Ok, so figured I'd throw this out and see if anyone wants to attempt to help... if you aren't really a cat person and cat lover, stop reading here, cause this isn't for you...
One of our cats, Stewie, is an older (born in the winter of 2004/5), black, male cat. He was a stray at our apartment complex and we took him in, got him his shots, and got him declawed on all 4 paws (our other cat at the time was declawed on all 4 by her previous owners, we felt it important to keep the playing field level)...we now know better, but we can't change this anymore...
So, fast forward to now, Stewie is 11 years old, and a very nervous/anxious cat. He is one of four we have at this time. Since our daughters arrival last year, his anxiety level seems to have gone up a bit, and he has lately taken to peeing somewhere in our house every night or day. We have cameras so we know it's him. He spends a majority of the day up in our bedroom or under the bed, comes down to eat/drink occasionally as well as pee somewhere. We have had him checked for damn near everything--urinalysis, blood work, etc. He is on Prozac (been on this quite a while actually) currently, as well as Xanax. We have discussed every little detail of his life with our vet (litter box placement, litter usage, foods, etc, etc, etc) and he is not sure what else to do either. Stewie is very, very sweet and seems to love our daughter and snuggling with us, but we cannot figure out what the problem is. We are going to get in touch with an animal behavior expert at UGA, but I'm afraid their services might be out of our range of affordability at this time, and I'm very afraid that throwing yet more money at this issue may still not solve the problem, as even the vet says this is an absolute last resort to try.
So...I'm wondering and thinking that maybe the root of this issue for Stewie is just the entire environment/dynamic in our home...my wife and daughter being home all day right now, the other three cats, jealousy about our attention being given to our daughter, who knows. So, before we take any action that cannot be undone, I'm wondering if there's a cat lover out there who may be interested in taking Stewie and seeing if he is not better off with them--preferably a home where he is the only pet, and no young kids. I've tried to get this out there in some local groups on FB, but I'm tired of hearing "we don't support rehoming animals" or some other such BS...so your preference is that we put him down? thanks (but not really) for being helpful /sarcasm
Obviously if Stewie's behavior continued we would be willing to take him back and go from there if needed. I'm just trying to consider and take advantage of any possible options out there before resorting to something that will be very hard on my wife and I or will leave me wondering "what if we tried..." for the rest of my life.
I'll get pics for anyone interested.
One of our cats, Stewie, is an older (born in the winter of 2004/5), black, male cat. He was a stray at our apartment complex and we took him in, got him his shots, and got him declawed on all 4 paws (our other cat at the time was declawed on all 4 by her previous owners, we felt it important to keep the playing field level)...we now know better, but we can't change this anymore...
So, fast forward to now, Stewie is 11 years old, and a very nervous/anxious cat. He is one of four we have at this time. Since our daughters arrival last year, his anxiety level seems to have gone up a bit, and he has lately taken to peeing somewhere in our house every night or day. We have cameras so we know it's him. He spends a majority of the day up in our bedroom or under the bed, comes down to eat/drink occasionally as well as pee somewhere. We have had him checked for damn near everything--urinalysis, blood work, etc. He is on Prozac (been on this quite a while actually) currently, as well as Xanax. We have discussed every little detail of his life with our vet (litter box placement, litter usage, foods, etc, etc, etc) and he is not sure what else to do either. Stewie is very, very sweet and seems to love our daughter and snuggling with us, but we cannot figure out what the problem is. We are going to get in touch with an animal behavior expert at UGA, but I'm afraid their services might be out of our range of affordability at this time, and I'm very afraid that throwing yet more money at this issue may still not solve the problem, as even the vet says this is an absolute last resort to try.
So...I'm wondering and thinking that maybe the root of this issue for Stewie is just the entire environment/dynamic in our home...my wife and daughter being home all day right now, the other three cats, jealousy about our attention being given to our daughter, who knows. So, before we take any action that cannot be undone, I'm wondering if there's a cat lover out there who may be interested in taking Stewie and seeing if he is not better off with them--preferably a home where he is the only pet, and no young kids. I've tried to get this out there in some local groups on FB, but I'm tired of hearing "we don't support rehoming animals" or some other such BS...so your preference is that we put him down? thanks (but not really) for being helpful /sarcasm
Obviously if Stewie's behavior continued we would be willing to take him back and go from there if needed. I'm just trying to consider and take advantage of any possible options out there before resorting to something that will be very hard on my wife and I or will leave me wondering "what if we tried..." for the rest of my life.
I'll get pics for anyone interested.
