Urinary Problems With New Cat

[FeralHearts]

WOW! That's very awesome actually!

I wish I could say something about the peeing to help but I have no idea what else you could be doing but what you are.

 

[stephmnichols]

They just had a quick 20 minute visit: no hissing or growling, but didn't get very close to each other either. Maui came in, peed in Coffee's litter box, and left I don't know if I'll ever understand her decision making process lol!

 

[Furballsmom]

Cats, --I agree LOL

 

[FeralHearts]

They just had a quick 20 minute visit: no hissing or growling, but didn't get very close to each other either. Maui came in, peed in Coffee's litter box, and left I don't know if I'll ever understand her decision making process lol!

... but she peed IN the litter box! SCORE!

Cats - butch of weirdos.

Cats, --I agree LOL

*nods*

 

[stephmnichols]

So, took Maui back to the vet, just to re-confirm whether there was actually any bladder issues... Nope, she's just a brat. But I knew that already.
She's still peeing on things, and now she's started doing it on the landing of the staircase - of course, right in between hers and Coffee's bedrooms. So I definitely think it's somewhat territorial, somewhat separation anxiety (I find that she does it more often if less people are home during the day or she's getting less attention like when I'm in the other room with Coffee behind a closed door). Unfortunately, I think Maui now thinks that all of the rest of the house is all hers (even though Coffee gets it in the morning and some evenings)...

As per the vet's advice, I've been trying to give them more time together. Up in Coffee's/our room, Maui tends to be on better behaviour (I think she knows that if she's rude, she gets kicked out). But tonight, Coffee was downstairs, and as soon as Maui saw her, she instantly charged at her and they got into a big fight
No one is hurt, but it was definitely hard to see. I don't think there was much in the way of claws, if anything, it was mostly just a lot of noise, but there was fur flying which is always scary.

 

[stephmnichols]

I want to try setting up a barrier, so they can actually SEE each other throughout the day, but not be able to get to each other. Unfortunately, our house has sort of a weird layout... Our bedroom (Coffee's room) is upstairs on one side of the house, with a sideways hallway to another room and a balcony to look over the rest of the house. Staircase to landing, landing splits off - one side goes downstairs, the other side goes back up to the other side of the house, to Maui's side. I would love to split it off at the landing, so that Coffee's territory expands a little more (bedroom + hallway + balcony; she loves to observe downstairs from there), but I'm not sure how to do that. I'll post pics and if anyone has some ideas maybe they could send them my way!

 

[stephmnichols]

This photo is taken from the doorway of our room. Maui’s room is at the top of the far side of the stairs. I could put a screen up in our door, but as I said, I’d love to expand Coffee’s area if possible, so if anyone has ideas of how to maybe block off half way down this first set without either of them somehow jumping over, I’m all ears...

 

[stephmnichols]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to give an update (and keep track of my own progress).
Around mid-November we put up a screen door to our bedroom, and had them interacting through that to try and get them more used to seeing each other (no physical face-to-face though). That seemed to be going okay, I think they were making progress but there was still a bit of hissing.
But, I had to resort to crate training Maui. I know we are going to lose all of our introduction progress, but I decided that I need to sort out the urination first (plus, maybe the time in the crate will help them forget their prior bad interactions).
It's been 3 days now that Maui has been in the crate, and I'm very happy to say that she has used her litter box for every elimination (approx. 9 pees, 3 poops). She hasn't seemed to mind it at all - we've had no crying or meowing, which is very surprising. I go and visit her several times a day and she does little excited chirps when I come in, but she doesn't cry when I leave which is great for my own peace of mind (I was blubbering the night I put her in the crate, I felt so guilty).
Just going to keep a journal of her progress here, for myself and whoever else may be interested!

 

[stephmnichols]

One week today and no accidents!
I've been opening the door to the crate the past couple of days, not so that she can get out but just so that I am sitting in front of her. She usually just comes out for a cuddle on my lap but it's like she knows she's not allowed past me and she doesn't even try. She just stays on my lap the whole time, while I lean over her and clean her litter box and tidy everything up; she's been so good

So I gave her some supervised play-time outside of the crate today, just with her favourite wand/bird toy and she loved it! Jumping around so excited. No accidents, and wasn't hesitant to go back in the crate when I left the room. I just put a treat on her bed and she waltzed right in and sat down without protest.

I'm really happy with her progress so far; I'm going to do a week of supervised time out and back in the crate when no one is there. Depending on her progress I might start giving her supervised house-time after that, but I haven't decided yet between that or something else.

 

[FeralHearts]

That is really great progress! Slow and steady!