Neurotic kitty! Abandonment issues?

[iheartsuki]

We took in a stray cat who is just a little kooky. She's really, really clingy and sometimes gets a little angry and agressive when you try to leave her or if you get just a little too rough with her (like playing/petting a little too harshly). If she feels like you're being too rough, she'll grab onto your hand and bite a little bit (not hard) and lick, lick, lick. She also does this if you try to get up and leave and she's not ready for you to do that! She'll reach out and grab onto you when you try to walk away.

She used to have a licking problem, which has MOSTLY gone away (but not completely). She would lick herself ALL the time and when she wasn't licking herself...she would lick whoever was nearby. She still licks a lot....but it's a little less crazy.

The BIGGEST problem though...she pees on the bed! We feel really strongly that this is not a physical/health issue as she does it very selectively. She's staying at my mom's house and I go there on the weekends. When I leave the room....she pees. When I leave afer the weekend.....she pees. Always on the bed. We have other animals....could it be that? Could this be tied in w/ her weird abandoment issues (assuming that's what they are)?

We've tried putting her food and toys on the bed, but that only worked for a little bit. We have to keep her in a giant pet carrier when no one is in the room w/ her. I don't know what to do for her or how to correct this and my mom is getting really fed up!

[Catlady711]

You really need to have her checked by the vet.

Urinary infections can be very painful and need to be treated. If they have an infection like that, they don't always use something besides the litterbox every time, it may seem random to you. If it's a behavioural thing then your vet should be able to help you there also. Be sure to tell the vet about the other pets, her licking issues and her separation anxiety, that will help them narrow down her issues.

The longer this urinating on the bed is allowed to go on the more of a habit it can become to the point where it's difficult to break them of the habit. Hopefully in this case it's an easily treatable medical problem that has only been going on for a few days.

Living in a carrier is not much of a life for a cat, even if it does save on the mattress.

Other things to try:

Add one more litter box. Rule of the house is one litterbox per cat plus one.

Make sure the second litterbox is different than the original one. (ie; if your old one is high sided, get a low sided one. If your old one is hooded get a non hooded one.)

Don't put any liners or deoderizers in the extra box. Some cats learn to dislike those.

Put the extra litterbox in a different place. (ie; if the old one is downstairs, but new one upstairs. If old one is in bathroom, put one in a bedroom. etc)

Make sure neither litterbox is near something noisy (like a washer/dryer/furnace) where the noise may scare the kitty, and make sure it's not a very busy area of your home (like right near the main entrance door).

Put different litter in the new litterbox. (ie; if the old box had scented clumping litter, get a non clumping, non scented clay litter) Some cats learn to dislike a particular litter or scent, and sometimes companies change a formula in a litter you've been using for years and the cat may not approve of the change.

Scoop all litterboxes out once a day.

Keep at least 2-3 inches of litter in the box at all times.

At least once a week (for clay litter) or once a month (for clumping litter) dump out the box and wash it out with only hot water. Some cats don't like the smell of clorox/lysol/pinesol etc.

With other pets in the house, make sure they are not bothering the cat when she needs to use the litterbox (ie; blocking her from getting to it, or cornering her when she's in it)

Good luck.

[Emeraldgreen]

I agree, awesome suggestions Catlady711!!!!
An infection really does need to be ruled out before anything else.
Above and beyond that, Feliway might help calm her a bit. It is a synthetic pheronome that deals with anxiety and inappropriate urination. You can get it in a spray or in a plug in (like glade plug-in but pheronomes instead). There is a cheaper version of it available at the larger petstores.

You mentioned that you have other animals. Are any of them cats? She might do well with a feline companion to keep her company.

I find that leaving the tv on in our bedroom for our cats during the day keeps them content. They seem calmer with some background sounds going.

But, as Catlady711 said, she should be checked by a vet to rule out anything medical that could be treated. It would be awful if she was uncomfortable or worse, in pain with an infection of some kind.