Topic: Frustrated over Jaffa spraying - latest - he has cystitis (Read 9506 times)

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #75 on:** April 08, 2010, 08:15:26 AM »

Quote from: Desley (booktigger) on April 07, 2010, 10:34:58 AM

Sam has been known to do that to get what he wants, and I did refuse to do what he wanted and it did seem to break the habit eventually, I haven't noticed any spots for a while now.

I suppose I should call his bluff, esp as I have no carpet in the hall at the moment. I ought to try to cure him of this before I get the new carpet laid. No further spraying since yesterday morning, although I did shut them both in the living room for a few minutes this morning when I woke up because I so wanted a few more minutes in bed without the stress of watching Jaffa! I do think it's become a bit of a habit now.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #74 on:** April 07, 2010, 10:34:58 AM »

Sam has been known to do that to get what he wants, and I did refuse to do what he wanted and it did seem to break the habit eventually, I haven't noticed any spots for a while now.

JackSpratt · « **Reply #73 on:** April 07, 2010, 10:24:20 AM »

My neighbours cat Smudge does the same. He doesn't have a cat flap so she lets him in and out, but if he goes to the door and she doesn't "do as he says" immediately he'll find a favourite spot and spray it. (Usually, the fireplace or one of the doors.) Drives her mad.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #72 on:** April 07, 2010, 08:18:00 AM »

Well I'm very annoyed with Jaffa today. He sprayed in the hall last Thursday but nothing since then (the hall is the only place he has sprayed for ages). I admit I try to divert him if I see him heading off down the hall and if when he wakes in the night I go and pull out his litter tray and persuade him to use it then go back to bed knowing that he has an empty bladder

(he comes back on the bed fairly quickly). Last night we did the usual routine although he woke at 3.30am which was earlier than usual. I got up straight away, went into the living room, pulled out the tray and took the hood off (he does use it normally but I know he can rarely resist using it when I'm cleaning it). After a minute or 2 he obliged and did the necessary so we could all then go back to bed. Woke up again just before 6am and with my alarm about to go off. I lay in bed for a moment and watched him get down from the bed and go out into the living room/kitchen. I kept an eye on the door so that I could see if he went past in the other direction towards the place where he sprays. Soon I heard him whining - his usual "I want..." whine and almost straight away I heard him spray. sure enough, he had sprayed the cupboard door in the hall (he sprays either that cupboard door of the front door). I just know that it was sheer bloodymindedness. Yes he probably did want his breakfast but I was about to get it for him (and it was only just over 6 hours since he had his supper) and if I'd got out of bed straight away and given him some attention, he probably wouldn't have sprayed. But I feel as though he's holding me to ransom - if I don't jump to it the minute he calls, he will spray.

Beccles · « **Reply #71 on:** March 20, 2010, 01:43:07 AM »

Susanne, do you have one of the black light thingies to help spot any patches that may have escaped your notice? Might help a bit.. although hopefully sorting out the soggy papers

will too!

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #70 on:** March 19, 2010, 08:15:10 AM »

Right then. I need to give myself a telling off cos I think I am partly to blame for this now as I've just discovered my previous cleaning up attempts where not as good as I had thought. At right angles to the front door is another door to a large cupboard that I use as a store place (think piles of junk! It's my equivilent of an attic!). He has sprayed against that door a couple of times and when I got home yesterday it was a bit wet there. Previously I had opened the door and made sure I cleaned inside the door as it tends to go under the door due to no carpet in the hallway and a fairly large gap under the door. When I was doing that yesterday I realised that more had gone under the door than I thought and that there was some stuff (bottom of boxes and some papers) that were soaked with cat wee!

I think that instead of spraying the actual door, he was probably a bit further away and had directed it more at the gap under the door

Obv it doesn't smell really bad until you get close up cos Jaffa's a neutered cat, but when I pulled some soggy cardboard out and smelled it all became apparent! So it seems there was some wee soaked stuff in the cupboard that had not been removed/cleaned up and obv Jaffa would be able to smell that. So that might account for some of the hall spraying we've had over the past few weeks. It is now thoroughly cleaned so hopefully that cause has been eliminated.

Janeyk · « **Reply #69 on:** March 18, 2010, 08:27:41 AM »

Sounds like it's the upheaval Susanne, hopefully he'll be ok once things are back to normal

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #68 on:** March 18, 2010, 08:23:21 AM »

He sprayed the inside of the front door again yesterday. Poor lad. I can't say I blame him. I had the decorator in stripping the wallpaper in the bathroom and five minutes after he'd gone, Jaffa went to the door and got in spraying position. I stopped him then but when I got back from work he had sprayed it. The hall's full of funny smells (to a cat) at the moment. It still smells a bit damp and musty from all the water then there's the bleach from the corridor the other side of the door, plus any lingering smell from where he's been before (I try to clean it up the best I can but it can be difficult as I can't get my fingers under the door to clean the underneath if any has gone there). Then there's the smell of the workmen coming in and out. So hardly surprising really. I am spraying feliway there but it's not helping. He seemed quite relaxed when the decorator was here as I shut the living room door so that me, Jaffa and Mosi were in the living room/kitchen while the decorator did the bathroom. Jaffa just slept on top of the bookcase most of the time and ignored the scraping sounds. I think it's definitely just a case of marking due to all the unfamiliar smells. I think I will just have to put up with it for now and hope that once the decorating is done it will stop.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #67 on:** March 09, 2010, 08:43:42 AM »

I have spoken to the vet and although he had cystitis a while back, I'm certain this is behavioural. All the disruption and people traipsing in and out of the flat at the moment is not helping. I think he is picking up on my anxiety too. It had been a week since he last did it so Sunday's episode was frustrating. It's hard to know whether he's marking because it smells funny due to the damp, because he can smell all the people who have been in and out or just because he's feeling anxious in general. I gave the hall (including doors and wall) a thorough cleaning on sunday and then sprayed with feliway and put the dehumdifier in the hall to help get rid of any damp.

He woke up last night at 3.30am and, as I've been doing lately, I ushered them both out of the bedroom and shut them in the living room. Then I heard what I thought was the sound of him spraying so rushed into the living room but he hadn't done anything - I am just getting paranoid! I took the lid of the litter tray and encouraged him to use it (he did) so I felt a bit reassured that he didn't have a full bladder! I'm sure he'd have been able to squeeze a bit out if he wanted to mark anywhere

but at least he wouldn't be leaving much. So I just relaxed and let him back in the bedroom and before long he settled down on the bed again. I need to relax around him and not assume he's going to spray all the time. The longer he goes without doing anything, the more I relax which is why it's such a setback when he does it.

Dawn F · « **Reply #66 on:** March 08, 2010, 11:34:22 AM »

I can't remember but did you speak to the vet?

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #65 on:** March 07, 2010, 12:29:17 PM »

He's done it again in the hall. sigh. I think the hall smells of all sorts and I had someone here on friday afternoon sorting out the door locks as they weren't working properly after the door got wet. I don't know whether it's that or something else. I clean the area very thoroughly when he does spray there. He was lying on the bed this morning having had his breakfast when i got up to see what Mosi wanted (he was whining) and that made Jaffa get up. I went back to bed (Mosi had knocked his spider under the sofa and wanted me to retrieve it

) but Jaffa didn't. After a few minutes he started whining and then I heard him spray the cupboard door in the hall.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #64 on:** March 03, 2010, 15:08:38 PM »

Jaffa has wet food only.

Poor lad has a lot to cope with at the moment but he's doing really well. This morning they came to take away the bedroom carpet and someone also came to put some scaffolding up outside (nothing to do with me but they apparently need access to the window in one of the flats above) which caused more noise and disruption.

LittleLijah · « **Reply #63 on:** March 03, 2010, 12:43:14 PM »

Just wondering what if any biscuits you feed Jaffa? My Mums cat had really serious cystitis and the vet said the worst thing to give him is Go Cat.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #62 on:** March 02, 2010, 08:22:26 AM »

Whoever cleaned the corridor on sunday has used something that smells very strongly (probably because the corridor got wet too and was a bit smelly) and the bleach smell is really lingering. I'm cursing whoever it was!

Janeyk · « **Reply #61 on:** March 01, 2010, 17:44:57 PM »

I'm sure things will settle down again once everything is sorted, it's been a bit of an upheaval for him

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #60 on:** March 01, 2010, 17:33:00 PM »

it will definately be the bleach and probably thinks there are other cats out there so is marking his territory

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #59 on:** March 01, 2010, 12:41:21 PM »

Quote from: trigger on March 01, 2010, 12:09:32 PM

cats react sometimes to the smell of bleach, don't they? could this be why Jaffa chose that particular spot?

Yes. When he went there on saturday evening though no bleach had been used. It was on Sunday when that occurred and I do think that may have been instrumental in attracting him back there yesterday evening despite my efforts at cleaning it properly. He will definitely be able to smell it under the door (I could smell it). I am going to put a cardboard box there tonight to prevent him getting too close to the door. The corridor smells a bit yukky in general though and he probably can smell all the people who have been in and out of the flat too.

Kay and Penny · « **Reply #58 on:** March 01, 2010, 12:09:32 PM »

cats react sometimes to the smell of bleach, don't they? could this be why Jaffa chose that particular spot?

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #57 on:** March 01, 2010, 08:06:07 AM »

After a good few weeks, he's done it again. I can't say I blame the poor lad after all the disruption he's had this past week with the flooding and subsequent "flood" of people coming in and out of the flat. I was a bit puzzled by the timing though. On Saturday night he had had his supper, I had done the hot water bottles etc., given them their bedtime treat and all that remained was for me to go to the loo, shut the bathroom door and get into bed. Whilst I was in the bathroom, I heard the unmistakeable sound of him spraying. He had sprayed the inside of the front door. I was puzzled because he'd been relaxed and purry all day and had spent the evening snoozing beside me on the sofa. I'm not sure what prompted him to do it then when he'd been fed and we were all about to go to bed. Then last night a little earlier (after his supper but before I'd done the bottles and given him his bedtime treat) he looked as though he was about to do the same but I managed to stop him in time. He was standing with his rear to the door, tail in the air and looked as though he was ready for action. I felt the wall and door but it's damp there from the flood anyway, so I'm not sure whether he got anything out then or not.

Given how smelly and damp it is in the hallway, plus the people traipsing in and out, I suppose it's surprising he hasn't done this sooner but it is a bit of a blow as he's gone a while without doing it and coped last week brilliantly. I think it is definitely marking rather than urinating on this occasion and he is still using the litter tray normally. It wasn't very easy to clean as, although there wasn't much, because there is no carpet down in the hall, it had gone under the door. I could clean the other side of the door, but there's not enough room under the door to get my hand and the carpet gripper is there too. So I couldn't clean the under side of the door very well. Plus, someone was cleaning the corridor outside yesterday and it stank of bleach which would not have helped. I've sprayed feliway but I think it may be over powered by the damp, musty smell in the corridor (plus the bleach from outside).

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #56 on:** February 19, 2010, 10:41:34 AM »

feliway and cystease have been ordered from vetuk so should be here early next week. I am going to put in an order with zooplus today too, so once I've got extra litter I can set up the 2nd litter tray.

He has tried to go outside of the litter tray a couuple of times this week but I think he is finding places that haven't been cleaned properly. When he had cystitis, I think he went a few places I didn't know about. Not so much that it stinks the place out (hence not knowing about them), but enough to have Jaffa snifffing some areas a lot and then trying to go there. I have cleaned one area thoroughly yesterday but think I need to move everything out and clean that whole area of carpet thoroughly and then clean the toys and stuff that are down there.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #55 on:** February 15, 2010, 16:01:35 PM »

We had a minor setback on saturday (I stopped him in the act and am still not 100% sure he was actually doing anything!) but it was in an area he had been sniffing a lot previously. I think when he had cystitis he went a few places I hadn't found and if there was lingering scent, that might attract him back there.

alisonandarchie · « **Reply #54 on:** February 14, 2010, 20:24:12 PM »

Hope Jaffa will be fine now

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #53 on:** February 12, 2010, 10:33:03 AM »

well it's been a while now since he's sprayed or gone anywhere other than the litter tray. I am still nervous and may have averted a few incidents but I don't really know. Sometimes I think he's going to spray just by where he goes and his posture, but in reality he's probably just squashed into a corner and turning around normally. trouble is, I don't want to find out so tend to distract him and give him attention before he gets the chance to do anything. He does seem to be using his tray happily too. Quite often I will get it out for him to use without the hood and he doesn't want to because he's used it earlier or he just doesn't want to go! So he's not waiting for me to pull it out for him. At one point I do think he was holding on until I pulled the tray out and took the hood off. I get paid next week so will get the 2nd tray set up for him in the bathroom and get some of the other stuff too. The feliway is a priority and I think the cystease. I might get some rescue remedy to put in his water and then next month I am proabably going to get him some zylkene to try.

Janeyk · « **Reply #52 on:** February 12, 2010, 07:21:16 AM »

sounds good

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #51 on:** February 04, 2010, 15:25:25 PM »

sounds positive susanne

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #50 on:** February 04, 2010, 14:58:42 PM »

Jaffa seems fine now. I'm still on tenterhooks and watching him like a hawk but he seems to be using the tray normally and doesn't have cystitis. I am still going ahead with the 2nd tray, cystease, feliway etc. but I won't be able to get it all until next pay day so fingers crossed he has no more little episodes until then.

Christine (Blip) · « **Reply #49 on:** February 04, 2010, 12:47:09 PM »

How's Jaffa, Susanne? Blip is concerned too.

Liz · « **Reply #48 on:** February 01, 2010, 13:50:49 PM »

Zylkene has worked on all the ones we have tried it on here at the Clan so may be worth a shot, also some rescue remedy in the water can't do any harm

Hoping that he gets over it soon

Bazsmum · « **Reply #47 on:** February 01, 2010, 13:39:55 PM »

Zylkene never worked on the two tried here, what about using some lavendar, supposed to be calming!

Leanne · « **Reply #46 on:** February 01, 2010, 13:12:22 PM »

Quote from: Susanne (urbantigers) on February 01, 2010, 10:42:05 AM

I had never thought of zylkene but that might be worth trying too. Jaffa can get stressed easily. He copes with most everyday stresses ok (including Mosi) but sometimes a sequence of events can make him a bit jumpy and I can see him getting a bit wound up. Then all it takes is for me to drop something and make a loud noise or Mosi to jump on him and he gets a bit stressed about it all.

Sounds like Jess, Zylkene has worked so well for us.

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #45 on:** February 01, 2010, 10:42:05 AM »

I had never thought of zylkene but that might be worth trying too. Jaffa can get stressed easily. He copes with most everyday stresses ok (including Mosi) but sometimes a sequence of events can make him a bit jumpy and I can see him getting a bit wound up. Then all it takes is for me to drop something and make a loud noise or Mosi to jump on him and he gets a bit stressed about it all.

Christine (Blip) · « **Reply #44 on:** February 01, 2010, 10:12:28 AM »

Poor Jaffa

Leanne · « **Reply #43 on:** January 31, 2010, 18:32:46 PM »

Quote from: Gillian (Ambercat) on January 31, 2010, 18:30:20 PM

Is it worth trying him on Zylkene too? especially if you think its stress related. I didnt have much luck with it, but I know others have.

Hehe great minds think alike

Leanne · « **Reply #42 on:** January 31, 2010, 18:31:55 PM »

Would it be worth Jaffa trying Zylkene help too?

Gillian Harvey · « **Reply #41 on:** January 31, 2010, 18:30:20 PM »

Is it worth trying him on Zylkene too? especially if you think its stress related. I didnt have much luck with it, but I know others have.

Bazsmum · « **Reply #40 on:** January 31, 2010, 18:29:04 PM »

Aw bless him.... Hope he feels much better soon!

Janeyk · « **Reply #39 on:** January 31, 2010, 18:22:32 PM »

Hope that Jaffa is better soon

tab · « **Reply #38 on:** January 31, 2010, 18:21:12 PM »

Poor Jaffa. I hope he feels better soon. Ive got Amber on cystease and as she had 3 attacks in the last year the vet said to leave her on one a day permantly from now.
love
Tab

Susanne (urbantigers) · « **Reply #37 on:** January 31, 2010, 13:02:15 PM »

Well Jaffa has cystitis now. Or at least he did have yesterday. He used his tray normally but shortly after he started going to it and producing hardly anything. I still have some metacam left from the first time he had it but was wary of giving that as it says throw away after 6 months and it's been open for over a year. I rang the emergency vet and asked if it would be ok to give some to Jaffa as a vet visit would just stress him out more and I knew he wasn't blocked as he'd done a normal wee only a couple of hours previously. He said that as a vet he would he couldn't actively encourage using out of date meds, but that it should be ok and that I should give him a half dose. I did that and as when he's had metacam before, it worked almost instantly. He is fine now, but I do wonder whether cystitis has played a part over the past few weeks. Poor lad. This is the third bout of cystitis he has had in 15 months. I am definitely going to get some cystease and some feliway. I think it is caused by stress as Jaffa is easily stressed. I think he was feelign a bit uncomfortable yesterday when Mosi jumped on him. Then the bin men came to empty the bins (the big communal ones that make a bit of a racket when wheeled along the ground) followed by a neighbour doing some work on his motorbike. Just ordinary, everyday sounds but if Jaffa was feelign a bit stressed to begin with then they happened and then Mosi jumped on him again, I think that just pushed him over the edge. He is using the tray fine today and he and Mosi are ok today (I think Mosi picks up on Jaffa feeling unwell or stressed and takes the opportunity to dominate him).

p.s. the on duty vet had a very sexy voice, maybe I should have taken Jaffa for a visit just to be on the safe side........

Janeyk · « **Reply #36 on:** January 28, 2010, 09:30:29 AM »

Fingers crossed xx

I love the quivery tail, you know they are really pleased to see you then

Author Topic: Frustrated over Jaffa spraying - latest - he has cystitis (Read 9506 times)