Inappropriate marking:One step forward, two steps back

Merlin's recovery is ongoing, and it looks as though more antibiotics are needed to clear his UTI. For whatever reason he has sought revenge on my bathroom rugs and simply will not stop peeing on them. When we had this issue with Sampson I had to scrub the floors with boiling hot water and vinegar and treat the problem areas with Feliway for weeks. It did work but good Lord it was hard work!
Until quite recently Merlin never covered his stuff in the box either, and I showed him how a few times. I praised him for using the box and covering today, gave him some treats immediately.
Seriously...Stop peeing on my rugs Merlin!!! I use enzyme cleaner after every mess, wash them in extra hot water, we have Feliway plug ins.
We are, however, suspecting a vision problem. Merlin's eyes are a bit cloudy and his pupils do not constrict normally in bright light. My rugs are black and white-perhaps he is mistaking them for something else?
Yet he can chase his toys around and terrorize Sampson...This cat makes me nuts!!!!

OR change your rugs for real kitty toilets... What a strange idea you have, having a rug in the bathroom, when it's clearly the right place for a kitty toilet, everybody says so(Merlin and Samson that's everybody)... :rofl:

DH actually suggested putting a box in the bathroom in place of rugs. He's falling under their spell!!!! Indeed what a silly idea, rugs in the bathroom pfffttt how unreasonable LOL!
Cats: 4 Mommy's Rugs: 0

The vet called this morning. He wants another urine sample. Apparently the vet also thinks Merlin has gone looney Coonie and suggested putting Merlin on Valium for his aggression and marking. I think IM the one that needs the Valium LOL! He's not aggressive with people or female cats, just Sampson. It doesn't help that when he's got Sampson cornered and is pounding on him that Samps can't defend himself and cowers in fear. Had to break up another nasty fight last night....Of all the things, Valium for cats!!

oh - have you tried that other herbal thing that Jacky advised - I can never remember the name - I'll try to find it again. I mean, may be , before you start him up on valium poor thing...
to me it seems to be something to do with Samson's smell that Merlin doesn't like, may be try to bathe them both to see if new smells would help them make friends - but even if it works it might just be temporary though...
how long have you had the Feliway plugged in? it took 3 weeks for it to work on Neevie (to a certain degree - I'm still not sure if that's what worked or if she just became a good girl suddenly)

my "like" button doesn't work again. Otherwise I would have "liked" your previous comment :rofl:

Zylkene is what you are heading for Alekto......xxx

that's the one... thanks Jacky! :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Alekto

oh - have you tried that other herbal thing that Jacky advised - I can never remember the name - I'll try to find it again. I mean, may be , before you start him up on valium poor thing...
to me it seems to be something to do with Samson's smell that Merlin doesn't like, may be try to bathe them both to see if new smells would help them make friends - but even if it works it might just be temporary though...
how long have you had the Feliway plugged in? it took 3 weeks for it to work on Neevie (to a certain degree - I'm still not sure if that's what worked or if she just became a good girl suddenly)

---

That is quite interesting, I'd never thought that Sampson's smell could be an issue. He usually smells like grass, mud, leaves, and whatever else he gets into when he goes outside. However, sometimes Sampson smells, well, like a boy cat and kind of like pee. The Feliway has been plugged in for a few weeks now, and I don't know if its doing anything LOL! Giving Sampson a bath is like wrestling an alligator or trying to lasso a wild horse- equally stupid and dangerous, but sometimes necessary LOL!

I've got a terrible cold and I haven't been able to do much of anything, including get another pee sample for the vet and reschedule Merlin's appointment. The assistant vet at the office wants him on a special renal diet and Azodyl, the main vet wants him on Valium. this.is.NUTS!!!! This morning Merlin threw up a bright yellow mucus-like substance, so pleasant... He's been through a lot, the poor thing. I could imagine any cat would be a little crazy if they were left to starve! He is quite anxious, though, and he cannot get enough of me. If I packed him up in my bag and took him with me everywhere, Merlin would probably be quite happy with that! And it is so strange, weeks will go by where Merlin doesn't terrorize Sampson, and just when I think it's over and they're getting along it goes right back to snarling and fur-flying. I need to get a picture of Sampson when he's scared- it's the most terrified, pathetic face you've ever seen :-( Bengal girl Rose looks on in horror when they fight, puffs her tail up and heads for the hills LOL!

awwww poor 3 of them!
To me, he cries when he pees, he pukes yellow stuff, it does say something physical, not coocoo-ness, no? did he have blood tests done? (I think you said above but don't remember) - may be just in case try to get him on that special diet...
but see, he does attack Samson but not Rose. Something in Samson's smell may be sometimes not all the time makes him anxious... as you say, sometimes Samson smells differently. May be in that case Merlin doesn't really recognise Samson as his usual we-get-along-fine companion and lashes out at that unknown cat on his territory? kind of "where's my Samson and what have you done with him?" kind of thing... Cats do rely on smell a lot....
What I would do is try to take note of what he eats, you know a journal, and see if you find a correlation with the "episodes" - if he pukes or cries more when he's had such or such food then you have your culprit, sometimes it takes a day or two to get through their system so you might not remember "oh yesterday I gave him fish and today he's crying, and the last time he cried he had fish the day before" wouldn't it be great if it were that easy? lol And also try to see how Samson smells when he attacks him (though a smell to you is not necessarily the same smell for Merlin, it's kind of pheromony and therefore not accessible to our noses, but it would probably be a start?) and there are dry shampoos also may be try that instead of wrestling that alligator (I am sure Samson agrees, it would not be clever and why would you wanna do that! lol) if you do, don't forget the face, cheeks, and such, that's where they get the pheromony/identification smells... can't hurt to try... and once again wouldn't it be fabulous if it were so easy! And finally, I would definitely order some of the Zylkene that Jacky talks about... personally I would not like the idea of giving valium to Neevie without knowing for sure if that's what she needs.
Sorry I hope this doesn't sound like "I'm an expert do as I say" - I just share your concern, I have had a cat with a difficult health in the past and I do wish someone had shouted ideas at me to try and understand what was wrong with her, rather than have the vet cut into her straight away with disastrous consequences... :-(

Yes, Merlin had extensive bloodwork done. They checked all major organs, thyroid function, liver, kidneys, blood sugar, everything. All that was found was a slightly elevated blood nitrogen level. He did have the bladder infection: Here's where things get complicated: The main vet thinks Merlin is not having kidney failure and thinks the other issues are psychological. His assistant disagrees and thinks Merlin is in early stage kidney failure and wants him on special food and Azodyl. Whose word do we go with??
There is a strange correlation between Merlin's spitting up and being asked to move off the bed. It's 7:30am here right now and Merlin had been hogging my pillow all night. I picked him up and set him down next to the bed and he suddenly threw up, just like he did yesterday morning!
On a positive note, there's been no peeing since I removed those rugs from the bathroom :-)

ok so couuuuld it be that he's such a mammy's boy, and playing sicky to get some attention? OOOOOOR that indeed he is so anxious that being separated from you makes him ill? oooor that being moved kind of played up with his internal ear and made him trhow up? (didn't he have an ear infection at some point?)
sigh - I'm out of ideas.... :AddEmoticons00920:

Me too LOL!! I try not to move him quickly, so perhaps I did stir his stomach too much by moving him. He is a big baby for sure, total Mama's boy!!
I do tend to believe its Merlin's nerves that get the better of him. When he isn't playing pirate he's playing with his toys, going nuts on the catnip scratcher, or eating like the big piggy he is! Would a very and truly ill cat do those things?
I agree that Valium is pretty extreme and I wouldn't put Merlin on it. He's never once lashed out at people and he's very sweet to the other cats-except Sampson of course. He's just Merlin I guess, tis' himself LOL! (I can see why he ended up homeless...!)
You know, through all of this it's amazing that Merlin does trust people as much as he does. When the rescue shelter found him dumped outside their door, Merlin came out of the wet, filthy blanket and gave the owner a head butt and a chirp. I've adopted two rescue Coonies from her now and she's always so sad to see them go!