Some cats definitely need alone time

When I met Cougar, she was a 12-yearold indoor kitty, a big girl weighing in at over 14 pounds. She lived with a second cat, another female named Sassy. Urine and stool had often been found outside the litter pan, starting two months earlier. It was clear that Cougar was the culprit. With her ample girth, her long-suffering joints had been lugging 50 percent more load than they were designed to carry. I immediately suspected arthritic pain as a factor.

We took X-rays of Cougar’s hips, knees, shoulders and elbows. This poor girl had advanced degenerative joint disease everywhere we looked. Cats never cease to impress me with their ability to fool their families into believing that they are just fine, thank you very much, until it’s late in the game.

There were other stressors for both cats. They had never had access to more than one litter pan. It was scooped just once weekly. It must have been pretty ripe much of the time.

To add further insult, Sassy had been mounting Cougar during the preceding two years. Cougar would hiss and growl when receiving these unwanted advances, causing Sassy to chase her around the apartment. These behaviors were a result of stress and they were the cause of more stress.

I explained Cougar’s and Sassy’s anxiety triggers to their people and emphasized the importance of feline alone time. An Invisible Fence Indoor Avoidance Shield, located at the doorway into one bedroom, allowed Cougar to catch a break. That’s because Sassy wore a receiver collar that prevented her from pursuing and victimizing her subordinate when Cougar retreated to her safe haven.

The litter pans needed a management upgrade. One pan per household cat plus one (three pans total), scooped twice daily, and dumped and washed weekly would provide Cougar and Sassy an oh-so-fresh bathroom experience whenever the whim struck.

I prescribed a medication called gabapentin for Cougar. Added to her food twice daily, it controlled her arthritic pain and her anxiety. Sassy needed to cope better, too. We reduced her stress with the palatable daily supplement Zylkene. Long term, everybody felt better and their bathroom etiquette improved significantly.