To get rid of my fucking horrible cat? (long - sorry)

[ilovedarthmaul]

She is a house cat that goes in the garden sometimes and we got her from the cats protection league 8 years ago. She has NEVER wanted fuss/strokes etc - she wont come near anyone (well she does a bit with me but i suspect thats only cos i feed her!) At first we thought it was because she is settling in but she has never got any better. Over the last 8 years she has systematically DESTROYED our house.

She pisses EVERYWHERE - she wont go on a litter tray at all (we have tried everything we can think of) - she scratches the walls/lead off the doors - even when the doors are fucking open! and rips the carpet to bits. Ive come in today from work and she has pissed on the settee - ive washed the cushion covers but its sunk into the hard/foam bottom bits - im soooo fucking mad - i cant afford new cushions or settee but dont know what i can do to get it out. If there are DC teddies/soft toys on the floor she pisses on those so they have to be thrown away - if i have folded washing up and put it on the arm of the chair/bottom of the stairs she will piss on that too. She climbed onto our dining table the other day & pissed on that as well. - Where we eat!!!!!

i should point out that we have had her checked by the vets and she hasnt got anything wrong with her (cystitus/water infection etc) and her litter tray is ALWAYS clean. I try & put her out in the garden as much as possible but she was attacked by next doors dog last year so i daren't leaver her out whilst im at work.

i feel like crying - im terrified that our house STINKS and we are used to it.

Im not an animal hater - so please dont flame me - i just get no joy out of her & a shit-load of stress and work!

I dont even know if anyone will take an incontinent, grumpy, horrible cat anyway but if they would would i be being unreasonable?

thanks for listening - feel slightly better after my rant!

am off to pick DC up now & think about how i can get the smell of cat-piss out of my sofa!

Darth x

I disagree that cats are solitary creatures, some are indeed but we have three cats who love living together, one is a male cat coming up on five and the other two are girls from the same litter coming up on a year.
And they are all moggies, ime, moggies have the best temprements and are less likely to have toileting issues.

Slight sidetrack: does anyone know much about managed feral cat communities, places that accept feral-farmcat rescues? How do they do things in practice? Although I don't think OP's cat would be suitable, too used to house-life & too old to adapt to colony life(?)

I recently saw a wonderful chalet pen for rescue cats, but I still wouldn't want any domestic cat to spend 6-7 years in one (OP's cat is young enough could conceivably have that much more life). PTS would be preferable to years in a cage.

From what I read, there's a shortage of suitable homes for feral cats unless it's to go back to their existing colonies. Plus colonies don't accept newcomers well(?) so introducing a single new cat is tricky. Do some cats get picked on & not enough food, how to make sure every cat eats enough in a large colony? And how good is the standard of care, they can't easily be handled so must often suffer with chronic health problems, which could get fairly bad, before they get treated, I imagine. Plus even the kindest carer won't likely want to pay a lot to medically treat what is certainly not a pet or an investment... or do vets have to treat feral cats for free (like other wildlife) even if they are nominally owned, probably micro-chipped, and used to be a house cat?

I don't know about ferals, Adventures, you could try 'the litter tray' board?

OP, I think your vet should have told you about lots of possible therapies for your cat - when you presumably said you were at the end of your tether - like the feliway spray, the plug-ins, and Zylkene (the milk protein pills - that are amazing).

Celia Hammond would be the people to ask about managed feral cats - they seem to have a lot of expertise in that area.

Yes, Celia Hammond would be good to talk to. Also second Zylkene for stress.
I have an elderly cat who started weeing and pooing everywhere. I tried retraining her to use the tray, took her right back to basics. Took her to the tray first thing in the morning and at the beginning that did mean 5am (gradually got later though) then as soon as she woke up during the day, took her to the tray. And again before we went to bed. Sometimes it took three tries as she'd get straight out but eventually she would go. She now only has the odd accident which usually is followed by a health problem surfacing. (she has many health problems). Looking back, I think the problem started when she went blind. By retraining her, I think she got her bearings back.

I would retrain, Zylkene, tray away from food, treat when she gets it right, just a couple of biscuits or something.Change the litter as well.

agree that moggies are best, and have the most even temperement. Cats at their bet are so lovely. Sorry to see them given a bad press. Our cat Mini sleeps under our bed most of the day and hunts at night. Lots of lovely presses under the table in the morning. I would never be without a cat. Beautiful creatures they are!

How do feral cats get fed? -

• By cleverly manipulating soft people like one of my Uncles of course! ;)

Your story has literally just saved our cats life.
He's going, oh yes he's out of here, but if he was constantly peeing everywhere ( in addition to the destruction) all 9 of his lives would conclude at one moment.
Our original lovely little cat would cheer and have the house back too

I'd try finding a farm or stable yard home where she can live outside. No way I'd live with 8 years of that in a house with kids. Failing that the pen option in your garden. There are charities that rehome farm cats and provide cage runs for them while they adjust to new surroundings. We have several at our yard and they are all happy enough living in the straw bales and eaves.

No sprays will get rid of the smell of cats pee sadly and once the smell is there she will keep doing it, I got my 2nd cat from the cats protection and she peed on my hall carpet, I tried everything but couldn't get rid of the stink and she kept coming back, she would do a shit in the tray then come out and pee there. In the end I had to have the carpet ripped up and have lino put down, not ideal when you live in a rented house and the little cow still peed there on my new runner!

Fucking hell, get rid of the thing. It's making you and your family miserable. You are not legally compelled to keep it. There will be some dimwit animal charity somewhere who will take it (you could always put it in a box and leave it on the nearest one's doorstep).
I think the same about elderly/difficult human beings as well - if someone is making life unbearable for the rest of the household, it's time that person went elsewhere (MH/SN/dementia or whatever).

Put a strip of carpet or cuddly toy in the litter tray, I bet she would piss in it then

Yanbu btw

You lived 8 years with a cat that doesnt add anything to your life (refuses to come near you, destroys your home etc) and from the wee problem is a very unhappy not secure pussy. Yabu for not rehoming her earlier or a saint. Yanbu to find her a more suitable home and you a cat wee free home. Take her to the rescue and hopefully they find a home more suitable for her needs. X

YABU for calling her a fucking horrible cat. Poor thing.

Sounds identical to our rescue moggy.

We've had eleven years of this including daily puking.

Haven't read the whole thread. Have you tried Felliway and confining the cat to one room?
There's also a royal canine anti anxiety food available now. Expensive but it helps

It was over two years ago!

This thread is months old.

Years old in fact.

I could have written this post myself. We are in pretty much the exact same position, only we are 2 maybe 3 years into trying different things to make her happier.
The vets says nothing is physically wrong. It is probably stress, nothing has changed in her life in terms of environment, people in the home, other pets etc but she hasn't always been like this. We've had her maybe 10 years I would say, possibly more I can't actually remember.
We've tried the feliway (however you spell it) plug in stuff and multiple different brands of them. She had a cat flap, which she chooses not to us, she just sits at the front door till someone lets her in/out. She can have literally just been let in and will piss/shit somewhere- mainly my bed.
We have just started to consider finding her a new home as we think it must be the dogs that are upsetting her, it happens a lot less when the dogs are away for the weekend with my parents, what else can it be? What else can we do?

Start your own thread?

It's an old thread but I'd be interested to know what happened to the original OP's cat.

Having not realised this was an old thread, I figured responding to this one seemed to be the logical thing to do. You know, as loads of posters seemed to be already on this one so why start a new one about almost the same topic.

You will get more responses if you start your own thread.

I would give up the ghost with this one I think. Good luck x

I sympathise but I don't think your cat likes you & probably hates your kids, so that's why she's so destructive.

If you can be bothered, try the feliway diffuser - I've had luck with it, otherwise contact the place you got her from & hand her back in. Hopefully they'll rehome her somewhere suitable.

Please don't give her to a local farmer though - I doubt he'll be up for de-fleaing her, jabs, worming etc.