Would you pts for this

[Strawberryshortcake40]

At my wits end with cat. Had a multitude of problems with him before, complaints from neighbours etc and was on the verge of rehoming him last summer when he was hit by a car and had to spend a month in a cage. This changed his personality even more and he has never seemed "right" since. He would destroy the cage every night, tore up beds, pooed everywhere (inc food bowl!), howl incessantly. I tried very hard to help him through this but he has seemed to dislike me since.

He will still cry loudly all day and night (so the neighbours are still not happy). He randomly bites people and my DC, refuses to be cuddled or stroked anymore (used to be affectionate). Knocks over bins, steals food. In the last month he has weed (full on bladder void) on my carpets, curtains, several times on piles of ironing. Once on a pile of ironing halfway up the tiny stairs. Dogs bed. Now his latest is the kitchen work tops and table and anything he finds on there. This morning my laptop lead. Yesterday a book of the DC. Even if I remove everything there is a lake of urine dripping off the worktop in the morning. He has a cat flap. Has a tray. Vet says there appears to be nothing wrong with him.

I obviously can't rehome a cat that does this so what on earth do I do with him? I love animals and have always had cats, some with quirks, but he truly acts like he despises us. I can't let him anywhere but the kitchen where he terrorises the dog. I don't know what the solution is.

Fully expecting to be flamed for this but I would really welcome some help.

Honestly if what you're trying now doesn't work I think I would PTS. He just sounds so unhappy that it might turn out to be the kindest thing. Hoping you can get to the bottom of things though - you clearly love him and it would be so hard to do

Is there another cat getting into the kitchen via the cat flap when you aren't around? That would make him mark territory and become increasingly stressed.

I wouldn't PTS, I would find a new home for him. It sounds to me like he is stressed and unhappy, but could be v happy living somewhere else. Are you in the U.K.?

Blimey. We get him antibiotics as he needs but so far the capsules I give him and the extra water suffice.

Oh, and he was a tray refuser so now he has a sand filled tray. We buy it in Argos.

No the cat flap is one that only works with a microchip and I think the dog would soon bark if a strange cat found a way in!!

Oh yes they like sand in their boxes.

Are you cleaning with proper odour removing spray? Mr Muscle odour destroyer is great.

No I can't clean people's piles of ironing with that kind of spray. Or the other random things he has weed on. But yes I know how to properly remove urine odours from carpets etc.

He will use a tray if he has to. But this isn't tray refusal. It's part of his stress behaviour.

Ok,it was only a suggestion. Over and out.

What tests have vets done to rule out a physical cause?

Have you tried a breed rescue organisation?

Also - and forgive me if you've already said - what was the specific injury that necessitated cage rest for a month?

We had similar so i sympathise.

I asked the vet for antidepressants. We'd tried everything else and like you were looking at making him outdoor or pts - he was a similar breed incidentally.

Anyway 6 weeks of the anti depressants chilled him right out and set him back to normal.

It turned out what also triggered him was lack of space. Small house, lots of cats in the local area so little territory outdoors.

My cat used to pee everywhere, in my handbag, in clothes, in my wardrobe. She would completely ignore the litter tray, was hyperactive, constantly rubbing on surfaces.

Its turn out she suffers from Urinary Infections which meant she couldn't help the peeing in random places.

The vet took the sample herself, it takes 5 minutes and tested it there and then for struvite stones.

Cat is now managed with Zylkene and Cystease, and is on a completely wet diet.

If your worried about the vet cost, the Zylkene and Cystease wont harm your cat, its cheap and you can buy it from Pets at Home. You could trial it and see if anything improves?

Having previously been allowed in the whole house and now being confined to a small kitchen he has to share with a dog won't be helping.
Of course i understand why you won't let hm in the rest of the house but to him it's confinement and he won't like it. Same way he didn't like the cage. One bed up high away from the dog is not enough, he needs time alone away from the dog. Do you keep his litter tray near his food bowls? Cats hate having their food and water near their toilet, ideally they should be kept opposite sides of a room if not a different room altogether. The fact he went to the toilet in his food bowl is a massive sign of stress and being unhappy as it completely goes against a cats natural behavioural instinct to soil where their food is. Honestly never heard of a cat having OCD, i was under the impression this is a human only illness. Putting a cat like this in a sanctuary would be cruel, it would just make him worse. Can you not try to re home him directly? I know it doesn't sound like it would be successful "Hey, who wants an angry, attention hating, constant yowling cat that pees everywhere?" but it could honestly be what he needs. Out of the environment he's in currently he could act completely differently.

He went to the toilet in his food bowl when he was in the cage, not otherwise! His food is high up and he also has a bed up there and in a section of the kitchen the dog can't access. Litter tray is away from food and bed (but as I've said he never uses it anyway). I'm sure he doesn't like being confined but he does actually like the dogs company (chooses to sleep with her at night etc).
Nobody will want him behaving this way in their home, and I'm not going to lie to a potential new owner. He is very stressed, learning about a new house and new people would only stress him more surely?

The vet said it was perfectly okay for him to be confined to the kitchen so I'm not too worried about that. He has been in the lounge with me a bit today while I can supervise him.

He had a fractured pelvis, two places.

I've never heard of cat ocd either but it obviously exists. There's no reason for the vet to tell me otherwise.

They are fast asleep together at the moment. As much as he annoys the dog I think she would miss him!

It's not ok for cats to be confined to a room. Cats like to roam and have freedom. You know he is stressed but you have not tried to identify the cause of his stress and instead are looking to have him pts. He needs a home where someone can spend time with him, play with him and give him freedom.

I took on a cat that sprays from stress. She is now fine and no longer sprays.

I would offer to take your cat but I have three already and don't have the space for a fourth.

Of course I have tried to identify his stress. I would imagine the trigger was moving to a small house/garden in a cat busy neighbourhood. I can't change that. Also he is alone a lot more now I have to work longer hours. Can't change that. And his cat friend ran away last summer just before his accident and he obviously still misses him.

I can't change any of those things sadly. So yes I have tried to identify his stresses and I do take care of him very well under the circumstances

The vet had no issue with him being in the kitchen. In fact she said to allow him more space would be overwhelming as he would try to frantically mark everywhere to make it smell safe.

He has freedom outside and if you had read you would see he doesn't want to play anymore. It is very sad seeing what he has become.

Will go to pets at home tonight and look at those meds. Have started him today on pet rescue remedy.

Our wee girl started peeing everywhere it was awful. She had an infection from not drinking enough and stress. She fine now. It happened a couple of times in the last few years. She won't drink water out of a bowl. It has to be fresh water from the tap in a cup on the counter or disgusting water outside.

She also peed on the counter and odd things, not to forget the squatting in the pile Lego while DS was building and playing

Ok so it's a full on environment change with new house/garden that triggered it. As it's a cat-busy area; I do wonder if he's getting bullied by other cats and that's why he's not going out so much.

With my pissy-arse (my knickname for the cat that sprayed). I had to spend a lot of time with her to calm her and to supervise so that I could stop her just before she sprayed. She was semi-feral also. Everything done/introduced very slowly in milestones incl toys. She had to learn to trust me and be confident in herself. It took a year of patience and small steps. Maybe when you get home in the evenings then keep him in the same room that you're in, chat to him, lots of attention, cuddles etc. All very quietly and calmly.

If you re-home him be honest with people of course. He doesn't like change, he likes lots of attention, he will spray when stressed so needs to be in a calm environment with access to outside space. To me it sounds like an older person / retired person or someone who works from home would be a good starting point for him? Please don't put him to sleep because he's acting out his stress (and thereby making you stressed which in turn will stress him.... joys of cycles ;))

Not sure Pets At Home sell Zylkene and Cystease. If not, you can buy them online from Amazon or Vet UK.

I recall a thread about a year ago, about a cat pissing everywhere, and the situation was really doing the OP's head in. They re-homed her to a child and pet free household and the pissing stopped, and cat much more chilled and relaxed.