I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

rubyshoes — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:27:04 GMT

If she is insured refer to Sarah Heath she is amazing!

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

emmRAR — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:45:26 GMT

It sounds like you're probably not going to be using it anyway - but I have known petplan to pay out for colimcalm for seperation anxiety.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:00:35 GMT

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

That is so sad, must be very difficult for you. I hope she comes round. Is Jenny T a behaviourist then as I am not familiar with the name? sorry.

[/quote]

yeah i'm totally gutted. I feel like it's all my fault she's so miserable we've again had no contact with her today but we have company tonight so should be interesting for the AM! Yes, Jenny T http://www.vetnurse.co.uk/members/Jenny-T/default.aspx she's a member here and a well know behaviour expert!

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Tracey Louise — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:43:00 GMT

That is so sad, must be very difficult for you. I hope she comes round. Is Jenny T a behaviourist then as I am not familiar with the name? sorry.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 16:46:16 GMT

Had our first no contact day yesterday and she peed on the floor pads twice this AM! once before Martin got up to work and once before I came down or after he left how ever you want to look at it! directly on the pad though!

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:07:32 GMT

Why do you think I sent you and Jenny T private emails???

[quote user="Princess Ophelia Hermione MacBeth"]

LOL. Read my email! Now I am going to look like I conferred with Jenny T

[/quote]

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Louise B — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:03:46 GMT

Crossed over posting

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Louise B — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:02:46 GMT

LOL. Read my email! Now I am going to look like I conferred with Jenny T

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:01:53 GMT

[quote user="Princess Ophelia Hermione MacBeth"]

PM sent.

[/quote]

Just reading now! Seems you, Jenny and I all had similar thoughts!

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:59:43 GMT

Had a word with Jenny T and we've come to the conclusion Erbsli's got some issues with humans. It totally makes sense since i've been home all this week and Martin has been working from home more. So we've been advised to give no contact or attention to Erbsli unless she comes to us. She's to have her own space completely upstairs and we are just to leave her be. Gutted but i understand she's just so poorly socialised from her upbringing in the cattery she just doesn't like humans. :( Maybe with time she will come round, she has gotten better over the last year or so. thank you all so so so much for all your help and advice it's really been so helpful to myself and I'm sure to many to come and read this in future. I will keep you all posted as to how she's getting on :) Thanks again.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Louise B — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:47:31 GMT

PM sent.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:09:11 GMT

It's not that the Zylkene doesn't work per say it's more that she won't ingest it and projectile vomits it as soon as she gets it in her mouth!! lol I tried putting the whole capsule down, came back up with in mins, tried putting on the food, she vomited it up in mins, poured the capsule onto her tongue, POW back in my lap... lol

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

[quote user="StephB"]

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

used to have to pin her down and scruff her eeeeek[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH

This is a Bengal I'm referring to! There ain't no way in hell I'm scruffing her!!! I would lose an arm.

[/quote]

I tried the calm food that you mentioned for 2 months and did not work, if zylkene doesnt work then the calm food wont either as it works in the same way.

[/quote]

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:07:13 GMT

I guess we will have to have different opinions on that then! I think it depends on the urine and place it is. I find the Urine Off the only product on the market that actually does what it says on the tin and is reasonably priced and doesn't smell awful. Especially the industrial strength, hardly smells at all and is fantastic for dry clean items and carpet as you can soak the area with out the worry of ruining it or damp/mould because it's mainly alcohol. not to mention i'm highly allergic to bio-washing powders so can't use them on my sheets and clothes. I do however use the other method as well for other situations, i believe they both have their place.

On another note. Not sure if my method is legit but i got a result to go from. Erbsli peed on the floor again this morning onto the pad. With gloves on I squeezed the excess urine onto a plate and did a dip stick. leuk +3, protein + but only just, ph 6/7. So i reckon she's fighting off some sort of infection. Will have to pop her down to the vets i think. I would love to get some bloods off her but I doubt we will be able to do that with out sedating her!!! :(

IF FLUTD is the problem, I have to get this weight off her!!! grrr it wouldn't surprise me to be honest, she put on so much weight in the last year. that can't be healthy. I was so busy with other issues with work and my own health i just figured I would focus on her once the weather picked up and get her on a workout and diet program. but if it's FLUTD then i will have to bump it up! one more bloody thing to go wrong at the moment and one more thing i can't really afford right now!!

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN"]

re cleaning I still favour the biological washing powder followed by surgical spirit and once its clean and dry as a deterrent I often put a food bowl on top of the area as a deterrent.

[/quote]

This is the only cleaning method i use and recommend.

Do not waste your money on the commercial products, imo they do not work and i hate the smell of most of them.

[/quote]

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Tracey Louise — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:52:26 GMT

[quote user="StephB"]

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

used to have to pin her down and scruff her eeeeek[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH

This is a Bengal I'm referring to! There ain't no way in hell I'm scruffing her!!! I would lose an arm.

[/quote]

I tried the calm food that you mentioned for 2 months and did not work, if zylkene doesnt work then the calm food wont either as it works in the same way.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Tracey Louise — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:49:12 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN"]

re cleaning I still favour the biological washing powder followed by surgical spirit and once its clean and dry as a deterrent I often put a food bowl on top of the area as a deterrent.

[/quote]

This is the only cleaning method i use and recommend.

Do not waste your money on the commercial products, imo they do not work and i hate the smell of most of them.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:14:36 GMT

Thanks for your reply Sal. I had a chat with a vet friend tonight and she's got me wondering about UTI as well. I'm going to see if she wets the pad again tomorrow and squeeze some into a container to do a multistix. I really don't think that's the issue but I would rather rule it out and I hope the pad squeeze will suffice as i have no idea how I would get a sample from her, she definitely won't let me express her and i don't want to traumatize anymore than she already is.

I've checked all the rooms in the house in all corners and private areas. She loves peeing out in the garden while we're watching actually and when she did it the other night on the floor she was facing the door not us.

Her son pesters our other female but not her and I personally have never witnessed her being bothered in the litter tray, she tends to wee in the covered or open and will poop in either as well. As for slipping a powder in her food, honestly it's much easier chasing her round the house or waiting til she's sleeping and just pilling her the old fashioned way and having her pissed off at me for a minute! lol She left a worming tablet in a small teaspoon of nice food she always gobbled for the whole day! she's a cheeky little so and so!! but i'm not putting off the idea completely we'll just have to see.

Friend mentioned the calming food but i fear her eating issues, being a bengal she gets the runs at the drop of a hat. i finally got her on a light diet with out her pooing goo all the time. That and it's not a low fat/carb diet and i can't allow her to put on anymore weight.

I thought about putting a food bowl down, however... she was originally peeing on the front door mat(coconut rug) we thought it was the rug so we switched it with a synthetic washable one. She still urinated on that as well so we tried just the puppy pads and she stopped for a while but then began to wee on them as well. I purchased a rubber mat with holes in it and put a pad under it. She no longer pees at the front door but now pees at the back! LOL

so I like the idea that she's at least willing to pee on something that's easily managed but if i put her off this last spot before i work out what the problem is though i'm worried she will go somewhere we can't manage well or ruin the couch or something. So i'm very hesitant to put food there and also she is fed in a magnetic cat flapped food box so her son doesn't gobble her food and he is fed from an auto feeder for his weight management (which thankfully is going really well!) now if we can just sort her!

meh like i said, i'm totally stumped!! :(

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Sal the 1st — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 23:33:10 GMT

dont know if this is any good to you at all

re litter trays

If I understood that right the litter trays she favours are open ones but will use a closed one?

One of my old cats used to be quite nervous around toileting after being ambushed by another cat whilst coming out of the litter tray. I thought I was doing the best by getting a covered tray as the way I thought it out the cat would feel safer and I was wrong. What happened then was the nervy cat was frightened to go in it because the other cat then sat on top of the covered tray waiting for him. Took me a long time to work it out that this cat was peeing and soiling under the bed (sometimes in the litter tray sometimes not) and getting repeated bouts of cystitis because it was scared to death to use the covered tray.

I couldnt understand why it felt safer under the bed which to me wasnt that different to a covered tray but I guess that the tray did smell of the other cat. The way we eventually got round this was to use a small side table which was pretty low down and put a small tablecloth on it which was short enough not to reach the floor and put a small (I think vase or bowl) on top of that so other cat couldnt climb on there and ambush him and slipped an open tray under that and eventually the cat adopted this.

Once this had happened (using new tray set up) the nervy cat seemed to adopt the bedroom as its patch rather than before where the bedroom seemed to be just a place to hide away, and would see off intruders. Once he had had a few 'encounters' with the other cat and won or not backed down he gradually started to spend more time in the rest of the flat and I was surprised one night while sitting eating my tea in front of the telly he just jumped up and sat there and started scrounging part of my meal.Didnt take long to win him round after that and he did become a very affectionate cat with a little time

We used feliway diffuser 1 at the top of the stairs and one downstairs and I think it did make a difference. Tried various types of cat litter but the pelletted wood seemed to be favourite with both cats.

re cleaning I still favour the biological washing powder followed by surgical spirit and once its clean and dry as a deterrent I often put a food bowl on top of the area as a deterrent.

re Bengals you have my sympathies - Morris can be a git when he doesnt want to do something but generally dosing cats I have found if you cant get hold of them the food with 'condiments' is the best way and I just crush the tablet to a powder in a very small amount of food and only when they have eaten that do they get the remainder of the meal.

I agree with you on amytrip - one of mine was on it after we had a burglary and he started self mutilating he was weird - not the same cat - and not in a good way.

Hope this is of some use - it worked for my cat but might be totally the wrong thing to do?

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 22:29:01 GMT

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

used to have to pin her down and scruff her eeeeek[/quote]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH

This is a Bengal I'm referring to! There ain't no way in hell I'm scruffing her!!! I would lose an arm.

agreed but pills are definitely last resort. I still have puncture wounds and bruises on my forearm from worming her last week.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Kim Buckley — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:59:41 GMT

My auntie has tonkinese cats and one of hers has to have this to stop him spraying in the house. I don't know who she is insured with but they won't pay for it.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Tracey Louise — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 21:56:48 GMT

My cat was not the best to tablet either, but now she seems to get used to it more, and i suppose its like a routine thing now. I have to use a pillgiver, used to have to pin her down and scruff her eeeeek, but now just open her mouth and pop pillgiver in.

Im not 100% sure if petplan will cover them, but i cant see why not, as anxiety is a recognised medical condition. They can be prescribed by any vet. The vet that i got to prescribe them just wants me to have regular kidney blood profiles, but my cat it 8 so would do that anyway.

I hate medication though so agree that it is definately one of the last resorts, as it is an antidepressant. I just hate seeing my cats unhappy. I have another problem with one of my other cats aggression and this is what triggered it all off in the first place unfortunately.

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:51:08 GMT

thank you for your reply Tracey. Drugs are definitely last on my list to be honest but not totally out of the question if it means she will feel better. however i've not really wanted to go down that road after having a cat in the USA on amitriptyline. he just wasn't the same and he still peed all over the house, he ended up being an outdoor cat and was eaten by a coyote in the end. The only thing is she is SERIOUSLY difficult to A. Catch B. pill and C. gets extremely aggressive when held. I'm not sure a daily pill or even every other daily pill would go well. She tends to eat round them and vomits anything that isn't quite right. Though saying that now she's such a little piggy she might just gobble it in a little diet wet food if it's to her taste!!! lol but i'm not sure I would want to risk getting the tablets and it not working... are these tablets covered under pet plan insurance if prescribed? can any vet prescribe them or do they need to be prescribed by a qualified and reg'd behaviourist to be covered? Thanks so much for your reply.

[quote user="Tracey Louise Mullins RVN"]

I have been in a similar situation with one of my cats, I also have 3 cats, all neutered females.

I tried all the things that you have inc feliway, zylkene, anxiety drops. Used the correct procedure to clean up urine etc.

The ONLY thing that I have found that works for us is CLOMICALM tablets. I had to beg one of our vets to prescribe it for me, they were very reluctant. I also do not really agree with giving medication if its not necessary, but I really wanted to give it a try.

I think the dose is a half to one tablet daily, depending on bodyweight. My cat is around 4kg and i used to give her half a tablet every day but now give her half a tablet every other day and that seems to do the trick.

There are a few side effects which is why i have tried to get the doseage down and this is the lowest i have managed. She urinates on the 3rd day if i forget to give her a tablet, which is how i know they defiately work.

Side effects i noticed are the sporadic vomiting but that hardly happens now the doseage is right down. She seemed very distresses just before vomiting. Also if i gave her the tablets every day, she seemed a little different in personality. But not anymore.

I have no other advice to give, as this is the only thing i have got to work. They are not cheap but then again neither is feliway, puppy pads etc.

Its up to you, see what you think. Hope you get sorted soon, I know exactly what you are going though x

[/quote]

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Tracey Louise — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:22:00 GMT

I have been in a similar situation with one of my cats, I also have 3 cats, all neutered females.

I tried all the things that you have inc feliway, zylkene, anxiety drops. Used the correct procedure to clean up urine etc.

I have no other advice to give, as this is the only thing i have got to work. They are not cheap but then again neither is feliway, puppy pads etc.

Its up to you, see what you think. Hope you get sorted soon, I know exactly what you are going though x

Re: I'm stumped. Feline behaviour help please!

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:33:18 GMT

May I also add she toilets in the litter trays fine, urine and fecal though she does regularly poop half of it over the side from being a little thick! LOL she only does that in the smaller trays. Also we use Urine Off and biological washing to clean fabrics and any areas that miss the pad but it's usually all on the pad. We've also sprayed the woodwork with Urine Off and Feliway. The litter trays are:

One large open and closed in lounge. One in view of door and outside. Other in private cubby round side of couch. One closed in the hall near front door but under stairs. One at top of stairs open in eves. One covered in corner of guest room (never used) only there in case a guest locks her in there accidentally. She also never acts out when guest are here she likes a little hustle and bustle but just doesn't get friendly(odd i know). one in our bedroom and one in the office, both covered but never used. Main used boxes are underlined. So 7 boxes for 3 cats, we did this since she was a queen when we got her to give her many options when she was frequenting the loo full of kittens! The kittens were born in the other home and she was not the same cat there. very quiet and never anywhere near us like she is now.