Sorry for the length of this but am desperate for help and the details seem important.
A friend found a very friendly pregnant cat, Jeanie, outside 4 years ago and I brought her home. She had two kittens (Henry, male and Betty, female) at my house kept them all and they’ve been a happy family with no major issues. Betty is anxious and can be withdrawn but has grown more open and attached to me recently. The other two are very close to me. 3 incidents of peeing over the years, all Jeanie.
1) first day she moved in, peed on the couch
2) my mother came to visit and was sleeping on the couch. Jeanie peed there after 3 days.
3) once when litter box was inaccessible. Also on the couch.
18 months ago my husband and I merged households, after a brief stay at his place. We then moved to a new house with my 3 and his 12 year old male cat, Arnold, and one 12 year old dog.
Took time for everyone to get settled. We could have handled it better. Henry and Arnold became buddies pretty quickly. Jeanie took longer to adapt but is fine now. Betty doesn’t really like Arnold really but is slowly warming up. He’s not good at reading her signals. Not menacing, just wants to be close and it annoys her so she will hiss and run him off occasionally. She can be territorial with him.
Had a few peeing incidents early on, all I believe were Betty. She’s prone to anxiety and there was constant noise and people in the house for months. She had cystitis and once that was resolved we have not had many issues. Occasional marking in spots where both she and her mother spend time.
In September we were away for a few days and had a cat sitter. No issues while we were away at all, but the next day someone marked or peed on their favorite chair. We think Betty and that she was upset because the housekeeper was here and vacuuming and she felt a bit trapped in that particular room with no box. Took her to the vet and she had mild cystitis. But has also grown obese. Her mom and brother are also heavy.
Over the past month we stopped free feeding dry food. They’ve all lost weight but Betty will wake me up crying every night !unless! I get out of our bed and feed her and/or go sleep with her in the guest room.
Also, should mention that we’ve recently seen a Fox in the backyard a few times and that our neighbor’s cat comes over into our yard. I smell cat pee sometimes out there. We are putting down natural, safe repellant to hopefully get both to keep away from the house.
Subsequently, we’ve begun having peeing and marking incidents almost daily. I think it’s actually Jeannie and tonight we had one that I’m pretty certain was her.
Our vet said wet food only but this just isn’t feasible. If we give them more than 1/3 can each someone gets sick and then they want to eat every 3-4 hours around the clock. In order to feed them the proper amount and only use wet food I would need to never sleep more than 4 hours at a time. And they are just hungry. I’m struggling to find the right combination of wet and dry food. Yesterday I gave up and bought a new healthy weight dry food which I’ve started mixing with their existing one (I think the existing one is responsible for the weight gain). I’m willing to feed them 4-5 times a day with wrt
If you’ve read this far, do you think the peeing is related to the change in feeding? Any suggestions for a sensible diet that doesn’t cost a gazillion dollars, works for all 4 cats and keeps them healthy? My vets recommendations are just not practical.
A friend found a very friendly pregnant cat, Jeanie, outside 4 years ago and I brought her home. She had two kittens (Henry, male and Betty, female) at my house kept them all and they’ve been a happy family with no major issues. Betty is anxious and can be withdrawn but has grown more open and attached to me recently. The other two are very close to me. 3 incidents of peeing over the years, all Jeanie.
1) first day she moved in, peed on the couch
2) my mother came to visit and was sleeping on the couch. Jeanie peed there after 3 days.
3) once when litter box was inaccessible. Also on the couch.
18 months ago my husband and I merged households, after a brief stay at his place. We then moved to a new house with my 3 and his 12 year old male cat, Arnold, and one 12 year old dog.
Took time for everyone to get settled. We could have handled it better. Henry and Arnold became buddies pretty quickly. Jeanie took longer to adapt but is fine now. Betty doesn’t really like Arnold really but is slowly warming up. He’s not good at reading her signals. Not menacing, just wants to be close and it annoys her so she will hiss and run him off occasionally. She can be territorial with him.
Had a few peeing incidents early on, all I believe were Betty. She’s prone to anxiety and there was constant noise and people in the house for months. She had cystitis and once that was resolved we have not had many issues. Occasional marking in spots where both she and her mother spend time.
In September we were away for a few days and had a cat sitter. No issues while we were away at all, but the next day someone marked or peed on their favorite chair. We think Betty and that she was upset because the housekeeper was here and vacuuming and she felt a bit trapped in that particular room with no box. Took her to the vet and she had mild cystitis. But has also grown obese. Her mom and brother are also heavy.
Over the past month we stopped free feeding dry food. They’ve all lost weight but Betty will wake me up crying every night !unless! I get out of our bed and feed her and/or go sleep with her in the guest room.
Also, should mention that we’ve recently seen a Fox in the backyard a few times and that our neighbor’s cat comes over into our yard. I smell cat pee sometimes out there. We are putting down natural, safe repellant to hopefully get both to keep away from the house.
Subsequently, we’ve begun having peeing and marking incidents almost daily. I think it’s actually Jeannie and tonight we had one that I’m pretty certain was her.
Our vet said wet food only but this just isn’t feasible. If we give them more than 1/3 can each someone gets sick and then they want to eat every 3-4 hours around the clock. In order to feed them the proper amount and only use wet food I would need to never sleep more than 4 hours at a time. And they are just hungry. I’m struggling to find the right combination of wet and dry food. Yesterday I gave up and bought a new healthy weight dry food which I’ve started mixing with their existing one (I think the existing one is responsible for the weight gain). I’m willing to feed them 4-5 times a day with wrt
If you’ve read this far, do you think the peeing is related to the change in feeding? Any suggestions for a sensible diet that doesn’t cost a gazillion dollars, works for all 4 cats and keeps them healthy? My vets recommendations are just not practical.