Whole House Smells Like Cat Pee

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varsettie

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Wow, that is a lot to take in and it seems I was doing quite a few things wrong by poor Fawkes! D8

I shall give every one of your suggestions a shot, especially the feeding time change. That seems like a brilliant idea! I'll keep you posted as I change things around here. 

If Brenna is unable to come back she does not have the finances in the US to take care of all of her animals right now. So we will be taking care of her cats until a time when she is able to pay for their care. I'm really hoping it does not come to that though, I'm hoping against everything that we can get her back with us where I know she's safe.

Shelving units for the cats will also possibly be an option when my Fiance's Tax Return comes in. So I'm hoping that will help them by giving them more places to claim.
 
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equestrian06

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From experience.. Don't lock them in a room for overlong.

I had a roommate that used to do that to my cat who was more dominant than her cat... Instead of locking her cat in her room with her, she'd lock mine away and he'd be MAD. Started shredding the carpet at the corner by the door, pulling the bottom of the door with his claws
 

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Wow, that is a lot to take in and it seems I was doing quite a few things wrong by poor Fawkes! D8

I shall give every one of your suggestions a shot, especially the feeding time change. That seems like a brilliant idea! I'll keep you posted as I change things around here. 

If Brenna is unable to come back she does not have the finances in the US to take care of all of her animals right now. So we will be taking care of her cats until a time when she is able to pay for their care. I'm really hoping it does not come to that though, I'm hoping against everything that we can get her back with us where I know she's safe.

Shelving units for the cats will also possibly be an option when my Fiance's Tax Return comes in. So I'm hoping that will help them by giving them more places to claim.
i wish you good luck @Varsettie

Its a good thing you're doing for Brenna and her cats. Its not your fault or hers that your cats are in the situation they are now....you guys didn't know any better. I hope my advise helps you and if you have any other questions you can definitely send me a PM if you wish. Also I can't stress this enough, but try to get the kitties to vet as soon as you guys can. 

Do searches for any question or issue you might have and you'll come across great info on this site :) Definitely keep us posted!

I've learned a lot from this site, along with gaining my own experience with my 3 cats :) 
 
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varsettie

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I'm definitely trying to do right by her and her cats. She just recently found out that due to bad breeding she may have to put her dog down, so getting rid of the cats is not an option. I can't take all of her animals away from her in one foul swoop. 

As an update, I tried shifting their feeding schedules last night and they all seemed fine with getting a bit of extra dry. All four cats also slept through the night! I'm hoping this trend continues.
 

lamiatron

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I'm definitely trying to do right by her and her cats. She just recently found out that due to bad breeding she may have to put her dog down, so getting rid of the cats is not an option. I can't take all of her animals away from her in one foul swoop. 

As an update, I tried shifting their feeding schedules last night and they all seemed fine with getting a bit of extra dry. All four cats also slept through the night! I'm hoping this trend continues.
THAT IS AWESOME NEWS!!! there is progress :)

Continue to do this with the food, and be consistent as well as patient. some days you might still get a cat or two awake through the night...but over time...they will all fall into a routine. You'll notice the cats getting antsy during their new feeding times lol
 
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varsettie

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And another new piece of information. This one more difficult to deal with. 

I was talking to Brenna about the cats and what we're doing to try to help them and I found out through her that Dora isn't actually a stray, turns out she's feral. This makes so much more sense to me due to how she acts around people and pretty much everything else. Dora was picked up by animal control in Virginia when she was 6 months old or so along with 6 or 7 other feral cats in her colony.

So now I have to ask: how does one go about trying to tame a feral cat? I've been told Jackson goes up against one named MiniBar so I'll be looking in to watching that but anything else that might help is appreciated. I've helped treat feral's before and I've captured a few to send them to better homes but I've never actually dealt with taming one myself.
 
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lamiatron

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And another new piece of information. This one more difficult to deal with. 

I was talking to Brenna about the cats and what we're doing to try to help them and I found out through her that Dora isn't actually a stray, turns out she's feral. This makes so much more sense to me due to how she acts around people and pretty much everything else. Dora was picked up by animal control in Virginia when she was 6 months old or so along with 6 or 7 other feral cats in her colony.

So now I have to ask: how does one go about trying to tame a feral cat? I've been told Jackson goes up against one named MiniBar so I'll be looking in to watching that but anything else that might help is appreciated. I've helped treat feral's before and I've captured a few to send them to better homes but I've never actually dealt with taming one myself.
UGH my goodness!! that episode with MiniBar is definitely SUPER intense (i've seen it)...but you will learn a lot from it. I do encourage you to watch it, just to see if that's how Dora's behavior is...however, I don't think Dora and Minibar are the same (based on your description of Dora).

I would suggest you check out the Forum for Strays and ferals here on TCS. There you can either post about your particular situation with Dora, or search and read other threads, and you will learn a great deal and also find advice on how to socialize ferals, however, i think its a bit late for Dora, as its best to try and socialize feral cats when they're kittens. I'm afraid I'm not too knowledgeable on feral cats
 
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varsettie

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Posted in the Feral's sub thread. I'm talking to someone over there about Dora now.

So far it's been two days since I've caught Odette peeing anywhere but the liter boxes! Here's hoping she's getting the idea. Now it's just how much Fawkes seems to be fighting with her and everyone else that's the only real problem. I haven't seen any full on rabbit-kicking fights but Fawkes waltzes up to the other cats and either tackles them or starts slapping them. What's that about? All four of the cats are getting played with at least once a day for a good 30 minutes, sometimes twice a day if I have the time. I was hoping she'd be too tired to bother fighting... :/
 
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varsettie

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Just to catch everybody up it's been a long couple of weeks on my end.

I broke my toe, one of my pet mice passed away, and I've been having financial problems out the rear end. 

But all of that aside I've kept to routine as best as I could and Dora seems to be responding. She will now eagerly come up to me and demand food when she knows its food time. She will let me pet her and I've learned whet cues mean 'back off'. All in all I think everything worked out well with her. Odette has stopped peeing all over the house as well.

Unfortunately border services got involved again and they're demanding we send Brenna back her cats so our situation just got twice as interesting. Brenna's found a friend to stay with who will allow the cats, but these poor animals are about to be uprooted once again. I'll be sending all of the calming items with Brenna's cats to her and giving her the same instruction I received here on how to help her cats settle in again. She's got a job so for the time being at least she's going to try to accommodate them but they may end up in a shelter now because of the border.

I really hate Border Services...
 
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varsettie

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Apparently it's 'at the discretion of the boarder guard'.
 

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It also may depend on how they were brought in to the country?
 
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varsettie

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Not really, they were brought in when Brenna was and we made no efforts to hide the fact that I would be keeping them. They were fully up to date on all required vaccines and were not put in quarantine. The Border Guard was just an a**hole.
 

kittiepatience

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Hello I have read all dialogue and I have been going through the exact same thing. I am fostering kittens and I have 3 cats. One of which has gone to stalking and peeing outside his litter. With 3 litter boxes, Felaway spray etc. nothing works. Except the vet prescriped Zanax (Alprazolam 0.25 mg) 2x perday . He is now peeing in his litter and is more relaxed. Totally a better cat not scared practically normal.

Ask for it!
 

lamiatron

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Hi @varsettie Sorry i've been a bit MIA from this site...but i'm so sorry to hear that you're going to have to send Brenna's kitties back to her...especially since they were started to make progress :(

Its good news that she will be able to take care of them, but I seriously can't imagine why the Boarder Guard would get involved in issues or matters of pets?? no offense but don't they have more pressing issues to get to?
 
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varsettie

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That's what I was wondering as well Lami, but apparently they don't and they'd rather harass me about it :/

Regardless, I've already sent Brenna a textbook on how I've been caring for her cats and how to help them settle in. Now that we know what works hopefully this will be the last big shock they have to go through.
 
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