Q&A Advice Thread on Pets

[strollingbones]

i have had one male neutered cat do this....i was shocked i thought he was having a damn seizure at first then he sprayed....but he would only do it outside....i just thought he was opting to be more feral than domestic at that time....he was the hunter of the group too....3 litter boxes seems like enough to you reveal you have 10 cats lol

 

[TrinityPower]

3 cats 3 boxes. I should have a 4th. Jackson Galaxy's rule of thumb is have one more box than you have cats but I think 3 is plenty. I don't let them go a week like some people do. They are cleaned daily. My feeling about that is would you go a week without flushing your toilet? Well they (the cats) think it is gross too so cat boxes should be cleaned at least once daily if not twice.

I do not know why he is spraying in the house. He had not done so the whole time I have had him then all of a sudden he gets this dumb idea. The info I have read about why he is doing it I have ruled out. The only one I am testing now is that he is bored and his mind is not being stimulated enough so awhile back I made him a game that consisted of an easter egg dyeing kit with all the egg drying holes punched out. I taped the end shut and put some treats in it and he has to figure out how to get the treats out from the holes. He can see and smell them but has to dig around inside with his paws and nose to get them. Also got him a toy that has a flexible arm that comes out of it that goes around in a circle with a feather glued on it. So far I have not observed any more spraying.
Here is one of the toys. I am not usually big on paying a bunch of money for cat toys but this one is worth the dough. I got it for my then 17 year old cat to help her get moving more as she had arthritis. She loved it too.

 

[strollingbones]

i got one of them mouses that move....planned to let it go up and down the hall.....dog killed it....within two minutes...

i have 3 cats...2 boxes...i know jacksons says i should have 4...put damn

i use that clumbing no duming stuff....scoop away?

 

[strollingbones]

have you changed kitty litters...brands or something....they can get hootie over that stuff

 

[Genevieve]

I have this cat and he is neutered but recently he has decided to squirt all over the house. There are no other male cats in the home. There are two females but they are spayed and in their teens (human years). Looking for reasons he could be doing this. He didn't exhibit these traits before so any advice as to why he is now and what to do about stopping it? He is causing a lot of extra work cleaning up after him

Watch to see if he is drinking more water than usual. When my cat started doing this, turned out he was diabetic. It might not be the reason for yours doing it, but it's one possibility.

 

[Genevieve]

I'd have a flying cat if it did that in my house, I would have used him like a football...

So inappropriate.

 

[Moonglow]

Yes, ur

I'd have a flying cat if it did that in my house, I would have used him like a football...

So inappropriate.

urinating in the house...That's my territory..

 

[TrinityPower]

I use fresh step and he has no issue with it. He doesn't drink any more water than usual. My 18 year old that passed last September drank a lot of water but the vet said with a cat her age it was most likely due to renal failure, treating her at that age was not going to prolong her life and would be a lot of torment so I spoiled her with whatever she wanted and got her a special food she liked even though it was very expensive and got her that cats meow toy which she enjoyed. Her life was very full and happy.

Moon...cats pee to demonstrate many things. Sometimes it is territorial, sometimes it is a sign of distress, and sometimes it is a health problem. This cat is not showing signs of any of the reasons listed. He acts ugly a lot as well, just aggravating til I let him outside. I think he is not being stimulated enough. He needs to hunt and play to expend energy and because he was bored with the toys I have he is showing me that by squirting. I have another cat who was peeing in my cook stove regularly. That was literally a hot mess. She was feeling threatened by the male spoken of here and it was her defense signal. It isn't perfect with that issue but I have taken measures to minimize that from happening

 

[strollingbones]

sometimes they are just not happy....and it can be something little.....my son and his g/f have a 14 yr old cat they had to stop letting out during the day....cause of the threat of coyotes....but you cannot explain that to lily...she just pees in their shoes....

 

[TrinityPower]

I had a cat that had inoperable mouth cancer. She had a lot of trouble trying to groom herself because the end of her tongue died so I decided to freshen her up after some time and give her a bath (which I am not a big proponent of) complete with drying her with a hair dryer so she wouldn't be cold in her immune compromised state. She endured it like a trooper then walked right up to my daughter's toy box and sprayed it. She let me know what she thought of my idea, so things like that I understand. The other cat that was peeing in the stove is about 14 as well. I get frustrated because I want to find the root cause of why they are doing it. Cats are not dogs and treating them as you would a dog doesn't work

 

[strollingbones]

i had to put billy down due to tongue cancer.....he had a complete 300 buck check up 3 months before....the tumors were too small then....he had suffered enough by the time we discovered by he was vomiting and losing weight....he was older ..a rescue so i am never sure how old

 

[TrinityPower]

i had to put billy down due to tongue cancer.....he had a complete 300 buck check up 3 months before....the tumors were too small then....he had suffered enough by the time we discovered by he was vomiting and losing weight....he was older ..a rescue so i am never sure how old

I had mine for 9 years. Picked her up at my former mother in-law property. Someone dumped her in the country. Same thing with my 18 year old I had. I thought she had a piece of bark dust stuck in her gums or,because she liked to lay under the sequoia tree, a piece of one of those needles in her mouth from cleaning or something. She had been drooling a couple days so I thought ok should be an easy fix to do but they said it was a tumor under her tongue and keep her comfortable and enjoy her because it would be over in about 3 months. She was always happy and purring but they were right. The day finally came where I had to take her in but she disappeared the night before and we could not find her. The neighbor found her in his fan belt of his truck the next morning. She had apparently crawled in there when I left her on the patio to eat for 5 minutes. I felt horrible but I think she may have already passed before that morning came. I wasn't feeding her in the house because it was a mess. She ate the best she could but the wet food I gave her was everywhere from not being able to use her tongue . It just flung everywhere so I fed her on the patio but brought her right in after that and cleaned up her face but that night she took off. I think she knew it was her time and she and the Lord spared me the anguish of having to take her to be put down

 

[mamooth]

How to save money on flea meds ...

A tube of flea medicine in the "large dog" size doesn't cost much more than a "small dog" or "cat" size, but it has 5 times as much stuff.

Buy the "large dog" size. Pour it out into a small container. Suck up the appropriate dose with an oral syringe (the kind with no needle, it just squirts). Apply to cats or small dogs.

If you'd rather not hunt around for the syringe and the small jar that seals tightly, I bought them here as part of the starter kit.

Low Cost Flea Meds Cats About Town Society

Once you get the starter kit costs out of the way, costs per cat-dose end up under $3. That's compared to $10+ if you had bought individual cat-sized tubes. Over the whole summer with multiple cats, the savings are significant. I've been using the system with no problems. I even find the syringe easier to handle than the tubes.

Do pay attention to the specific drugs involved. Some of the dog chemicals are not good for cats. I'm using Activyl , which has the same formula for dogs and cats.

Whatever you do, stay far away from the cheap Hartz or Adams toxic crap that you can buy at Walmart or the grocery store. Bad reactions to that stuff are common.

 

[koshergrl]

My experience with cats marking....once they start, they don't stop. Females sometimes spray, too.

 

[strollingbones]

never use fucking happy jack products....they can kill your pet

 

[TrinityPower]

Just an update: As far as I can tell no more spraying after bringing him an interactive cat toy. He plays with it for about an hour twice a day. It is worth the $20 for him to stop stinkin' up the house

 

[koshergrl]

No shit....

 

[TrinityPower]

The cat toy in post #22 is worth the money to buy. My daughter glued a feather on the end of it but he gnarled that up straight away but he still really enjoys the toy.