom at night. The peeing outside the box stopped. I have got the odors out of my carpet with a home made remedy. This morning after my husband let Loki out of his bathroom, he came into our bedroom. I had just opened the door to come out of the master bath when he had just sprayed the wall behind the door. He knew he didn't something wrong because he ran when he saw me.

I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I am considering weaning him off the prozac since it doesn't seem to be working like it did. Any advice or insight would be so appreciated. I love my Loki. He is my snuggle buddy but I get so aggravated with the peeing outside his litter box. He has 3 boxes to choose from.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Rigth now, I have more questions for you than answers, but that will help find the answers. Has ANYTHING changed in your home? New furniture, new room arrangements, are you pregnant (yes, some cats react to your changing scent due to pregnancy hormones), ANYTHING? Are there neighborhood cats that he can see from the windows?

He sounds wildly territorially insecure, and the peeing is marking his territory in an attempt to claim it and keep it against some unknown threat.

The spraying in your bedroom doesn't surprise me with his history. That is the room that is just SOAKED in your scent, and there for VERY high-value property in his mind. IT MUST BELONG TO HIM, or he has nothing he can count on in life anymore. That's just how cats think.

Additional litterboxes, especially in high-value areas might help. There are some that look like furniture, if that is a consideration.

Give these a read, and see if anything triggers an "AH HA" moment!

How To Solve Litterbox Problems In Cats: The Ultimate Guide
Potential Stressors In Cats - The Ultimate Checklist
Spraying: When Your Cat Uses Urine To Mark Territory

 

[upnorthgirl]

Nothing has changed. I'm not pregnant. I haven't seen any cats around and it was early morning and still dark when this happened. Loki does like to snuggle with me and if I'm not sitting down when he is ready for that, he will paw at my leg until I pay attention to him. There have been times when I first get home from work and I am standing in the kitchen talking to my husband and Loki will be pawing at my leg. A couple times he just jumped into my arms and I had to catch him or be clawed. I guess he was tired of waiting. I have 3 litter boxes for him. Could it be an attention thing. Maybe I need to play more with him. He loves to play fetch and will bring me his ball to throw. (he thinks he is part dog). I will check out your suggestions. Thank you.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Well, he wouldn't pee for attention, but he might well become even more insecure if he felt he wasn't getting enough attention, and pee from the insecurity, which from your point of view comes down to the same thing! Try wand toys, like Da Bird. They are great for building confidence in cats, they get to successfully hunt, chase, and "kill" prey, which does their little kitty egos a world of good.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, my cat suggests buying mice and turning them loose for him. I suggest you ignore my cat, utterly.

 

[upnorthgirl]

My cat would TOTALLY love the mouse idea! Me, not so much LOL. We are on our second wand toy. He ended up chewing the ball off the first one. The ball is his second favorite toy. I forgot about his wand toy because I had it put up in the closet. He loves it so much that he was constantly bringing it to me to play. I would play for a while then have to go do something else. He would bring it to me while we were eating dinner and paw at my leg until I played with him. No matter where in the house I was, here he would come, dragging his toy. I will make a point to get in more play time with him each day. Thank you!!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You're welcome! Hekitty is so addicted to her Da Bird, that I get teased about it! She'll grab the wand and drop it on my feet...324 times a day, I think! Da Bird is a bit more expensive to buy, but worth it in my book because the "prey" clips on the string and can be replaced easily.