Sir Bruce the Turd

[Hound dog]

Bruce has been living with me for years inside. Note that I am NOT a cat lover in any way shape or form. I can be kind to them simply because they are another living being. I can even manage to like one or two depending on personality. But I don't like them in general, and I like their habits even less. Know what I mean?? Bruce is only inside because Darrin found him as an older kitten and a stray who was having a hard time dealing with being tossed out to fend for himself as he was terrified of the outdoors as well as the other cats in the neighborhood. Darrin, age 3 begged me (yes easy child played dirty pool) to please take care of this poor little kitten, pretty pretty please? omg Also note that this has never again worked for Darrin either.

Bruce normally uses the litter box without fail.........even though me not being a cat person I am "inconsiderate" enough fairly often to forget to change the darn thing in a timely manner. So I have worked on getting better and have a set schedule that litter box is changed every sunday morning so that the contents go bye bye with the trash man early monday morning.

This worked fine 99.9 percent of the time. Nor did I fly off in a rage on the occasions when I forgot to change it and he finally couldn't stand it anymore and found a towel on the floor or the bath mat to use. I might have been furious but didn't really blame him as it was my fault so to speak. Although he ruined multiple bath mats that way. I do not wash cat poo, I throw it away.

Now? I don't know what his problem is but he's about to become an outside cat. He's only been an inside cat because he's never given me any real issue over the litter box or scratching things. Three bath mats and 2 or 3 towels over the course of 6 yrs isn't too horrible I guess. I barely tolerate the litter box as it is.........I loathe the darn things and in my opinion it is totally disgusting he goes inside at all.

First there were poo accidents in front of the front door in the mornings. No way was it Maggie, she still sleeps in her crate. I didn't suspect Bruce at first because it did not smell like his (cat poo reeks ungodly to me) and I worried that Molly had finally begun to become incontinent and started steeling myself for the inevitable of scheduling that final appointment with the vet. I came awfully close to making that appointment too by darn, until I happen to get up really early and catch BRUCE pooing in front of the darn front door!! by the way his litter box was clean. I was livid......cleaned it up and tried to figure out what his issue was. Thought maybe Travis was shutting the doors to the bathroom in the middle of the night and forgetting to reopen them so he could access his litter box. So made it a point to tell Travis to keep them open. I have since caught him 3 more times. Open doors and dirty litter boxes are not the issue.

Today I'm cleaning. I spent hours reorganizing the pantry/laundry room so I could put groceries away. (I need about 5 more pantries) I pick up a bag and get hit full in the face with cat urine odor. I was like wth?? It couldn't be too old or I'd have noticed it. Again litter box is clean and although I've been working in the area he had full access to the damn box.

I just gave him his final warning. ONE more time pottying inside will transfer him down to outside cat status, winter or not. I'd already planned to transfer him outside come spring, if he messes up again he won't get that long.

I can barely tolerate the litter box, I do not, will not tolerate him using my house as a toilet. I cared much more for Nichole's cat Willy than I do for Bruce......and Willy went outside for the same reason.

I'm allergic to him to begin with. omg Vent over.

 

[Rabbit]

u might want to take Bruce to a vet to see if he has a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) or physical reason to go outside the box. The vet might also have some insight into the problem. Hugs Rabbit

 

[Hopeless]

Lisa vet visit time. A girlfriend of mine her cat started that and after many trips to vet the cat had Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) but also has to take a Xanax because he is stressed. It started doing this when a new baby arrived in the house. The baby stressed the cat.

 

[TerryJ2]

Does he have his own litter box? My cats share, and it's very unusual. We have the occasional accident but it's always when we are slow to clean.

I know eXACTly what you mean by getting it full in the face, by surprise, when you move something and find cat urine. Arrrgh!

 

[Hound dog]

Bruce is the only cat inside, he has no one to share his box with. Minnie and Midnight are outside cats. Not that I haven't discovered they will use a litterbox......I just didn't need more cats inside. Bruce plays havoc with my respiratory system as it is.

Today is the first urine I found. The rest is poo, solid poo, not diarrhea or even loose poo. Thankfully the urine was in the kitchen on the tile. If it were in the living room or dining room on carpet he'd already be outside. Poo is bad enough, but that urine soaks in and it is next to impossible to get rid of the odor. phew!

I'll keep a close eye on him for now but it's possible he wizzed in the kitchen because he *thought* I was in his way for using the litter box. (one never knows what a cat is thinking) If that isn't it and it continues I'll have him checked but he'll still go outside. Might sound mean but it's an odor issue that I can't deal with, period.

 

[AnnieO]

Being a cat lover who also has a dog...

If Maggie had one single accident there, Bruce may now be trying to mask the smell. Can you smell it? No - but cats and dogs can. This is why it is so hard to "untrain" them once they've gone anywhere a few times.

Same with the bag - it could smell off to him.

Best way to deal with this is - clean the area with half vinegar half water. DO NOT use ammonia. Then put aluminum foil down in front of the door for a few days. For some reason cats do NOT like to walk on it.

I'd suggest some of the enzyme stuff the pet store sells - Nature's Miracle - but it is EXPENSIVE...

 

[TerryJ2]

Have you tried changing the type of litter he uses?

I don't know how cats think, either. Even though I have two of them.

 

[Hound dog]

The last time Maggie went in front of the door in front.......well, I don't think she ever did come to think of it. Kitchen door yes, front no.

Hmm. Terry you might be on to something. I changed his litter recently. Not by choice. I'd been getting a name brand hartz normal type (non scoop, it stinks less) at dollar tree for a buck. My supply ran out recently and they don't have any right now they have another type so we picked it up instead. Maybe it's the new litter.......timing would be about right. Didn't even occur to me as I don't notice any difference. I might have to switch him back to Tidy cats but that is waaaay more than a buck a bag darn it. I was getting off good at 4 bucks a month for litter. I don't know if dollar tree will be stocking any more of the hartz or not.

 

[DammitJanet]

There is your culprit Lisa. They dont like to change litter brands. Just like dogs and food, cats and litter are the same way.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Thanks for adding to my list of reasons as to why we don't have any cats...

 

[Hound dog]

I wouldn't have a cat either if it weren't for easy child setting me up and blind siding me. omg

Some days I wonder if I should rehome him to a family that loves cats. He's super affectionate, which drives me up the wall. lol He doesn't scratch up the furniture or anything like that. (if he did he'd be out lickity split) But cats can be super hard to rehome around here thanks to all the strays having an over abundance of litters. Which is why I'm still feeding Minnie and Midnight........and the new one this year Smokey.

Outside I don't mind them too much. Inside.......well, I just don't really think they belong inside. I suppose it's the way I was raised.

 

[susiestar]

This truly is NOT his fault. It is because you changed litter. They are often SUPER sensitive to it. You might consider looking around to see if another store has the one you were using. Sam's also have a very good inexpensive ltter, though it is the clumping kind. We have NEVER found a non-clumping litter that didn't reek from the first use of the litter. But maybe our cats scratched more than Bruce. Why not send him to live with easy child since Darrin is the one who wanted the kitty? It is going to be SUPER traumatic and hard on Bruce to be suddenly tossed outside. he has ZERO skills to survive ouside with other cats, even if you still feed him. He simply doesn't know HOW to survive and the other cats are going to be horrible to him most likely. Please rehome hm rather than just throwing him out. It is NOT his fault that you gave in to Darrin and easy child, nor that he was not taught how to survive living outside.

I will mention that when I spoke up about making a dog an outside animal for this very issue I was jumped on and accused of abuse by MANY on this board. I was raised the complete opposite of you, Lisa. Our cats were insde and went out when they wanted, but we never had an inside dog because they have to be taken out so often duing the day or they pee/poop everywhere. Cats go inside, but you don't hae to clean up after each mess because they only use their litter box unless they were trained otherwise or their human does something different with the litter that they don't like. Though we have had a couple of cats that would ask to go outside when they had to potty, though we never did train them and I wouldn't know how to train them Occupational Therapist (OT) do that.

I am sorry this is such a problem. I do understand it as I won't keep a cat that potties on things in the house unless it is due to my changing litter or the cat being fixed. I will go back to the old litter or find one the cat likes, or deal with vet issues before I rehome, but I won't keep towels/clothes a cat has urinated on, esp a male cat (they have much stronger smelling urine). They sell an enzyme cleaner for pet stains called "Kids and Pets" that is not nearly as expensive as other brands but works very well, far better than vinegar ever could. in my opinion vinegar just makes the area smell like urine and vinegar and it has NEVER gotten an animal we owned to not wet somewhere. This stuff I recommended? Very definitely did keep other animals from pottying in that area. The cleaner I mentioned is under five bucks for thirty two ounces and very effective.

(((hugs))) I know how frustrating it is to have an animal pottying inappropriately.

I think it would be a good time for your allergies and budget to necessitate moving Sir Bruce to easy child's house for Darrin. Caring for it, incl doing the litter box, could be a good chore for him. You would be the nice Nana who raised the cat until Darrin was old enough to be responsible for him, Know what I mean?? How could easy child resist, esp if you asked in front of Darrin AND went on about how bad your allergies are with a cat in the house.

 

[Hound dog]

Having animals, even pets, outside is far from cruel. That is absurd.

I'll concede that people are often neglectful and sometimes cruel to their outside pets, but that doesn't make them living outside a cruel act in and of itself. An animal is not human, no matter how much we love them and attempt to make it so. And I could care less if that is currently "politically correct" or not. It's the simple truth.

Rowdy was born outside, has spent his entire 14 yrs outside. He's always had a good dog house and his kennel so he doesn't have to be hooked up to a chain/lead 24/7, and a yard to romp in for exercise. During winter his kennel and house is insulated with straw to help keep him warm. I have no doubt it works for him. Despite being an outside dog, he's lived quite a happy spoiled life. Would I do it again? Probably not by choice as it's more difficult in my opinion to make certain you're giving them plenty of attention.

Does this happen with every outside dog? Nope. Not going to say it does. Although most I've known it has been that way. I know it was for all our dogs growing up as well........and they were on a chain most of the time. I don't care for chains though, not like that. Depends on the set up though. I've seen dogs living on leads that spanned the entire length of their yard giving them plenty of roaming room without getting tangled. But whether they're mistreated or not depends on the owner, not whether they live inside or not. People tend to believe that having the dog outside will be so much easier than inside when the opposite is true. At least in my experience.

(I'm not talking about dogs bred specifically to be inside lap dogs either that is a different story altogether)

Cats? I was an adult before I saw my first inside cat, and I thought it was ridiculous. Here you fix up this box so they can actually potty in your house (of all places, same folks would die if their dog did that) and pay money to put stuff in it so it doesn't reek up your house. They declaw them to prevent them from destroying the place with scratching or let them scratch and ruin everything.....just to have it inside. They got the cat up on surfaces where they're going to put their food and eat. The same cat that goes in that box and covers it with his feet. (that is beyond disgusting by the way) And some how all of this is a "good" thing and acceptable. Uh, no. It's not the cats I mind so much, it's their habits when inside that totally turn me off. Ick and destructive.

You're just not going to convince me that a cat belongs inside when you have to set up an area for them to potty inside. Not happening. Defenseless kitten yes, cat no.

Now, just like with dogs, if you have a person who tosses their cat out and just forget about them.........no shelter, no food, no attention whatever.....well, that IS cruel. Otherwise cats, like dogs, have been living outside for thousands of years. Contrary to current "politically correct" opinions, there are many cats who actually prefer to be outside rather than inside. So there ya go.

My outside cats (by default, they adopted me not the other way around) don't have it so bad. They've never skipped a meal and are on the plump side. They have a nice shelter on the porch facing out of the wind insulated with straw to hold in body heat....on the porch to keep it out of the worst of the weather. Trust me, when I'm outside I can't ignore them if I wanted and I must be doing ok in the attention dept because they're as affectionate as Bruce.

During horrible weather outside animals are brought inside. A PITA but I am not cruel. (which is how I know the outside cats can use the litterbox)

easy child has too many cats of her own to take him, which is why I got stuck with him. Three of hers are now outside cats. Simba because he reached a certain age and flat out refused to use the litter box. (so what else do you do with a cat like that? hmm? No Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) nothing, just refused) Two others who just prefer to be outside and spend 99.9 percent of their time out rather than in. Nichole has too many animals to even consider asking.

I've attempted to rehome him over the years. Ask step lol Almost had my sis from Texas talked into it but she didn't want to deal with a cat that long in a car. People come here and fawn all over him and he eats it up. He's not the least bit shy. He has no horrible cat habits, other than what appear to be normal cat behavior. Problem is they don't leave with him.

His transfer outside wouldn't be sudden, unless this potty issue just became severe. Nor is it "unknown" to him. Once he grew into a cat, Bruce goes in and out as he pleases. I make no move to stop him. He's even stayed out overnight because he didn't ask to come in before I went to bed. He doesn't leave the yard nor more than Minnie or Midnight do. But if he continues to go poo all over the house he will be eased outside completely unless someone suddenly decides they want him. (which hasn't happened in 6 yrs so doubtful it's just going to magically happen)

If that is "mean" or "cruel" then so be it. Then we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[AnnieO]

Not mean or cruel, because honestly Lisa I know how you are with your strays. Have seen it... And Bruce is, well, special. I love cats but darn it he drools!

I do think it is probably the litter change. Weasel was like that, Possum is plain persnickety and Squirrel is not so much.

FWIW, Kroger carries decent non-scoop litter for like $2 a 30-lb bag...

 

[Hound dog]

Well, in his defense.......he's reluctantly using the litter today. I can tell he's not thrilled with it.

I'll try the kroger litter, especially if it's that cheap. Maybe he'll like that better. Could be something with the texture or whatever with this one. Who knows.

And yes, Step, he drools. LOL I forgot about that. Actually he hasn't been doing it so often lately.

 

[DammitJanet]

I wont have another cat. I love them, I really do and when I watch all those cat shows on Animal Planet my heart tugs. If I ever did get another cat it would be after all my other dogs were gone and I decided to breed cats and I have one specific breed of cat in mind. They look just like little leopards. Cant remember the name right now but they are cute as all get out. Expensive too.

I had cats as a very young child but found out I was allergic. Got them again as a teen and my allergies must have gone away. I snuck kitten into my bedroom from my best friends litter and kept it for over a week before my parents found him...lol. That was Shakespeare. When I got with Tony I ended up with big black female (Sammy) who ended up giving birth and we got rid of most of the kittens but kept a male...Samson...get it? LOL. Then I made the fatal mistake. I went to a yard sale and came home with a calico. Oh my gosh. Pretty little thing but they are breeding machines. Next thing I knew I must have had 15 cats. They had to go.

We got to where we now live in Jamie got one cat...a fixed cat..named Tigger. We had him until he died. Then Cory found a little gray kitten with white paws in a trash can at the park and brought him to the house. We named him White Sox. Sox really. Sox would never leave the house. He was afraid of grass. I think it was his time before the trash can. We had him for a long time. Then Jamie dumps a pregnant cat on us when Billie was pregnant saying she couldnt be around one. Oh BS. As soon as that cat had kittens and they were weaned..they all magically disappeared. We did keep one but I have no clue what happened to it. They went in and out and one day it just never came back. Oh well. We didnt want them anyway. I have forbidden them from giving us anymore animals.

 

[susiestar]

I completely agree that for the most part having an outside animal is in no way cruel. As long as the change isn't very sudden and abrupt, making Bruce an outside only cat would be doable and not cruel. The dog I grew up with was almost 100% an outside dog. When we got her, the vet told us to make a choice and stick with it. He said half in and half out would not be healthy, but either having her outside except for some family time each day inside or having her inside except to go out to potty would be fine. Dad built her dog house and it actually would get too hot in the winter and she would end up going outside her house because that. It had more insulation on each side incl top and bottom than my first house had. When we moved and had the file from the old vet, the new vet kept insisting we had the wrong year because she simply could NOT be as old as her paperwork. When that vet retired and we changed vets? Same thing. At age 14 the vet kept insisting that she couldn't be older than 10 at the oldest. We feel it was largely due to being consistent with her as an outside dog rather than going back and forth. she actually didn't like being inside for long periods. Even in the bitter cold she wanted to go outside after an hour or so. She was about the happiest dog you could run across right up to the end. Not real smart, but very happy. She had too much of her momma in her to be very smart.

I hope that Bruce gets his head turned around, and starts to use the box with the new litter. When you pick up the Kroger, start off mixing about half the old, or whatever he is starting to use now, and half the new, rather than going cold turkey from one to the other. It can minimize the problems.

I hate declawing. in my opinion it is cruel.

 

[AnnieO]

When I was 9 my parents got me a Samoyed - primarily outside dog - but this was in El Paso TX... When we moved to Ohio when I was 14 (almost 15), Dad put insulation in her doghouse but she gradually became a mostly inside dog until she passed away when I was 21...

 

[Hound dog]

I'm no great fan of declawing either, which is why Bruce still has his.............. But I won't say I've not been tempted more than once when he attempts to show me lovies and digs them into my leg. Hurts like heck! He doesn't scratch the furniture. Then again he won't use his scratching post either. It's now the living room door stop. lol (and Molly likes to scratch her fanny on it) Once I found out how the claws were removed........oh heck no! But then I don't agree with tail docking and ear cropping either unless it is for an actual practical use and you plan to use the animal for the reason it was done to them.

Most people are astounded with how old Rowdy is, especially since he just started showing his age. And no, he doesn't like it inside.......even in sub zero weather.......for very long. He'll drive you insane to let him out again after a few hours. We're about to go nuts if we need to keep him in over night due to temps. Hot weather isn't much of an issue. I give him something full of water to lay in, which he's always enjoyed.

Vet isn't so shocked though, nor do they act like I'm mistreating him having him outdoors either. 14 is a bit long for an outside dog, but they said if the dog is well cared for that 12 isn't unreasonable to expect depending on breed. But shoot, look at Molly, she's been inside 90 percent of her whole life and at 12 she's worse off physically than Rowdy in many ways.