Kitty Issues.....What To Do?

[blas]

Baby the cat is about to lose her happy home, and I cannot take her because my lease forbids pets, and I am still tied to this lease until next June, lest I want to still pay $610 a month to break it just to get a place to have her and pay extra every month and have to deal with what she does.

Baby is technically a feral cat who has never become domesticated. She was a wild kitten our neighbor found. She was sweet as a baby, but grew up to be a monster. She's evil, truly evil. But I love my kitty. We "adopted" her at a few weeks old, she's now 9.

We were bad pet owners. My parents never bothered to get her fixed or declawed when she was younger. I couldn't take her at either apartment I've had. My parents never let me take her to be fixed or declawed because they didn't want to get nailed for not having her licensed.

She has, for a while, been spraying when she goes into heat. She also has ripped apart and torn up furniture and started really going after one of their china hutches lately.

Friday was the last straw. She peed on the kitchen table and my parents found a real nice war wound on the china hutch. (She used to tear apart at the wood on the sliding door, but found the hutch to be more fun, I guess).

This morning they gave me a choice. I have until Friday to decide if I can find her a new home (with a friend or coworker), surrender her to the animal shelter, or let her live outside. They are "highly recommending" that I let her live outside, because they let her live outside at our old house.

That was a different place. That was a very cat friendly place, and we lived right in town. There was a feedmill where all the local cats lived.

My parents live right on the edge of town by a wooded area. This is also a town where cats have been shot and ran over just for fun.

But I don't want to lose her forever. I love my cat, too much to give her to a shelter that might just euthanize her if she isn't adopted in so much time. I don't know if it's "no kill" around here or not. I know they'd fix her and give her all the shots she needs, but who would take her? I don't want strangers to have my cat. I've raised her since she was so little she ate out of an eyedropper laying in the palm of my hand and my dad had to give her nightly flea baths.

I'm so sad and torn right now, I don't know what to do.

[protege]

Squirt guns. A blast of cold water might be enough to stop the destructive behavior. Also get some citrus spray. Kitties don't like citrus, and tend to avoid items that smell like it. That's how I got Sally to stop using my (admittedly beat-to-hell) recliner as a scratching post. If that failed, a swat on the tail (not enough to hurt, but enough to startle them) and a stern "BAD KITTY!" usually did the trick.

[blas]

My parents have used squirt bottles on her while she's been in heat in the past, it never worked long-term

Oh, and scolding her? She'll just roll her eyes and hiss at you.

[MaggieTheCat]

Spaying her is the obvious first step to making this situation better. You mentioned that your parents don't want to get caught without a license. Is that something that your city requires? When I lived in Wisconsin, I don't remember needing to register my cat anywhere. I took him to get neutered and the vet never mentioned anything about a license. If you do need to register somehow, what steps are involved? Just paying a fee? Why not just do that? You could also consider getting her declawed, which would take care of the problem of her shredding things.

I'm not sure what else to suggested right now. I'll ask my husband and a good friend of mine who works with ferals a lot. One of them might know more.

[Plaidman]

Um... Protege?
Not to knock your advice, but it isn't training that's the issue.

It's where to put the cat, as parents no longer want it.

[Whiskey]

Never get a cat that goes outdoors declawed. (i never get cats declawed period, its inhumane imo) If they get into a fight with another cat/dog/frog they have no way to defend themselves.

A cat that sprays, claws, is feral doesnt have a great likelyhood of being adopted. Even if you get her fixed now, theres a chance she won't stop spraying anyways. I dont know about the shelters practices, but you can see if they'd take a feral cat. I doubt it, though, since animal shelters are so overwhelmingly packed with domesticated animals as it is.

Find an old lady with a farm, is the best advice I have. My grandma has 10 feral cats that just roam her property. She puts out food and has them fixed by the local feral cat association.

[AdminAssistant]

Honestly, she'd be safer at a shelter than outside. Either way, she needs to get spayed. An unspayed outdoor cat = kittens and unwanted toms roaming around.

[Imprl59]

Wow.. that's a tough one. I think if my car peed on the kitchen table he would be facing the same thing!

I don't know that it would be the right decision but I would let the kitty live outside. I don't think it would stand much of a chance at the pound with all the cute fuzzy kittens looking for homes too. I'm just thinking if it was outside atleast it has a chance.

[blas]

If your car peed on the table, I'd wonder how it got on the table in the first place

In all seriousness, I am leaning towards giving her a chance outside. I know before she stayed within the yard and never wandered too far, but we had a shed that she stayed in there. I have to read my parents the riot act that she be allowed in the back porch when it rains/storms and in the winter, considering letting her live inside, in the basement, because that's where they let FatCat live for a while.

For right now and until Friday, she's living in the basement and hasn't peed anywhere other than her litter box. At least it's a big basement.

[Seshat]

Of course she sprays when she's on heat, it's how she advertises for toms.

The furniture issue can be a rough one - we're working on it with one of ours at the moment. He just really doesn't like any of the scratching surfaces we provide, but loves my recliner and the cane table I have standing beside it.

There's a spray we know he hates - problem is, we hate it too. I'm trying rough-sewing alfoil (tinfoil?) to the surfaces he loves to scratch - he doesn't like the feel of that stuff.

The trick is to make scratching where you want him to scratch more appealing than scratching where you don't want him to. I'm not yet good enough at that trick, but I know the theory.


As for finding her a home - that's really rough. A feral, unspayed cat ... not at all easy. You may find someone who will take her who'll spay her, or will take her if you split the cost of the spaying.