cat marking-help if you can

[carriehelene]

We have 6 cats. We started out with 2 deliberately. Then DH parents found a baby they weren't able to keep. After alot of care, this half dead animal became healthy and happy. Then my mom found a baby in the middle of the road, it had obviously been thrown out a car window and had the damage to show it. With some care, it also became a happy and healthy cat. Then a mama cat at work had a litter, and somebody at work was supposed to take 1, so since it was the weekend, I brought it home with the intention of giving it to this person, except the person changed their mind, and we were kind of stuck with her. Well, last winter, a stray cat decided it was going to adopt us, moved right into the house. It had been abused, and took a long time to come to trust us.

Trouble is, we now have all of these cats running around, and even though they are all fixed, they are marking their territory, inside and outside the house. It's disgusting. I don't mind outside, but I have a serious problem with cat's peeing in the house. That's just nasty. We have litter boxes that we keep clean, it's not that they don't use them. It's that they are "marking". I've checked into petfinder.com to see about placing a couple out for adoption, but in our area, there are over 1000 cats available. It's heart-breaking. If I take them to the SPCA, they will probably be killed. I mean, how can we save them, just to kill them!? I've checked on-line, and the only advice I've come across are the "buy our product and it will stop" type sites.

So does anybody know how I can get the cats to stop marking? I'm getting desperate. DH is ready to start getting "rid" of them (not that I can blame him, but umm, no) If you have any suggestions, I'll take them. Please help if you can.

 

[lasergrl]

Cat behaviorists say if you have more then 3 cats you will likely have a sprayer. Could they be possibly peeing on stuff from stress? Cats get inflammation of the bladder when stressed. This can be helped with medications like metacam or cosequin. Cosequin is an over the counter glucosamine supplement proven to reduce the inflammation in the bladder.
You have to seperate these cats somehow, be it in seperate rooms or rehoming them. I wouldnt blame anyone for putting a cat down with persistent behavioral urinating out of the box. It is unsanitary for everyone involved and unhealthy. Even with the most strinct cleansing you cannot get all the urine. Soon it may escalate to poop out of the box.
If you are bound and determined to keep them all they must be seperated into seperate areas, or in pairs that get along ect. Its just too stressfull for them. Maybe you can narrow down what cats are doing it and just seperate them.

Or you can do like I did and spend $4000 on an outdoor enclosure with insulated heated building. But I have a stud cat and they reek.

 

[Skippin' Sammi]

Ok....first thing to do is to figure out who is doing the spraying and yes there is something that you can do to stop it. Get your vet to give you a prescription for generic Prozac. At Walmart it is only $4.00 for 30 pills. Can't remember the name right off...although I should as my one cat has been on it for over 4 yrs. Fluxoedine or something like that. Anyway....I put it off for two years because I was afraid of changing his personality but it didn't and I can't believe that I waited so long to try it. It can take over a week to start working but in our case he stopped after the first dosage of 1/2 a pill. I use a pill popper also got at the vets and just pop it down his throat. You won't believe this but he actually comes into the kitchen to get his pill because he knows he will get a couple of cat treats afterwards. You do need to use the pill popper though so that you can get it back in his throat and it won't stay in his mouth . It must taste bad because it can make them foam at the mouth for a minute or two. With the pill popper though they won't taste it. A lot of my friends across the country swear by this method and now I am a believer also. A couple of times I was able to reduce the dosage to every other day and some people can taper off and quit all together but I haven't been that lucky.
I also have a cat enclosure that I made from a 13x7x6 tall chain link dog kennel. I put the tough plastic deer fencing across the top and fastened it every 6" or so with nylon ties. I even staple pet screen around it so that bugs don't get in....a bit over the top maybe...but it makes me happy.

I put some of the cats out in the enclosure while I garden. They love it and look forward to their out time everyday. Too many dangers to just let them loose and all of mine are rescues also. I think the dog kennel costs under $200.
Hope these ideas help. Really try the generic Prozac though. My Sammi is the same except for the spraying.
I will try to find the article about it.http://tallyville.com/litterboxhelp.html
This website is a wealth of information! Good luck.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

I hope you can find homes for some of them but I would be reluctant to give a sprayer to someone unless it was just going to be a barn cat. Then again you don't want your barn getting sprayed. But I am going to agree that I would put down a cat if it wouldn't stop spraying and meds didn't completely fix the problem.


One of my big pet peeves is that a lot of people seem to think that if someone has a cat that is the person to push other cats onto under the reasoning "what's one more cat". I can't tell you how many times I've said no. My sil just asked me to take a kitten. A stray laid claim to their yard and went into labor so they took her inside and she had 5 kittens. We are going to visit in June and every time we speak I remind her that we will not be taking a kitten. Now we just laugh about it. Then last week her hubby brought in another stray that was sick (she kept it away from the mama and kittens) and now he wants to keep it. They are going to spay the mama. At the end of this whole saga they are going to end up with 2 if not 3 cats.