Sunday, September 27, 2009

I Must Confess, I've Had a Difficult Weekend...

Oliver, the kitten we rescued, has refused to consistently use the litter box. The final straw? He came into the dining room as we were cleaning up from a birthday dinner for a friend last night and POOPED right on the rug by the table! It was horrible. Here we are, having a birthday celebration and we had to stop everything and get out the carpet cleaner to clean up POOP! I should have been embarrassed, but I was just too mad!

To make matter worse, I discovered that he'd been peeing on some curtains. So, after a month of trying different things, I could think of nothing else to try. We made the difficult,but necessary decision to return him to the vet's office. (If you recall, he'd been abandoned there, and we said we'd take him.) I felt terrible for the kids, but I just couldn't handle elimination issues.

So, we loaded him up in the cat carrier and took him back to the vet's office this afternoon. I'm sad that it didn't work out, but I have to admit to being relieved that it is all done. He was super cute, but I don't have to head downstairs with trepidation each morning. I know he'll find a home where he'll be happier. (I think he was marking to try to out rank our 7-year old cat, Sam, but it wasn't working, so he was escalating. Otherwise, I don't know what he was doing.)

What else could I have done? What would you have done?

10 comments:

Tootsie said...

I had to do the same thing with Bumble Bee....maybe your kitten will find a nice farm to live on

Unknown said...

Oh man, I am so sorry to hear about this. Everybody has different tolerances for this sort of things. You need to do what you need to, in order to live comfortably. So sad though, Oliver was super cute. I hope they find them (I'm assuming Slinky went with him)a good place to live.

More Than Words said...

Hi Erin! Honestly, I would have done the same thing. It's too much stress to worry about that on top of what you try to keep up w/ at home.

Tracy said...

That's too bad about your kitty. We had a cat when we were young and had similar issues -- he didn't last too long.

Collette@Jesuslovesmums said...

I totally understand! You did what you felt was best. We have two cats. When Jacob was two we got a kitten but had to give him back because he kept attacking Jacob who just hated it! He found a wonderful home shortly after that!

Love Collette xxx

Anonymous said...

I'm such a doormat, I would have lived with it for ten years. Good for you. That is why we are so done with house pets. I have had my share when the kids were little, but I think you get to an age where you are either done, or you are a cat lady, and I am done. Hopefully he will find a home where he can live safely outside.

DarcyLee said...

We have 2 cats AND a dog and our older cat will spray certain areas of the house because he is so territorial. He will also do it if we don't keep his litter box extremely clean. However, there is no getting rid of him because he is 10 years old and we've had him since he was 6 weeks old. He is also declawed so I wouldn't feel right ever getting rid of him. But, I would have done the exact same thing that you did, especially since you haven't had the kitty for very long. The vet will find a good home for him.

Anonymous said...

Sorry it didn't work out. I've been getting adult cats the last few times for just that reason, and when my cat dies (and it looks like it's going to be sooner then later), I'm done with having pets at all.

Clark said...

I hindsight I think that I can figure out why they were dropped off at the vet in the first place. Maybe yes, maybe no. Anyway, I love my cats, but I can not put up with not using the litter box. The weird thing about it is that they would use it and then not use it. There was definitely a wiring issue with those two. Sad to say, I do not miss them. Their inability to consistently use the litter box greatly diminished my affection for them.

Andrea from The Train To Crazy said...

We had a cat that was a puker. You never wanted to walk around in the dark! She puked all over our bed during an open house once! Nice. Fortunately my in-laws gave her a good home where she can go outside to do her puking :)