need help with the cat! asap!

reply to post by GypsK


Well I have a cat that has the same issue, he is only 9, but it has a lot to with their age, the fact that they are uncomfortable with something such as the other animals, a change in owners; it could be something to do with the food or cat litter. For cat's that is the only way that they can voice they have an issue is by acting that way sometimes, it could also just have to do with her age. She is older and getting a little senile and may have a bladder control issue. The only thing you can do it just try changing the litter, give her love and treats, keep her away from the other cats if possible stuff like that, you have to try to figure out if it is just a mind thing with age, or if there is something triggering her attitude. Just like people act out, animals do as well when they are upset about something it is just more destructive sometimes because it’s all they have. Our cat peed on our bed because he did not like the cat litter we changed to. Every time we move or get another animal even when we had our daughter he has done something, because he did not like the change. Special breeds like ragdolls, and ours which is a Siamese are very pampered specific kind of cats that like things a certain way. Has the vet said if she has a bladder infection or urinary tract infection cause usually they is why they pee on things, have they helped at all giving any sort of answers? You could also get her put on medication such as an antidepressant etc if it is just a mind thing. Try to show her more attention and just treat her like a little princess the best you can. We have tip toe and walk on egg shells for out Siamese. It is difficult but there are always answers. You can hit me up if you have any questions…hope this helps some!

I agreed with the UTI suggestion, except I'm sure your vet checked for that right away. UTIs in cats are extremely dangerous and fast acting. Vets don't play around when it comes to them. If anyone suspects their cat may have a UTI, get it checked IMMEDIATELY. I made the mistake of waiting 2 days (though I did not suspect a UTI, the cat was very sick), and he died 6 hours before his scheduled appointment time.


I do not agree with having an "outdoor" cat under most circumstances, and definitely NOT with all these strays around. Most people know about Cat leukemia, but what they don't know is that its contagious. A cat with Leukemia can look and behave normally for years, all the while handing its virus off to other cats.

When the symptoms finally come about its not quick or pleasant, and is deadly.


I would urge you if things do not improve, to find the cat a new home. I don't know what the average age for a ragdoll is, but 14 seems pretty old to me for most cats, so finding a home may be difficult.

If she's strictly an indoor cat, she could have 7 years left from what I've read, about.com sums it up, but its unlikely. Therefore, I'm in agreement with those who say behavioral therapy.


A "time out" sounds good. Put the cat in her own area at night. In a crate of some sort.... if she's anything like my cat she'll love it!


Based only on what you've said throughout this thread, if you did finally make the decision to euthanize.... I would support your choice. It is quite clear that you are an animal lover, and would NOT DO THAT unless there was absolutely no other option.

Unfortunately, many of us animal lovers find ourselves in that decision.... we understand. Our heart goes out to you, if I may speak for them ♥

The cat is old and she's probably suffering from a form of dementia, no I'm not making this up. Sometimes dogs go through the same thing if their nutritional needs are not met as they age. Maybe you should change her diet because she have a greater need for certain nutrients than your younger cats. Hey if it's dementia start adding coconut oil to her meals and maybe give her some in milk, hopefully it'll help.

Since you've been to the vet did you ask him about lab work to see if she's depleted of necessary vitamins and minerals? You mentioned she's aggressive with the other cats, it may be a matter of time before she's that way with you. If the cat get too bad and becomes aggressive with you or other family members you might will need to have her put down. I know, I know, I'm a animal lover myself but when it comes to choosing between them and the safety of my family I'll choose my family every time.

My 15 year old cat has done that behavior twice. When she pees like that in front of you, I interpret it as saying, "Help me." Both times we gave her an antibiotic, and that seems to have cured the problem. I know you said you had bloodwork done and all, but I believe this is a sign of kidney failure. At this age it is pretty typical. Her behavior is not coming for no reason. The combination of aggression and peeing has to point to something physical. I suspect she is in pain. The vet has to have missed something.

Hello! I read often and don't post much. I have two kitties myself and had an issue with one of my boys, suddenly out of the blue, harrassing and terrorizing the other with crazy dominant behavior. They had always gotten along great previously. In my case it was cat being harrassed that began marking all over the house, seemingly out of fear. His favorite place to mark ... under my bed! (stiiinnnnnkkky!) There was no medical reason for the sudden aggression, and attempts to separate the two to get things to settle down weren't working.
What did finally work for me was a product called Feliway. It is a cat phermone spray that enhances kitty's sense of happiness and well being - the smell basically tells kitty "everything is good here!". I had read about it online, my vet had never heard of it. I had my vet special order some for me for next day delivery since I couldn't find it locally. I was desperate to try anything. My boys were out to kill each other non-stop for 4 days straight, but within 20 minutes of spritzing this stuff in every room, they were back to loving each other and sharing a porch window together peacefully again. Over the next few weeks, whenever there was a hint of aggression, I'd spray some around the room and things would quiet back down. Oh, and no more marking!

Anyway, I thought it was pretty amazing stuff. It is marketed as a help for stressed out, spraying cats. It was about $25, and maybe worth a try for you. It comes in a spray, or a plug in diffuser that releases the scent continuously.

Oh, and to get rid of pee smell ... if the enzyme cleaners aren't working for you, try a half & half mixture of white vinegar and water. If that doesn't work, you can try hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, but you might want to test that in a hidden spot first to make sure it won't damage or bleach the floor.

Good luck with your Maya, it was very good of you to give her a home!

My cat does a lot of the same things, and I honestly just think it's age. Cats get a little cooky once they hit age 13 about, and there isn't much you can do about it. Especially if the vet said that everything seems fine. I wish you luck!

reply to post by GypsK


I'm a cat lover so I hate to think of a cat being put to sleep, especially one that is healthy and has some years left.

I have known cats to live 20+ years. What I would do is give her a comfortable place in a room with the litter box. Maybe the laundry room? Keep the two cats separated for a while and see if she stops urinating everywhere.

I'll try and find some more tips. I'm sure there are better ideas.

I just happened to stumble across this site. You may want to check it out.

catpeeing.com...

Short term solution.

At night, put Maya in an enclosed area, with plenty of water, and a blanket, or whatever she sleeps on. Bathrooms are good for this, but anywhere un-carpeted, that you can clean easily.
Buy a mop.
She goes in there whenever you're not around to keep a close eye on her.
When she's out, and you're keeping an eye on her, the moment she goes on the side, squirt her with some water in a spray bottle (you can get them to spray plants/etc) Then put her BACK in the enclosure. Rinse and repeat.

The aim is not to let her get even a drop about before you react massively.
Squirt her fur. It wont hurt her, but it will freak her out. Shout, wave your arms... make a BIG DEAL.
Then pick her up, holding her away from you, so she doesn't feel like she's being petted, and dump her in the enclosed place. When she comes out, give her loads of fuss... but do the same thing again if she goes to pee somewhere.

THIS IS NOT CRUEL. If a wild kitten pees in it's home, the mother cat will hiss at it and drive it away. All you're doing is squirting a few drops of water. In any case it's less cruel than having her put down for the sake of some urine. What she is doing is not acceptable, and regardless of whatever her issue is.. stray cats.. dominance or otherwise.. she needs to learn that there will be consequences for her actions, as of NOW.
I promise you.. two days tops, and she wont even think of squatting on your side... let alone getting up there in the first place. (My cats are never allowed on my side, it's just grim)

I went through the same with my cat. It's not fun. He doesn't do it anymore.

Also; Make sure the litter trays are done out as often as you can... if she's freaked out about going outside, they sometimes wont use the litter trays if the other cats have pee'd in it. Even if it doesn't look 'dirty' to you. No idea why.

reply to post by GypsK


In case you ever manage to read this:

My cat (4 at the time) and a male did the exact same thing. In my case no other cat entered the house etc.

The solution turned out to be to castrate the cat. We lived in an apartment and couldn't take it anymore, mine used to pee in places from where he could see other cats.

This started out of the blue and ended after the event. Maybe the cat is afraid of losing it's territory, get the other cats to move. place cat food away from your house and scare the intruders so that they don't return.

Try talking to your cat, as you would to another person. Talk about emotion and feelings, as well as solutions to the challenge at hand. Plants are known to respond positively to warm and caring communication from human caretakers, so why not animals?

hello, i have a ragdoll cat and hes about 3 years old, about half a year ago we just moved into a new house, brought him along, he was noticeably upset with the move, and started to display the same tendencies that your cat is showing, except his were worse, he was peeing everywhere, however they were just a few drops at a time, i thought he was just marking his territory and let it go on for about a month wiping up after him, however it just got worse and worse i finally brought him to the vet and they kept him for a few days and ran tests on him, it turned out something was very wrong with him, they said due to stress and him being very upset he was actually having really bad muscle spasms and literally couldn't control himself, they gave me concentrated fish liver oil to put in his water and muscle relaxants told me to keep him calm and try to make him eat wet food, had him on a special diet for his urinary tract, they told me that he actually could of died as he was really low on fluids and wasn't really drinking.
he no longer has the problem,
they took a few days and a few thousand of my dollars to run their tests and figure out what was wrong with him.
it could be that your cat is just really upset about something.
my boyfriend also owns a ragdoll cat, she also pees on the floor if the litter box is dirty, and so does mine, so we both have to keep their litter boxes very clean.
before i got a ragdoll i didnt know that they had these problems but lately im hearing about it more and more, the breeder i got mine from never mentioned anything like this to me, i love him all the same though and wouldnt trade him for any other cat.

Wow, you are a patient woman!! That's a lot of pee in your house, and you didn't even get the cat by choice. A gold star for you in kitty heaven...

Originally posted by gemdog
Brush the cat and put her hair from the brush onto the cats shes being aggro towards, also anyplace shes acting like that in general. Trick the cat with a happy voiced "good girl!" when shes being annoying. Poke her when shes bullying or stomp your foot and angry voiced "no!" when bullying other cats, same for food stealing, etc.
And most of all, stop power struggling with your cat. Keep it simple.

I'm brushing the cats everyday with the same brush.
I always thought the way to go was to let the cat assosiate bad behavior with bad results, but ppl also told me not to let them notice that the 'bad results' are created by me. Otherwise they would assosiate bad behavior with me. (the spray bottle worked wonders on my other two cats)
I try not to have power struggles with the cats, well... you can hardly win a power struggle with a cat anyway, lol. For now I'm trying to ignore the unwanted behavior.... we'll see how it goes when the source for her behavior is removed.

Originally posted by Char-Lee
My old Kitty acted just like that before her stroke which blinded her and she died that year.

As she lost more and more control I learned white vinegar is the odor and germ solution, .

I'm sorry about your kitty
Still I don't think it's anything medical with Maya, she has been checked twice in two months. Also the problems she is having are going on for over two months so if it was indeed an infection or high bp she would have gotten much worse, which she didn't.
I'm still seeing yet another DA next week, my old one which I had before we moved... it's a bit of a drive but I know she is a good vet.

Thanks for the vinegar tip, I'm sure gonna try that

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by GypsK

 

I control my cats with food,but they control me with their
hunger.

LOl, don't they all
the saying " dogs have bosses, cat's have employees" is sooooo true

Originally posted by dashen
Shes 14 YEARS OLD?
Dementia most likely, she may be losing her ever loving kitty mind.

14 is not that old for a cat and a Ragdoll can easily become 18.
The DA ruled out dementia, since she doesn't show other signs of it.

reply to post by GypsK

Just get one of those cat-flaps that are opened by magnetic bits on their collars. That way, only the cats with the 'key' an get in. Hopefully if she has her own space with no intruders she'll calm down a little

Peace

Originally posted by nake13
reply to post by GypsK

 

I would suggest that Maya sees your house as her territory,and the introduction of new cats in "her" environment would almost certainly trigger the behaviours that you have noted,scent marking is a cats method of staking her territory and advising other cats to take note.How did you introduce your cats to Maya? was it a case of just letting them get on with it or did you build up the introductions gradually?
A senior cat such as Maya would not take kindly to intrusions into her territory giving rise to stress manifesting itself in the scent marking as described earlier and also agression towards any interlopers and whilst the stray male cat may not help the situation ,I would be more inclined to go with the problem being the introduction of your "strange" cats to Maya,did your veterinarian not suggest spraying feline facial pheromones around your house? we have used this with our cats and the effects can be astounding,it calms them down enough for aggresion towards other cats in the household to diminish and dramatically reduces the scent marking behaviour.You could also try placing their feed dishes in seperate rooms/areas so contact is kept to a minimum whilst they become accustomed to one another.

What kind of person could leave a cat behind with a note? were there genuine reasons for this or did they know you and let you know beforehand,poor Maya no wonder she is acting out of sorts.

edit on 2-9-2011 by nake13 because: .

The move took place 13 months ago and it went rather smooth, while I expected it to be difficult for ALL 3 cats. Maya accepted us almost right away and had less problems with the change then my other two cats (for who it also was a huge change).

When we stumbled onto this house and came to have a look at it for the first time I noticed Maya around and commented that she was a beautiful cat. The prev owner already said then that she wasn't taking Maya with her but was trying to find her a new home... and that if she couldn't find that she would put Maya down. She never asked us to take her. But the day we moved Maya was still here (and the note and paperwork on the table) I couldn't understand it either. I called the prev owner and asked about the cat, she said that if we didn't want her we could always take her to the vet and have it over with, and (of course) she was happy to pay for that! *sigh*

I knew Maya was used to having a serving plate full with catfood, she used to have 6 different bowls with 6 differnent brands of food.... served to her in the livingroom. So the first day she sat in her usual spot begging for food and I took her up, brought her to the kitchen and fed her next to my other cats, one bowl for each, one brand.
She never went back to begging for food in the livingroom.... it went very smoothly.

As for the introduction, I just let them do it on their own... a bit of hissing first, then sniffling each other and by the 3rd day it was like nothing had changed... again: very smoothly.

There is a ranking order in most cat groups, but in my group I never saw this. For the last year they where equal, never fought, etc.... now Maya is acting dominant and the other two cats aren't allowing it. But I do believe that this is something I can't interfere with (not as long as the fur isn't flying around in catfights). Maya will stop when she's happy again (I hope )

Originally posted by Forevever
I agreed with the UTI suggestion, except I'm sure your vet checked for that right away.

I do not agree with having an "outdoor" cat under most circumstances, and definitely NOT with all these strays around.

I would urge you if things do not improve, to find the cat a new home. I don't know what the average age for a ragdoll is, but 14 seems pretty old to me for most cats, so finding a home may be difficult.

Based only on what you've said throughout this thread, if you did finally make the decision to euthanize.... I would support your choice. It is quite clear that you are an animal lover, and would NOT DO THAT unless there was absolutely no other option.

Yes, the vet ruled out UTI, on her first checkup we had her sedated, they did bloodwork, urine tests, even pulled urine right from the blatter to check for crystals, her kidneys where fully checked, heart was checked.... I don't know what else they all checked but I do know it costed almost 200 euro so they better done it right!
She does have old bones which is why she doesn't jump on things anymore.... but that's just old age and the vet doesn't think it is causing her to much trouble at this time.

I never felt much for an outdoor cat either, my other two where indoor cats before we moved. But since I live in a forrest and there is no traffic around I gave it a try.... they never wonder off to far though. The stray cats however, I think people drop their kittens in the corn fields that surround the area and that is where they come from. Then they start to breed and it gets out of control. But we are working on that as well together with the ppl from the stray cat project.

We knew Maya was getting old when we desided to keep her. Our intention was to give her a good old age. Right now we are trying everything that people are suggesting. Euthanizing really is the last option, but I would prefer Euthanazia over placing her in yet another home which would cause her even more stress.

What still strikes me as weird is that all these vets are telling us there is nothing we can do, they don't even see the strays as a problem.... while one thread on a forum sketches a whole different idea of the situation and hopefully will bring a solution

Originally posted by Thundersmurf
reply to post by GypsK

 

Just get one of those cat-flaps that are opened by magnetic bits on their collars. That way, only the cats with the 'key' an get in. Hopefully if she has her own space with no intruders she'll calm down a little

Peace

hehe we just placed on of those on our list.... they are rather expensive though and I heard that if you get a cheap one the cats DO learn to open it. If they push hard on the door the magnet will let go.

Thanks for all the replies so far
we are trying out all the tips I got here and hopefully something will work.

Right now we do think the stray cat brought on the problem, so the stray is going to be neutured in two weeks and then we'll find a way to keep him out of our garden.

Just want to note again that Maya had a FULL medical check up, she does not have a physical problem.

Their food comes straight from the DA, since my youngest cat is highly allergic to chicken proteins, they are on a special food called "Hills", in which the allergens are replaced with other proteines, mostly wild and rabbit (since the common brands all contain chicken). The food is well balanced and suitable for senior cats as well. It costs 29 euro for a bag of 2.5 kg..... heh, no wonder the stray likes it to much...

There also been a lot of comments on the litterboxes. I use plain litter, nothing with parfume. The only reason the litterboxes are around is because the cat door is closed at night... the door closes at 11 pm and opens at 7 am. Still all litterboxes remain unused. The cats still do their thing outside. well, except for Maya...

As for their sleeping spaces: the middle one always sleeps on my daughters bed, the youngest one always sleeps in my desk chair and maya sleeps in her 'cat tipi'. So they all have their own spots and seem pretty comfy with those.

They get attention all day long if possible: brushing, cuddling, playing, we always talk to the cats (as if they are children)..... basically they are as spoiled as can be.


and last: a pic of May so you all know what we are talking about (this is one from last winter, she had a shave just before summer)

reply to post by GypsK


My brother-in-law had a cat that started doing the same thing as yours. It was nine and they had recently moved and added a few more cats to the family. Unfortunately, after weeks of trying to resolve the problem he ended up taking the cat to the animal shelter.
Perhaps this story might help since your cat is going on the carpet...My 14 year old cat had problem peeing where he slept. We took him to the vet, and was diagnosed with a severe UTI. After meds cleared up the infection, he still had the problem of frequent unrination and dribbling as he left the litterbox. The vet said the cat was under stress, we just had to figure out what was causing it. We ended up taking him to a university vet med clinic where they took x-rays and found 2 stones in his bladder, 1 a 1/8th inch diameter and 1 a 1/4 inch diameter. It took a radiologist to notice them even the vet med teachers missed them during the consultation in going over the x-rays. Considering that the urethra of a cat is about as big as a needle they use to draw blood, it was no wonder he was having trouble peeing. After the surgery to remove them he went back to being his old self.
We also have a cat who is gets scared during thunderstorms. We use an all natural product called Composure to calm him down. It works well. I recommend trying it if your cat is being aggressive or just freaking out due to stimuli you cannot remove.
The vinegar/water solution is very efective in cleaning and deodorizing spots where the cat has gone.

Best of luck in finding the stressor for Maya, once it is found and resolved, she will get back to normal.

reply to post by Whiskeychaser


Thanks for the tips

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I tried something else over the weekend:

Instead of giving them a constant supply of food, I started feeding them their first meal as soon as I wake up. So the first sign she sees of me is me fixing her food. Then I took away the bowls with the dry food and present it to her a couple of times a day.... and again, her last meal is right before bedtime.
This way there is no free meal available for her competition, the empty food bowls are removed from sight.

I've been doing it this way since saturday and so far my kitchen remained free of pee. (instead she marked the backdoor *sigh*.... but that is clearly a sign that she IS just marking her space)
It's to early to cheer yet, and the stray cat is still going to be fixed asap. But if the competition for food was the stresser, then I hope this is part of the solution. Keeping my fingers crossed for a permanent dry kitchen....