Cats Suck, Revisited
Posted by
tgirsch
A while back, I complained that dogs are better than cats because cats ruin stuff when they piss on it. Apparently, my cat has been doing some internet surfing and got around to reading that post.
How do I know this?
Last night at bed time, the cat was unusually cuddly, actually climbing all over me in bed and giving all sorts of attention. I answered this with petting and rubbing her shoulders, and all those types of attention that she loves until, as she always does, she got tired of it and left. This morning, at about 5:50 AM, the cat started climbing on me again. Through my fog, I was thinking, Oh, she wants to cuddle, how nice! Then I realized I was getting warm. And wet. The cat was pissing on me! Apparently she read the aforementioned post, and her intent was to ruin me, so that I would have to be thrown out!
What a wonderful start to the day. 
I’ve had dogs bite me, but I’ve never had one intentionally pee on me, most certainly not while I was trying to sleep!
All joking aside, does anyone have any advice as to how to stop this behavior? (Not just the peeing on me, but peeing in places other than the litter box?) Normally this is a problem with unfixed males, or males who were fixed too late, but this cat is a spayed female. Further, we’ve had her for four and a half years, and this has only been happening in the last year or so. Mostly within the last six months.
We’ve tried the airborne hormone dispensers and those don’t do a damn thing. Now the vet is recommending Kitty Zolofttm, but I’m skeptical as to whether or not that will work. I’d hate to have to get rid of the cat, but it this keeps up, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.
(Don’t worry, we wouldn’t put the cat down, we’d just work with a rescue to find her a new home. But I’m hoping it doesn’t have to come to that.)
Okay not to be mean, but … say you had a child that was going thru a bedwetting moment … would you “get rid of” the child?? NO!! So why get rid of the cat?? Is it not part of your family?? How can it be something you just toss aside when it has a behavior that doesn’t suit you?
Sorry, but seems a bit mean to me.
As to the problem — have you done any google searches on the situation for it?? I know my previous cat had that problem, but she was old and just had no control anymore. So different situation. Your cat sounds young still.
Have you tried retraining her as to what the litter box is for?? When she pees where she shouldn’t, show it to her, and then take her to her little box. That type of thing.
Comment 10/21/2005
I’m sorry for your misfortune, but that is hilarious! I’ve never heard of anything like it.
We adopted a rescue DOG, so he was trained, but I find the times he does pee are typically when he either feels he needs to establish his territory or when he feels threatened - not getting the attention he wants.
Putting on my “therapy” hat for a moment, when precisely did this behavior start and were there any changes of events that also coincided in your life at the time?
Comment 10/21/2005
[…] Tom and I don’t agree on much but we do agree that cats suck. […]
Pingback 10/21/2005
I’m assuming your vet ruled out health problems. That’s really strange. Cats peeing on their owners is unusual, I think. If nothing else works, the Zoloft might be worth a shot.
Comment 10/21/2005
Zoloft for cats - what a ridiculous idea. My guess is that it would simply act as a band-aid.
Comment 10/21/2005
I am incredibly allergic to cats, so only dogs will do for me.
TGirsch, you might consider doing the inhumane thing my father-in-law did…
He got into the habit of keeping the cat in the bathroom during the day while he was at work. Why? Because he has leather sofas he doesn’t want scratched (in my opinion, he shouldn’t have gotten them then and thereby subjugated his cat to such confinement).
In any event, he’s come home on occassion and found that the cat pooped in the toilet!
Perhaps you too can train your cat!
Comment 10/21/2005
Angie:
I can put a diaper on a bedwetting child, and thus prevent the ruination of furniture. If a child started engaging in other destructive behavior, I’d have to seriously consider putting the child where he or she could get help. Unfortunately, there isn’t “kitty therapy” that I’m aware of.
Don’t get me wrong, it would break my heart to have to get rid of the cat, but do I really have to tolerate a house full of cat piss?
“Mean” would be having the cat euthanized. Trying to find ways to prevent the behavior and, failing that, finding someone who doesn’t mind having a cat who occasionally pees on stuff, seems to me to be about the nicest way to proceed.
Wacko:
The cat uses the litter box 95% of the time or more, so I don’t think it’s a litter issue. And while we have added dogs to the mix over time, none of this coincides time-wise with the problem beginning. Rough timeline: We got the cat in May of 2001; a second cat in August of 2002; a dog in January of 2003; the problem began around September or October of 2003, with her twice hitting (and ultimately ruining) a couch, after which nothing happened for a long time; we got a second dog in April of 2005; the problem cropped up again in July of 2005, shortly before we left for vacation. We’ve tried confining the dogs to a limited area of the house while allowing the cats a full run of the house, and that doesn’t seem to help, either.
As for a band-aid, I’ll take that at this point. You got any better ideas?
And as I said, I really don’t think it’s a training issue, because the vast majority of the time, the cat goes in the right place. I think she’s trying to send us a message. Unfortunately, we’re receiving that messages as “I don’t want to live here any more.”
Dawn:
The vet thinks that if it’s a health problem, it would be more frequent. As it is, we’re having a problem once every couple of months or so, which is about six times per year too many, but not enough to indicate a UTI or some such.
Comment 10/21/2005
Your cat may believe that it’s really a male cat trapped inside a female body … you know, transgender issues. This could be related to that Halloween incident from your childhood. Instead of becoming a transgenderite, you might be a carrier of the dreaded transgender virus, and the cat could have caught the virus from you.
Comment 10/21/2005
Joe:
Funny, except that it was KTK who wrote the halloween thing, not me.
Comment 10/21/2005
Six Words….
Beer Baron Episode of the Simpsons
Comment 10/22/2005
I’m sorry, but I laughed SO hard when I read your post… Kitty sounds very angry to me, but in the world of behavior disorders its always prudent to make sure that there’s no medical issue. Having done that, kitty zoloft sounds like the best answer. Maybe she’s menopausal. Hormones make females awful cranky…
Comment 10/22/2005
If you want the band-aid, then go for it. Motto I’ve always clung to is “biology precedes psychology.” Therefore, if the vet can rule out any biological issues, the I would go with behavior issues.
Peeeing on you is clearly sending a message, so I’d investigate the timeframe right around the demonstrable behavior.
For instance, the only times our dog has peed in the house has been when a) he was sharing the house with unfamiar dogs (marking territory) and when my wife was cuddling an infant and talking baby talk, he peed to send a jealous message.
We’re screwd since our twin girls willbe born any day now - it will be interesting to see how our dog responds.
Comment 10/23/2005
Strange urination habits could be a sign of feline diabetes or FLUTD (Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease) or something like that.
Has the vet talked with you about this kind of possibility? Have you considered getting a second opinion?
Comment 10/23/2005
99.9% of cats that are spoiled rotten by their owners become incredibly narcissistic to everything and anything in their domain. Don’t be a push over, the next time your pussycat takes a leak on you, give her a good whack on the head to let her know that you are the alpha female of the two and you are not to be pissed on.
Besides politicians and businessmen and the french, Cat’s are the only true antagonist that gets rewarded for their discontent.
Comment 11/11/2005
[…] I’ve complained about her here a couple of times, but it was mostly in jest. Cats may suck for the reasons given there, but the biggest reason is that despite all that, they still manage to find a place in your heart. And then, whether it’s after four years or fourteen years, too soon you have to say goodbye. […]
Pingback 12/21/2005
Anybody that would equate a filthy, smelly cat pissing on you to your child havin the same problem is a twisted individual. You really need to get into some reality…cats are disgusting, filthy creatures that ruin homes, clothes, food, and anything else they get near. And anyone who has a box somewhere in their house for a cat to crap in is just as filthy.
Kick that dirty feline to the curb. They are nasty things and should not be allowed in homes.
Comment 3/9/2006
I agree with philip, I think cats are so disgusting and gross. I adopted a cat from the shelter, and I liked it, until after a month of owning it, it decided to take a dump on my kitchen floor right in front of me. I kept his litter box very clean. I got disgusted with it and returned him to the shelter. I am a dog person anyway, I only got the cat because I don’t have the time or energy to keep up with a dog. It was, I have to say, a nice cat, but I ain’t about to have some filthy obnoxious creature stink up my home that we work hard to keep nice!!!! Not worth it to me…
Comment 4/13/2006
i got an idea. get rid of your stupid cat. cats chug and they chug hard.
Comment 8/18/2006
I agree with philip and jennifer. Cats are gross, disgusting, useless, destructive things. They kill other innocent wildlife and piss all over the place. I hate cats. Dogs are much better, especially jack russells. You can teach them things, they are intelligent and wont piss on you for no reason. Both my dogs are inside dogs and my place smells fine. I have a friend with 3 cats and her place stinks of cat piss, which would have to be the worst smell, I have ever encountered. The cats even piss on the pillows on her bed, YUCK!!
Best place for the cat is the bottom of a bucket of water.
Comment 8/25/2006
Okay, how stupid are some of you? This isn’t just “bed wetting.” When an animal pees on you, it’s claiming you as their own. In there eyes you’re their b**** when they piss on you.
I wouldn’t let him up on the bed again. I’d make sure he knows that you are in charge.
Comment 10/15/2006
We have a female that does this. Have you had any new pets or new aditions to the family lately? Ours does it because she hates our other cat and she’s trying to dominate him by marking all over the house.
Comment 10/15/2006
Doc:
It turns out that this was an early symptom of renal failure, and the cat in question later died because of it, and at only five years old.
Comment 10/19/2006
I feel that cats need something to suck on. I bought a product….the catsifier.. it is a pacifier for cats and kittens
www.catsifier.com or www.woodfordproductions.com
its GREAT
Comment 12/31/2006
Well, I do not like cats but they do not bother me unless they are aggressive. My ex had 2 cats. One was very peaceful, she never scratched me or bit me and I really liked her. The other one was so aggressive that every time I tried playing with him he would try to use his nails to bruise me. I had many cut on my hands just by trying to play with the cat. So I really disliked him while I loved the other cat. I do not know if you had similar experiences. But anyway what really gets me is the hypocrisy of the so called “cat lovers” or “dog lovers”. If you are a cat lover and are concerned with cat feelings then you should also be concerned with the feelings of all of the animals in the animal kingdom. Try for example pigs or cows. How can you discriminate between cats dogs, pigs and cows?
Logically you cannot. You can only say that culturally you have been brainwashed to like one and protect it and kill the other and eat it. Like many things in this world it really does not make logical sense.
Comment 7/24/2007
never take a cat to the vet,you can get free cats,have the sick or injured cat put to sleep,then just get another cat,they are all the same and since you can get free cts it makes any cat easily disposable
Comment 8/12/2007
it peed on you? that’s unnacceptable. my solution? cat kabobs.
Comment 8/21/2007
wait never mind. gross. cats are disgusting. feed it to your dog.
Comment 8/21/2007
Throw the cat out of a window, and never ever think about it again.
Comment 9/29/2007
You’re insain!!!! Cats Rule. All dogs have the freakin IQ of 0.1 I’m terribly offended by all dog lovers/cat haters. And the moron who wrote that last comment about throwin the cat out the window needs to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment 11/1/2007
CATS RULE!!!!!!!!!!! Dogs Suck Im gonna kill all dogs next month!! Yeah!
Comment 11/2/2007
MIKE YOURE A FREAKIN RETARD!!!
Comment 11/2/2007
The cat should be executed immediately for that behavior.
Anyone defending cats should remember that they won’t think twice about playing with your toe tag as they wheel you out of your house for the last time. Your dog will actually miss you.
Comment 11/14/2007
Yanno, i’m here because I am at my wits end, I’ve tried everything to make my female neutered cat stop peeing, but it’s EVERYWHERE and yeah, it’s not the same as a child, having a child is a lot easier then dealing with a pissing cat, Put a nappy on the kid, when toilet training you deal with ACCIDENTS not deliberately pssing on everything in the house like your friggin toaster, heater, clothes etc. Nuh uh, as a mother, it’s just two different things and not comparable.
Anyway, I am here because I have made an appointment to get the cat put down, I don’t want to though.
Weve tried prozax pills for kitty, rules out infections with the vet, ruled out hyperthyroidism, bought feliway (hormone spray) and various other brands of it, nothing works, not cat litter, not sticky tape where they pee,.. she just finds other places.
Comment 12/30/2007
Instead of putting her down, see if you can find a local cat rescue. They might take her off your hands and find a home that’s more willing to deal with the problem.
Comment 12/30/2007