Cat to live in laundry room: do I have a choice? :(

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OMG! There are organizations that take cats like this. I'm so sad.

Name one. Post a list with links.

What hick town is this being beamed down from exactly? No vet in the actual Washington DC area would euthanize a 3 year old cat for peeing.
Help us pick out an organization for you by saying where you're actually from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OMG! There are organizations that take cats like this. I'm so sad.

Name one. Post a list with links.

What hick town is this being beamed down from exactly? No vet in the actual Washington DC area would euthanize a 3 year old cat for peeing.
Help us pick out an organization for you by saying where you're actually from.

Actually, or wonderful very did it, after watching us struggle for nearly 2 years wirh this. We adopted him from a shelter at 18 months of age, he'd been given up because he peed around. I thought, with all kinds of hubris, that as a very experienced cat owner, I could solve this, and he'd been in and out of foster homes because he kept getting sick at the shelter and had not peed at the foster homes. (he was listed as hard to adopt because he'd been they're for 6 months and he peed)

Within 1 week he'd peed the first time. And so it went. He was a very anxious cat except when he wasn't. Tried feliway, prozac, a cocktail of 2 drugs, added so many litter boxes we liked like a factory, put litter boxes on all floors of the house, saw a cat behaviorist (biggest waste of $400 of my life) and still it continued. Could have returned him to shelter, where he's have lived his life at the shelter, getting sick constantly. That's no way to live. He's in a better place now, if you believe in that. Or, he's out of stress now. Believe me, I agonized over this decision. But we had PTSD from his weekly and daily peeing.
And you can't replace your sofa monthly, nor mattresses. And he didn't just squirt a few drops, he peed a gallon every time.

I now know I'm not invincible, despite the 20 to 30 cats I've had on my lifetime.

One idea:, we had a very elderly cat who couldn't get into the litter box uie to arthritis and we put a pee pad down. You know like they train puppies with? It was great, she could walk on it, pee, and keep going. She was no longer sitting to pee at this point. I've also had another elderly cat with high blood pressure and hyper thyroid whom we medicated for 2 or more years, who in her last 18 months lived in a special bedroom with a heated bed, etc. She had a heart specialist who saw her every 6 months for 2 years. She died at 19 years old. Believe me, I know cats, and I've bent over for them, but this guy wasn't rehome-able and we couldn't get him to stop peeing everywhere.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand people saying to put tin foil and plastic tarps on the couch. Are you supposed to remove it every time you want to sit on the couch? What if you get up during commercials? Do you have to cover it all up again? Is this a couch that you actually use or is it in a "fancy" sitting room that nobody ever uses?

I guess since your husband says he will deal with the plastic sofa and always checking before he sits you have your answer.

[Anonymous]

If he's only doing it at night and when you are away, buy a cat cage for $125. You can put it in the main living area, maybe even near his favorite window. He will still feel part of the household and can come out when you're available, but your family will not have to live in a cat pee house.

This one even has wheels so you can move it around easily: $125 cat cage on chewy.com

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand people saying to put tin foil and plastic tarps on the couch. Are you supposed to remove it every time you want to sit on the couch? What if you get up during commercials? Do you have to cover it all up again? Is this a couch that you actually use or is it in a "fancy" sitting room that nobody ever uses?

I guess since your husband says he will deal with the plastic sofa and always checking before he sits you have your answer.

I know I'm weird, but I always sit on the floor anyway. I lean against the front of the couch. This tarp thing would not be a huge deal to me. If it saves my sofa or reduces my time cleaning, sign me up.

[Anonymous]

Why don't you purchase a crate, a large one that a litter box will fit in and place your cat in there when you can't supervise him/her. You can place the crate in front of it's favorite window when you are gone, just a thought.

[Anonymous]

For the love of all things. It is time to euthanize this poor animal. Locking a social cat in the laundry room would be abusive. Cover all the furniture and keep cleaning up the mess if you must, but it would be 100 percent humane and compassionate to euthanize this pet who is no longer enjoying a full quality of life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I work in animal welfare, and I think it would be kinder to euthanize your cat than to leave him locked in a laundry room.

If you have truly exhausted every option - speaking with your vet, and perhaps also a behaviorist - and your family is unwilling to live with the pee and poop in the wrong places, then I don't see much other choice. You can try to rehome your cat, to a family who understands that he has special needs now. But that isn't easy to do.

I'm sorry you're going through this. Frankly, your husband is an asshole. But you probably already know that.

"To a family that understands he has special needs"?? We've been dealing with this for 5 years. Our home is basically stripped bare because I've been trying to prevent having to keep him separated. We are living with plastic wrap on our sofas. We are the farthest thing from cruel. Rehoming isn't an option - I can't imagine anyone will be more patient with this cat than we are. Plus we are his family.

The idea of euthanize him breaks my heart...I just can't.

Do it for your cat, not for you.

Google "cat quality of life score." Talk with your vet. Our vet told us better a little too soon than too late, for the cat's sake.

It sounds like it is time. I am sorry.

[Anonymous]

I am a huge cat lover (I have two!!) & in all honesty could...would never ever euthanize my cat if he wasn't living w/daily excruciating physical pain.
Or even if living w/him in + of itself was a pain.

I have raised three children and I regard my two kitty cats as family members.
When I adopted them, I adopted them w/the belief that my love for them would be entirely unconditional no matter what.

Whatever flaws they had, I would accept them & learn to live w/them as I did as a parent.

My cats tore up my sofa to the point where the wood was exposed so badly, it was an embarrassing eye-sore to me as well as any houseguests.
So I bought a beautiful brand-new sofa (I know, I know....Not the smartest move!), and already they are digging their claws into this one!

But I have to ask myself....At the end of the day, what is more important in my life: The sofa or the cats??
What brings me joy in life and offers the best unconditional love + companionship??

OP:
No offense but your husband does sound like an ass%#le.

Sadly so many pets get the short end of the stick whenever a new person enters their owner's lives.

;(

[Anonymous]

How many times have I heard it is the husband or boyfriend who cannot handle the issues of household pets??!

And sadly the women choose their S/O over their beloved animal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many times have I heard it is the husband or boyfriend who cannot handle the issues of household pets??!

And sadly the women choose their S/O over their beloved animal.

[Anonymous]

OP Living like this is crazy! Your DH is a saint. Lock the cat in the laundry room. Otherwise you will have cat poop and pee everywhere in the basement and boy will THAT smell. Your cat is getting older and maybe it is time... We tried changing our elderly cats food to Wellness and that helped him a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a huge cat lover (I have two!!) & in all honesty could...would never ever euthanize my cat if he wasn't living w/daily excruciating physical pain.
Or even if living w/him in + of itself was a pain.

I have raised three children and I regard my two kitty cats as family members.
When I adopted them, I adopted them w/the belief that my love for them would be entirely unconditional no matter what.

Whatever flaws they had, I would accept them & learn to live w/them as I did as a parent.

My cats tore up my sofa to the point where the wood was exposed so badly, it was an embarrassing eye-sore to me as well as any houseguests.
So I bought a beautiful brand-new sofa (I know, I know....Not the smartest move!), and already they are digging their claws into this one!

But I have to ask myself....At the end of the day, what is more important in my life: The sofa or the cats??
What brings me joy in life and offers the best unconditional love + companionship??

OP:
No offense but your husband does sound like an ass%#le.

Sadly so many pets get the short end of the stick whenever a new person enters their owner's lives.

;(

Scratching up the sofa is one thing.

Daily poop and pee on sofa is an entirely different thing. (Hint: It is not about the sofa)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My cat is 15 years old and we've been battling his peeing outside the litter box for about 5 years. We've had long stretches of success, but every time we go on vacation he regresses and starts doing it again. I love my cat and am a person who believes in caring for him as best as I can until the end of his life - putting him down has never been an option, and never will be. But we're kind of at the end of our rope.

We started off closing all the bedroom doors so he couldn't pee in the beds, and that worked well for a long time. Then, after vacations he would pee on certain rugs, until I removed them one by one. As of last summer, we have zero rugs down - not even an entry mat. But that was okay, I was willing to deal with that - he's elderly and it was fine. There were no more pee incidents for a good long time and all was well.

Well, we just got back from a week away (cat sitter came once a day) and he started peeing in our den sofa. I actually put a plastic drop cloth on it and he peed and pooped on that last night. My DH has hit his limit - he is not willing to live with pee and poop on our sofa and I agree. He is demanding that our cat live in the laundry room where his litter boxes are, or downstairs in the basement. But it breaks my heart - my cat is 15 and very attached to me and the kids - and gets very lonely (which is why the peeing outside of the litter box started in the first place). He will be miserable.

He loves to sit by our sliding door in a sun beam and look outside - that's what he does all day. Our basement is unfinished and dark, with no windows, though it's larger than our laundry room. But the laundry room does have a small window and I could set up a perch for him to climb up so he could look outside. But either way, he'd be unhappy.

I realize it's the only way, but I'm feeling so guilty and so bad for my sweet cat - my kids and I love him despite his a-hole behavior and he's been our companion for 15 years. He's had health issues and the vet calls him a "miracle cat" because he just keeps on going. I guess I'm worried if we separate him he'll go downhill. But we've tried cat attract litter, keeping it very clean, giving him 4 boxes to choose from.

Which room would you choose if you were me - smaller, unfinished laundry room with a small window or larger unfinished basement with no window?
Any ideas for what I can do to make the space cozy for him? Should I feel bad about this? I'm just so bummed out.

It's time, op. Your 15 year old cat's quality of life is absolute shit. You are being selfish, just put him down already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe husband is not an asshole. Maybe husband doesn't want a 1k piece of furniture ruined and a house that reeks of cat pee. Totally reasonable.

Dh is a saint. You KNOW that whole house already reeks of nasty cat piss.