Did I do the right thing? Cat problem

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a cat living in a cage in my living room, confined for the rest of his life. Why? Was there a better way? Here’s the story:

Teddy (yes, the last surviving brother of Eddy, Teddy, and Freddy) has been in the slammer for about a year now, ever since his house-marking (an occasional problem for years) went out of control. He’d begun to hit my home office especially hard, and I actually caught him twice doing it behind my back – literally behind my back; I was working at my desk, heard THAT noise, smelled THAT smell, and turned to see him scram as I screeched. I’d thrown out ruined stuff, scrubbed and pet-deodorizer-sprayed all the blasted surfaces I found by crawling about the room in the dark with a blacklight, went at the sites I found with a steam rug cleaner with special pet-odor agent – and I just couldn’t trust him; within a day of the after-blacklight cleanup I caught him backing up to the wastebasket for another hit. He was spraying in the living room too; the bedroom got hit multiple times; I suspected the upstairs bathroom (sniff – whiff?) but couldn’t find the exact place; nowhere in the house was safe.

Yes, I had him vet-checked. Yes, I had multiple litter boxes, cleaned daily, one for each cat (currently eight). Yes, we tried anti-anxiety medication. Nothing stopped the behavior. No, given the layout of my home, confining him to one room wouldn’t work.

Ted is in his teens, has a heart murmur, has always lived indoors, and is terrified of strangers. The local shelter is no-kill, does a great job of finding homes, and has wonderful facilities for the inhabitants while they await adoption – but who would adopt an aged indoor-only cat with health problems and a long-standing history of house-pissing? The animal control officer, with whom I discussed the situation, and who knows my feline household (he’s enthusiastically facilitated my adopting several shelter inhabitants over the years) agreed with my ultimate solution:

Caging. Into the slammer for the rest of his natural life. But not just some tiny wire crate, no; a multi-level, multi-room complex I put together as soon as I could order and assemble the three-level heart of it. Here’s the description and photos.

Ted adapted quickly, has seemed contented ever since, is eating well, and appears to like having his own little kingdom he doesn’t have to share. At least one of the other cats is always hanging around in the living room, so he has company. Besides the daily attention he gets at feeding time and whenever I go by, I take him out periodically for laptime, claw-clipping and so forth. Last time I did so, I put him down free to see how he’d like it. He crept about warily, sniffing everything, and within 20 minutes had a screeching confrontation with another cat; I rescued him and put him back in his lair; boy, was he ever relieved.

Ted had a vet checkup yesterday. The heart murmur is still present, may have a slight gallop now; other than that the vet said he’s in excellent health.

So: Assuming you’re still reading this far, I ask you – did I do the right thing? Should I have done something else?

2

Ah, crap; I’d meant to include a poll. Warning: If you want to set up a poll, do NOT hit the back button while you’re creating it because you decided to add something to your original post; the OP will go up without the poll, and you’ll probably have timed out of making the OP changes you’d intended, to boot.

:mad:

Poll questions:

  1. Right thing, best of bad situation?

  2. No, try shelter/adoption route?

  3. Rehome as barn cat?

  4. Euthanasia kinder?

  5. Live with it; cat homes always stinky anyway?

  6. Other?

3

As long as Teddy is ok with it, you did the right thing.

4
  1. Right thing, best of bad situation?

If Ted seems to be content, he probably is. When we moved a year ago our two cats went from having the freedom to roam and explore outside to their hearts content to being inside cats. I was worried they would resent not having access to the outdoors and that they would either bolt through a door or simply go through one of the screened windows. (they are big kitties) We put up cat furniture, grow pots of cat grass, cat mint and cat nip for them to graze on, and continue to provide toys and attention. They have adapted to indoor life remarkably well, the only negative has been that Jack has gotten a bit roly poly.

As long as Ted has a clean place to live, plenty of fresh food and water as well as your attention, imnsho he will be a happy cat.

5

I vote #1 as well. In fact, I’m astonished the other seven haven’t demanded their own condos.

6

I think you did the right thing. Don’t feel guilty. You are doing your best for all your cats and yourself.

7

EddyTeddyFreddy, I can’t see a way to easily put a poll into this thread. Best solution is to make a new thread with the poll, then just report this thread and we’ll close it.

  • Gukumatz,
    GR/IMHO Moderator
8

For Future Reference: If you get a cat neutered before he starts spraying, he will never spray.

As it is, I think you did a great job on the kitty quarters. Not as nice as freedom, but not bad at all.

9

I wish this were true, but I have had several cats who disagree. I’m sure it lessens the likelihood, though.

10

We must have the exception that proves the rule.

11

Tell that to my (now passed) tabby girl, who developed a massive spraying problem at age 6. She had been spayed at 8 months.

12

Another vote for #1. It’s a great system. He might have felt intimidated by other cats and attempted to establish his territory over and over again. I agree with you that nobody would adopt a cat with these problems. When they’re family, like Teddy, you just want to keep them around.

I also have known cats that sprayed even though they were spayed as kittens.

Edited to add: Eddy is lucky to have you.

13

If he was unhappy, it sounds like he knows how to make his feelings heard. If he’s happy, it sounds like a winning solution. It sounds like he’s happy.

It’s not a big kingdom, but it’s indisputably all his.

14

Sorry to those of you who had spraying problems despite altering your cats. I’ve had a lot of cats, known lots of people with cats, and work at an animal shelter. I can assure you that neutering a male before he starts spraying nearly always works.

To ENugent– Spraying(as opposed to ordinary urinating) by female cats is extremely rare. Since it started late in her life, I’d suspect stress or a medical problem of some kind.

15

I don’t think you made the wrong decision, but I don’t think that’s a decision I could ever make. I’d sooner let him be an outside cat, although I know that has problems too.

16

Usually, yes. That has certainly been the case with mine. But the right stress or medical conditions can certainly change things. It’s uncommon, but not unheard of.

EddyTeddyFreddy it looks like me that you did the right thing. At that age adjusting to being a barn cat would probably be very stressful and like you said he is a very poor candidate for re-homing. Living with spray would not only suck for you, it might have a chain affect on your other cats eventually if they feel they have to assert themselves territorially. And if he seems happy I see no point in euthanasia as long as you can live with this solution yourself.

17

I think that this is the best way for both Ted and you. Maybe he felt stressed out with all the other cats, maybe one or all of them were picking on him when you weren’t looking. He seems happy enough, and you’re happier without the piss all over, so it’s working.

18

Thanks; but the thread seems to be rolling along nicely, so I’ll just store the experience in my already well-stuffed Lessons (Hopefully) Learned file.

And thanks to all the encouraging words. All my cats are indoors only, for a number of reasons including that it would not be safe for them to go out where I live. Right now Ted is tucked inside the round kitty condo at the base of his tower (head sticking out since it’s a tight squeeze), napping happily.

I’m struggling to type on a laptop while a purring orange tiger boy drapes across my forearms, and not doing well. More later.

19

Another vote for you done a good thing. I agree that if Ted is happy, that’s all that matters. And I may soon be in a similar situation. Can you direct me to where you got the kitty kingdom? We probably won’t be able to afford it for a long time, but if I start saving up now, I’m sure I’d be able to get it before I realized it.

20

The base bathroom crate and the soft-sided kennel came from a pet store, faithfool. I got the tower from Amazon – here’s a link. The same company makes a two-level version also. Another manufacturer selling on Amazon has a different three-tier model.