Luna has peed again

[Kirsten]

I know, this is getting old, but every time it's happens, it's a new disappointment for me. This time, it was the bed in the cat room again (even though it has been sprayed with Feliway!). I'm starting to worry it might look suspicious to my landlords when I have the same blankets out for drying every couple of days!

I'm starting to believe she'll never stop doing that. She's done with her antibiotics and it looks like it didn't help. I was so hoping it was only medical related, like the last time, but now I fear it has something to do with Lily.

I'm going to order new Bachflower remedy for her tomorrow, as a stress relief. I don't want to put her on kitty prozac because she is already such a quiet and lazy girl who isn't very active. But I think she has some emotional things to deal with. She isn't the type who complains, but she's retiring into herself instead, and this is what she's doing, I think... But she even has started doing that before Lily has arrived. Maybe the last 9 months have been too much for her: the move, my job loss (the first one which happened under very bad circumstances which resulted into depression), her bladder infection earlier this year, her surgery, Lily's arrival... My poor girl!

Kirsten

[Cataholic]

Kirsten,
This was happening before Lily's arrival? I think I might have her rehecked. And, let some time happen. Have you tried communicating with her? Asking her to let you know what is troubling her? I have a book at home, and I am going to take a look at it..and see what it has to say. Also, have you followed Jen's trials with Jim and Sterling? Have you done that? I wish I could physically DO something for you and Luna.

[Kirsten]

Cataholic, what I meant was that her detaching from me has started before Lily arrived, not the peeing attacks (she did it earlier this year, too, but then they found struvite crystals and after a treatment + diet, it stopped. And this time, there are no crystals again).

I try to communicate with her, but she won't let me. And we hardly have any time for our own. During the past days, Luna has made some attempts to get closer to me again, but Lily destroys them all. Like just now:

I was typing here at the computer, and Luna jumped onto the desk and laid down next to the keyboard (which she used to do until she has started detaching from me earlier this year). But as soon as she has laid down, Lily came, also jumped onto the desk and started catching her tail. Luna immediately jumped down and left the room, and her disappointment was almost physical! I'm feeling so sorry for her! I wanna hug her and tell her how sorry I am for her and that she's still my beloved sweet little girl! But every time I'm approaching her, Lily comes between us. It doesn't even work to close the door behind us, because Lily would cry outside and that means extra stress for Luna.

And yes, I followed Jen's story, but I don't want to seperate Luna and Lily. it's not that they don't like each other, they play and sleep together and Luna is even "nursing" Lily, so I'm afraid a seperation would do damage to their friendship!

But yes, it would be interesting to know what your books says!

Kirsten

[nodgeness]

Kristen,
My cat Squeak likes attention on her terms. Bernie loves attention all the time. There are many times when Squeak decides it's her turn & she'll lay on the bed or find us & lay on the floor (which means come pet me). When we start to Pet her Bernie will sometimes Jump in between. When he does that HE gets in trouble. We yell NO, & he looks a little disappointed but Squeak stays there. Now when we didn't yell @ him she would run off and hide & it wasn't fair to her! Now he knows when it's her time he can wait his turn. Yes, he still will try to attack but we watch out for him & don't let him do that. Since then she seems more tolerant of the things he does.

You might want to try telling Lilly NO when Luna is in your lap. 10 minutes of Luna seeing you tell Lilly no may help.

[Kirsten]

I hope Lily will accept such a "no" sooner or later, so far she doesn't!

Right now, there were two more tries from Luna to be close to me, and she growled when Lily showed up. I put her down to the floor (Lily, I mean) and when she continued to come back, I brought her out of the room and locked the door. But like I said, when Luna heard Lily crying, she wanted to know what's going on and gets up.

To make a long story short, in the end it's always Luna who leaves the room. But these days, I definitely got the strong feeling she wants to tell me something and just doesn't get a chance to do it!

And, as I have to admit, it's hard sometimes not getting angry about Lily even though it's not really her fault - she's just a little kitten!

Kirsten

[nodgeness]

Kristen, I understand!!!! Bernie was a little guy to & I felt horrible telling him "no" when all he wanted was my attention. But he has my attention all the time! Squeak only allows certain times (normally in the evening) when she wants our attention. My BF & I normally switch, he plays & pets one & I do the same w/ the other & then we switch. When he's not hom I used to have to tell Bernie no & put him down over & over again till he got the idea.

I must say for a few months that "No" thing broke my heart but in the end it was worth it.

Now when we're giving Squeak attention, Bernie will just sit there & wait his turn. He knows he'll get one!
Good Luck!

[Kirsten]

Thanks! I hope things will work out like that here sooner or later.

I'm single, so I'm the only one they're getting attention from, and Lily gets a lot, because she's the one coming to me when I'm reading or watching tv, she would curl up next to me and sleep there, while Luna is on her own. Sometimes she would show up and look at us, and then I'm talking to her and try to encourage her to join us, but sooner or later she walks away.

I hope Lily will accept these "no's" when she gets older, so far, she's totally ignorant to that word - and she's hearing it all day! LOL

I would like to believe Luna gets some satisfaction from hearing Lily being told "no" all the time!

Kirsten

[jenluckenbach]

Just because the antibiotics are finished does not mean the infection is gone. Is Luna due for a follow-up urinalysis? I was just today reading in cat fancy magazine how some infections take 4 to 6 WEEKS of treatment to prevent reoccurance.

And can you refresh my memory about how many litter boxes you are using right now? 3 of them would be ideal in your situaton, and preferably NOT all in the same location. Maybe Luna just wants another choice in "pottys".

[nodgeness]

When your sitting on the couch w/ Lilly & Luna walks in.....(if you don't already) try getting up & sitting on the floor w/ just your hand sticking out. This will make Luna wonder what her meowmie is up to. w/ any luck she'll end up walking over to you, smelling your hand & then lay down to let you pet her. MAYBE!!!! This is a game now that Squeak plays.

[Uabassoon]

I'm sorry to hear about Luna, Jen did bring up a good point about the litterboxes. Maybe if you add another one or two it will help the situation.

[slick]

Kirsten I'm so sorry you are still having to deal with this. I sure hope another litterbox will help.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Kirsten, I don't have any advice but I'm also sorry that you're having to go through all of this. Like Jen said it could still be medical because Luna's might have a very strong infection and may need different pills or need to take them for a longer period of time. I sure hope that everything will work out soon.

I can relate to the jealousy thing that you're experiencing. I just realized tonight how jealous Storm is of Cirrus. He's been lashing out at Cirrus and chasing him under my bed or bathroom lately. Storm wanted and needed a lot of extra attention tonight so I gave it to him. While I was doing this, Cirrus kept coming over and tried to butt in. Storm didn't like this at all. Later on he chased Cirrus again.

Every day Cirrus comes up to me for pets and enjoys it very much but Storm only occasionally will come up for pets.While I'm petting Cirrus, Storm will sit there and glare at him. Now I'm going to try to pet Storm for longer periods of time and more often to see if I can solve this jealousy problem. I sure wish that we were able to talk to our cats. It sure would make things much easier.

Good luck and take care.

[bisi.cat]

I know that this might sound a bit weird, but I think that cats pick up our moods, as they are very sensitive regarding their surroundings...could it be that Luna has picked up your mood, being a bit unsecure at the moment?!
Maybe she feels the stress the same way you do and seeing you unhappy makes her feel unhappy, too!?
Maybe she has felt this before at the time when you've inteneded to take Lily in and wasn't sure wether it worked out with Luna and you've been worried?!

I know your current situation isn't very supportive but try to be positive when Luna is around and try to not worry so much about the two sweeties...

As for a health reason...could it be that Luna instead of having her special diet only also eats from Lily's food?!

If you have a gut feeling that it's a health issue, you should have her checked again!!!

However: GOOD LUCK!!!

[Kirsten]

Jen, I have planned to get another urine sample from Luna next week (this week my vet is on vacation) to be sure the bladder infection is gone.

And yes, I have three litter boxes, they are in two different rooms. I clean them very well (several times a day) because I know Luna cannot stand dirty boxes, but I don't think this is her problem at the moment. But box #4 is worth a try!

nodgeness , I'll try that with Luna on every occasion now, and she's responding very well - of course only as long as Lily doesn't interfere. I'm sure Luna desperately needs some extra time with meowmie, but she's not the demanding type.

bisi.cat , I'm sure this is at least part of the problem! Things worked so much better when I was still at work, I think the problem only occurs when I'm around much - so it's either my stress they're picking up or it's jealousy!

And yes, Luna is sometimes eating from Lily's bowl, but according to my vet, she doesn't need her diet anymore because there haven't been struvite crystals this time. She's eating Hill's Indoors now which she has to do because she would constipate without that.

Kirsten