to be thinking about re-homing my bloody cats?

[Spidermama]

We've had them since kittens and they are now two and a half year old.

One of them is fine. She's out most of the time. She brings in live prey from time to time (rats and shrews) which isn't ideal but she's a cat and I could always get her a bell. My only real beef with her is that she's very fluffy and gets shite caked round her arse.

The other is very beautiful, more timid than her sister and doesn't go out very often. She is pissing me off and every day I want her to go and live somewhere else. She's always after me demanding and being needy. If it's raining she has been known to poo indoors. I've been tolerant up to now but that tolerance shattered when, last week, she squatted down and pissed in my hangbag. I was right there watching.

I grabbed her and locked her out for a few hours. Since then I haven't really been able to make up with her and I just don't like her. I want her gone.

Up to now I have never understood how people can re-home their pets, but I just feel she's too demanding.

Also why the hell doesn't she hang out with the kids? They're great with her. Why is it just me she wants?

I know they are s'posed to be part of the family blah, blah, blah, but I want her out.

For the pooey cat, many long haired cat owners get a Hygiene Clip done. The fur is shaved around the base of their tail, they are much cleaner then.

She sounds stressed, poor thing. Is there a big bossy cat around somewhere frightening her?

My two cats recently started marking everywhere (just scratching thank goodness) and I couldn't work out why until I found the local bully cat in our kitchen. My cats tails were about the width of their body. I have made their cat flap more secure and they seem happier now, haven't seen bully cat around and mine aren't scratching everywhere all the time.

Could you really not get a litter tray. You might be able to work out the source of her stress.

Meandacat - oh lordy, we are already lined up to go and meet one at the Cats Protection tomorrow. Apparently he is 8 months, very friendly, totally uncomplicated. So how bad can it be?
We do already have one cat so I have an idea of how much hassle they are - she is 12 and was dumped on me when MIL died 2 years ago. She is a moody little misery who spends all her time outside murdering things, then pops in to eat, hiss at the kids and have a kip on the clean washing pile. She is basically a feral farm cat who likes our central heating but hates us. I am hoping for something a bit more affectionate this time round...

katkit a belated thanks for that link.

Last night the fluffy one ranged around the house miaowing in the night. We woke up this morning to find the whole house has been thouroughly sprayed.

I am still thinking of re-homing this morning. I would never give them to a sanctuary but would find a good home myself.

Has he been neutered?

Well, she probably knows you don't like her and thats why she pissed in your handbag that did make me laugh!!

I am an animal lover - but i don't have a problem with your "personality clash" you don' like the cat - so what - give her to someone who will enjoy her, you say she doesn't hang out with the kids - he he he, would you? given the choice? let them stroke you the wrong way, give you OTT cuddles when you just want to sleep - nah! She sounds like my old cat, we never really clicked tbh - rehome her and think nothing of it. Cats only view us as glorified tin openers anyway

Seriously, she sounds like she would be better with a little old lady or such like

if you want to keep them two words

Castrate/spey (ok thats two already)

Feliway

Good luck

Are they boy/girl cats and are they neutered?

Tbh, if one is soiling indoors and nervous about going out, you're nto exactly helping the situation by not providing a litter tray.

We have two indoor cats. A Ragdoll, who came first and was an adult 'rescue' (returned to the breeder who kindly homed her to us) and a moggy who we got as a kitten as company for our Raggy. Neither have ever been outside, so we do have a litter tray. I'm not a great fan of having one, but I won't/can't let my cats outside, and I am responsible for the cats, so that's my only option.

I remember having outdoor cat as kids and we rarely saw them. Indoor cats are somewhat more demanding, we have let them learn that scratching doors means we will open it for them, and they like us to turn on the taps so they can drink from them (not kitchen tap!) despite thaving a special cat drinking fountain. Whoever said cats don't have owners, they have slaves, was right.

I do think it might be worth taking them both to the vets for a check up though, long haired cats shouldn't get pooey back ends and the nervous one may well have amedical problem. If there's nothing wrong and you do end up rehoming them, the vet may be able to help with that.

They're both girls (sisters) and have both been neutered. Good post lucyellens. If I can find a good calm home for her then I will. I already tried my mum who would be perfect if she did but know it!

I've been watching her more closely these days (the cat not my mum) and she is so twitchy all the time. It can't be nice for such a twitchy cat to live with three young boys. They're very nice to her if she ever lets them get near her. I think they just move to fast for her.

I am not having a litter tray in the house. This would be a real deal breaker for me. I was brought up with cats who practically lived outside and so this is what I based my expectations on when getting kittens.

As I sit her typing, I know they've/she's sprayed around the computer because it smells.

They have issuesf. The fluffy one is dominant and eats all the food whenever she can. I have to wait until she's out to feed the other one who then gets so twitcy and needy and can be put off her food with the faintest of sounds. Then her fat fluffy sister will either come and wolf it down or do some strange attempt at burying it scraping her paws along the ground. I think they both have issues with food. Just my luck.

Maybe they have a toxic relationship with each other and shouldn't live together. Then I'll face a Sophie's Choice situation.

Litter tray just outside of the door/catflap to the garden?

She might just be nervous of venturing too far.

Hi! Glad to hear that you will find a home first, please avoid RSPCA as they put down so many healthy animals!
Serene UM is fabolous for nervous cats I tried it as an impulse buy one day in a pet shop (didn't expect it to work) and it is great our older cat changed loads and became much more relaxed! You may find it helps and you have a much calmer cat
www.puddlepetcare.co.uk/acatalog/Serene-UM-For-Dogs.html Link to a website has dog version but packaging simlar so you can see what to look for.
Also cats hate citrus things so you could try putting lemon grass or lemon essential oils around where the cats are spraying to stop them doing it there (you could put a couple of drops on some cotton wool and leave it in the area).
Good luck with it all

p.s. for anyone thinking of getting kittens it is better to get ones from different litters not siblings. Only found this out by chance as I ended up getting the last kitten from two different litters from people who were desperate to get rid of them, and the Vet said I'd made a wise move as you aren't supposed to have so much trouble with them fighting with each other.

My cat has started to pee indoors on the sides, bags certian places, in my slow cooker, kettle.

Its really not nice. I am currently trying to rehome one of them as she realyl is not happy.

Talk to a behaviourist at the vets though, mine were great.

Oh I feel Spidermama's pain - I really do. We have two cats that used to go out, but after a spell when they couldn't they now stay indoors. We have two litter trays, cos if there's so much as a wee in a tray then the fussy one of the two refuses to use it. She also has the stinkiest a*se you can imagine, so if someone rings the doorbell within half an hour of you getting rid of the offending items you're heart just sinks.

At least one of them is sick, somewhere in the house, every single day. We spent an absolute fortune having their teeth done a year ago because the vet assured us that was why they were being sick - what rot that was. We're £500 quid poorer and still suffering. Our carpets are disgusting and we need new ones throughout the house, but the thought of cat sick all over new carpets is enough to make me felicidal! GRRRRR!

To top it all they've now decided they will only eat certain flavours of Whiskas and Purina One biscuits - and we're not exactly rolling in money.

And I feel so guilty because they were my babies before DS came along. I do love them, but honestly the amount of times I have had exactly the same thoughts as the OP.

Babies and children cause far more damage than cats do, and we don't (often) talk about rehoming them...

You have to be responsible about your cats, Spidermama, which I'm sure you are really - flippant can come across weirdly on the internets. There's obviously something wrong, because female neutered cats should not be spraying, and it's exceptionally unusual for an adult cat to start messing indoors without having a good reason (stress, ill health, general unhappiness). Take her to the vet and talk to them about her. They might be able to rehome her with a child-free household that has recently lost a cat. But the main thing that leaps out at me is that you resent your cat for not being different. Well, thems the breaks. You need to deal with the reality of your cat, not how you wish she was - she needs a litter tray whether that's a deal breaker for you or not! (They really are so much less hassle than a pissy handbag or even nappies - I think you have a bit of a phobia there and you needn't.)

Give her some attention for a couple of minutes a day and see if that doesn't make her less demanding. But you should try to enjoy her rather than resenting her, because she means well. She sounds like a sweet, gentle girl, who needs a bit of love and cossetting, and why not see if that makes a difference before you sling her into an uncertain future?

Mind you, I wanted to pop my cat's head off his neck tonight when I was settling my DS and he had just got to sleep when Fattypants Feline bombed into the room, yelling about not having been fed yet. No one could sleep through that...

"I am not having a litter tray in the house. This would be a real deal breaker for me."

So stop moaning about them shitting and pissing all over the house then?

If you are not prepared to provide what they need, rehoming is certainly best for the cats.

Moomma, is Fattypants Feline the sibling of my aptly nicknamed little bugger dear Fartpants Feline (aka Drogba)? They sound remarkably similar! He could yell for England!

OP, I hope that you're able to resolve this but if you can't, please give me a shout if you'd like to (best probably going to "Pets" and putting my name in the title thread), and I'll certainly put a call out amongst my rescue, foster and animal welfare contacts nationwide to see if we can help you find a new home or foster carer, though I hope it won't come to that and that you can resolve the issues.

PS a litter tray would doubtless help, please reconsider. You can get covered ones with cat flap doors and charcoal filters, so removing smell, sight and instant child access to them.

He might well be, Valhalla! He has his fartypants moments too...

ALL CAT OWNERS: PLEASE GET LITTER TRAYS

Thanks.

I have 4 (!) neighbours with cats, and no garden, who all happily poo in my and my other neighbour´s garden.

I always have to poopscoop before the kids can go out (On an average Saturday I get about 4).

Yanbu - the bloody cat aint a child. And just remember all you cat lovers that they are pains in the arses, i shall be having a word with my neighbours about there fucking cat it keeps jumping all over our car scratching the hell out of it, in my eyes its criminal damage, the car needs a re spray, which i now think they should pay for, so its not just in doors they can be pains, remember what the annoying buggers do when they are out, that doesnt even cover them shitting in my garden and me having to clear up the diseased shite cos i have kids, and its dangerous, horrid bloody vermin.

Right on cue my insane wees-on-the-bathmat-even-thou-she-has-a-litter-tray persian has just jumped on my desk, squarked at me, attacked my printer wire and then shot off to the playroom to stalk an invisible to the human eye object.

Mad, they are all mad.

gaelicsheep - I could have written your post especially the part about the smell of the trays and your heart sinking if someone comes to your house half an hour after and them being your babies before you had real babies.

We have 3 cats and they drive me utterly insane, they are all indoor cats as they are too lazy to go outside. When I get up in the morning I can smell the tray from upstairs even though it is located downstairs, through the lounge/dining room/kitchen and into a large cupboard. It is a covered tray which I fully clean every day. I had more than one tray just made the mess worse. If they do a poo it is utterly revolting even after removing it and spraying air freshener or freezing as you ahve opened the door.

They spit cat food everywhere and cat litter gets trailed out, the first thing I do every morning is clean the tray and hoover the kitchen floor.

They are sick at least once a day somewhere else in the house.

They play chases at 5am and wake me up.

If you shut a door they claw the carpet up upstairs carpet is ruined.

If you don't shut cupboards they go in and sleep on the towels.

You cannot have houseplants or flowers in the house oh and helium balloons as they eat them they obviously sick it all back up.

Not to mention the cat hairs everywhere and the wrecked back of the sofa.

I get no enjoyment from them whatsoever, I am waiting for them to die as we have had them years and it seems too cruel to rehome them now.

Oh and I forgot that one of them is so utterly stupid she manages to get her body in the litter tray and her bum outside so regularly pees and poos on the floor!

Sweetkitty - you sound at the end of your tether. We foster cats and so have been up against most problems, which might make life a bit more bearable for you.

For the smell - are you using Catsan? It is hundreds of times better than wood/shavings/sawdust. If they're being sick, I'd change their food to stuff meant to prevent/lessen hairballs, and I'd give them less food in each sitting. We often put the bowl down for five minutes, then pick it up, then back down again five minutes later or else they gobble and make themselves sick.

The peeing outside the tray is common if your tray is too small. If you can swap from the ones which are about the size of an A4 piece of paper to the sort which are nearer A3, or put a covered tray in its place, that problem would probably be solved.

Scratching - you can get little rope scratch mats (meant for kittens) for about £2 from PetsAtHome, and I put them in places where they like to scratch anyway. It's often a territory thing (which is one reason why stairs so often cop it) and so a Feliway diffuser can help with the scratching as well as their general mood.

Hope some of that helps, a little.