Desperate plea for help

[Catsnclay]

It's suggested that when you use a cleaner such as Nature's Miracle, you put aluminium foil over the damp spot because cats don't like it and won't walk on it. That may be where her friend got the idea that if the carpet was covered with foil, the cat would not use it as a litter box. Given the problem, though, I think we'd all agree that the cat would simply use the furniture instead.

Wow, never heard of such a thing in all my cat years!

I guess you DO learn something new every day! Thanks for answering my question.

[buckner]

Thanks to all of you who stuck up for me. I really do appreciate knowing that I'm not the only one who thought I was being attacked.


We're actually looking into an outdoor fenced in area for Jill and whichever other cats to lounge. My dad wants to make one, as opposed to buying it, so it may be a while until we actually get it up, if we do indeed go that route.

My mom mentioned that maybe Jill just feels unloved. I don't treat her *any* different than I did when she lived at my grandmother's - I don't treat her badly at all. I treat her lovingly and try to be as nice as to her as possible. The only problem with giving her constant love and affection is that I'd have to go find her for that. She's not the most personable cat - she likes to be on her own most of the time. The other cats come up and crawl in my lap and demand attention and want their strokes. So we're going to also work on that - trying to give her constant love and affection, even if that means putting the other cats down to go find her every now and then.

We haven't kicked her out or anything, but she still is going in the wrong places. It's quite aggravating and frustrating, to say the least.

You said that you made a promise to your grandma that you would take her 6 cats........WHY if you are not a "cat person" ?? And if you did let Jill outside, what happened if she didn't come home, or worse, you find her dead on the streets.......how would you feel then? How would you think your grandmother would feel? I'm not trying to make you feel bad, but think before you act. Put yourself in Jill's shoes and try and find what the problem just might be, don't just toss her (and the other's) out because you are not cat people and don't like the litter around.

Please keep us updated on poor Jill!!! Where do you live, maybe someone here can adopt Jill and the rest????!!!!

I'm really trying hard to not take that as an attack too, because you don't know the story behind my grandmother and I. My grandmother was my best friend, as are both of my parents. She meant EVERYTHING to me, and most of her day was spent doing something with her cats. Whether it was shopping for them, or playing with them, or taking Trey (the three-legged) for a walk, she was constantly doing something for/with them. She'd spend hours at a time outside with Trey and she'd do anything for her kitties. I got to know her cats very well because I always wanted to be at her house. I knew that neither of uncles would/could take her cats, and I promised her that since I loved her and her cats so much, I'd take care of them if anything happened to her. And unfortunately, something DID happen to her. I'm not sure if you're aware of what happened to her, but something did happen to her, and given the circumstance of that, I had no choice but to take them as soon as possible. We didn't want the cats tampering with the crime scene, inside or outside, so I tried to get the cats up at my house as soon as I could. So no, I'm not a cat person - I'll probably never adopt a cat when I get older, but these were put into my lap. I never dreamed anything would happen so suddenly to her, but since I was wrong, I did what I could. I'm sorry if you disagree with it, but that's the way it is.

My grandmother used to let the cats in and out, and her driveway was right off of a busy highway. She knew that something could very easily happen to one of the cats, and she was okay with it because they loved to be outdoors. It's just like us - we could get into a car wreck when we go shopping, but does that stop us? Nope. She let her cats outside because they wanted to go outside - she knew that they may never return, and she hoped that wouldn't be the case, but she did it anyways. So if I let Jill outside hoping she'd come back, but knew she may not, it'd be the same scenario as my grandmother doing so. My grandmother would NOT be disappointed in me if that happened - she'd rather Jill be happy, and being outside makes her happy. The only thing stopping me from doing that is the regulations in the neighborhood. Animals are not allowed to roam freely. They have to be in a fenced area or on a leash.

I live in Louisville, Kentucky. If someone lives within a 2-ish hour radius from here, and would like to adopt Jill, let me know. However, I'd like to adopt her out to someone who has plenty of land for Jill to roam if she wants to. The other cats are not a problem, really.

[jenluckenbach]

May I give you 3 extreme examples that have happened with my own kitties?

-1- Right after I adopted Willow (#9) I started finding pee spots. Well, with 9, it takes quite a bit of sleuth work to figure out WHO! let alone WHY? I was 100% positive that it was BEHAVIORAL in retaliation to the new cat. I slacked in my investigation until it got to the point that it was happening ALL the time. (jump to end of story) When I did find out who, even though I KNEW the results were going to tell me "behavioral" I took him to the vet.........the diagnosis?????? DIABETES. My baby was sick and I never even knew it. The peeing stopped as soon as his blood sugar was regulated.

-2- Many years (and cats) later another bout of innapropriate peeing began. Well, being up to 15 cats did not help the sleuth work. But pee was everywhere. And at this time I DID know that I had 2 spiteful sprayers, so finding out that Rutherford was deathly sick was almost not caught in time. He was blocking from crystals/stones, a life threatening condition. .........treatment???? P-U surgery and bladder stone removal

-3- Recently, you may have read, about Lucas having constant diarrhea. What you might not know is that 2,3,4 times a DAY I'd be cleaning liquid poop off my CARPET! and we tried EVERYTHING. And then he started peeing out of the box too. .......... the final diagnosis? CANCER. And believe me when I tell you the word euthanasia came into my mind more than one time.

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Now, I only tell you this because I too was certain it was NOT medical, and yet, it was. (and sorry it was so long)

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So, if you care about the cat, tell the vet everything and ask for appropriate tests.

>>>>>>>>

And one more possible suggestion (but only AFTER the vet) do you feel that if you harness train the cats and walk her in a safe manner in the yard on a daily or twice daily basis, do you think she might feel less likely to pee in the house? Maybe house training her like a dog might bring her some comfort if you believe she missed the outdoors so much.

>>>>>>>>


Good luck. I have been there and certainly KNOW all the frustrations.

[Pam]

I am sorry you were attacked. I probably would have cried too if someone responded to me like that. My thoughts regarding posts like that, is if someone can't respond civilly they shouldn't respond at all. Let others give suggestions in a caring way and there are plenty of people here who can and did.

I agree that a trip to the vet is step #1 to rule out a UTI. I respect you 100% for wanting to comply with your grandmother's wishes but you might also check with other family members (aunts, uncles, cousins) to see if they might like to take a cat or two so that your own home can return to normal. (((hugs)))

[carole]

I can well understand how fustrated you must be feeling,the stench of cats pee is something i myself find unbearable.

I think everyone has given you great advice and a trip back to the vets would be my top priority, as has been said they cannot tell us they are sick, it really does sound like a UTI could be the problem,but then again could be a number of things, taking her back will give you peace of mind and hopefully get to the bottom of the problem.

I know you are offended by Donna's comments, and although i cannot speak for her, i know she means well,maybe her passion and love and concern for the cats runs away with her sometimes as it does with us all from time to time,from someone who knows Donna fairly well, i know she has a heart of gold,and i am sure she just was feeling fustrated and trying to get a point across, maybe in the wrong manner, but i hope you can see that.,and not stay mad at her for too long.

Now good luck with everything and i sure hope things change for the better soon, you have my empathy for sure.

[Catsnclay]

I'm really trying hard to not take that as an attack too, because you don't know the story behind my grandmother and I.

I'm sorry if you took this as an attack, that was NOT my intentions. You are so right, I don't know the story behind all this and I based my post on the information you gave us. I am really sorry that your grandmother passed, and from the sounds of it (crime tape) it doesn't sound good, please accept my sympathy and I was only trying to help you and the cats.

Yes, I suggest you pay more attention to Jill, apparently she is also taking this very hard, not only the death of your grandmother, but also the move, and also cats can read body language of people, and I'm sure the mood in your household right now is not happy. Please remember that they too, can feel all this.

We can only give you suggestions on what you tell us, most of us have dealt with kitties that pee outside the litter box, and we were just offering our suggestions, I don't think anyone was attacking you (my opinion). We all realize now that the situation is a little different now that the story is coming out.

Again, my thoughts are with you and your family at this time. I'm sure in time everyone will learn to get along and you will have a happy household once again.

[buckner]

Yes, I suggest you pay more attention to Jill, apparently she is also taking this very hard, not only the death of your grandmother, but also the move, and also cats can read body language of people, and I'm sure the mood in your household right now is not happy. Please remember that they too, can feel all this.

Quite possibly, yes. I don't remember which cats were inside and which cats were outside. To my knowledge, 4 of the cats were inside - Trey, Jessie, Jake, and Callie. The police accidently let Callie outside after I told them not to, but they couldn't help it - the front door was wide open and had to remain that way for a bit. I'm unsure about Jack and Jill - they may have been inside, and they may have been outside. I don't really remember, nor do I think we ever figured that out.