I need help. My cats are spraying! I am a client at Jarrettsville vet. I have 5 indoor/outdoor male cats and 2 dogs and they are all rescues. The cats were dropped off on our road at different times and I brought them in and kept them indoors for a year but they screamed for an entire year and darted for the doors and I finally gave up and let them go out. They have all been neutered and the one female dog was spayed. The cats have a litter box but only use it when it’s raining outside or snowing and even then it’s usually only 1 cat. Otherwise they prefer to come and go through their pet door and relieve themselves outside. I have noticed a few of them over the years spray once or twice but I’ve cleaned up the areas and never had a real problem with it or at least I thought. I recently fostered 2 kittens for 5 weeks. They were confined to a bedroom for the most part but were allowed to roam when my cats were outside. The kittens went to their forever home on Saturday. I have noticed in the last week that 4 of my cats are spraying everywhere!! Repeatedly. One of them sprayed 3 times today within 30 minutes. Twice on 2 different spots on the couch I was sitting on. I cleaned each spot right away as I noticed. I moved to lie on the floor to let my babies and he followed me and sprayed on the built in behind my head. I picked him up immediately and put him outside and told him no in a firm voice. I imagine that the kittens probably have something to do with this since cats are very territorial but I don’t know what to do to get them to stop. I’m not sure if I’m using the right cleaning products. I’m using “no more spray” by nature’s miracle. I don’t know if maybe they have a physical issue going on so I don’t want to rule that out. I’m now wondering if they’ve always sprayed a lot and I just didn’t notice it. But I have a very keen since of smell and I think I would have noticed it. I am NOT giving up my cats!! I love my babies ! I need help to end this! PLEASE HELP!

Hello, I have a 2.5 year old desexed female cat and a 4-month-old male kitten. We moved house 4 months ago, and adopted the new kitten about 3 months ago. In our previous house, we used to let the older cat out during the day to roam the neighborhood, although she never went too far.

Since we’ve moved, we only let her out once or twice a week as there are a lot of cats here and she gets into more fights and has gotten injured once. She seems very stressed out, wanting to go out constantly.

We have tried everything to ease her stress: playing with her a lot, brushing and cuddling her daily, giving her a mix of wet and dry good food (that she likes), putting up Feliway diffuser around the house, and she plays with the kitten daily.

However, she still exhibits signs of stress, ie hiding, minor crouching, hissing or growling from time to time to us or the kitten, sleeps more, meows more, generally less affectionate towards us.

Do we have to let her go outside daily like before, so she can be less stressed, or is there any other way to lessen her stress? It has been 4 months and I am worried it will become chronic stress for her.

The cat i recently adopted has started meowing in the middle of the night and wandering around my room. I always check that he has both food and water as well as accessibility to his litter box. I also make sure to leave my door open so that he has freedom to come and go. Ive had him for 3 weeks and he has just started doing this. Anyone have any ideas? I read that it might be because he is bored through out the day but.. ive bought him every type of toy imaginable and he has free roam of the house.. so im not sure what more i can do to tire him out for bedtime. The meow isnt normal is a low bellowy noise. Reminds me of the meow my previous cat did when our other cat died..

My new cat (have had for 3 weeks) and resident cat refuse to tolerate each other. I brought Louie home with the knowledge that they might never like each other but they would at least learn to tolerate. The first week seemed to go pretty well because when we let Louie roam and get a feel for the house Mia avoided him… but now… things seem to be getting aggressive. It doesnt matter where Louie goes or what hes doing (even just sleeping) Mia wants to attack him. Granted, as soon as he sees her he starts growling… but he only started doing that after she batted at him the first time. The episodes seem to be getting more and more aggressive. I would keep him in my room but its clear he wants to roam. And i find it unfair to lock her in a room after 6 years of letting her roam around the whole house. Before we got mia 6 years ago we had an older male cat, they got along well but he passed about 2 years ago. And according to the shelter Louie was surrendered with a sister but she was adopted without him. I need help on this one

How will i know when my adult cats are ready to be unsupervised? I recently adopted an 8 year old male who was previously bonded with another female (they adopted her and i couldnt let him stay in the shelter alone), and i already had a 6 year old female. Louie seems pretty easy going about the whole thing but Mia still seems skiddish. They only hiss every once and awhile and its usually started by her, im doing all i can to keep him in his own quarters but its very obvious he wants the freedom. It has been 5 days since i adopted him and i am allowing him to roam under supervision. How will i know when its okay to let him out permanently?
I just had to share pictures of my cute babies, 1st is Fat Louie(weighing in at a hefty 22lbs) and 2nd is my beautiful Mia.

Hi Dr. Magnifico. You are our vet to our indoor cats. Last week, we brought in a feral cat that was roaming our neighborhood. Turns out, he is pretty friendly, allows petting and belly rubs. On Monday June 19th, I took him to Animal Rescue, Inc., to be neutered, a rabies shot, and flea control. They also checked for a microchip (none), and I paid to have blood work done to have him tested for feline leukemia. Unfortunately, he tested positive for FIV. I would like to find him a home. I have two questions. Do you know anyone willing to give a home to a big orange friendly male tabby cat, or is there anything you can do to help? Maybe doing a courtesy post on your facebook page? I asked Animal Rescue and was told to put him back outside since he is now neutered. I was shocked they said that, as he could infect other ferals. We are currently keeping him in our basement and I just noticed a tapeworm coming out of his anus. My second question is, can you prescribe a tapeworm medication, without me having to bring him in, since he is FIV feral, and just went thru so much at Animal Rescue? My husband can pick it up after work. If not, can you recommend an over the counter medication to treat tapeworms? I am hoping whatever it is, that it will be something easy to give, maybe something I can put in his food that is tasteless. Thank you. Terri

Hello,
This morning I went to clean my cat’s litter box and found little droplets of blood on the litter box liner, She is drinking normally, however she does seem to be straining to defecate. Otherwise she is roaming around normally.

I am adopting 2 kittens in September. They are currently 6 weeks old and have been going outside for a week. I will be getting them at 16 weeks old and am concerned that they are unvaccinated and have been roaming. Will it be OK to have them vaccinated as soon as I get them and then keep them inside until they have had their 2nd set of vaccinations or is this likely to be problematic given that they will be used to going outside.
I am getting the kittens from a friend not a breeder and she does not vaccinate her cats so there is no way they will have had them prior to me getting them

I have two dogs, who are use to living in a home with a fenced in back yard. I just started a new job, which requires me to travel sometimes and I had to move into an apartment. I’m afraid of them not adjusting very well to living in an apartment where I just can’t let them outside to roam the backyard freely. Also, I had roommates who would let them out when I was gone to work.

As far as boarding for when I travel, I have decided to just bite the bullet and travel the 2 hours back home and let them stay at theVet office. They are use to the people there and I’ve let them stay there for a few hours sometimes during check ups. I trust them more than having to search for a new vet nearby the new city.

I’ve been away from them for 2 months now because this promotion and everything happened so fast. I know my roommates have not kept up with the routines that I do when caring for them. So I have that worry as well. My dachshundlab mix was difficult to train on leash and I still have a few problems with her pulling and slipping out of harnesses and collars (advice on that is more than welcomed). I’ve been lucky a few times with her coming back to me, after a few hours of trying.

I am horrified that this could all go wrong. They are my family and I do not want to lose them nor have to rehome them.

My dog never eats his own poop. So I never pick it up. Yesterday, he ate some poop in the yard. It was a stacked mound of poop, rather than logs that not on top of each other. It was by the side of the fence where my neighbors live, and they have a malamute that is allowed to roam, so I figured that it somehow broke into my fence and pooped there. I actually had seen my dog sniff it but didn’t think he was actually going to eat it because he occasionally poops along the fence and honestly thought it was his own poop.
Then today, just about 30 minutes ago, he ate another poop, in the same stacked mound fashion, except it was by the side of the fence facing the road instead. I don’t get it… How are these poops getting into my yard? How should I exercise my dog now that he ate poop? How do I know when my dog is going to eat a poop and when he isn’t? Please help! 🙁