Caging Question

[Genecop]

We have three cats, have had cats our entire lives..Two females one male..male is the youngest..The older female was first in the house, upon my mothers passing we acquired her female..

Her female was always different, aggressive, generally a difficult cat.. About two weeks ago we noticed cat pee in several spots cat pee should not be..I am fairly certain it is the difficult female being territorial. I have read that drugging, Valium can help the situation but giving her any type of medication requires a tranquilizer gun. The mere sight of the other cats cause her to hiss and spit...BTW they have been living together 4 years know, the peeing just started..

So our routine is first thing in the morning she gets put in her three level cage , water , toys, litter box, food..the cage is in a corner surrounded by windows and birds, trees and a stream..
At night she goes loose alone in the basement...we really can’t think of any other solutions, but we are open to suggestions and criticism, thanks, Gene

 

[Norachan]

How old is your mother's cat? Do you know much about her history? Is she friendly with you even though she doesn't like the cats? How long has she been with you?

Inappropriate peeing can be territorial, but it would be a good idea to get her checked for a urinary tract infection too. One of my female cats doesn't like the others very much, but she gets stress related UTI's. These are very painful and can be quite dangerous if left untreated, so get that checked out first of all.

Feliway diffusers help in multi-cat households, have you tried one?

https://www.feliway.com/uk/Products/FELIWAY-CLASSIC-Diffuser

There is also a good mood stabilizer that you can get online to add to wet food. It helps my girl a lot when she's going through a lot of stress.

Zylkene® | Vetoquinol USA

 

[Genecop]

Moms cat is around 7 Years Old. She has been with us about four years...She is/was feral....she has many emotional issues..very nervous and fearful, we can hold her, but not
long and only on her terms...She does not have a UTI, she eats drinks and urinates without issue...

I have tried the diffuser but or house is pretty large and we didn’t notice a difference, now that she is in the cage, we can try again near her cage..

What mood stabilizer have you used, TY..

 

[Norachan]

She does not have a UTI, she eats drinks and urinates without issue.

That doesn't always mean she doesn't have a UTI. My cat also eats, drinks and pees without any trouble. However, she feels pain when she pees because stress causes her bladder and urinary tract to become inflamed. The only reason we know she has a UTI is when she starts peeing in weird places.

This kind of bladder problem is known as Feline Idiopathic Cystitis.

Feline Idiopathic Cystitis: More Than a Bladder Problem

FIC appears to be associated with interactions among the nervous system, adrenal glands and the bladder. Environment also clearly plays a role in the disorder.

Older cats, particularly those that are difficult to handle, can have undetected health problems. This makes the cat more stressed out and harder to handle because she's in pain and doesn't want anything to do with people or other animals.

Getting your cat checked over by the vet would be a good first step before trying to address any behavioural problems. FIC, for instance, can often be helped by a change of diet, so a vet visit won't mean having to shell out a lot of cash on expensive treatments.

The mood stabilizer I used was Zylkene, link in my post above. It has helped a lot, but of course these kind of meds won't do anything if your cat has another medical issue that isn't being treated.

Vet first, just to put your mind at ease and make sure you're working on her behaviour from a clean slate, as it were.

If you need any tips on getting semi-feral cats to the vet, let me know. I take care of a colony of former feral cats, so I've had some practice.

 

[Genecop]

Thanks so much, she has regular checkups but we will bring her again ASAP..For 3 years my wife and I cared for a 25 member feral colony, we would feed, trap, spay and neuter, and also built houses for them...After 3 years it got a little to expensive so we passed the torch..I appreciate your help, Gene..