- Joined
- Oct 13, 2013
- Messages
- 57
- Purraise
- 16
Hi! After putting my 18-year old female down in 2015, our 4 year old neutered male, Sammy dealt with depression afterwards. Not only was there a loss of a cat but my mother was no longer home during the day so he was a lonely boy! I ended up adopting a five year old neutered male from the ASPCA in November of 2016! This sweet boy whom I named Poe, is very sweet and loving. The ASPCA said he was a former stray which I found odd because he was so sweet and incredibly curious and open towards Sammy (who was far more standoffish at first, but he'd never had a new cat come in, he was always the new and friendly one). It took about two months but Sammy warmed up to Poe and now regularly grooms Poe and they play and hang out together. They're the same age but Sammy is the one in charge and they both look out for each other!
At first it started as defecating outside the box in corners in our two downstairs rooms (the living room and the dining room). These rooms are popular rooms for the cats as the dining room became our library and their cat tree was in there. The living room is a favorite as the boys, especially Poe, love to sit and look outside. Not only this, but Poe started defecating on the beds we used in his quarantine room: the spare room that had his litter box for the first month. I'm not always the best at our litter box so I just kept working on making sure I was hitting it more frequently (generally I'd been doing it once/twice a week). There was only one box at the time.
After we found more spots recently (the defecation didn't seem to be frequent. It would happen every few months if he didn't have access to the spare room), I purchased another litter box and put it in my bathroom. So the "main" litter box is in the utility room by the laundry machines. We've always had one litter box for two cats and it was never really an issue but I figured new personalities.
We're in the process of remodeling our house so this weekend my parents were pulling up the carpet in the dining room. There are urine stains centered around a corner by the windows where we'd seen him defecate before and this morning? Poe stood on the front rug and peed before pawing at it trying to cover it up. when I got downstairs to clean it up and blast it with Nature's Miracle, I saw him chilling out in the downstairs litter box like no big deal. He has a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon. I've spent the last three weeks suspecting this is a personality quirk but now I'm hesitant.
The urine doesn't smell strong until you get up really close and I'm worried that it's his thyroid or kidney because shouldn't urine smell more? I was speaking with my coworker this morning and she pointed out given Poe's amiable nature, that instead of growing up stray, he could have been dumped by a family because he was peeing outside the box.
I have one diffuser of Feliway I plugged into the dining room this morning and just dropped another $165 this morning on five more plug-ins to put downstairs, since we will be having construction start in May. I had posted about him a few months ago as to his behavior towards me: he doesn't like me trimming his nails or being touchy with him but he likes to show off to any new comers and the people at the vet. When I take him to the vet for his nail trim, he just rolls on his back and invites all the attention (but scratches me up when I try to put him in the cage to actually take him. My mom apparently has a firmer hand?).
ETA: He's also quite the talker! He likes to stand in certain rooms and talk talk talk when the house is more quiet and then I talk back to him. He'll either run up the stairs to say hello or just talk some more.
I won't abandon him/give him up/put him down. He's a member of the family, my child! He may not be cuddly, but I love him so much. So any advice would be helpful. Thank you!
At first it started as defecating outside the box in corners in our two downstairs rooms (the living room and the dining room). These rooms are popular rooms for the cats as the dining room became our library and their cat tree was in there. The living room is a favorite as the boys, especially Poe, love to sit and look outside. Not only this, but Poe started defecating on the beds we used in his quarantine room: the spare room that had his litter box for the first month. I'm not always the best at our litter box so I just kept working on making sure I was hitting it more frequently (generally I'd been doing it once/twice a week). There was only one box at the time.
After we found more spots recently (the defecation didn't seem to be frequent. It would happen every few months if he didn't have access to the spare room), I purchased another litter box and put it in my bathroom. So the "main" litter box is in the utility room by the laundry machines. We've always had one litter box for two cats and it was never really an issue but I figured new personalities.
We're in the process of remodeling our house so this weekend my parents were pulling up the carpet in the dining room. There are urine stains centered around a corner by the windows where we'd seen him defecate before and this morning? Poe stood on the front rug and peed before pawing at it trying to cover it up. when I got downstairs to clean it up and blast it with Nature's Miracle, I saw him chilling out in the downstairs litter box like no big deal. He has a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon. I've spent the last three weeks suspecting this is a personality quirk but now I'm hesitant.
The urine doesn't smell strong until you get up really close and I'm worried that it's his thyroid or kidney because shouldn't urine smell more? I was speaking with my coworker this morning and she pointed out given Poe's amiable nature, that instead of growing up stray, he could have been dumped by a family because he was peeing outside the box.
I have one diffuser of Feliway I plugged into the dining room this morning and just dropped another $165 this morning on five more plug-ins to put downstairs, since we will be having construction start in May. I had posted about him a few months ago as to his behavior towards me: he doesn't like me trimming his nails or being touchy with him but he likes to show off to any new comers and the people at the vet. When I take him to the vet for his nail trim, he just rolls on his back and invites all the attention (but scratches me up when I try to put him in the cage to actually take him. My mom apparently has a firmer hand?).
ETA: He's also quite the talker! He likes to stand in certain rooms and talk talk talk when the house is more quiet and then I talk back to him. He'll either run up the stairs to say hello or just talk some more.
I won't abandon him/give him up/put him down. He's a member of the family, my child! He may not be cuddly, but I love him so much. So any advice would be helpful. Thank you!
