Hi! I'm new here though I've been lurking and reading for quite some time. Before I get to my question, I'll give you all a bit of history on cat, Ty. We've had Ty and his sister for over 4 years. They were littermates who couldn't have too different personalities if you tried. From the get-go, he was very outgoing and a total lovebug. She is very shy which I blame on her being born with an umbilical hernia...I think that the family we got them from may have been a little scared of it. I'm a nurse so my first reaction was to press on it to make sure that it wasn't strangulated. 
We had a problem-free home until about 2 years ago when DH and I had a several month span when either both of us or one of us were traveling practically every weekend. It was around Easter when we found the first "spot" in our guest room. Of course we had company in town (my mom) who found this area on the side of the guest bed that had been sprayed. We have no idea how long it had been going on at that point. Because it was late when we found it, I cleaned it with non-enzyme cleaner before eventually purchasing a cheaper enzyme one. My previous cat had gone outside of the litterbox a few times, but it was no big deal and ended rather quickly.
Unfortunately, these methods didn't work, and we eventually started shutting the cats out of the guest room. We weren't sure which on was the culprit until we caught Ty spraying on the side of our bed not too long afterwards. He has always gone in the litterbox as well. We have two of them (we had a third in the master bathroom bathtub that no one ever used so we switched it out for one of the older ones). We have tried everything to make it stop. We've surrounded the bed with foil. We've done months of Feliway diffusers. We've tried Rescue Remedy. We've cleaned the carpet and padding underneath with the vinegar-baking soda-hydrogen peroxide combo prior to using the enzyme cleaner on it. We've gone through gallons and gallons of Nature's Miracle. We've put pepper down on top of the foil. We've tried making sure to give him more attention. As his sister has become less shy over the years, she has taken away from his being our #1 object of affection, but we try to balance time with solo and shared playtime with them. We would have brief periods of respite from the pee storm, but if we went out of town, it would start again. There were times when it would get so bad, and I'd get so frustrated that I'd just cry. I knew that he wasn't doing it to hurt us, but it would be so tiring to come home from a long day at work to find that I would have to pull all the sheets and wash the comforter. We got a second comforter to use when the other one was in the wash. We started shutting off all rooms (guest room, office, master bedroom).
When it came time for his yearly exam last fall, we had the vet test him for UTI. He was fine but they gave me an antibiotic to treat him "just in case" while we waited for the UA results, and oddly enough, the behavior stopped. We had discussed starting meds for him, but when the behavior stopped/slowed down considerably, we decided not to.
Several months later, however, our neighbors (we live in condos) had a similar problem after they had their 2nd child and tossed their kitty outside. That poor kitty had been an indoor kitty his whole life, and he would sit in our window and cry and cry which as you can imagine set off the spraying again (the kitty knew us because we kitty-sat for them all the time. Ty started spraying on the side of our bed that is closest to the window instead of the foot of the bed. URGH!!!!!!! Our neighbors moved and took their cat with them, and while the spraying continued, it was less frequent and more manageable. We got a new bed and comforter (and mattress and box spring protectors). We started using our old comforter as a "pee catcher."
Several weeks ago after a nice period of low spray frequency, it started up again. We had our condo painted which brought chaos and stress for all of us. On top of it, I'm 6 months pregnant, and we are turning our office into a nursery. He started using a corner in our bedroom as well as the foot of the bed and a chair that used to be in our bedroom that he had used a few times that is now in our living room. One night, I totally broke down and decided that when he had his vet appointment this month that we would put him on meds. I researched and researched and talked to the vet, and we decided on Prozac.
Last night, we gave him Prozac/fluoxetine for the first time. Ours is a fish flavored suspension from a local compound pharmacy. He seemed more tired/lethargic afterwards. His appetite seems to be down (aka he came for his morning treats but didn't eat them). I was just wondering about others' experiences with Prozac. Specifically, how long do those two side effects last? I left our bedroom door open so I expect some spray since he hasn't been on the medication long. I'm also hoping that the med will help his terrorizing his sister which he does every once in a while as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read our saga!!!!
We had a problem-free home until about 2 years ago when DH and I had a several month span when either both of us or one of us were traveling practically every weekend. It was around Easter when we found the first "spot" in our guest room. Of course we had company in town (my mom) who found this area on the side of the guest bed that had been sprayed. We have no idea how long it had been going on at that point. Because it was late when we found it, I cleaned it with non-enzyme cleaner before eventually purchasing a cheaper enzyme one. My previous cat had gone outside of the litterbox a few times, but it was no big deal and ended rather quickly.
Unfortunately, these methods didn't work, and we eventually started shutting the cats out of the guest room. We weren't sure which on was the culprit until we caught Ty spraying on the side of our bed not too long afterwards. He has always gone in the litterbox as well. We have two of them (we had a third in the master bathroom bathtub that no one ever used so we switched it out for one of the older ones). We have tried everything to make it stop. We've surrounded the bed with foil. We've done months of Feliway diffusers. We've tried Rescue Remedy. We've cleaned the carpet and padding underneath with the vinegar-baking soda-hydrogen peroxide combo prior to using the enzyme cleaner on it. We've gone through gallons and gallons of Nature's Miracle. We've put pepper down on top of the foil. We've tried making sure to give him more attention. As his sister has become less shy over the years, she has taken away from his being our #1 object of affection, but we try to balance time with solo and shared playtime with them. We would have brief periods of respite from the pee storm, but if we went out of town, it would start again. There were times when it would get so bad, and I'd get so frustrated that I'd just cry. I knew that he wasn't doing it to hurt us, but it would be so tiring to come home from a long day at work to find that I would have to pull all the sheets and wash the comforter. We got a second comforter to use when the other one was in the wash. We started shutting off all rooms (guest room, office, master bedroom).
When it came time for his yearly exam last fall, we had the vet test him for UTI. He was fine but they gave me an antibiotic to treat him "just in case" while we waited for the UA results, and oddly enough, the behavior stopped. We had discussed starting meds for him, but when the behavior stopped/slowed down considerably, we decided not to.
Several months later, however, our neighbors (we live in condos) had a similar problem after they had their 2nd child and tossed their kitty outside. That poor kitty had been an indoor kitty his whole life, and he would sit in our window and cry and cry which as you can imagine set off the spraying again (the kitty knew us because we kitty-sat for them all the time. Ty started spraying on the side of our bed that is closest to the window instead of the foot of the bed. URGH!!!!!!! Our neighbors moved and took their cat with them, and while the spraying continued, it was less frequent and more manageable. We got a new bed and comforter (and mattress and box spring protectors). We started using our old comforter as a "pee catcher."
Several weeks ago after a nice period of low spray frequency, it started up again. We had our condo painted which brought chaos and stress for all of us. On top of it, I'm 6 months pregnant, and we are turning our office into a nursery. He started using a corner in our bedroom as well as the foot of the bed and a chair that used to be in our bedroom that he had used a few times that is now in our living room. One night, I totally broke down and decided that when he had his vet appointment this month that we would put him on meds. I researched and researched and talked to the vet, and we decided on Prozac.
Last night, we gave him Prozac/fluoxetine for the first time. Ours is a fish flavored suspension from a local compound pharmacy. He seemed more tired/lethargic afterwards. His appetite seems to be down (aka he came for his morning treats but didn't eat them). I was just wondering about others' experiences with Prozac. Specifically, how long do those two side effects last? I left our bedroom door open so I expect some spray since he hasn't been on the medication long. I'm also hoping that the med will help his terrorizing his sister which he does every once in a while as well.
Thanks for taking the time to read our saga!!!!
We tried them during the first year, and I gave up after several months. 
