Spraying..... aaAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaargh!

[Desley (booktigger)]

Becca, the fact that he is going normally as well doesn't mean it isn't cystitis, Tom woudl use the tray as well as spray!! I would still get it checked out, and as Lynn says, he is more of a candidate if he doesn't normally wee a lot. If he continues to wee excessively, I would get him in the vets asap.

[CurlyCatz]

if he only goes once per day then he might be a prime candidate for crystals/stones. they form in the bladder when it is full of urine.

[Beccles]

Cheers for your reply, Chris - hooopefully this is a bit of a one-off with Ollie once he starts to settle down and realise that nobody's ever going to dump him out in the cold again.

PS guys it's definately not cystitis, since he's been in the kitchen he's not sprayed once and has done two enormous wees in his litter tray as usual - he's a camel, he only ever seems to go once a day!

[chrisleitz]

Rebecca, I so sympathise with you.  I have a 'delicate flower' too and he goes through phases.  Buddie goes for a few month without spraying and then something upsets him, he feels insecure and starts spraying again.  At the moment we are in a spray phase again, as we have 2 new cats in the neighbourhood challenging his territory.  All I can do is patrol his usual spots and make sure I clean them thoroughly.  The doormat already had to be exchanged (no. 4 this year) and all curtains washed.  Someone suggested putting lemony smelling airfreshener next to those places that are being targeted.  I have not yet tried it but it may be worth a go.  The important thing to remember is not to get too stressed out about it yourself as he will feel your stress and of course be careful that you don't slip and injure yourself.

PS: I have also tried Feliway but it did not have any effect on Buddie's behaviour at all, but it may work with Ollie.

[Christine (Blip)]

Hmm, I suspect you're right Rebecca and he is a delicate flower, at least at present, what with all the trauma he's had before he found you. If that's the case, the smallest thing could set him off: the carpenter, you being out for a few hours, even windy weather outside.

That said, assuming you can rule out cystitis your plan sounds good to me.

[Desley (booktigger)]

REbecca, you can actually check for cystitis without taking him to the vet - get some 'special litter' from the vets, get a sample and get them to test it - normally quite cheap, my vets charge about ?5 for both. Might be a bit of a stress free way of doing it.

[Beccles]

Thanks for your replies, guys.

Gill - cheers!

Desley - good point, shall see if the vet's interested. Be good if we could do that first as Ollie really really doesn't like his carrier, or the car, or the vets...

Roz  - I've not seen Ollie spray before but he's only been living with me for a month and has spent a fair portion of that being extremely ill and not very aware of his surroundings. Apart from the time I spent in Leeds, as I mentioned, I can't think of any major changes to our routine - the deal at the moment is that I'm here, around and on call for ear scratchings, biscuits top-ups and litter tray duty for all but 3 afternoons and one evening a week. There's been a tiiiiiny bit more building work going on but we've just had a new roof and I would have thought that if anything was going to produce stress-related spraying that would, we had a week of the house shaking  We don't have visits from other animals apart from one of the neighbour's kittens who occasionally slips through the door when my personal assistant or I come in, but she doesn't usually get further than the hall and she's not met Ollie yet. Ollie as a foster and with such a dodgy medical history is most decidedly an indoor cat at present, so neighbourhood things are unlikely to come to his attention, generally speaking. And cheers! It's really not cool at all, apart from anything else there's nothing quite so upsetting for your crutches to slip on than a tiny puddle of wee at every doorframe...

[Roz]

Hi Rebecca,

Yes, as Desley said, make sure he hasn't got a spot of cystitis going on there.? Has he ever shown this sort of behaviour before?? If he hasn't then it definitely sounds as though there may be something troubling him.?

All of the things you suggest are worthwhile pursuing...but I would definitely consider the cystitis...

Has anything changed in your house....has any other cat or dog visited recently or is there another cat in the neighbourhood who might be worrying him?? Any of these simple things could lead to Ollie being anxious and therefore keen to mark his territory.

Hope you resolve it sooner rather than later...it is a fag when they start to behave like this.

Best wishes,

Roz

[Desley (booktigger)]

Aww, poor you and Ollie - first thing I woudl do is get a sample tested, spraying was Tom's main way of showing me his cystitis was bothering him. IF that is clear, things like RR, lots of comfort etc.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr just typed reply and then didnt post it   

Yes I think its a very sensible plan.........................wont bother with rest  of my typing

[Beccles]

  Ollie, who's a neutered 8-12 year old chap and has been rather poorly but is now feeling much better, started spraying yesterday. He seems to be endeavouring to spray every single vertical surface in the house!

I think it's probably stress-related because I had to spend a lot of time - much more than usual - away from home this weekend, and obviously I'm back now so hopefully it'll stop... poor lad, he's a bit of a delicate flower and next time I shall organise someone to go and visit them during the day if I am away for more than 6 hours again.

I'd love anyones suggestions on my plan for making him feel comfy and safe enough to not need to mark everything in the house again, it goes something like this:
1) ring the vet in the morning to double-check that he didn't see anything worry-worthy when we went to say hello last Thursday and find out if we ought to go again, just in case
2) Shut Ollie in the (warm snuggly) kitchen for a bit - no kittens, lots of company from me, and nothing sprayable that I can't wash easily, which admittedly is more for my benefit than his. He's got a cosy bed which he tends not to use, and his own litter tray a good long way from his feeding station. He's generally fine with the litter tray, as long as he's feeling OK generally.
3) Do the bio washing powder/cold water/surgical spirit trick on allllllll the places he's already sprayed (including my spare wheelchair and both sofas  )
4) Do Wizz's reintroduction thing again with the kittens once it's all calmed down.
5) let Ollie back into the rest of the house graaaaaaaaadually.