Cat moms and human moms

[kaiene]

SB was at the e-vet today because I caught him peeing in the corner of our room. We have been smelling pee for a while not but couldn't figure out who it was (we have 5 cats in case you don't remember me). S has been to the vet already for the same issue, and we have been using rescue remedy with her. It seems to be helping so we are holding off on meds.

We will be starting him on an antidepressant because he seems to be very stressed out about DS. DS is only going to become more mobile, so I think it's time we really get a cat room set up. My issue is where to put it.

The guest room will eventually be DS' room, so I don't think it's a good spot because we'd have to move it. We could do our room. There is already a litter box in there, and there are windows where we can put a cat tree so they can look out. The other option is the dining room. We will be gating it off and DS will only be allowed in there when it's time to eat. The cats love to sit on a bench in there and look out into the back yard. There is not a litter box there currently, but we could consider adding one, like a clever car box.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

We also use Feliway.

[polarbearfans]

I would not suggest a clever cat box or really any covered box since you are having so many issues. With 5 cats I would make sure you have at least 6 boxes in a variety of spots so the cats don't have to cross into another cats territory to use the box. I try to avoid any covered boxes since it sets the cat up for ambush or at least makes them feel unsafe.

[niemand88f]

I think the bedroom sounds better - especially if you can add a cat tree, they'll probably have more places to hide. It definitely wouldn't hurt to add another litter box in the dining room or somewhere else if you can.

[kaiene]

Oct 3, 2012 8:23:36 GMT -5 niemand88f said:

I think the bedroom sounds better - especially if you can add a cat tree, they'll probably have more places to hide. It definitely wouldn't hurt to add another litter box in the dining room or somewhere else if you can.

Thanks!

SB likes to hang in the dining room, as well, so we might try to make it partially baby free in addition to the bedroom which can be totally baby free.
DH really does not want an open box in the dining room, so we'll have to play around with another box location.

[kaiene]

Oct 3, 2012 3:53:58 GMT -5 polarbearfans said:

I would not suggest a clever cat box or really any covered box since you are having so many issues. With 5 cats I would make sure you have at least 6 boxes in a variety of spots so the cats don't have to cross into another cats territory to use the box. I try to avoid any covered boxes since it sets the cat up for ambush or at least makes them feel unsafe.

I know that we *should* have more boxes, but we haven't had such rampant peeing until DS came into the mix. We will certainly consider additional boxes, but I am not sure at this point where we could put them where they would be accessible to the cats but not DS when he starts crawling (he is thisclose).

Currently we have both uncovered and covered. SB has used the covered one, that's why I was considering it if we made the dining room our baby free zone. S is really the only one who won't use it.

Thank you for bringing up territory; I need to get my cat vs cat book back and reread a couple sections.