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**duke o' york** · October 17, 2003, 10:55

So marry one!

(Playground humour still works after all these years. Not sure what effect "works" has, but still.

)

**Caligastia** · October 17, 2003, 10:55

Your orange guy looks fairly large. Tigger is getting pretty big too. I think he's dominating Tad.

**Flubber** · October 17, 2003, 11:09

Well our cat Millie is three and started and is continuing a bad habit now.

About a month before our son was born she pooped on the carpet outside the laundry room ( about 5 feet from a clean litter box with her usual litter in it)-- Isolated incident we thought and after scolding her and making sure to give her lots of attention in the days after , we thought that was the end.

Our son is 5 months old now and we can't trust our cat not to poop on the carpet since the day he came home-- Note that she has moved it around up and down our upstairs hall so its not a matter of returning to the scene of the crime . . .

We don't know how to cure this behavior . . . we try to give her lots of attention . . . the reality is that we are home a lot more after the birth of our son. The vet says its just jealousy on her part.

Our partial "solution" now is that the cat is sent to the basement every night ( this solution has only reloacated the problem to a less problematic part of the house). She now has a grand total of 3 different litterboxes and she uses all of them for urination. All the litterboxes are as clean as they can get with fresh kitty litter ( and we have tried switching brands and types) and are usually scooped daily ( and usually no poop to scoop anyway). It seems she will go in one box to urinate and then come out, walking past her second box and then defecate on the CONCRETE floor .

Anyone have any ideas? We have tried as much extra affection as we can ( but she often hides away anyway-- this behavior has stayed the same since she was a kitten-- affection on her terms when she wants )and we have attempted to catch her in the act to scold and punish her. Neither worked. The vet had suggested double sided sticky tape to prevent the cat walking to her selected inapproprate spot, but thats no good since she hardly ever goes in the same place twice.

Apparently there is nothing physically wrong with the cat as far as the vet can tell but three years of perfect litter behavior is quickly unravelling. She averages about 1 time in 10 in a box. The move to the basement in some ways makes the problem worse as it probably pisses her off, but I cannot tolerate her "going" in ther lived in part of the house anymore. ( OUR son will be mobile in a few months)

For the immediate time being I will continue to clean and disinfect our basement floor ( almost nightly) but we need this to stop. Any suggestions??

**chequita guevara** · October 17, 2003, 11:21

Have you tried switching types of litter, say from clay to scoopable or crystals or pine pellets?

**Caligastia** · October 17, 2003, 11:34

It sounds heartless, but if a cat was giving me that much of a problem and nothing I did made a difference I would get rid of it.

**Japher** · October 17, 2003, 12:12

My cat was named Jewels, but he decided that he didn't like the name. We now call him Kitty, and have for the past 10 years.

We are not really sure how old he is for my wife (the girlfriend) recued him from a home of an aquantince of hers. She went over to the house and found them (her ex-friends) giving Kitty LSD blowing pot smoke in his face... If that wasn't bad enough, they would then put him in the kitchen on the newly waxe linolium floor and chase him around and laugh as he would slip all over the place. They would also through fire crackers at him. Needless to say she took the cat from them and brought him home to a house of 5 people who all loved Kitty.

Strange thing, Kitty is now prone to flashbacks. In his early years at our house we would find him sitting in the hallway staring at the walls. He would climb up trees and get stuck about 3 feet of the ground. I once saw him walk across the room, stop, crouch down, leap straight into the air about 2 feet, land, sit down, give himself a bath, and then curl up and fall asleep...

The flashbacks have worn off for the most part, I still see him chasing ghosts in the early morning hours. He is much better and happier than he was 10 years ago when he wouldn't even eat if you were looking at him and despite his efforts to use the litter box would always miss.

Now he wants you to watch him eat, he begs, sleeps at my head, loves playing outside and climbing trees, and gets along superbly with Buddy our 70lb german shepard mix. He is in excellent condition, though we recently had a heart worm scare, and loves his life.

**SlowwHand** · October 17, 2003, 12:14

The previous owners should be hung.

**rah** · October 17, 2003, 12:21

The cat we had when my daughter was born. (Roxanne)
Was not jealous at all. When my daughter would cry, Roxanne would go and lick her hair until she stopped. Roxanne never extended her claws at my daughter even after my daughter got older. She would just swat her with her paws. I, on the other hand, had multiple scratch marks from our play sessions, ( with the cat

)

RAH
and no, birdie seemed a silly name for a cat.

Eagle also. If we get a third, she may be straddled with Mulligan.

**Flubber** · October 17, 2003, 12:24

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Have you tried switching types of litter, say from clay to scoopable or crystals or pine pellets?

WE have switched brands and have had at least two types-- I'm not familiar with the pine pellets one I don't think.

**Japher** · October 17, 2003, 12:24

I have a friend who named her pitbull Kitty... strange ppl./

**Flubber** · October 17, 2003, 12:28

Originally posted by Caligastia
It sounds heartless, but if a cat was giving me that much of a problem and nothing I did made a difference I would get rid of it.

That is increasingly becoming an option . . . However since I doubt anyone else not yet attached to her would want such a cat, " getting rid of it" will likely result in her death. I am not yet ready to take that step and EVER convincing my wife would be hard .. .

Relocating the problem has made it tolerable but we need to find a way to fix this problem

**Caligastia** · October 17, 2003, 12:32

Hopefully your cat will eventually get used to the situation. Sooner rather than later...

**Flubber** · October 17, 2003, 12:33

Originally posted by rah
The cat we had when my daughter was born. (Roxanne)
Was not jealous at all. When my daughter would cry, Roxanne would go and lick her hair until she stopped. Roxanne never extended her claws at my daughter even after my daughter got older. She would just swat her with her paws. I, on the other hand, had multiple scratch marks from our play sessions, ( with the cat

)

RAH
and no, birdie seemed a silly name for a cat.

Eagle also. If we get a third, she may be straddled with Mulligan.

Our cat pretty much ignores our son except for an occasional sniff and has NEVER batted him with her paws ( even when he grabbed her fur). She pretty much just sleeps under our bed for most of the day.

**Seeker** · October 17, 2003, 12:35

somehow I just knew Slowwhand would have a Siamese...the most scratchy, bite-y aggressive breed.

**Japher** · October 17, 2003, 12:38

Oh yeah, Kitty is a Persian, or Himalayan somethingrather. He looks really cool (has a skirt that sweeps the floor for me), and is really soft..

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