I need advice!

**pam johnson** · 12-17-2000, 11:35 AM

I have had my cat annabelle for three years and have had no problems with her until now. just right out of the blue she has started using the bathroom all over the place. She has never done this before. She has always used her litter box until now. She doesn't want to be on the floor(which is not right for her).She has been using the chairs and couch in my living-room. She has also used my bed. This has been going on about three weeks.

**lhg0962** · 12-17-2000, 11:44 AM

Has anything changed? Have you moved, gotten a new pet, gotten married, had a baby, etc.? So many things can effect a cat's behavior. I know that adding another cat to our home sent Mimi running...she didn't "mess" the way yours is, but didn't want to even come indoors.
Give us some more information. I'm sure someone will have a good idea. Also, you should check with your veterinarian to discuss this issue. Something is wrong.
Logan

**pam johnson** · 12-17-2000, 11:53 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by lhg0962:
Has anything changed? Have you moved, gotten a new pet, gotten married, had a baby, etc.? So many things can effect a cat's behavior. I know that adding another cat to our home sent Mimi running...she didn't "mess" the way yours is, but didn't want to even come indoors.
Give us some more information. I'm sure someone will have a good idea. Also, you should check with your veterinarian to discuss this issue. Something is wrong.
Logan[/QUOTE
Logan,
I did have a problem with fleas brought in doors from a friends dog. I got rid of all the fleas right away so I didn't think that would have bothered her.I did give her a leave on shampoo and advantage on her neck, but I'm not sure that would cause the behavior I'm seeing in her.I will be taking her see her vet tomorrow.

**lhg0962** · 12-17-2000, 06:29 PM

I certainly didn't think something as simple as fleas could cause the sort of personality changes you are dealing with. Good luck with your vet. Please let us know what happens.
Logan

**Troy** · 12-17-2000, 06:29 PM

It sounds as if there has been either a change in her environment (as Logan has suggested) or their is something physically wrong with Annabelle. On the environment side...some more suggestions: Has anyone she knows gone on holidays, Is there a new cat in the 'hood (if she's an outdoors cat). On the health side - cats will sometimes try and let you know if something is wrong by attention seeking acts like Annabelles. Is she actually going to the toilet normally or is she straining or producing small drops of urine? It sounds as if you should get Annabelle to a vet for a check-up - There could be a 1000 reasons why she is doing what she is...I'm not suggesting anything is wrong but it is better safe than sorry.

Good luck - let us know how things progress...Troy.

**weeze** · 01-05-2001, 10:22 AM

Pam, have you found out the reason for your cat's behaviour? Did the vet have any useful advice for you?

**casmeow** · 01-05-2001, 11:11 AM

The first question that comes to mind is - what, if anything did you use on the floor to take care of the flea problem? Maybe it is something that kills fleas AND repels cats. Since cats are very sensitive to smells - maybe some odor in the rug is keeping them off the floor and away from the litter box.

For the areas where they've already gone, get a Rug Doctor bottle of enzyme cleaner to take the smell out, then treat the areas w/spray to repel them from going back. What has worked for us too, is to keep an aerosal bottle of water out & when they head back to the areas they've previously used, spray a little water - they don't like the sound or the water! GOOD LUCK!

**pam johnson** · 01-05-2001, 08:12 PM

Thank you all!!! I took Annabelle to see the doc. She did have a bladder infection. The doc. put her on med,Also told me to put two litter boxes out, which I did not need after she took the med.She has been tested in all areas and has been given a clean bill of health.Thanks so much for the replys...

**lhg0962** · 01-06-2001, 12:09 AM

Pam,I'm so glad to hear that everything is ok. Isn't it wonderful that there is usually a reasonable explanation for what our animals go through? Thanks for letting us know what happened.
As you may have read by now, I've just obtained a second cat, Butter. I heard someone (Mimi or Butter) scratching in the litter box yesterday morning while I was still trying to sleep. Understand that Mimi never uses her litter box, usually going outside. I was sure it was Butter after smelling that awful, cat pee smell. Today I finally got ready to change the litter because it was driving me crazy. Turns out that whoever it was completely missed the litter box and there was a horrible puddle underneath! A little Clorox cleanup and hosed down litter box solved the problem. But, YUCK

, what a smell. I was more than sympathetic to your problem.

**pam johnson** · 01-06-2001, 06:12 PM

Thank you!!!! I know where you are coming from when it comes to the smell of litter boxes.Pew!I would love to let annabelle go out side to do her thing but she has been declawed and has never been let outside at all.She has always been an indoor kitty.thank you and good luck with your new kitty!!!

**Tinkerbelle** · 01-16-2001, 11:27 AM

I had a kitty who had that problem. Her name was Sassy. It turned out to be a kidney disease. Sassafrass(Sassy's real name) was very lucky that we took her the vet when we did, because if we had waited any longer, she probably would have been too sick to treat. Sassy lived for 5 years after we found out, geting fluids once a week, and near the end, twice a week, but this fall, she stopped eating and had withdrawn herself from people. We had to put her to sleep, and were very lucky that she lived those 5 years, because the doctor said that she would probably only live for 2-3 years. She was 13.

**pam johnson** · 01-17-2001, 08:22 PM

Originally posted by Tinkerbelle:
I had a kitty who had that problem. Her name was Sassy. It turned out to be a kidney disease. Sassafrass(Sassy's real name) was very lucky that we took her the vet when we did, because if we had waited any longer, she probably would have been too sick to treat. Sassy lived for 5 years after we found out, geting fluids once a week, and near the end, twice a week, but this fall, she stopped eating and had withdrawn herself from people. We had to put her to sleep, and were very lucky that she lived those 5 years, because the doctor said that she would probably only live for 2-3 years. She was 13.

tink ( my mom has a dog names tink) Thank you for sharing the heart felt memeories with me I am sure you enjoyed the time spent with sassy.