To return our cat to the rescue home we got her from?

[DreamingofFour]

Our 10 year old cat has always been shy and twitchy, which we put down to a hard life before we got her from the Cat Rescue Home 3 years ago. But since we moved house six months ago she has become a bit of a nightmare. She keeps weeing & pooing all over the new house, and despite our best efforts (putting out cat lit if she wants it, helping her thru cat flap etc) she seems to be getting worse. Now she is really jumpy and even more shy. We have taken her to the vet, who said there was nothing physically wrong but wondered if it was psychological and should she have Prozac. At the same time we are dealing with our youngest waking up every night, all the kids sick, work etc etc so we don't have the capacity to be cleaning up the sofa from cat wee/poo every day.(The latest spot she chose). Given that she isn't very happy, would it be ok to return her to the cat rescue home where I suspect she would be happier?
Anyone else been in this situation?

Thanks for your help

[CheshireDing]

Our cat started weeing and pooing when we moved in to our current house last year, he had never done it in our old house (which he came to as a rescue moggie).

I think he was stressed about moving and we have pfb, we just made sure that at night he was locked in the kitchen/dining area with a cat flat out through the garage and a bed so if he pooped it wasn't on a carpet. He also has a bed in the box room which is lovely and cosy on the top floor.

It just took a bit of time, plus the new local cats kept beating him up :( We just used to spend time with him in the evenings once pfb was asleep, he is back to his usual happy cat self now :)

[CheshireDing]

oh and now he loves hanging out with the baby, even when she crawls on him!

[SolidGoldFrankensteinandmurgh]

Cat-keeping is environmentally harmful sentimentality anyway. Cats are destructive of other wildlife including plants, cat litter and cat shit are an environmental nuisance, there is no need for the vast numbers of pedigree cats that currently exist to do so. Cats (and many of the other animals kept as pets) don't percieve the world the way human beings do and don't experience much in the way of emotion. The fact that some people insist on projecting their own beliefs onto four-legged eating/killing/shitting machines is their issue, not a cat's.

[marriedinwhite]

Yes, but sparkling if the vet hadn't turned up trumps she woukd have been in a pen outside or rehomed via the Cats Protection League - I had already talked to them and was going to visit a foster carer although I think we woukd have bought a pen and put her in it pending a suitable permanent home. And don't forget that we could afford to instal and had the space for a heated pen with a run. Not all pet owners are that lucky. We also were able to afford 11 years of regular vet visits which helped build a good relationship.

Also, I think it's not unuisual for foster parents to hand back their charges for rehoming and I'm not sure they would receive such vitriol if the children were unhappy and behaving dysfunctionally.

[ThatVikRinA22]

sgb so is having children - over populating sentimentality on a grand scale that does more damage than owning a cat.

global warming is more damaging than owning a moggie, over population is more damaging than owning a moggie. you have a child dont you?

i could have had 2 more kids - instead i had cats. probably less damaging on a global scale.

[seeker]

People just won't address the cruelty of keeping an animal that lives in the moment alive in psychological or physical distress just because their owners are too cowardly to face brutal reality.

[gordyslovesheep]

no Seeker the cruelty is in the owner doing nothing to address the fairly normal stress of moving house in the cat - the cat needs care to adjust to the change as anyone who actually does know about cats understands - and accepts

thinking oh well moved house, cat not best pleased and did a few poos - get it PTS - that is shameful

[ThatVikRinA22]

i have owned 4 cats in my adult life. and 2 dogs.

the first 2 cats were pts when they had cancer that impeded their quality of life. i would never hesitate to do that for any animal that i loved if their quality of life has become non existent.

cats are inherently clean animals, if its messing all over there is a reason - you have to find the reason and address it - whatever that means.

my first cat was messing all over due to bladder cancer. she was pts on the operating table after she was opened up to find the problem and the problem was too vast to cure.

but i reiterate i would never return a nervous, 10 yr old cat to a rescue like unwanted goods. thats cruel.

if you rehome an animal you do it for life in my book - or you dont do it at all.

[SparklingSnow]

Seeker, what part is it that you are failing to understand? The OP hasn't tried anything to help the cat.

Why isn't that sinking in?

[SparklingSnow]

Vicar - I think exactly the same as you. You sound like a lovely pet owner. Any animal you have/had have been blessed to have you as an owner.

[Morloth]

I think killing a pet because they are inconvenient is a terrible thing to do.

However I agree with seeker. The cats I have owned would have been terribly distressed at fouling their living space, they have been without exception clean fastidious creatures.

My current cat is a particularly tidy animal, I know she would be distressed by this (hell she won't even use the litter if it is dirty - she just comes and yells at me until I clean it).

The care most pets receive now results in many of them living an unnaturally long life. Sometimes calling an end to that life is a kindness rather than a cruelty.

[gordyslovesheep]

yes but Morloth would you not try and address the CAUSE of the fouling? or would you just kill the cat?

[Morloth]

I would give it a go. Jess (current cat) did have a couple of accidents when we first brought her home but she settled and now appears to have some pretty lofty ideas for a critter that was living in an alley 6 months ago.

However, I wouldn't continue on for very long to be honest if the cat was continuously pooing and weeing over the house for say 6 months(ish) and we had had a look and hadn't been able to solve the problem, then yes I would kill the cat.

I will also not spend thousands of dollars in keeping a pet alive. Will do the best I can, but not repeated invasive surgery etc. The pets I have do appear to live in the moment and if the 'moment' mostly seems to consist of pain and fear and distress well then, I would want the same done for me.

[seeker]

Now it may be just me, but as far as I can see, the Op posted once and not again. But from this, people seem to be able to judge that she is refusing to try any of the suggestions offered. I wonder how.

[gordyslovesheep]

because she has jumped straight to 'rehome' based on her OP maybe?

anyway my 2 are curled up right here and wouldn;t be if I had PTTS when we moved here - my boy was very confused and took to pissing in the down stairs loo and my girl was bullied by a local shit cat and took to pooing on the stairs and licked herself board

VET TREATMENT plus feliway and patience cured them both - and they are happy loving pets

I just couldn't give up my responsibilities so easily

oh and I had 3 kids including an 18mth old at the time

[gordyslovesheep]

bald not board!

[marriedinwhite]

Ladies I am going to bed in a min. DD will come up first and snuggle beside me (DH with MIL this weekend - don't tempt me to comment about euthanasia). Midnight, the fattest thug will thump up the stairs first ( he sleeps my side and sometimes on my head - the most dog like cat known to man), Cookie the fAt placid one will thump up more quietly and settle lump like at the bottom of DH's side. Sometimes they snuggle together between us if it's v cold. Ned, the brown tabby who moved in when the babies came next door but one and who ois altogether more "oriental" than the BSH thumper toms will delicately And quietly ascend to take his place on the chair near the rad. He will get on the bed if the others aren't there, ie, if I am ill during the dat - not often at all,

Let's all have a prayer for cat's everywhere and kindness to all. We is all different, just like our animals and we can all cope with different levels of difficulty.

Night all - hope all will be happily purring soon.

[Morloth]

Well I don't know about HDee but I have no intention of staying alive long enough for my grandchildren to have to concern themselves with my bodily waste.

Like pets, we are now living unnaturally long lifespans. I will not be doing so. The only way that will happen to me is if I physically can't find a way to end it and I am forced to continue. My loved ones will be well aware of my feelings on the matter.

If I wouldn't subject myself to it, I am not going to subject a pet I love to it am I?

[Feenie]

Well I don't know about HDee but I have no intention of staying alive long enough for my grandchildren to have to concern themselves with my bodily waste

Yeah? My mum found herself incontinent after surgery at 42 years of age.

Stupid thing to say.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

My cat was 17 yo when she had to be PTS due to failing health (age related).
We got her as a 2 yo. When the DC were born she was a bit and we noticed she stayed out more but didn't venture outside her garden.
If she did use a tray she sometimes missed (body was in , bum was out )

Then she started vomiting .
Not on purpose or any kind of protest, just age.

OP if you can't keep the cat then do the decent thing and have her PTS yourself.
Don't send her off to rehoming. This time of year and in the next couple of months they'll be over-run.
Not exactly bending over backwards to rehome an elderly moggy- especially as you'll have to tell them why.

[seeker]

I notice people keep dodging the awkward point about animals not being able to understqnd the their psychological and/or physical pain will come to an end. And that it is utterly cruel to keep animals alive not knowing this- simply because the owner is too much of a coward to face the difficult decision.

A quick,brainless fear free death is not a cruel choice. An unhappy life is.

[seeker]

painless, obviously.

[HazleNutt]

small children do not understand either that their pain will come to an end. I don't think that's good enough reason to kill anybody, if there are indeed options to treat instead.

[Morloth]

Yes, but I assume at 42 your mum wasn't totally reliant on you to deal with it?

I would not subject an animal I love to a painful/unpleasant life because I was too gutless to make the hard decision.

I think this because I would not wish to be subjected to it myself. If you take on an animal for life, you also have to deal with their death.

I believe the OP rehoming the cat would be a death sentence for the cat, so she should bloody well take responsibility for that death herself.