WFMW: The Backwards Edition
April 1, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under General Housekeeping and Homemaking
Welcome to this week’s Works for Me Wednesday. This week the theme is for you to help me solve a problem. Are you ready?
It was a hot August day in 2007. The kids were making me totally crazy and I had not been given time away from them for many days (or weeks). I informed my husband that I was going out and he was going to watch the kids.
After dinner that night, I went to Target and some other stores. My husband called me while I was at Target and said something like, “Can you pick up some cat food and some flea shampoo?”
“What!!!!????” I did not want any animals. I already had a two and four year old and I didn’t want anything else to clean up after.
I got the cat food and the flea shampoo and when I got home I found this adorable little kitten that couldn’t be more than seven or eight weeks old. My husband and I gave her a bath that night and she had at least 50 fleas on her tiny little body. She was very skittish, but wanted to be loved and taken care of. A cat is my favorite animal and so I gave in to keeping her. We got her shots and had her spayed.
Fast forward one and a half years later. Paisley is a monster!!! Paisley does not come when you call her. She is not lovable. She does what she wants when she wants. She has scratched the kids and me on numerous occasions. As you can see in this picture, she comes running as soon as I take the clothes out of the dryer and she lays on them. She refuses to drink water from a bowl. She will only drink it from the bathroom sink. I read that it was inhumane to have a cat declawed, but let me tell you, this cat is about to get it! She claws everything, including my new $1200 mattresses! She has even clawed up my leather recliner. And here’s the newest thing she’s doing . . .
She is peeing on towels!!!!! Ugh! This just started this week and she has already peed on THREE towels. And yes, I have checked and changed her litter box. We are still using the same kind of litter. I don’t know why she is doing this. I try to get the towels up off the floor as soon as possible now. Last night the kids took a bath and I went into the bathroom to pick up the towel and she had already peed on it. Enough is enough! I told my husband to go get her. She got her nose rubbed in the smell and she was severely scolded.
Seriously, I do not know what to do with this spoiled animal. I’d throw her out the door, but I don’t want her to have fleas. Someone please tell me . . . is it possible to train a cat?
cat image by Karen Weideman
I would think it is. I’ve heard people potty training cats before. I’ve never done it myself but we did teach a cat to chase a ball and bring it back. Love your post I was wondering about that picture.
I don’t understand it. She’s been potty trained the whole time we’ve had her. I’m thinking this is a behavioral issue. She’s such a brat!
Paisley needs a vet, pronto. Sudden peeing in new and inappropriate places is usually a sign of a medical problem. Even if it is not a medical problem, your vet may be able to give you advice on behavioral issues as well.
Thanks Jen. I had just called my neighbor yesterday to get vet recommendations (we’re new to the area). When I take her for her shots, I’ll mention the peeing issue.
I had a cat who seemingly loved to pee on towels – when i asked the vet about it, she said that a) cat could be super picky about how clean the litter box is b) the cat has a UTI. in this case, my cat had a UTI.
as for her drinking habits, some cats prefer to drink moving water rather than still water – it might be worthwhile to go get one of those cat drinking fountain things. a friend has one and her cats LOVE it!
I’m not a fan of declawing cats, but with that having been said my current cat and my last cat were both declawed by us. There are some cats who just don’t seem to want to bother *not* using their claws! I fought for months against my husband about declawing them, but in the end, the claws had to go. The procedure isn’t as inhumane anymore as it once was.
I don’t know if all cats are trainable, but to some extent it is def possible to train them.
good luck with your kitty!
For the clawing issue, you could try something like Soft Paws.
Not later, not tomorrow, today.
Call the vet TODAY and say “my cat just started peeing on towels”
The vet will say “bring the cat in.”
and if the cat has a UTI, the vet will fix it before the cat gets desperately ill.
Waiting can cause all sorts of misery.
I so understand! But my terror cat has had pee issues since he was a kitten. So we got rid of all the carpeting in our house and it stopped, for a while. Then he switched to clothes or towels left on the floor so we improved on that issue. And now when he gets mad, he pees on DD’s bed and if we go away for a weekend, on our bed. He’s also peed on the couch. He’s been to the vet many times and although he’s had UTIs at other times, his pee issue is not medical, it’s behaviorial. Currently, what’s working best is to clean out the litterboxes about every other week – that means completely remove all litter and put in new litter. And that’s working.
As for the water issue – when he was a kitten, he wouldn’t drink from his bowl. He would always find my cup of water and drink it. After DH grossed out from me sharing with the cat, he got his own cup of water. Our second cat, born in our garage, doesn’t know that normal cats drink from a bowl because she’s only known cups.