- Joined
- Nov 15, 2014
- Messages
- 168
- Purraise
- 99
Hi all,
First of all, I know I have to take this cat to the vet, today if at all possible, which is making me have an anxiety attack, as we just took the cat we adopted from my mom to the vet for an ingrown dew claw to the tune of $168 last week. Thankfully, he is healing fine, with just a bad bout of diarrhea from the antibiotic shot they gave him, but that one trip to the vet is causing me to fret about how to pay the bills this month and next.
Now, there is a problem with Tigger. He has started peeing outside the box. When this first happened, I thought it was a reaction to the arrival of my mom's cat. We did a slow introduction, and actually, of my three cats, Tigger appears to be the one who is tolerating the new male cat the best (walks by him, jumps up where he is sleeping and just steps over him, etc.) So, the first incident of a cat peeing outside the box was actually in my son's shoe, which he had left right inside the back door. I cleaned it up, and before I had time to consider the possible action to take, the other shoe was a target. I put the shoes in the closet, and i also put another litter box in the house in my office, where this cat loves to lie on my desk as I work from home. We only had a total of 3 boxes and 4 cats. I have purchased a 5th box, but I have not decided where to put it. However, the 4th box was accepted by all, but i am wondering if that is actually an issue. In other words, maybe my cats do not like sharing a box with the new cat? After putting up the shoes and adding a box, there was not another incident for at least a few weeks, at least not that I know of.
There are also some strays cats or outdoor neighbor cats that have been regularly fighting or mating or something near our sliding doors. I heard them through earbuds the other day. It is unusually warm for February, so i wondered if females are in heat already. Does that make sense? So, it crossed my mind that peeing outside the box might be a territorial thing because of those cats. The reason I mention that is because, the other night, we were in the living room where the other door to the outside is. We heard a cat peeing, and he had peed on another pair of shoes (again my adult son's--on purpose or irony??). I jumped up and cleaned and cleaned. It seems that he is going near the entrance/exit doors. He has not been outside since I trapped him and his brother and sister as kittens 5 years ago when their mom left them in my back yard.
In addition to peeing outside the box, Tigger has started raising his rear very high and peeing behind and spraying the litter box sides, and it seems to me like the volume of pee is more than usual (fills the corner and you can see the stream across the top of the litter, which is also a bit odd, since he has always been big on digging and burying).
So, this morning, I was sitting at the computer in my office, and I heard pee hitting something, definitely not the litter box that was in the room. Sure enough, I actually witnessed Tigger peeing standing and shooting backwards. I actually think he was aiming for my son's shoes (which now likely still smell like pee residual from before-and I advised my son to keep them in the closet to no avail) but ended up hitting some boxes that my husband had brought in from work to pack some things up in, so the shoes were spared but not the carpet. By the way, this seems to be a lot of pee. With 4 cats, it is hard to tell if he is drinking more or not (thought I thought the bowel was lower than usual when I changed it one day this week), but this incident was literally a foot and a half away from the new litter box in the office, so my guess is either this is behavioral or a pain aversion that he thinks might be solved by going outside the box.
I do know this particular cat is very attached to me and can be stressed easier. He sometimes refuses to greet me for a few minutes if I leave the house for more than a few hours, and he developed diarrhea when both of my children started college at the same time (one on campus and one computing).
By the way, Tigger is 5 years old, a male, and he has never had any issues with UTI or urinating outside the box.
I am actually worried sick about the situation because I have read so many horror stories of cats who pee outside the box when it is not medical. If this is due to my mom's cat being here, I don't know what to do. The reason we took him in was because she has progressing dementia and caring for the cat who lived in her room with her was not going well (and we suspected at least verbal abuse and maybe her on the verge of kicking or hitting him with her mood swings). What am I going to do if this is due to him living here? Does Feliway help this sort of thing? Financially, we are not doing well. Keeping Feliway full all the time is rather expensive. I don't know who is more stressed about this, me or the cat! LOL! My husband will not put up with this very long, and he adores Tigger.
Also, I thought i would mention that the pee does not smell particularly strong. Is that good or bad? I mean, he peed a cup in the office, and when I was cleaning, I was surprised that the odor was not worse.
Lastly, and this may or may not be my imagination, I have thought that Tigger might be purring louder when he is sleeping in bed with me (and he has been coming over to me more at the computer, like he wants me to do something--but that could be food). His appetite is always healthy. I even thought he might be hyperthyroid at one point because he can be obsessed with food, but the numbers were fine when they were checked about 2 years ago. Oh....they are on all wet food (just stopped the tiny bit of Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Chicken and Pea about a week ago, but this started before that). Brands are Nutro, Nature's Variety, and Weruva, but I do confess to more Weruva since my mom's cat got here, since he will only eat Weruva and minced Nutro.
Sorry about the novel. Part of me is worried if it is medical, as I know cats who get UTIs can be prone, and financially, I don't know how we would deal with a cat who got sick even periodically. By the same token, I have read so many stories of people who cannot get a cat who pees from stress to stop. i am already thinking of Prozac or something.
Like I said, I am going to call the vet this afternoon, but I worry that they won't get a good sample or something, and I know it will cost $200 or more to do the workup. Between my mom's illness and this, I am going to need the Prozac for myself!
I just wondered of anyone might be able to say that any group of things mentioned here was more likely a sign of medical or behavioral. i am preparing for the worst of either. I just paid off a credit card and was so glad to not have that bill anymore. It looks like that is about to change with a trip to the vet today.
All input and encouragement is welcome. Everyone here was great when Tigger had diarrhea a couple of years back, and the advice was very helpful!
First of all, I know I have to take this cat to the vet, today if at all possible, which is making me have an anxiety attack, as we just took the cat we adopted from my mom to the vet for an ingrown dew claw to the tune of $168 last week. Thankfully, he is healing fine, with just a bad bout of diarrhea from the antibiotic shot they gave him, but that one trip to the vet is causing me to fret about how to pay the bills this month and next.
Now, there is a problem with Tigger. He has started peeing outside the box. When this first happened, I thought it was a reaction to the arrival of my mom's cat. We did a slow introduction, and actually, of my three cats, Tigger appears to be the one who is tolerating the new male cat the best (walks by him, jumps up where he is sleeping and just steps over him, etc.) So, the first incident of a cat peeing outside the box was actually in my son's shoe, which he had left right inside the back door. I cleaned it up, and before I had time to consider the possible action to take, the other shoe was a target. I put the shoes in the closet, and i also put another litter box in the house in my office, where this cat loves to lie on my desk as I work from home. We only had a total of 3 boxes and 4 cats. I have purchased a 5th box, but I have not decided where to put it. However, the 4th box was accepted by all, but i am wondering if that is actually an issue. In other words, maybe my cats do not like sharing a box with the new cat? After putting up the shoes and adding a box, there was not another incident for at least a few weeks, at least not that I know of.
There are also some strays cats or outdoor neighbor cats that have been regularly fighting or mating or something near our sliding doors. I heard them through earbuds the other day. It is unusually warm for February, so i wondered if females are in heat already. Does that make sense? So, it crossed my mind that peeing outside the box might be a territorial thing because of those cats. The reason I mention that is because, the other night, we were in the living room where the other door to the outside is. We heard a cat peeing, and he had peed on another pair of shoes (again my adult son's--on purpose or irony??). I jumped up and cleaned and cleaned. It seems that he is going near the entrance/exit doors. He has not been outside since I trapped him and his brother and sister as kittens 5 years ago when their mom left them in my back yard.
In addition to peeing outside the box, Tigger has started raising his rear very high and peeing behind and spraying the litter box sides, and it seems to me like the volume of pee is more than usual (fills the corner and you can see the stream across the top of the litter, which is also a bit odd, since he has always been big on digging and burying).
So, this morning, I was sitting at the computer in my office, and I heard pee hitting something, definitely not the litter box that was in the room. Sure enough, I actually witnessed Tigger peeing standing and shooting backwards. I actually think he was aiming for my son's shoes (which now likely still smell like pee residual from before-and I advised my son to keep them in the closet to no avail) but ended up hitting some boxes that my husband had brought in from work to pack some things up in, so the shoes were spared but not the carpet. By the way, this seems to be a lot of pee. With 4 cats, it is hard to tell if he is drinking more or not (thought I thought the bowel was lower than usual when I changed it one day this week), but this incident was literally a foot and a half away from the new litter box in the office, so my guess is either this is behavioral or a pain aversion that he thinks might be solved by going outside the box.
I do know this particular cat is very attached to me and can be stressed easier. He sometimes refuses to greet me for a few minutes if I leave the house for more than a few hours, and he developed diarrhea when both of my children started college at the same time (one on campus and one computing).
By the way, Tigger is 5 years old, a male, and he has never had any issues with UTI or urinating outside the box.
I am actually worried sick about the situation because I have read so many horror stories of cats who pee outside the box when it is not medical. If this is due to my mom's cat being here, I don't know what to do. The reason we took him in was because she has progressing dementia and caring for the cat who lived in her room with her was not going well (and we suspected at least verbal abuse and maybe her on the verge of kicking or hitting him with her mood swings). What am I going to do if this is due to him living here? Does Feliway help this sort of thing? Financially, we are not doing well. Keeping Feliway full all the time is rather expensive. I don't know who is more stressed about this, me or the cat! LOL! My husband will not put up with this very long, and he adores Tigger.
Also, I thought i would mention that the pee does not smell particularly strong. Is that good or bad? I mean, he peed a cup in the office, and when I was cleaning, I was surprised that the odor was not worse.
Lastly, and this may or may not be my imagination, I have thought that Tigger might be purring louder when he is sleeping in bed with me (and he has been coming over to me more at the computer, like he wants me to do something--but that could be food). His appetite is always healthy. I even thought he might be hyperthyroid at one point because he can be obsessed with food, but the numbers were fine when they were checked about 2 years ago. Oh....they are on all wet food (just stopped the tiny bit of Natural Balance Limited Ingredient Chicken and Pea about a week ago, but this started before that). Brands are Nutro, Nature's Variety, and Weruva, but I do confess to more Weruva since my mom's cat got here, since he will only eat Weruva and minced Nutro.
Sorry about the novel. Part of me is worried if it is medical, as I know cats who get UTIs can be prone, and financially, I don't know how we would deal with a cat who got sick even periodically. By the same token, I have read so many stories of people who cannot get a cat who pees from stress to stop. i am already thinking of Prozac or something.
Like I said, I am going to call the vet this afternoon, but I worry that they won't get a good sample or something, and I know it will cost $200 or more to do the workup. Between my mom's illness and this, I am going to need the Prozac for myself!
I just wondered of anyone might be able to say that any group of things mentioned here was more likely a sign of medical or behavioral. i am preparing for the worst of either. I just paid off a credit card and was so glad to not have that bill anymore. It looks like that is about to change with a trip to the vet today.
All input and encouragement is welcome. Everyone here was great when Tigger had diarrhea a couple of years back, and the advice was very helpful!