THE NEW CAT ROOM! (or the Cat Room #2)

Hmm. Luring her with the soiled shoe might work. Maybe create a new association for her.
I really don't wanna lock up my shoes. I guess it wouldn't be the end of the world tho.

Biscuits is a cutie.

I think someone photoshopped Louis.

As Ben Franklin would say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." And, I might add, the inconvenience of locking up your shoes is far less than the inconvenience of slipping your toes into a shoe filled with kitty doo.

Hi flushd

Has anything new & different occurred in your household? Some change that could be upsetting your younger cat? Is the older cat being aggressive toward her for some unknown reason, perhaps? Could there (perhaps) be a new cat outside whose casing your house, spraying maybe ...? (very threatening!)

I've had changes of behaviour like this occur with some cats I've lived with in the past & it's generally been because they've been upset for one reason or another ... like a new addition (feline or human) to the household the cat feels nervous about ... an upsetting change of the cat's daily routine .... cat disputes over feeding arrangements ... aggressive, spraying tom cat visitors laying claim to the outdoor territory of the home .... any number of things are possible. But for some reason or another it appears that your 2 year old female cat a bit tetchy right now, uncomfortable, or frightened, even. She's telling you about it! The trick is to find out why, and if at all possible, eradicate the cause of the upset. This is not always an easy thing to do, I should warn you.

thanks, msolga.
I suspected she might be upset about something, but I can't figure out what.

She used to have a scratching problem, and I found a cure for that by setting up an 'Essa corner'. It's her own little place to hide, and no one is allowed to touch her there or intrude on that space. She goes there when she is stressing.
She has been stressing about something, poor little pooter.

She is the aggressive one! lol. She chases my old girl around and always wants to play. She also seems to be constantly fighting for more territory with Chubs. I wonder if she feels she has enough space, maybe? And Chubby wants nothing to do with it. She wants to just sit and enjoy her meals.

No new cats or people. Feeding is regular as always. I haven't moved their stuff. No change in the place that I can think of at all.

I didn't think of outside elements or Toms though. It's hot here now, so the animal population is active outside. She spends a lot of time at the window. There are trees, birds, squirrels, and most likely strays running about.

Also, I thought of something else: I got Essa from a friend who told me she had been spayed. I am now starting to wonder if that is truth. I will book an apt. with the vet.
Could that cause it - if she is not spayed? She has been very high-energy. Spring heat?

Oh, it could, flushd, especially if Romeo cat is lurking amorously in the neighborhood!

Another possibility: perhaps Chubby was getting tired of being constantly annoyed by this young whipper-snapper & retaliated? (It happens!) Are they acting differently towards each other? Any avoidance on Essa's part?

Another thought: do they both use the same litter box? Essa could be avoiding any form of contact with your older cat, especially if there's been a bit of a falling out between them. This could lead her to poo in your shoes instead - a safe & friendly place! :wink:

Anyway, flushd, good luck with finding a solution. Not nice at all to have that done to one's shoes!

Thanks for the help, msolga.
Litterbox: she's got her own. I don't think they are on the 'outs' but its possible.
I've lock up my shoes for now and take her to the vet. Figure it out.

Really, if this is my biggest worry with them, it's pretty good.

flushd, I so know what you are going through... When we got our cats, Mysan was peeing in shoes, on bags, on our bed. But that was because she was so young and small and insecure and it just took some time and a lot of love to settle that. So at least we knew the reason... I keep my fingers crossed for you and your cats.

We got back from our vacation on Sunday. Nisse and Mysan had a great time with our neighbour and were also happy to have us back. Right now, Mysan is sitting on my lap, watching the screen. Nisse seems to talk even more than usually - but I guess he has a lot to tell since we were gone two weeks...

Aw, that's nice, urs!
Apart from missing your two preciouses, you had a good break?

Yes, msolga, we had a great time! We drove through Germany from South to North, stopping in Cologne. Then we took the ferry to Denmark, stayed there with a friend for one night and travelled on to the family in Gothemburg/Sweden where we spent one week. BigDice's sister has two cats so we were not completely catless :-) On the way back we stopped in Hamburg for two nights to see the city and my nephew who lives there. Finally, we took the car train back South. It was wonderful!

Sounds great, urs! So back to work on Monday?

We got back Sunday, I took Monday off and today (Thursday) is a holiday in Germany and I am taking tomorrow off, too. So I had to work for only two days! What a perfect start! :-)

It certainly is!

May all who live in this great country have a safe, happy Memorial Day weekend!

Memorial Day

I got to see Stanley today, here he is:













Paddy at work ... he just looked so comfy I couldn't resist!

after those lovely pictures of little Stanley, Paddy suddenly looks enormous!

both of them beautiful

I think he is enormous, Vivien!

Yo, Ma! I'm still waiting for you to give everyone the update on my back because you know all the medical lingo!

RAE!!!!!

Hi Miss Eva! It is so good to see you after such a long time! I hope this finds you well, happy and staying out of trouble!

In my last post on this thread I said I was waiting for Mom to fill ya'll in on the latest with my compression fracture to the lumbar vertebra. Tonight she told me to go ahead and explain it myself ~ and if I make any boo-boos, she'll correct them.

I had my MRI done Thursday night and it wasn't nearly as bad as a lot of folks told me it would be. Didn't hurt that they gave me a darvocet thirty minutes before the test ~ they had to wake me up when it was over!

On Friday I saw Dr. Helmy and we looked at the results together. When we took the original x-ray, he said I'd lost thirty percent of the lumbar vertebra. Upon seeing the MRI results, that number has increased to fifty percent.

Before the MRI, he was all for me having a procedure called a KyphX Balloon. A balloon is inserted into the fracture to bring the vertebra back to its original size. The balloon is then removed and the empty space is filled with bone cement. From what I understand, even though the procedure works, similar problems have a tendency to occur later in other areas of the spine.

Anyway, seeing the MRI blew the KyphX idea right out of the water. Mom could explain it better.....It would appear that a bone fragment is trying to root itself into the fractured space. Dr. Helmy said that if he tried the balloon procedure, chances are very high I would end up paralyzed.

So, we're going with natural therapy. I have a brace to wear during the day to keep my spine from curving and making the fracture worse and I have a heavy duty velcro belt to wear at night. I'm hoping the belt will shrink the tummy a bit, but I might be dreaming there.....!

In keeping with the thread topic, Lacey and Stanley are both doing well. Stanley uses my leg to climb up on desk and he could care less if I have pants or shorts on. I'll have more pictures for Mom to post soon.