Many of you know that I have a house cat named Kiki. My daughter was given this nice kitty cat four years ago for Christmas, and it has been a great cat.
Until we moved back to South Carolina and bought an older home. An older home that used to have other animals in it. The smell of the other animals has ignited the stupid instinct to spray and mark its territory.
The cat has peed all over the tile floor of the laundry room. It has peed all over a box of shipping envelopes for my book. (Don't worry - I threw them away.)
It has pooped all over the new carpet. And we decided that the cat was going to get ONE MORE CHANCE to stop being instinctive with its pooping and peeing.
Well, it seemed as if our cat was behaving and things have went OK for a couple of months.
Let me stop that story to introduce a new storyline.
A new kitten showed up on our back deck two weeks ago. It was emaciated with its ribs sticking out and it had no tail. Melea immediately fell in love with it and started nursing it back to health. Me, being the sucker that I am, agreed that after a trip to the vet this new kitten could move in with us last Thursday.
Last Wednesday, the day before the kitten was going to move in, Jenn discovered that Kiki had been spraying FOR MONTHS in an undiscovered area. The undiscovered area? On our brand new carpet and TWO BOXES OF I Was Broke. Now I'm Not.!!!!!! Now, I know some budget-haters would love to do what Kiki has done, but THAT WAS IT.
Kiki has been kicked outside. The new kitten is not being allowed in the house. I wanted to see if Kiki could fly through the floor at a very high rate of speed, but I kicked her out instead.
In spite of ALL of that, this was still a very hard decision. You see, Kiki slept next to Melea every single night. Snuggled right up next to her, purring so nicely. Ever since Melea can remember, Kiki has been bounding around the house with her. Now, Kiki sits outside in tropical storm Faye, meowing forlornly and totally confused as to why she can not come inside.
In spite of the fact that the stupid cat had ruined two boxes of books. In spite of the fact that our new carpet smells like cat pee. In spite of the fact that it had sprayed an entire box of shipping envelopes. In spite of the tremendously annoying damage, it was still a very difficult decision.
It made me pause. This situation helps me understand just a little bit more why some people can not bring themselves to make the decisions necessary for them to win with their money. They KNOW that the car payments are peeing all over their ability to gain financial traction. They KNOW that the credit cards need to be chopped up because they are stinking up their ability to win with money. They KNOW that their finances are continually being trashed because they are unwilling to make a tough decision.
Folks - throwing out your eight year old daughter's cat is a difficult decision. So is selling a car and taking a second job. But I will tell you this - the relief I feel now that the decision has been made is AWESOME!
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Tough Decisions
August 30th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
August 31st, 2008 at 12:26 am 1220142397
August 31st, 2008 at 12:29 am 1220142560
I have a 13-year-old cat. When my other cat was still alive, my now 13 yr old cat would spray around the house. I thought it was a physical problem but later, when i had to put my other cat to sleep, the problem instantly disappeared.
However, my cat, who now pees in the litter box, only poops in the litter box maybe half the time. It's becus she is often constipated and it's panful when she poops so she associates the litterbox with pain. I feed her Iams with extra fiber, but if she doesn't drink enough liquid, the extra fiber will just exacerbate the problem. So yes, i run the water from the tap the way she likes it whenever i can.
Do i yell at her or freak out when i find poop around the house? NO, becus she's a wonderful cat and it's something i put up with.
Instead of just reacting in anger, try to figure out what may be causing the spraying problem, and maybe either going online to a cat forum or speaking with a vet will give you some ideas. If you're sure it's the smell of other animals that used to live there, i would think a thorough cleaning, with vinegar, which masks cat urine smell, would also help.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:39 am 1220143162
Why don't you teach your daughter a lesson in compassion and humanity by doing something other than throwing the cat outside? You can keep it confined to a bathroom until things get under control.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:56 am 1220144216
August 31st, 2008 at 02:02 am 1220148128
to kick an animal out for using their instincts with out trying to train it in any way is shocking. There is obivously something else going on for the cat to be showing the displeasure it is. Cats will often use bowel movements and bodily functions to show displeasure at something not necessarily to show the marking instinct. there is something else going on for the cat: mentally or physically. stress will often make a cat behave the way you describe.
do you have an indoor kitty litter tray for her to do her duty? is it in an area she can access any time? have you tried training her, confining her to one area of the house? she is showing her displeasure at you for something, and from the way you wrote, i would too.
i simply cannot imagine why someone who is a pet owner would just throw the cat into the elements risking her to be lost or injured if she is not used to being outside or new to the area. shame on you.