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Training & Behavioral Issues Does your cat have an attitude, or just simply refuses to listen to you? Share it with your peers here and learn more about a cat's behavior and training methods

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Old 10-13-2008, 02:36 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Urine Spraying Success Story

Hi All

i can't claim credit for the following article/story but i happened across it and would like to share with all as i'm pretty sure that all who have cats as their family members have had to deal with urine spraying at one point or the other.

Credit goes to From Leona , for About.com and Fanny Syufy for highlighting it in her blog at www.cats.about.com

Story in the following thread
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Old 10-13-2008, 02:37 PM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Urine Spraying Success Story

Urine Spraying Success Story
Don't Give up on Your Cat!

From Leona , for About.com


The kitty we have now, Puck, was essentially abandoned by her owners because she sprayed. She had been a beloved, indoor and outdoor cat. At age five, her feline companion was hit by a car. Shortly thereafter, the couple adopted two new kittens. In response, Puck exhibited some stress and aggression toward the new cats. She also began spraying. The owners couldn't deal with it, assumed the spraying was because of the two new cats, and just threw Puck outdoors. They would leave food for her as they left for work, but we discovered (later) that crows would get to the food before Puck ever got it.

When my husband and I met Puck (we lived several buildings away) she was coming to our door for food and hunting for whatever she could catch. She was an angry, unhappy, and confused cat -- alternately purring (for the food) then hissing and scratching and being a general "piss ant" as my sister used to say.

We scoped the neighborhood, looking for her owners. We eventually found them, but they didn't tell us why they'd banished her. I think they just wanted her off their hands and were afraid to tell us about the spraying. We had just lost our kitty Lee several months prior and were not ready to adopt a new cat. But my husband, always of sound mind, managed to assuage my grief over Lee by suggesting Lee sent Puck to us, so that we could help her.

So, we took her in. And sure enough, after she came indoors, she started to spray. The first thing she sprayed was our stereo system. My husband and I actually had a good laugh on that -- we both said, "Puck, don't you like our music?"

I'll never forget the look in Puck's eyes when she saw that we'd discovered the sprayed CD player. She shook. She went into a corner and shook horribly. We would NEVER punish a kitty for that, but she didn't know it. Poor, poor thing! I think that's when my genuine bond with Puck really started. I could only assume what she'd probably been through in the years prior to her finding our door.

I've always believed there must be workable causes for inappropriate elimination -- even if those causes aren't immediately discernible. We took Puck to the vet for a full exam. He didn't find anything, but still, I was convinced there might be a medical issue underlying some of her problems. You could call it intuition -- or a hunch based on the years of detective work we'd been through in caring for other cats. So, I observed Puck closely. And a few days later, when we were out in the garden together, I watched as Puck stopped every several feet to urinate. Bingo. UTI. The vet just didn't catch it. Lee had had some UTI's with her kidney issues, so I recognized the signs right away.

I rushed Puck to the vet, got her on antibiotics, and the spraying reduced dramatically. She still did it here and there. I don't know if it was force of habit or additional discomfort. We started using pheromone sprays and then, a very short course of anti-anxiety medication. I tend to shy away from those meds. And my vet was extremely conservative, too. He just thought that if we could take the edge and associations of her past off for a month or two, it might help. I actually don't know if those meds helped. We took her off those pretty quickly since we weren't entirely comfortable with the idea.

All of those measures, including giving her lots of TLC and praise, as well as checking for signs of UTI (she had two subsequent UTIs) -- eventually culminated in a healthy and happy kitty. I won't say she'll never spray again. I imagine if stress enters her life in a significant way, it's a possibility. We watch her diet to make sure there are no ingredients that might activate a UTI, and feed her a diet devoid of known UT irritants. Given her troubled background, we always deal with her gently and respect her sensitive disposition.

To say we are glad we gave this beautiful, loving kitty a chance is to understate what Puck has meant to us. She's just brimming with love and affection -- something we'd have never envisioned in that frightened and angry cat we met on our doorstep. She's been a constant companion through family stress and illness and other hardship, giving us much more than we ever gave to her. And she's whip smart, learning many things on just one try. She can still be a little ornery -- but then, old habits die hard.

The most important thing we derived from this experience was learning to persist when it came to Puck's behavioral issues. It's extremely difficult for me to witness animals as expendable commodities, to be given away or abandoned when they start to cause "problems." At the same time, we realize from firsthand experience how trying it can be to deal with those issues. I hope this particular success story might be a hopeful one for others dealing with similar situations. When any of us adopts a pet, we adopt an animal with innate behaviors and responses. And sometimes, those behaviors and responses are the only way they can communicate to us that something is wrong. I'm gratified that somehow we had the wherewithal to listen to Puck when she was trying to tell us her story.


**************
See More About (www.cats.about.com) :

* urine spraying
* stress in cats
* cat aggression
* inappropriate elimination
* uti in cats
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Old 10-22-2008, 09:17 AM
ashleywong ashleywong is offline
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Default Re: Urine Spraying Success Story

HI all

i noticed that there is considerable interest in this particular thread. I hope that this article offered some useful insight into the wonderful mysterious creature that we all so arrogantly "enslaved" as our pet.

this article is a first-hand account (although the writer is an american not malaysian) of her problem with an adopted cat the showed persistent behaviour that is consistent with stress - urine spraying or marking.

and i'm sure that many of us can identify with this problem - at one point or another our beloved feline family member has sprayed urine somewhere or everywhere in our house.

to us, this is unacceptable based on our pre-determined norms for humans. however in a cat's world, urine marking is very normal and in fact, expected. in fact, when a cat spray on urine, it is sending out a strong message that "i'm here", "this is mine", "stay away", or even to calm itself.

urine marking is one of the behaviour that is brought on by or related to stress and anxiety in a cat. the reason for this stress/anxiety may be brought on by the presence of a new cat in the house (a newcomer or adoptee), the cat has fallen sick/has been hospitalised and now returned home stressed out/you have rearranged the furnitures and decorations in your house or you are having or had just renovation done to your house/some stray cats are prowling around your perimeter...

or even something as simple as you and your family member/partner engaging in arguing bickering constantly and this even doesnt' need you both to raise your voice - you may lower your voice and speak excruciatingly pointedly but your cat can and will pick up on your emotions - anger, excitement .

or it may even be something so simple as your cat relaxing one find day when a door suddenly slam shut (blown by the wind or shut by someone) loudy and startled the poor cat...

or even by neglect and/or cruelty to the cat!

point is, the source/reason for stress/anxiety is harder to pinpoint if you don't see it with your eyes but it does happen and it is very real to your cat. your cat may even exhibit other behaviour like excessive vocalization or turn very quiet and timid, become more rowdy aggressive/temperamental towards you or towards other cats/family members or become more moody and withdrawn, easily become agitated, lots of pacing around, repeated behaviour or simply just hiding in a corner or under a piece of furniture or behind the curtain, refusal to eat or lack/loss of appetite, vertical scratching everywhere except for his scratching post /or if your cat never make and scratches begin to scratch vertically any surface he/she can get and of course, litter box avoidance/or simple peeing and pooing somewhere other than the litter box.


by reading this article and understand this point, you are already taking steps to helping your cat and this means you will and can be patient with your cat.

by observing your cat, being patient with it, giving it more love, will definitely help to calm your cat to a certain extent while giving you time to observe what may have contributed to your cat's anxiety and whether you can help remove this source of anxiety.

in the meantime, there are pet supplies product you can purchase from your local pet supply store to help remove the markings - after washing or cleaning up affected area, you use appropriate solution that's can effectively remove any biological stain as well as the strong hormonal scent left behind in the urine - which we human with our poor sense of smell can't detect but which the cat with its remarkably superior sense of smell can and will detect. by removing its biological marking, a cat will not be "encouraged" to continuously spray at the same site , assuming you're also helping the cat to destress at the same time. there is also a product in our malaysian market, well at least in KL, that is designed to help control and reduce stress-related behavioural problem - it's called Feliway and it is actually a product that relies on the mimicry of a cat's natural pherome that calms it down - this will help stop or reduce incidences of stress-related behaviour including urine spraying/marking giving you time to observe the reason for the stress and help to remove the source/reason or least do something about it.

behavioural problem may also be an indication of illness/sickness. This can be easily determine by consulting a vet when you notice urine spraying behaviour. after illness is ruled out, then it remains the problematic behaviour you encoutered may be due to stress and then you can start to help your cat and yourself.

the question is : when you bring home a cat or offer a homeless cat a sanctuary you're actually making a commitment to your cat that you'll be there for the cat through thick and thin, through sickness or health, for better or for worse, through poverty or prosperity, till death do you part.Do you want to help your cat and yourself or you are just content to brush it off and yet blaming your cat for it and may even consider throwing out the cat, surrendering to the local shelter or even lock up the cat in a cage in hope of "controlling" it from marking further.

DO YOU WISH TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION OR PART OF THE PROBLEM?





p/s: pls free feel to discuss and share about this...it is only by sharing that we learn - after all communication and knowledge is a two-way street

Last edited by ashleywong; 10-22-2008 at 09:28 AM.
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