That’s right. Because there’s not nearly enough going on with the buying of houses and selling of houses and inspections/negotiations/repairs of said houses, the cat has decided to pee inappropriately. (That’s an actual veterinary term, not just me being judgmental.) On my dining room table. Full stop.
Okay, to be fair, she’s peeing on items on top of my dining room table. Not much better, though. I was doing my own at-home diagnoses but after it happened a few times – plus her eye got kind of puffy, and she needed her Advantage anyway – well, I bit the bullet and went to the vet.
UTIs are no joke. I doubt the cat would enjoy it either so better safe than sorry.
Which leads us to behavioral issues. Go ahead, smirk. The irony of my cat having issues isn’t lost on me.
It’s not like this has been an easy couple of months. Mia had finally settled into our family when the holidays started. Suddenly this relatively quiet house – if you ignore the shouts of “GRACIE!” – kept filling up with people.
Then we basically lost our minds, tossing decorations into the attic on Christmas Day before disappearing for a week. We showed back up only to pack half the house and make it vanish over a weekend, and that’s when the real nutty hit.
Photos for the house listing. Frantic cleanings for house showings. Last minute scoop and grabs to tote Mia off for a few hours. The disruption was almost continuous and bless her kitty heart, she doesn’t even know the worst is yet to come.
My big plan at the moment? Buy another litter box.
That’s right. Things I learned from that $100 vet visit:
Number of litter boxes = number of cats plus one. Because sometimes cats like to pee and poop in different places. Or they don’t want to enter a room because it’s noisy. Or they’ve got some other weird cat thing going on. Whatever.
Wipe Mia’s face with a warm washcloth once a day to clear her eyes.
Experiment with pheromone spray. Because apparently all bets are off when it comes to cats peeing on my dining room table.
Riddle from the Middle 
I had a cat called Ticker for five years before Moo was born. She was fine when Sassy was born, watched over her cradle and whatnot, but when Moo was born, she was all, That’s enough with the breeding and she was like NO and peed all over the house. Many trips and monies to vet later, Ticker became an indoor outdoor cat. Then we moved to base housing where one cannot have such a thing and so she became our friend Vee’s indoor outdoor cat and no one knows what happened to her, but she did have a right good life for a good 12 years that we knew her whereabouts.
Every time we have moved our pets have freaked out. Clara’s a shedder, Catticus is a pee-er, and Sadie is a poop on a bathmat kinda gal. I feel strongly that when you settle in, Mia will pee where she should.
For the record, we have three cats and two boxes, all in one noisy laundry room and it is fine. However, when we had a big house (as you do/will) we had three boxes in three rooms for two cats.
Cats are… limited in their expression.
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Indeed. Mia’s not really a caterwauler so I guess she’s stuck when it comes to expressing distress. 🙄
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Animal behavior is definitely difficult to figure out sometimes. We had a cat that ruined 2 chairs in our office because she was mad at HIM. We had to throw them away. But UTIs are serious business, they can kill an animal if they go undiagnosed. Sorry you had to take her in, but hopefully the things you can do will help.. good luck!
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Thank you! Two days without incident so I guess that’s something. And she really does seem to enjoy her new hooded litter box (if the play noises I hear from the family room are any sign!). Fingers crossed!!
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I feel your pain! Cats tend to act up when change is imminent. Controlling little Goddesses!
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The girl’s got a mind of her own, that’s for sure. 😉
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I guess putting a litter box on the table is not actively being considered.
When we moved, one of our cats stayed under a couch for about a month. We fed him under there, but, fortunately, he came out to use the litter box. Good luck guiding Mia through the upcoming changes.
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That’s exactly the image that popped into my head when I burst out laughing in the vet’s office! The look on her face when I mentioned where the cat was peeing… bwahahahaha!!!
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I get this so much having two cats. Our girl cat hits the middle of the tray every time. The boy cat, notbso good. We tried a bigger litter tray. Two litter trays. The bugger still misses.
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Hmmm…it’s almost like he’s *trying* to miss… 😆
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i’m trying to show and sell my house with my cat, too. i totally get this )
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How does she know the absolute worst times to do this?? HOW????
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Best of luck to you. I know hiw frustrating that can be. I had a similar problem a cat who peed on anything that was “on top” of something. Blankets on couches, clothes on floors, magazines on tables. It drove me insane and I never figured out why she was doing it.
I just ended up becoming the tidiest person on the planet. Nothing on top of anything! People used to ask me if I was a minimalist. I would just say, “Nope. Cat owner.”
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Minimalist vs cat owner – there’s the belly laugh before breakfast! Thanks for that!!
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I’m laughing because I am here and Mia is there – on your table, not mine. Hopefully it will all level out and get calmer soon.
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Good thing she’s cute. 😂
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