Okay, I would never REALLY skin my cat! But man, she is driving me crazy. Here's my problem. One of my cats is peeing all over our house. (I know, you've heard this one before. Just wait...)
We got Kara about 2 1/2 years ago. We adopted her from a no-kill shelter. 2 days after we got her, we found she had a Urinary Tract Infection. I took her to the vet, who put her on Amoxicillin. She was okay for a week or so, then she started peeing everywhere again. I took her to a different vet, who simply told us everything was fine, and sent us on our merry way. Not willing to accept that, I took her to a clinic that specializes in cats (and would quickly become my new employer). The vet ran some tests and told us that her original UTI hadn't totally cleared up. She put Kara on a different antibiotic (Baytril) and had us check back in a week.
After a week, Kara had stopped peeing everywhere. The doctor said that FLUTD is fairly common in cats, but Kara showed no signs of it. This seemed to be an actual infection, which is much more rare. She had me feed Kara a high-quality over-the-counter diet, and she put her on Cosequin, which is a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement. It's usually given to cats with arthritis, but the lining of the bladder is made up of the same tissues that make up cartilage, so Cosequin is thought to help prevent bladder infections.
So Kara had been doing well until I brought her back from that checkback at the vet. She then promptly started peeing again, but it was only on my things. MY chair, MY bed, MY side of the couch, even my lap! I told the vet about it, and she said that it was behavioral, and apparently Kara didn't like me. (Who can blame her? She was suddenly brought into a new house, and I repeatedly carted her off to mean vets!) My vet rocommended that I personally feed my kitty for several days, and give her treats and pet her a lot so she would learn I'm not so bad after all. And it worked! She stopped peeing everywhere! For almost 2 years! Until...
2 weeks ago, my mom got into bed one evening, and I promptly heard, "UGH! D@#% CAT!!!" Kara had peed on my mom's bed, just below her pillow, right where my mom sleeps. Now, I admit, I had recently been negligent in cleaning the litter boxes. And, Kara had gotten locked in that bedroom for about 30-45 minutes that day. So we figured that was it. We cleaned up the bed, soaking the mattress with Nature's Miracle, and washed the linens. We put new sheets on the bed, I cleaned the litter boxes thoroughly, and we assumed that was the end.
Well, a few days ago, Kara did it again. Right on my mom's bed in the same spot. She also hit my mom's chair. And, for some reason, she peed on the catnip mat that we have in the hallway. We checked with the vet, and she says it's not an infection, and that this sounds behavioral, as if Kara doesn't like my mom now for some reason. But we can't figure out what the reason is. Nothing has changed in the house recently. My mom hasn't altered her routine, except to now keep her bedroom door closed so no one pees on her bed again. And my mom is already the one who feeds the cats (and Kara's too fat to get treats), so we don't know what to do. (And I should add, to be fair, that we are not 100% sure that it is Kara who is doing it, but she is the prime suspect because of her history, and because she is the one who alerted me to the 2nd bed incident and the catnip mat because she was trying to cover them up. And in this house, the one who covers generally turns out to be the guilty one.)
Now, I am a firm believer in keeping any animal that you adopt for its whole life. Taking on an animal is a big commitment, not one to be undertaken lightly. And GENERALLY, most behavior problems tend to come from inappropriate actions an the part of the owner, and GENERALLY most behavior issues are solvable. And I don't believe in doing things such as declawing your cat simply because its ripping up your new leather sofa. That's your problem, not the cat's. That said, I cannot blame people who, for example, may turn in a dog or have it put to sleep because of a rare case of the dog being mentally unstable and suddenly becoming vicious. When your and your family's safety is an issue, that another story. That said, we are getting to a point where we are close to turning Kara back in to the rescue group we got her from. After all, she IS starting to ruin furniture, but moreover, peeing all over the house is very unsanitary, and cat urine tends to aggravate my asthma.
If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! We are really at the end of our ropes here. Thanks!
Oh, and little extra info: We have 4 cats total (all female) and 1 female dog. The cats have worked out a system, and if they don't all like each other, they at least manage to tolerate each other and generally be civil. Actually, Kara is the only one who gets along with all three other cats. Kara doesn't like the dog though. The dog's bark scares her. We have 3 litter boxes, 2 upstairs (where the dog isn't allowed) and 1 downstairs. (I know we really should have 5 boxes, but my mom won't allow any more boxes in here house.) I keep them as clean as possible, usually scooping at least once a day, though occasionally, it's every other day when I'm sick or out of town. None of them are covered, and we use Arm & Hammer clumping litter in all of them, which Kara has never seemed to have a problem with.
