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Post by buttercup78 on Jul 27, 2014 20:59:17 GMT -5
I know having a pet is an investment of time/money/etc and I apologize if this offends anyone. We have one cat who is about 14 years old. She pees and poops in my daughter's room and in the basement and attic. She is old and I doubt there is any way to make her stop. I am SICK of this! I just want to be done with it. I know no one will want her if I am honest about things, and I'm not going to lie. Our SPCA is so full of cats, they will not accept owner surrenders. I don't know what to do. I need some amnesty here and some ideas. The cat mess is ruining our belongings. We have a second cat who may or may not be doing the same things. We did not choose to have this cat - my 20yo son brought it home without permission and it ended up staying. I know, we should have refused, but here we are now. Anyway, that's the problem. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Post by papermoon on Jul 27, 2014 21:07:02 GMT -5
Ok, I love my cat but you can rest assured that I'm not going to lecture or get sentimental. I'm just going to give you straightforward advice of what I would do if I had to get rid of two cats.
Take both cats to the SPCA and tell them you are incapable of taking care of them. Period. You don't have to give details. If they ask for details, repeat: I am not capable of taking care of them any more.
If you're there in person with both cats, I doubt they will turn you away. Tell them you cannot leave without a solution. Stand your ground. Repeat like a broken record: I am not capable of taking care of them any more.
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Post by puppybox on Jul 27, 2014 21:15:38 GMT -5
What have you already tried?
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Post by moggyfan on Jul 27, 2014 22:49:34 GMT -5
So your 14-year-old cat has become an inconvenience?
Wow. I just have no idea what to say to that.
Sorry, as far as I'm concerned "amnesty" does not extend to sentient beings.
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Post by eatingbonbons on Jul 28, 2014 2:54:48 GMT -5
Most cats in this situation end up at Animal Control and then being put to sleep. Almost never will a rescue take a 14yo cat. Almost never will anyone adopt a 14yo cat. (This is my experience in animal rescue.)
It is not typical for a cat to poop & pee here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps it would be more suited for an outdoor life.
I recommend keeping the cat in one room so that the problem will be contained, but an active room, not one where it will never see a human. Feliway is the brand name of a synthetic feline pheromone. It supposedly helps the cats to "chill out" a bit so that problems caused by stress are reduced. You can purchase it at a pet store.
Also, can you not close the door to your daughter's room?
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Post by messymimi on Jul 28, 2014 7:07:42 GMT -5
We have cats that have started "marking" their territory. Our solutions are to keep anything valuable out of their way, close doors, have litter boxes all through the house, and clean messes as soon as we find them. It's helping a lot.
Cats are more than an inconvenience when they are ruining things, like the cats in our house that have destroyed computer monitors by peeing in them, ruined my daughter's laptop by knocking it down to the floor and peeing on it, breaking shelving and knocking over breakables.
When it gets that bad, some people simply cannot handle it, and i don't hold that against them. Being in animal rescue, and seeing this in my house, i do understand.
You might try isolating the cats to separate rooms in which they have access to litter boxes and food and water, and see if one of them is using the box and the other not. Very often, when one starts marking other places, the second (and third and fourth, etc.) cat also figures, since s/he smells the odor there, that it is okay to "go" in that spot. This makes it difficult to control.
Please talk to your vet for suggestions, please make sure the cat doesn't have a urinary tract infection causing pain and urgency, the latter making it hard to get to the box and the former making the poor cat associate the box with pain.
You might also talk to your vet/SPCA about borrowing a very large cat kennel or small dog kennel and put the cat in it with litter and food and water, and take it out to interact several times a day. That may help you retrain it to use the box, and you can slowly start letting it out for short times to see how it goes.
There are some cats that will not ever stop this behavior. Our cat rescue shelter has one boy, Harlequin, who cannot be adopted out. He lives in a cage, and is let outdoors in the fenced area whenever the weather is nice, and he's allowed to roam the shelter for pets and loves when they can supervise him, several times a day. He cannot be allowed to live outside of the cage, though, because he will not use the box even when he's in the cage! He goes right next to it. When he used to roam freely, he would pee on paperwork and piles of clean laundry, and poop on the floor in the middle of the office or on chairs. They tried everything for a couple of years. The current solution of having him live in the cage and come out under supervision several times a day is giving him the best life he can have, poor boy.
It's sad that some cats get this way and it cannot be undone. If you can see a way to keep trying, sometimes they will change their habits -- our Ladybug did, once we got her on a food that didn't upset her digestion. That's why i say try everything, ask your vet, and keep seeking solutions.
If you do end up having to surrender the cats at that point, you will know you tried everything you possibly could.
messymimi
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Post by minball on Jul 28, 2014 9:08:54 GMT -5
I second Mimi's suggestion of using a crate. One of my cats has to be crated when not directly supervised, because she does not use the litterbox appropriately. At first we were afraid she would hate it, but it turns out that she loves being in her crate and is much happier now.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 9:13:33 GMT -5
well, if you really cant stand this cat and she is incontinent, then take her to the vet. First the vet can check her out and see if she can be saved and if not, then you can humanely have her put to sleep. If she is suffering it is the kindest thing to do.
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Post by def6 on Jul 28, 2014 9:50:53 GMT -5
Dear Buttercup78,
Thank you for being honest in your request for advice. I would call the humane society, If that's a dead end...I would ask if there are any rescuers in your area. If not I would take the cat to the pound. I respect your opinion that the cat peeing and pooping in your daughters room is unacceptable. The welfare and health of children should come first Before pets...anything else is just Looney Tunes!
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Post by immaculata on Jul 28, 2014 13:33:43 GMT -5
(First off, I don't think that the concept of amnesty should ever be applied to beings, only objects. I would like to ask the mods to note this in the sticky threads because I think it's important.)
buttercup78, I second hordfest's suggestion.
Please take the poor cat to the vet and if it's not something that can be mended in a straight-forward way, with a simple course of medication, for example, take the decision to have the unfortunate animal put down humanely straight away.
It is very unlikely that such an animal, aged and ill, is going to find a proper loving home. Sending a cat of that age and in that condition of health to a shelter or God forbid, worse still, a pound is just cruel, as she will end up going through enormous stress and fear, and then getting put down anyway. At least if you get the cat put down, she will have someone she knows nearby at the end and you can ensure that she doesn't suffer. Please don't abdicate this responsibility by off-loading this cat to someone else.
At least if it comes to that, you are being as responsible as you can be, and not doing what some people might with an animal that was foisted on them - I've seen animals be thrown out to starve.
It sounds cold, but really a fear-free and painless death is probably the best you can offer this poor helpless cat at this time.
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Post by boyswillbeboys on Jul 28, 2014 13:47:06 GMT -5
For the incontinent cat, I agree with hordfest, it's time to take her to a vet, and possibly have her put down, at 14 years old she is nearing the end of her life, we had to make this decision about 5 years ago when our elderly cat became unable to function normally, my mom also has two elderly Dogs and they are beginning to have issues with incontinence, they have been medicating the one for over a year, to keep it in check, it is only a matter of time. 2 years ago they had one put down after she refused to eat or drink for several days, she was blind and nearly deaf, sometimes that is the best thing for them.
As for the younger cat, I would tell your son to find the cat a new home, if he doesn't take her in a prescribed time frame, you will have to take her in, tell the SPCA that the cat was abandoned, and you cannot take care of it.
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Post by puppybox on Jul 28, 2014 16:30:28 GMT -5
#def6 it is absolutely NOT humane to take the cat to the pound. In many of the united states and places in Canada, the method of killing the animal is NOT humane.
I fostered a dog that had been waiting at the pound in Georgia until they had enough unwanted dogs to make gassing them to death cost efficient. gassing them to death is NOT humane, and they DO NOT FEED the dogs in the meantime, so he was 40 pounds underweight. A 75 pound dog was 30 pounds.
If the owner must put their animal to sleep, they must fork out the money to take it to a vet, and HOLD IT IN THEIR ARMS AND PAT IT as they kill it somewhat humanely.
Anything else it selfishly and cowardly throwing one's own problem away on someone else. including the SPCA, where they will do it humanely, but first the animal will have to spend the legal requirement of usually it's about 36 hours in a tiny cage, in the smelly shelter, wher it will be terrified form hearing dogs bark all the time, until it gets put to sleep.
I don't know what this owner has already tried, so I won't pass any judgement on them. It is true that sometimes everything has been tried and a solution is impossible. If that is the case, they must fork out the money, time and effort to have the cat terminated properly. NOT dump it at the pound or even the spca.
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Post by def6 on Jul 28, 2014 18:01:06 GMT -5
I do agree with Immaculata, Boyswillbe, and Puppy that taking to the vet is much preferred over other "last resorts" I know this is difficult.
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Post by papermoon on Jul 28, 2014 18:17:21 GMT -5
I posted my advice without knowing that the SPCA in some areas might not have the same no-kill policy that my city has. So I apologize if my advice upset anyone. Here our SPCA works in tandem with several humane agencies throughout the city and county to place unwanted animals, especially older animals. This network grew in response to the high incidence of animals suddenly left without owners following the sweep of AIDS deaths in the city. The agencies have continued their good work to protect animals. An animal is killed only if it is incorrigibly aggressive, terminally ill, or suffering from fatal injuries.
I second the recommendations to take your cats to your vet for advice.
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Post by rubyred on Jul 28, 2014 18:48:14 GMT -5
#def6 it is absolutely NOT humane to take the cat to the pound. In many of the united states and places in Canada, the method of killing the animal is NOT humane. I fostered a dog that had been waiting at the pound in Georgia until they had enough unwanted dogs to make gassing them to death cost efficient. gassing them to death is NOT humane, and they DO NOT FEED the dogs in the meantime, so he was 40 pounds underweight. A 75 pound dog was 30 pounds. If the owner must put their animal to sleep, they must fork out the money to take it to a vet, and HOLD IT IN THEIR ARMS AND PAT IT as they kill it somewhat humanely. Anything else it selfishly and cowardly throwing one's own problem away on someone else. including the SPCA, where they will do it humanely, but first the animal will have to spend the legal requirement of usually it's about 36 hours in a tiny cage, in the smelly shelter, wher it will be terrified form hearing dogs bark all the time, until it gets put to sleep. I don't know what this owner has already tried, so I won't pass any judgement on them. It is true that sometimes everything has been tried and a solution is impossible. If that is the case, they must fork out the money, time and effort to have the cat terminated properly. NOT dump it at the pound or even the spca. they don't feed the dogs??? That's heartbreaking.
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