Cats have always been a part of my life. I adore their cuddles, their friendly meows and their soothing purrs. Nothing is better than coming home from a hard day and having my kitties walk figure eights through my legs and look at me with loving stares.
When things go bad with cats, however, it always seems like the end of the world, and you are left with the questions, why me? why my cat?
My cat had been peeing literally everywhere for (what seemed almost every day, but was more weekly) the past four months. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I automatically started to panic and dollar signs danced in my head as I Bing'ed every potential cause of this highly annoying problem.
First thing first, we brought her in to the vet to run a series of tests - urinalysis, blood work, ultra sounds, you name it! We had to start with what would be the most obvious cause, kidney stones or bladder infection.
All the results came back negative. This was great news, but also left us with the unanswered question.. Why is she doing this?
I then began to be much more visual around the house and paying attention to her behaviour and where the pee was. I noticed that she would pee around any open area to the outdoors (windows, doors, and furniture around these areas).
I also realized that there had been a new cat in the neighborhood that decided that this area was his turf, and had been jumping over on to our balcony and terrorizing my ladies through the sliding glass door.
I automatically put two and two together. My little lady was being territorial and spraying, trying to tell this cat to F-off and that this was ours and only our territory. I know what you are thinking, a female cat that sprays? Yes. I know, I was surprised too. I had never before heard of a female cat spraying.
We literally tried everything to deter this horrible nuisance, from blocking off all the windows with cardboard, to buying anti-feline spray to deter her from her usual marking spots (one being peeing on our $2000 couch.. yeaaaa).
Absolutely nothing was successful.
I had a lot of "encouraging suggestions" that maybe I should get rid of my cat. No. That was in no way an option. When you take on the responsibility of owning a pet, you are also agreeing to all the headaches they come with, let that be large vet bills, ruined furniture, pooh, pee or vomit. EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. If you are not willing to deal with all the headaches that comes with owning a pet, then don't get one.It's as simple as that. Pets are for life.
After many sleepless nights and crying episodes from finding yet another pee spot on the couch, we have finally solved the problem. Perhaps it is just luck, but I like to think that I played a role in stopping this horrendous behaviour.
So, how did we do it? First thing, get rid of the problem ie. the "other" cat. I got so pissed off one day when he jumped over to our balcony, that I chased the damn thing away and down the alley way throwing rocks to scare him away for good (calm down animal activists, I wasn't throwing rocks AT him). Next, my little lady now sleeps in the bathroom at night with a little beddie, food, water and a litter box. And honestly? She loves it. Every single night, she runs to the bathroom, jumps in her beddie and starts kneading the feather blanket as if she is getting ready for bed. She loves her "room." Also, whenever I leave the house, I now put a blanket on the couch. So now when I come home, I come home to my kitty sleeping on the couch, opposed to peeing on it.
Hopefully no one else is suffering from this same problem. And if you are, hopefully my story has been able to aid you in solving your dilemma. I know it is hard, and sometimes the idea of kicking our pets to the curb seems like a good idea at them time, but there is always a solution. If a cat is capable of starting something, they are more than capable of stopping. Patience is a virtue people! Patience, patience, patience.
Until next time..
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