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- Aug 17, 2021
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Sorry for what is about to be a rather rambling, long post.
So me and my partner took in a cat a few months ago (May-ish, if I remember correctly) from a housing situation that was no longer ideal (the cat, Morrigan, is an old, sweet girl (12 years)... who goes absolutely ballistic at the mere sight of other cats. Full-on murder mode, an issue she has with no other animals -- and something that, for the most part, was contained in her previous apartment living situation via very careful swapping for living room time. Up until the roommate's cat slipped out of the bedroom he was designated to, because the lil jerk taught himself how to use doorknobs. Neither cat was harmed, but the humans involved in keeping Morrigan from committing a slaughter were not so lucky).
She's adjusted well to being in a new house; she's eating normally, has been using the litterbox normally (as far as I'm aware; it's within eyesight of me and she has scooting issues every once in awhile, so I tend to keep watch on her out of the corner of my eye just in case).
Because her previous owner had income issues + vet costs that kept her from getting spayed any earlier, she's still intact but she's been perfectly healthy, and the check-up we took her to around June to acquaint her with our vet said that there were no glaringly poor health issues -- we have an appointment set up for her in September to get spayed, the earliest possible opening unless someone cancels. The entire time we've had her, we haven't had any issues with her spraying while in heat except very recently, like within the last week or so? I want to say, she has started to spray on things -- very specifically, two spots: the curtain that covers the back door, and the blackout curtains we have covering a non-working sliding glass door in the bedroom.
Thinking that she was being agitated by smells outside, we kept the back door shut for a handful of days straight, which didn't help. She still continued to spray on them all the same. And the back door being open hadn't been an issue beforehand when she went into heat, either (even other cats being in the area before hadn't caused her to do so). She doesn't seem stressed, so we think it's just a really bad heat, but it's a little puzzling why it's suddenly an issue now.
Other than just continuously cleaning the spots she sprays, is there any way to deter her from this behavior until her appointment in September? Or is it just a matter of waiting her heat out?
It's extremely bad when it comes to the bedroom, because we can't keep the door closed -- she'll yowl like she's dying and claw at the door, making sleep impossible until we let her in, at which point it's a 50/50 whether she'll spray on the curtains. No amount of ignoring / distracting her works, she's extremely stubborn when it comes to being separated, especially from me in particular.
So me and my partner took in a cat a few months ago (May-ish, if I remember correctly) from a housing situation that was no longer ideal (the cat, Morrigan, is an old, sweet girl (12 years)... who goes absolutely ballistic at the mere sight of other cats. Full-on murder mode, an issue she has with no other animals -- and something that, for the most part, was contained in her previous apartment living situation via very careful swapping for living room time. Up until the roommate's cat slipped out of the bedroom he was designated to, because the lil jerk taught himself how to use doorknobs. Neither cat was harmed, but the humans involved in keeping Morrigan from committing a slaughter were not so lucky).
She's adjusted well to being in a new house; she's eating normally, has been using the litterbox normally (as far as I'm aware; it's within eyesight of me and she has scooting issues every once in awhile, so I tend to keep watch on her out of the corner of my eye just in case).
Because her previous owner had income issues + vet costs that kept her from getting spayed any earlier, she's still intact but she's been perfectly healthy, and the check-up we took her to around June to acquaint her with our vet said that there were no glaringly poor health issues -- we have an appointment set up for her in September to get spayed, the earliest possible opening unless someone cancels. The entire time we've had her, we haven't had any issues with her spraying while in heat except very recently, like within the last week or so? I want to say, she has started to spray on things -- very specifically, two spots: the curtain that covers the back door, and the blackout curtains we have covering a non-working sliding glass door in the bedroom.
Thinking that she was being agitated by smells outside, we kept the back door shut for a handful of days straight, which didn't help. She still continued to spray on them all the same. And the back door being open hadn't been an issue beforehand when she went into heat, either (even other cats being in the area before hadn't caused her to do so). She doesn't seem stressed, so we think it's just a really bad heat, but it's a little puzzling why it's suddenly an issue now.
Other than just continuously cleaning the spots she sprays, is there any way to deter her from this behavior until her appointment in September? Or is it just a matter of waiting her heat out?
It's extremely bad when it comes to the bedroom, because we can't keep the door closed -- she'll yowl like she's dying and claw at the door, making sleep impossible until we let her in, at which point it's a 50/50 whether she'll spray on the curtains. No amount of ignoring / distracting her works, she's extremely stubborn when it comes to being separated, especially from me in particular.
