My young cat is acting CRAZY! Please help

[northwest]

Help!

I have a 8 month old cat named Coco. I'm not sure of Coco's breed but you can see her picture here. This was taken when she was about 5 months old:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2czoyep.jpg

In the past 6 months she has been meowing in a sort of crying, howling manner. Almost if she is meowing in pain: "OWWWW! OWWWW! OWWWWWWWWWWWW!" combined with a low gurgle/growl like "grrrrrr", "eeeerrrrrr", "eeerrrrrrrrrrr". She rolls on the floor and rubs the sides of her face. This constant vocal behavior has been going on all day and all night. I can hardly get a nights rest. I think she may be in heat but I'm not sure.

Bubby, my male cat is a British short hair mix, about 1.5 years old and he is fixed. See pic here:

http://i52.tinypic.com/wrjtiv.jpg

When Coco first started this behavior Bubby tried to mount her a few times even though he has been fixed. He's extremely smart, obeys my commands and has since been ignoring her cries since I told him to stop.

I have one littler box for both cats. Upstairs bathroom. Coco uses the litter box in the upstairs bathroom, along with the Bubby but also pees in other places too. For example, she likes to pee on the downstairs kitchen chair which is tucked under the table.

I also noticed she pooped outside the litter box a couple of times and there was undigested cat food pellets in her poop. I have been feeding them both "A Taste of the Wild". :

http://tinyurl.com/taste-wild

The pellets are small and I noticed they don't really chew them but just swallow them and I've been concerned if this is healthy for their digestive system.

I thought I remember someone saying that kittens should have a different diet than an adult cat (is 1.5 years considered an adult cat? because that is what the British short hair is). I was also told that all cats should have dry and wet food.

My specific questions:

Why do you think Coco is meowing and acting like she is?
Would having her fixed, stop her vocal cries and physical rolling and rubbing and abnormal peeing outside the litter box? Would she calm down?
What should her diet be as a 8 month old?

As a side question, should I be giving them both dry and wet food?

Please help, I'm out of ideas.

Thanks!

 

[Asteria]

Your cat is meowing and marking because she's a sexually mature unspayed female with what sounds like an unaltered male cat in the house. I advise you to get them both altered. Your male might listen to you when you're there, but there will be a time when you won't be able to supervise, and the world will have another litter of unwanted kittens.

I think Taste of the Wild is an all life stages formula. She should be fine eating it.

Wet food is generally better for cats. It's more expensive, so I feed my cats a mixture of dry and wet.

 

[lauren_miller]

Your little girl looks EXACTLY like my Lilly when she was a baby!! They look like they good be sisters! LOL

Lilly: http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...201/009-28.jpg http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...201/002-31.jpg http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1..._201/099-2.jpg

Your baby is in heat. You need to get her spayed and the yowling and marking behaviors will stop. Get her in as soon as you can.

 

[northwest]

Thanks. The male cat, Bubby is fixed. I re-edited my post above to make that clear. I think she is in heat too but I wasn't sure.

Any other suggestions/help from anyone else is appreciated.

 

[northwest]

Hi Lauren!

Yes, Coco and Lilly do look like twins! Coco has a twin sibling. When the family brought them to my house for me to choose I only took one. If not, do you know what breed they are?

 

[lauren_miller]

Lilly is a bobtail of some sort. I think she's an american bobtail shorthair mix. Does Coco have a tail? She's probably a Domestic Shorthair which means she's a mix or moggie as some people call them. It's really hard with kitties to tell what breed they are if you don't know the parents heritage.

 

[Willowy]

Most cats are no particular breed. She appears to be a domestic shorthair, with a tabby pattern. She's lovely!

Yes, the behaviors you're seeing are because she's in heat. Do have her spayed ASAP, it's not healthy for her to be in heat all the time like that. The sexual behaviors should stop once she's spayed. The peeing outside of the litterbox might be marking because she's in heat, or it might be a litterbox issue. . .

You really need to have at least one more litterbox. The recommended number of litterboxes is one per cat plus one extra, so ideally you should have 3 litterboxes in your home, in different places. Most cats like unscented, sand-like litter best. If she is still peeing in inappropriate places after she's spayed and more litterboxes are added, give Cat Attract litter a try. It works very well.

Yes, Taste of the Wild is an all-life-stages food, so she should be fine with that. You shouldn't be seeing undigested food in her poop, though, that's not normal. Are you sure it was poop and not vomit? If she's not digesting her food well, it would be best to consult a vet on the subject. Cats don't normally chew kibble, so that's not a big worry. They can digest it whole in most cases.

I believe cats should always have at least some wet food in their diets. It helps to keep them hydrated and their urinary systems flushed out. So, yes, I would recommend feeding canned food as well as their dry food.

 

[northwest]

I might have seen the undigested pellets in her vomit and not the poop. Do you think her upset stomach (vomiting) is due to her being in heat? Does heat cause the cats to do crazy things like this?

I'm just worried about having 3 littler boxes that my house will smell like urine all the time. I have a two story house and I had the litter box in the down stairs laundry room. I use Arm an Hammer multi-cat clumping which works really good. I've tried to use the bargain store brand clumping litter from Petco, but it doesn't work as well as A&H.

With just Bubby, the male cat, and it was easy to keep the odor under control, but not with two cats. Even with a good clumping litter I could smell a slight order with both cats and one box.

So I decided to move the litter box and food to the upstairs guest bathroom (its bigger) and that seemed to eliminate odor an little granules on the carpet when people first walk in the house.

hum, I could put one in the down stairs laundry room again. One in the upstairs guest bathroom and one in the master bathroom. That seems like allot of litter boxes for 2 cats and I wonder if my house would be overpowered with smell with so many?

I do think it's hard for both of them to use the same littler box. I sense they dislike going in there with poop and pee in there. If I was a cat I would. Although I do I scoop out all the clumps in the litter box completely every morning before work.

I had an idea. On the other side of one wall in the foyer is the garage. I was thinking about putting a small cat door there and put the litter boxes in the garage. That way the mess and smell is in the garage and not in the house.

 

[lauren_miller]

It could be the litter you're using. I believe that one has scent to it? I would recommend having at least two litter boxes, you could keep the one litter box downstairs and one in the guest bathroom. That's what I would do. I have 3 cats and two litter boxes and I don't have any problems.

I use World's Best Cat Litter. It doesn't have any scent to it and it controls the odor very well. I scoop my boxes twice a day.

 

[northwest]

Thanks, I'll have to figure out a solution for putting one downstairs. The downstairs bathroom is a 1/4 bathroom (sink and toilet) so it's small, but on the other side is the door to the laundry room (also small) but has more space. The cats seem to make their way behind the dryer and scratch open the foil dryer vent hose, which I've had to replace twice now. But I could put little pieces of wood strips between the washer dryer and walls to prevent them from crawling behind. The other issue is, I hate to always leave the downstairs bathroom door open. I'll figure that part out I guess.

I'll be taking Coco to the vet soon to be fixed and I'll post the results.

 

[darlili]

I have two cats and ended up with four open boxes in a one story, two bedroom condo - none of them giant, just the large Walmart size. One is in the utility room, but out in the open (and,yes, I learned to keep that door open), two are in the back den/bedroom, separated by a few feet, and one is in my bedroom. I scoop twice a day and use Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract litter and the condo does not smell like urine. My boy is very picky about his boxes - no poo and pee in the same one. He had some issues, so I went to the four boxes - you may well do fine with three.

If you're recognizing food in the vomit, she may well be eating too fast and regurgitating the food - and that could be because she's in heat. Do tell the vet, though, just in case.

Myself, I'd be nervous about using the garage unless it's totally 'babyproofed' and people are incredibly careful about driving in and out and raising the garage door; no, honestly, I'd be too nervous to let my cats near a garage - just too many dangerous things in there for me to think about. I'm a very nervous momma.

Good luck with the spaying - I wouldn't delay calling a vet to schedule it.

 

[Willowy]

The house shouldn't smell like cat pee if the litterboxes are properly cleaned. If you're getting an odor from the box itself, it may be because that one box is overwhelmed by being used by 2 cats. I also don't like A&H. . .I think the scent smells like cat pee! Experiment a bit to find out which brand works best for you. Do you wash the litterbox out with soap every time you change the litter? That makes a big difference.

Plus, I find the urine smell from an unaltered female to be quite overwhelming. Everybody knows tomcat pee is horrible, but nobody ever mentions that unspayed females have a strong odor as well. So maybe spaying her will help with that as well.

 

[orangeishcat]

She's so pretty, it looks like she's wearing eyeliner.

Really lovely!

 

[northwest]

Thanks.

@ darlili,

I know what you mean about the garage. That's how I enter and exit into my house since I have a door from my garage into my home. Yes, we share the same concern. If my cats were in the garage using the littler box, they could escape outside when I open the garage door. Additionally, I'd always have to be extra careful when I drive in.

So here is my idea:

I can do it myself or hire a carpenter to put a small cat door on the foyer wall that is immediately adjoining the garage. Inside the garage, and around the cat door, I would affix a wire cage to the wall that would accommodate the littler boxes with ample room for them to move about comfortably. The front or top of the cage would be removable to allow plenty of access to clean the littler boxes and sweep up any messes. If the cats were to go into the garage through the cat door, they would be confined to only the space within the cage—Keeping them away from other areas of the garage or escaping when the garage door was open. I can buy a low watt, motion-sensor, night-light that would illuminate the litter box area with a soft glow when they came through the cat door and shut-off after they leave. Essentially I could have as many litter boxes as I needed or wanted, depending upon the amount of space I wanted to devote to the caged area. I was thinking of a confinement cage somewhere between 5' long X 3' deep X 3' tall—That should be comfortable for two littler boxes.

Quick sketch:

http://i53.tinypic.com/x5o75e.jpg


@ Willowy,

Thanks. I think the smell is coming from pee that Coco had done when I wasn't home. Now I have to find where she did it? I've heard that a black light will illuminate urine stains, is this true?

Here is how I do my cat littler box. I don't use a liner because Coco is a digger and will puncture it anyway. I fill the littler box with 4" deep clumping A&H litter. I scoop out all the clumps each morning. If the litter gets too low (1" or less) I put more in and mix it. When the purchased box of litter is all gone I keep scooping out the clumps until it is about 1" from the bottom. I then pour out the left over litter, clean the box completely with a natural disinfectant spray and start all over again, refilling the litter box with 4" of fresh litter. This seems to be the most economical method.

 

[ducman69]

There is nothing wrong with the cat door to another area for litterboxes w/ motion sensor lights (or a very dim low power night light is fine, cats have 16x greater nighvision than humans). In fact, I do that myself.

^I use a couple unused closets, but a guest bath or whatever would work too, keeps odors out of the house as well, and a quick spritz of Oust in that area whenever servicing the litterbox keeps things fresh.

I thought about the garage too, but quickly changed my mind. Garages are more susceptible to insects and not climate controlled for low humidity. This will preclude you IMO from using organic litters (I prefer Swheat Scoop), which are better for your cat, you, and your environment.

Cats are 3D animals, and can climb and jump like you wouldn't believe, so the cage would need a roof too, but that means you have to remove the cage top every time you service the litterboxes, which could be at least once a day possibly twice, and at least in my experience whenever I go to change the litterboxes is the instant the cats want to use it, so they might jump out and explore the rest of your garage unless you block the cat door. My garage has dangerous chemicals in it.

If the garage door were to open and a car pull in while one of your cats was peacefully doing his business, IMO the cat would evacuate his bowels at an accelerated rate out of panic and would find that area to be too scary and off limits. Cats basically have aspergers, and loud foreign noises = scary, especially while they are in a vulnerable state such as doing their business. Low to no traffic and noise is ideal IMO.

 

[ducman69]

Just to throw in my 2 cents on the rest:

Originally Posted by Northwest

In the past 6 months she has been meowing in a sort of crying, howling manner. Almost if she is meowing in pain: "OWWWW! OWWWW! OWWWWWWWWWWWW!" combined with a low gurgle/growl like "grrrrrr", "eeeerrrrrr", "eeerrrrrrrrrrr".

As said, in heat, females should be spayed before 5 months in age, and can start going into heat around 6-12months.

Originally Posted by Northwest

I have one littler box for both cats. Upstairs bathroom. Coco uses the litter box in the upstairs bathroom, along with the Bubby but also pees in other places too. For example, she likes to pee on the downstairs kitchen chair which is tucked under the table.

As was mentioned, ideal # of litterboxes is # of cats + 1. So 2 cats, 3 litterboxes. Ideal is if at least one of the three was in a different place than the other two. I have two cats and use four boxes split into two locations. I wouldn't recommend getting some super massive deathstar sized litterbox to count as multiple, as you will have to try and sift through the whole thing when disturbed to find where the "gold" is. With a regular size litterbox, you can see which was used and its easier to service, particularly if its one of those w/ some kind of sifting mechanisms (I like the large size Omega Paw for tha reason).

Originally Posted by Northwest

The pellets are small and I noticed they don't really chew them but just swallow them and I've been concerned if this is healthy for their digestive system.

I thought I remember someone saying that kittens should have a different diet than an adult cat (is 1.5 years considered an adult cat? because that is what the British short hair is). I was also told that all cats should have dry and wet food.

Not all cats will crunch the 1/4" kibble, but thats fine. Yes, cats should have at least some wet food in their diet for added hydration. In fact, you can feed exclusively wet if you like, but IMO that is inconvenient and expensive, so I have an autofeeder that gives them a little kibble very early morning and night, and I feed them wet in the middle of the day. Cats are considered adults at 12 months of age, and can eat a rich grain free food earlier than that. You just don't want a kitten on an adult indoor "maintenance" diet, since these are usually lower calorie and growing kittens need lots of fuel.

 

[just mike]

Hi Northwest! I actually read the entire thread before responding. I agree with the general consensus that you kitty is in heat which explains her behavior. One of cats was supposed to have been spayed and completely vetted when I brought her home from the rescue shelter. Well, she wasn't spayed and before I knew it; I had a cat that went into heat. It was my first experience with it and I was pretty freaked out by her behavior too.

As for the litter box issue; put at least one more in the house if possible. Rule of thumb is 1 extra. So you have 2 cats, you might want to consider 3 litter boxes if you can. If you can't, at least try to have 2 of them. I have 4 cats but only have 4 litter boxes. 1 is upstairs in a "neutral" area. The other 3 are downstairs in more private areas but spaced in different areas of the downstairs area. It works for me. Ideally I should have 1 more but I don't have a clue where I would put a 5th litter box.

 

[northwest]

@ all previous posters thus far,

Thanks. I didn't realize that rule for litter boxes per cats,. I learned something new. I even bought a really good cat book and I don't think it was mentioned in there.

Two issues. Cost and where to put the litter boxes. I use about 1 box of cat litter every two weeks for just one littler box. Money is tight right now, as with many people these days, and cat litter is costly. I'm in the wrong business. I need to be in the cat litter business!

One more question, can I use a black light to see where she may have pee'd? Does this work?

 

[Asteria]

The black light does work. I've knowm people to find evidence of spraying on the walls and even the ceilings. In those cases the cats were male, however.

Oh, and I sympathize with you about the cost of litter. With just 2 cats I go through litter far too fast.
You'll work something out as far as placement. You've drawn up a good idea.