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May 2011 Moms
lyndsaynicole
member
Cats? VENT
lyndsaynicole
member
Anyone have cats? Let me rephrase....does anyone have cats that have ruined all of their furniture, and crap on the floor outside of their litter box??
Sorry for the tone...I'm a little ticked off. I'm going to try to explain this the best way I can, hopefully without sounding like a complete jerk.
Long story short: We have 2 cats and a dog. The dog is wonderful. She is well behaved and just such a great dog. She's not a problem at all.
The cats however, are a different story. We have had them for 7 and 8 years and they have basically destroyed every place we have ever lived. We never got them declawed because we thought it was inhumane, so they have destroyed our couches, our curtains, and other furniture. Jokes on us. They are spayed/neutered but that doesn't stop the boy cat from peeing and/or crapping right outside of his litter box whenever he feels like it. Doesn't matter if we clean it twice a day-it could be completely empty and he'll still go outside of it. Not all the time though-it's like he chooses when to do it. The girl cat is licking all of her fur off for the 3rd time since we've had her. Every time we take her to the vet for it, they give us a cone for her and she eventually stops. She's not sick because she eats regularly and does everything like normal. Because she licks all of her hair off, she pukes up hairballs all the time, so that's great.
Basically here is my problem. Not only are we having a baby but we are going to be moving into a brand new house. I will NOT allow these cats to destroy it. And with a newborn, I'm not gonna have time to clean up after their pee and poo and puke every single day-not to mention, it's not hygienic. I don't know what to do. I can't get rid of them.....no one would want these cats and I can't even think of what would happen to them...but they certainly must not be happy here with us since they constantly behave the way they do. I don't know what to do at all. I feel like it must be our fault they act this way-but I think it's too late to change it. I just can't deal with this anymore.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Cats? VENT
Well, I wish I had some suggestions... we are in a very similar boat. Two cats, one dog. The dog is fairly well behaved (occasional mess in the house if she's left all day). The cats.... well. I could've written your post - messing outside the litter box, licking off the fur (I was told it's either allergies or nerves) and puking up hairballs. They can be such sweet kitties, but the frustration is beyond the level that I can take anymore.
We are looking for new homes for them. It is not easy - no one wants an adult cat. Everyone wants kittens. But we're going to keep trying.
I feel rotten because it was my choice to get them in the first place (have had the one for 4 years or so - got him when he was older - and have had the other for about 8 years), but I can't seem to correct any of the behavior. And it's just not a healthy situation.
Good luck - I know it's not easy...
Tracy
Boy #2, born 8/27/2014
Currently... Pregnant with mo/di BOY TWINS! Due September 15. Latest induction will be 37w.
I have one cat and luckily dont' have those issues. Have you mentioned the going to the bathroom outside of the litter box to the vet. The one time we did have an issue with our cat doing that, we learned she was diabetic. She was put in insulin shots and has been in remisison now (no need for meds) since last April. If they are scratching things you could try to put down an unfinished piece of wood like a 2x4 for them to scratch. I knwo my DH has our cat so well trained, she only scratched at uninished wood that is pretty much placed there for her. We know we are so lucky to have such a well behaved cat and have already said we will not get a cat after she is gone because we know there is no way it will behave as well.
I can not blame you for being so frustrated. As much as I love my cat, I think I would be going crazy! If it is a case and you dont' have a choice (things don't get better), maybe you can find a "no kill" shelter for them. I am sorry that you are going through this!
I totally get how you feel, but I don't think there is a way to fix it unless you have a friend/relative who will take them. I LOVE my kitties (we have 3 indoor, 1 outdoor) but DH and I are tired of scratched furniture (the top of the dining room table is destroyed and the one cat never has learned to not jump up) and litter and puke everywhere. I feel so bad, because these were my babies, but ever since DS was born, I have regretted having to take care of so many cats.
On the other hand, I feel that when you adopt an animal, you are making a choice to keep them for the duration of their life. My house and furniture is probably going to get destroyed by the kids anyways. When the kids are older and the cats have lived their lives and passed, THEN I can have nice stuff.
Wow-we have like the same situation. It's so frustrating, isn't it? I just feel lost on this...I mean, I really can't do this. We have never lived in a brand new place...and we have never owned a home. So now that we're going to be homeowners and EVERYTHING in our home is going to be brand new-even a good amount of furniture-I will not have it destroyed. I'm a grown up-and I want to have nice things. Not to mention, I want to feel comfortable letting my baby crawl on the floor (when that time comes) and now have to worry if there's a stray hairball or turd that I missed! It's gross. It makes me not want to have people over.
Me and the DH really need to sit down and have a heart to heart about this and figure something out. Every time we try to talk about it we both get frustrated because as much as we can't take it anymore, we can't bare the thought of getting rid of them. Ugh. This is dumb.
You know, cats need to have some training too, not just dogs.
First of all, it sounds like both of your cats might have a medical issue, and should be checked out by the vet - the cat licking its fur might have a skin allergy or a stress issue, both of which could probably be improved with medication. The other may have an infection, diabetes etc.
The scratching - if you have allowed that to happen in your home for YEARS, good luck fixing it. You should have taken steps long ago for them to stop (providing them with a few scratching posts, and encouraging them to scratch those with catnip), and covering the other furniture with tinfoil, etc to discourage, or shooting them with a water gun. Mine scratched a bit as kittens, and now don't TOUCH the furniture.
I'm getting so sick of these posts. I know you didnt mean it this way, but it seems like once a week someone does the "well my cat/dog has been trouble forever, but now that we're having a baby, out the door it goes". It's YOUR pet, you adopted it. Will you give your baby away if it has bad colic and cries all the time?
I'm sorry, normally I ignore these posts, and today I couldn't.
I totally get where you are coming from and I would never ever even think of giving my cats away, but it isn't always as easy as just training the cat. I have had MANY cats in my life and some don't scratch when I have trained them, but we have one that has never ever learned to stop scratching, or to keep off the tables. He is very head strong and not scared of anything, so no amount of water spraying, tin foil, felaway, sticky stuff on the furniture, or citrus spray has helped. I put tin foil in the co-sleeper prior to baby #1 and he just laid on it. He was only a year old and should have been trainable.
Right now we are trying a garlic spray that is supposed to keep them from scratching. I may also look into some kind of alarm that goes off when he gets on the table. We are still trying, but cats are not always receptive.
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Let me know how the spray goes. My mom has a sprayer in her garden that goes off with motion for the deer, I wonder if they make something like that with cats. I know what you mean about some cats being more receptive than others. I have two - one learned after a couple reminders, and his brother is a stubborn, and much too smart. It took several years of us being vigilant before he learned to behave/accept limits. (And I'm not an idiot, I know he's still on the counters when we're not home, there's just not a ton I can do about it
I'm sorry to have offended you with my post. I haven't seen the weekly posts on this board about pets or else I wouldn't have posted my own.
We have tried to train them. We have tried squirt guns, we have tried Soft Paws (caps to cover their claws), we have tried covering our furniture with plastic bags when we leave the house. None of this has worked. And we have also taken them to the vet and done our best to accommodate them-adding extra litter boxes and what not, trying different litter, trying different food, etc.
I also agree with one of the other posters that it's hard because when you adopt them it's for their entire life. I couldn't agree more. Which is why this is so difficult. I feel like we're stuck. We can't just get rid of them and apparently, they can't be trained. At some point somethings gotta give though. It's not just about the baby coming. That has a lot to do with it of course. But also the moving into a new house just makes it more complicated. I feel like we can't have nice things, we can't have people over, and like we're wasting our money on this new house. I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated.
My old cat used to pee outside the box, and it was due to a urinary tract infection.. we bought him a water fountain cat bowl, that constantly flows, and it helped a lot! (https://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751253).
We also have found that the world best cat litter, is really just that. (https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/) Cats are neat freaks, and even if the litter box may be clean, it still smells. The pee clumps up sooooo well with this litter! we dont use any liners at all! and its envriomently friendly!!
As for the fur licking, do you groom the kittys at all? cats hate getting matty, and will rip out their fur. Again, my old cat would get mats, and we would get her shaved (like a lion) because it was just so hard to tame, and was better for the poor cat!
Since our old cat has passed, we have gotten two new cats, and of course they loved to scratch stuff.. we bought a cat tower, scratching posts, and the kitty double sided tape, to keep em from clawing the couch, but the thing that really curbed their behavior was kiity caps (https://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4033287) they are supppperr easy to put on and work!! even with older cats, they will get used to em! My cats have since stoped clawing stuff, but i trim their nails monthly.
Side note: i also use a squirt bottle full of water to keep the cats off the counter, i dont even have to spray them anymore, just show them the bottle and they run.
I like the idea of that cat water fountain. I have seen those before-that would just be a good idea anyway.
The kitty caps you're talking about, I think that's like the Soft Paws that we used. They worked for a couple weeks and then they start to fall off. We tried them a few times. And the girl cat definitely didn't like them.
As far as litter goes, we've tried several different kinds. They seem to like the fresh step and the arm and hammer one the best. We tried some of the different ones (like the newspaper type, the corn type, etc.) and they wouldn't even use those. Maybe I just have really picky cats.
I like the idea of that cat water fountain. I have seen those before-that would just be a good idea anyway.
The kitty caps you're talking about, I think that's like the Soft Paws that we used. They worked for a couple weeks and then they start to fall off. We tried them a few times. And the girl cat definitely didn't like them.
As far as litter goes, we've tried several different kinds. They seem to like the fresh step and the arm and hammer one the best. We tried some of the different ones (like the newspaper type, the corn type, etc.) and they wouldn't even use those. Maybe I just have really picky cats.
I'm sorry to hear you don't get along with your cats. Have you spoken to a vet about their behavior? I have had several cats, starting when I was young and there is an explanation for atleast one of the behaviors you seem very angry about. So, here we go.
Cats will use the bathroom outside of their little box for several reasons. One of which might be that they have a UTI or kidney stones. They could be under stress or may also just not like the litter that is in their box. First you could try a new litter and see if they like that. If it doesn't help I would speak to a vet about it. I don't mean to imply anything but do you keep the box clean? Some cats are very picky about their boxes and I know mine will start to stray from the box if my husband is behind on cleaning duty. Also, where are they using the bathroom? My female cat especially pees on random things. She was always peeing on the bathroom rugs and after some research I discovered cats sometimes pee on the rubber backed rugs because of the smell of the rubber. We got rid of the rubber backed rugs and got non-rubber backed ones and we haven't had a problem since then.
Concerning the scratching of the furniture, cats have a natural urge to scratch. My male cat was scratcher trained when we got him so we have never had a problem with him. My female cat was a stray and we never properly trained on a scratcher, cats will not instinctually know to use a scratching post. My female cat did get a few digs in on our furniture but when we see her we clap our hands and yell her name and then we pick her up and place her paws on a scratching post. It took some time but now we hardly ever see her scratching the furniture and she uses the posts and the cardboard scratcher instead.
Ultimately you have to do what is right for you but I just wanted to point out that there are some reasons behind cat behavior.
ETA: Sorry I didn't read all the posts before I posted, but I see now some of my suggestions have already been tried. So, ignore that. I also wanted to say that we have a fountain for our cats too and they love it, although our male cat does have a bad habit of begging for the faucet to be turned on for him still.
My cats LOVE their water fountain! It's an investment, but I have had it for over 10 years now. They love fresh water and it helps keep their urinary tract healthy. We also have the reservoir for the back, so that we don't have to fill it very often, yet the water is fresh.
The litter that works the best for us is Fresh Step, non clumping. I have tried so many kinds and it seems to stay the freshest and keep the cats the happiest. My friends all use it too, for their cats.
I may look into the claw caps. I haven't heard great things about them, but it's worth a try.
As a vet tech, I can tell you if it's just peeing outside of the litter box it's probably a medical condition. If their pooping and peeing then it's behavioral. Typically it's because the owners dont have enough litter boxes. How many do you have? If you have 2 cats, you should have at LEAST 3 litter boxes. Cats are territorial, they aren't fans of sharing potties. If they're peeing/pooing on a different level than you have the litter boxes are one, then you need to put at least one on the level they're eliminating on. Toss it in the bathroom, and leave the door cracked.
The overgrooming, also called barbering, is a sign of being stressed. There are plug ins, (yes, they are somewhat expensive) called Feliway. That can help calm them down, and relax them. Which may help with the over grooming.
The scratching... they do need to be trained as pp stated. There are "No Scratch" sprays you can purchase at pet stores, they work. Try them. Keeping their nails trimmed nice and short will also help decrease the amount of scratching they are doing. Try one of those new emery cat scratching boards if you're scared to trim their nails yourself.
Hope some of that helps. But definitely at LEAST three litter boxes, I would probably do four, to be honest.
I'm a breastfeeding, baby wearing, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, anti-CIO Mommy
Raising Bean
Wives Unscripted
Married my hero on 10-11-08
Our bean was born on 05-19-11
We only have one level to our home and we have two litter boxes. We don't have room for anymore. It's only the boy cat that does it and it's mostly pooping outside of the box, peeing once in a while. I've also read that the pooping outside of the box is territorial.
The Feliaway-is that like something that goes into the air and it's supposed to calm them down? That's a good idea. I'm gonna look into that.
Wow, I'm sorry your cats are acting out. First of all, as far as their claws go, why not try Soft Claws (or a similar product)? They're vinyl caps that go over the kitty's natural claws so they can't rip up your carpeting/furniture. We're currently trying them out on our kitty and so far, they work really well! The other thing you could try is the Emery Cat scratching board they advertise on TV. I've heard a lot of people had success with it. It's infused with catnip, so the kitty is attracted to it and the board is made of a material that files their nails down so they have less chance of damaging the furniture.
We had a male cat (who unfortunately didn't make it through our apartment fire in March) that had a similar problem with the kitty box. He much preferred to pee in our dirty laundry and our couch. Didn't matter if the box was clean or dirty, he just didn't like using it consistently. Our vet said that it might be a hormonal imbalance and prescribed some pills for him to take. I forget now what they were called, but they seemed to help.
As far as licking off the fur, I've heard it could be allergies as well. You could try talking to your vet about giving kitty an antihistamine when she's licking her fur off and see if that helps. Or, as soon as you notice she's doing it, put one of the many cones you've gotten from the vet on her ASAP. That way, there'll be less mess (since it was taken care of early). Also, try brushing her fur daily (if she's short hair, use a bristle brush) so less fur gets swallowed when she's cleaning. There are also anti-hairball cat food varieties that are high in fiber that can help, as well as medication you can get from the vet to prevent hairballs.
Hopefully this helps you! I understand that you don't want your kitties to ruin your new place and you're concerned about the hygienic aspect of having a baby and kitties who pee/poop/puke on the floor, but I'm sure there are solutions out there that will let you keep your kitties and not be stressed by them.
I agree with a lot of the suggestions above.
I must say, from past experience, it sounds like your cats are facing some kind of medical condition. The peeing outside the liter box, not inside, is usually a sign of a UTI of some type or anxiety issue. And the constant licking of the fur until it comes off is a definite sign of stress. All these conditions can be treated with medicine your vet can prescribe for you. If your vet is not willing to look into it, I would get a second opinion.
From my experience, I can definitely relate to you. I have one cat, who unfortunately we are unable to get spayed due to a heart condition she has, who still marks her territory. We have spoke to a few vets, her current doctor and 2 previous doctors, to try to determine how to stop her from marking but there's really no cure for her since her marking territory is correlated with her going into heat. She doesn't go into heat as frequently, she's almost 5 yo, but it's enough that it makes H and I very concerned about how she'll treat the baby's stuff. So, like I said, I understand what you're feeling/going through. I never thought that this would become a problem but the more I think about it and the more I try to figure out what to do, the more complicated the problem becomes.
It's not an easy decision on what to do with your pets, but you have to try your best to find the best solution. If re-homing your cats is the absolute best solution, then what else can you do.... but please try to work with your vet to find a better solution.
My Acme Box last update 3/28/11
Janice,
Cats aren't always easy but if you start the training early, you shouldn't have many problems later on in their lives. I rescued both my cats when they were newborns and bottle fed them myself. At this point, I can snap my fingers and they'll stop whatever they're doing (that they're not supposed to be doing) or point out of the room and they'll know to leave. I try to not let them in my bedroom or my living room area where I spend the most time because I am very allergic (I didn't know until after I had them and loved them). So, I don't have a problem with them scratching my furniture. The only habit that I haven't been able to break is the jumping on the table. So, I bought this spray/alarm (called Scat) that I can put on the table and when it detects movement, it sprays a shot of air and an alarm goes off. It is really annoying to them...and a little to us at first but it got them to stop. Now as for the litter box problems, you really should discuss that with your vet. It sounds like there may be something wrong. Definitely have that checked out. No matter what they do, I could never give them away or anything like that. I was the one who decided to take them in and I would never want them separated from each other or to have to suffer because I decided that I now longer wanted them...They're my boys. I do understand the amount of time that they take up and the upkeep is sometimes messy and hard but that's what I signed up for when I took them in...they're definitely our last cats though.
There is lots of good advice above, so I just wanted to comment on the Soft Paws (nail caps) product.
You mentioned that you used them, but they only worked for a short period of time.
It sounds like that is how the product is suppose to work (website FAQ link below). The cat's nails continue to grow like normal and the plastic sheath falls off eventually. Then you have to put on a new set. So the product has to be replaced every month or so.
https://www.softpaws.com/faqs.html#question3
So if the product works, it sounds like you can try it again and save the furniture at your new house. You just need to commit to replacing the caps every month or so.
.
I could have posted this myself! We have 2 cats, one is great, only ever scratches the scratching post. The other scratches anything she can dig her claws in. We would never give her away, but we also just bought a new home and do not want our new house and furniture ruined, so it is extremely frustrating! We brought it up with our vet who suggested 2 things that we hadn't tried yet. One was getting a behavioral specialist to come to our house (which would be way too expensive for us to try, I'd rather have the scratched furniture...) and the other was to use the Feilaway plug-in. We tried the Feilaway despite my thinking it probably would not work, but WOW was I wrong! I did not see my cat scratch the couches once when it was plugged in! We ran out of it, and since we've been out she started to scratch again, so I'm going to the vet to buy some more this week. I know all cats are different, so it may not work for yours, but based on my experience, I would HIGHLY recommend trying the Feilaway plug-in!
Good luck!!!
We used to have these problems, too.
Going outside the litter box: Do you only use one little box? If you do, sometimes cats will get territorial and as soon as one cat uses the box, the other won't. (Even if there's nothing in the box, they know the other is using it as well) If you haven't tried it, try using two boxes, one for each cat. They'll figure out which one is for each if you put each of them in a box. Also, you could try changing the litter. We have three cats and they all have different litter boxes. One started going on the kitchen floor, and we asked the vet about it. He said that cats also will get tired of the texture of the litter they are using and want a different place to go. Once we changed his litter, he started using his box again.
Licking off all the fur: If this is resulting in puking up a lot of hair balls, try giving the cats a little bit of butter. We give our long-haired cat a sliver of butter a day, or a couple times a day, and how much he sheds and throws up hair balls has gone down a lot. Sounds crazy, but the grease in the butter is good for their skin and hair and helps keep down hair balls. The cat will probably think about getting butter so much, that she won't even think about licking her hair off as often.
HTH!
I would suggest taking your cats to a different vet than you have been seeing. Maybe there is something there that your normal vet isn't catching that could fix the problems.
Make sure you keep the cats nails trimmed down. I always can tell when either of my cats nails are getting too long because they start clawing at things other than their scratch posts. Its a PITA to trim cats nails, but it has to be done. If the tips you used didn't work, try a few other kinds. If all else fails, maybe you will need to have them declawed. I hate the idea of declawing and will always use declawing as a last resort, but if I had to, I would. I've always been lucky enough to be able to train my cats not to do things I don't like.
I would try the plugin thing. My BFF uses one for her cat that was having some major anxiety issues from moving and a new dog next door and this worked. She was looking to have to put the cat on anxiety meds if it didn't stop puking and peeing outside its box.
As a deterant try a pop can filled with pebbles or pennies. When the cat does something you don't like, toss it near them. Usually the noise will scare the crap out of them. Or fill a water bottle with a mixture of vinegar and water.
You could also see if there is an animal behaviorist in your area. They may be able to tell you more about why the animals are behaving the way they are.
I know this post was written when you where super irritated at the cats, but by taking them in in the first place you agreed to care for them for their whole life. Like the other pp, I'm tired of seeing these posts about having to get rid of an animal because a baby is coming (or for whatever reason). Its not like its a mystery that cats live 15 years or so. If you can't keep them, at least take them to a no kill shelter or a rescue group. GL
Thanks for all of the suggestions ladies. I definitely want to try that Feliaway plug in thing-that sounds like it would work best for the problems we are experiencing.
We may have to try a new vet too because we HAVE TRIED a lot of the things suggested. We have multiple litter boxes, we have tried different litters, etc. We used the soft paws the right way. They just fell off way sooner than I had anticipated, the cats hated them and tried to get them off, and at $20+ a set to have to replace them every couple of weeks sucked.
My point is that we have tried things-a lot of things. Because we DON'T want to get rid of them. We are not cruel people-which is why we keep them and put up with these things. It's just at the point where I feel like they run our lives. And the stress that this puts on our relationship with them can't be good for them either. I don't think they're happy. Thanks again for the advice. I'm gonna try a couple of these things and see what happens.
Now I definitely know all about having a house full of animals that are sometimes out of control. I have 3 dogs and 2 cats. The dogs are just hyper hyper even though they are no longer puppies and are fixed. However the thing that helped fix them & the cats too (they jump on the counters when we are trying to eat, cook, etc.) is the spray bottle. We don't even have to spray them anymore they just see us holding it and they sit down or walk away. It's sort of awesome. Haha.
However as for all your cat woes, I really don't know what else to say besides it sounds like medical issues. My one cat used to pull out all of her fur from stress but we moved to a new house with more hiding places and she stopped. Our neighbors cat does the same thing but the vet put it on prozac and now it's fine. She also refuses to use the litter box if theres anyythinnng in it. Instead she goes into the tub. It's weird.
What strange animals we have huh?