My OTW needs some help for someone in Vancouver BC. The lady has a neutered male who has been urinating outside his two boxes for about 3 yrs due to the number of neighbourhood cats. They've tried to train him out of it for all that time, and are not having any luck. She’d like to rehome the cat to somewhere it will be less stressed. Does anyone know of places in Vancouver who could help her?
Update: Some additional info. She would love to keep the cat, but so far the only thing other than training and Feliway (didn't work) that the vet has been able to suggest is long-term meds, which she doesn't want to do, as she's afraid he won't be him anymore. She loves him and just wants him to be happy and stress free. If she can't manage that, then somewhere more rural where he can go back to being an indoor/outdoor cat would be good. Any suggestions on what she could try to destress him without rehoming?
7 comments:
Aw, poor boy! We don't know anyone there, but we're sure there must be a number of cat rescue/foster groups that would be good contacts. The best of luck to this cat!!!
The closest we know is Purrfect Pals in Arlington, WA--which is about three hours from the border. Good luck to them--
Oh we wish we knew anyone up there - it is too bad that the neighborhood cats are stressing him so much. WE are sending lots of purrs that he can find a place he is calmer soon!
If she has not tried the meds, we suggest maybe a short trial period? Your friend may have already done this, but thought we'd suggest it, just in case! Our vet said that a short course of some meds make cats forget about what is bothering them. Amitriptyline (aka Elavil) really helped one of us who was in a similar situation - however, it does make cats "not themselves" for a while, which can be a bit hard to deal with. It doesn't have to be permanent, though.
Many purrs! We do not live on the West Coast so can't be of help suggesting a shelter.
Is he seeing the outside cats through the windows? Is that the problem? We had that problem and fixed it by 1. Informing the city about roaming cats and they made the owners keep him indoors, 2. Blocking off the low parts of windows so the cats can't see when another outdoor cat visits, and 3. cat deterrents outsides. There are all kinds. What about motion-detecting sprinklers or that motion-detecting noise maker cat deterrent that you can get like number 6 on this list: http://cats.about.com/od/behaviortraining/tp/comldeterrent.htm
There's a vet who has a weekly column in our newspaper and I've found a link to his site which might be helpful: http://www.drjeffnichol.com/new/info/cats_topic_01_01.html
He's got a lot on info and links on his site as well.
We hope the little boy can be retrained and that his mom doesn't have to give him up!
We hope it's not too late for this comment... Nicky began to spray after Kelly died, and we figure the spraying was part of his assuming the role of alpha cat. The v*t put Nicky on a light dosage of Prozac, and it has made a big difference. (After several weeks without spray, we tried taking him off the meds and he began again.)
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