Yowie  I had to put dumplin on our Florida room separate from the pack
after medication  behaviorist and multiple vets Dumplin still has bathroom
issues along with territorial issue  after all these years
he refuse to change so he stays away fro the rest of the pack

But purrs in route

Has Shadow been checked for thyroid problems?  I would be surprised if this
were the case because that usually develops later in life.  However, one of
the signs is often excessive crying/howling.  It is also easily treatable.

MaryL

I'm sorry she's turning out to be such a difficult cat. Poor thing, she
must be unhappy to be acting that way. Clearly the humans are not thrilled,
either! How do Suki and Pickle respond to her now?

Last year, I bought some Feliway for Enfilade, who couldn't find it in
local stores in Ottawa. I could do the same for you. I can get a diffuser
(plus one bottle of the liquid) for about US$22. You could pay me via
Paypal. (Of course, I'd have to make my Paypal account able to receive
money, but I've been promising to do that for some time. :)  Actually,
if someone were willing to just tell me what to do - which site to go to
convert a Paypal account to accept money, I'd appreciate that, as it would
save me a lot of time. Thanks.)

Let me know if you'd like me to get some for you.

Is it just Joel or does she dislikes men in general? I really hope it
works out. Pity about the peeing, that's a tricky one to resolve.
Perhaps she could be an indoor cat in summer only, the UV may not be
so bad during other times of the year?

Dewi

My Cleo has similar litter box issues to Shadow and uses the kitchen
floor by the sink. So I solved the problem by putting a litter box
there. Not the most ideal place for a litter box, but her toilet
habits are now clean and it's a better option than standing in cat
sh*t at 4am because you've forgotten that's the place she likes to
go...

As for the yowling, it could be that she is disorientated because she
is deaf. When I've moved house with the cats, and Pandora especially,
I had to endure weeks of her wandering around the house crying/
meowing. It was solved by me answering her when she meowed because she
was suffering seperation anxiety.

Also, the agression - if she is attacking Joel and not you, that
immediatedly says to me that she finds men threatening and that she
could have been abused - especially if she is deaf. Strike first, ask
questions later...

Good luck with her.

Helen M

If Shadow is white with blue eyes, she'll be deaf. If she can *see* you, she
should be able to quieten down. If she's agressive to Joel, it may be that
in her former life, she was abused by a bloke. To this day, Francis can be
'odd' around men occasionally - even though he is very much his daddy's
cat - he can occasionally get *frightened* by the mere presence of a male
human. Have you had her checked for a urinary infection?

In the meantime: earplugs.

Dear Yowie,

cats know best - so if you would try to let her be an outside-cat, she
would care for herself. Don`t you think so?
This enormeously feels as if she Really is pi##ed with being locked
in.
Before calming her down with chemikal means don`t you think it might
be better to let nature its will and let her out?

Please forgive me for speaking my thoughts out clear.

love
Bettina

do you leave a light on for her at night?  Lee, thinking of things to try,
and you might try a penthouse for her when you can't supervise her,  Lee

aw, we will purr and pray that Shadow calms down soon
and becomes a very good family cat.

Lily & her mama

I would skip the injection and go for medication as some hormone based
injections are not good for cats healthwise. If Clomicalm
(clomipramine) is available in Australia, a low dose of that may be a
good option to start with. It works well for agressive cats and is
also known for helping with innappropriate elimination behaviors. A
lot of the behaviors you are seeing may be in part related to
redirected aggression. This cat is probably somewhat fearful and
between the abandonment, the vet, a new home, other cats and the
possibility that she may have been abused in her previous home and may
be fearful of men in general all add up to kitty overload for this
poor little girl. Fearful cats don't always exhibit by hiding and/or
cowering. Often these behaviors will manifest as aggression (biting
and attacking.) I would suggest separating her for awhile and having
your husband feed her scheduled meals twice daily and playing with her
so she can begin associating him with good things (this will also give
her the opportunity to have a litterbox to herself and get consistent
in using it.)

Whatever you/he does, you/he should never yell at this cat and should
always talk to her calmly and gently, even if she is behaving
obnoxiously. You should also learn to read her body language so you
can read when she may have an aggressive outburst and take measures to
distract her from the behavior before it happens. Keep in mind that in
most cats, these behaviors are a result of stress or other outside
influences and are a natural reaction. She is NOT being this way
because she is a bad cat. Try to think of her as you would an
abandoned, abuse little child and that may help your attitude and the
way in which you deal with her. Remember, cats are very good at
picking up on our feelings and reacting to them, so the more calm and
low-key responses she gets from you, the more likely it is that she'll
eventually turn around and become more relaxed and calm herself.

As to her possibly being deaf, you can get a good idea if this is the
case by standing behind her and clapping or whistling loudly when she
isn't paying attention and see if you get a response.

Good luck.

Dang, Yowie. I've had cats that wailed all night at first, cats that
were aggressive, and cats that eliminated in all the wrong places. But
I've never had all three behaviors wrapped up into one cat. Wish I had
a  magic wand for you. Good luck.
I hope a short amount of time is enough for her to settle down and
start feeling
more secure.

Sherry

In <69um64F34650vU1@mid.individual.net>,
Yowie <yowie9644.DIESPAMDIE@yahoo.com.au> shouted to everyone in earshot,

Hey, Yowie, I seem to recall that you said in a different thread that
you weren't particularly familiar with feline heat, and I don't seem
to remember that anyone described it for you.  If Shadow is making her
awful noises and you're in the vicinity, does she "present" her rear
end (maybe particularly if you scritch along/around her spine)?  How
about rolling around on the floor, especially to rub her head,
possibly without moving her hind feet off the floor?  If not, it's
probably not heat behaviour (though I couldn't be 100% certain from
over here, of course).  There may be other actions as well that fit
the "heat" profile, but none spring to my mind.

If any of that does describe what she's doing, though, you're probably
on the right track with medications.  One of my girls, though spayed,
would "present" and roll around oddly, yowl, spray (not pee directly
on the floor but actually go up to boxes and hit the sides or go on
top of things on the floor), etc. until her vet put her on
amitriptyline (aka Elavil), an old-school tricyclic antidepressant/
antianxiety med.  I kept her on it for about a year and a half, and
after a year of no meds, she's been 100% fine.

You mentioned the progesterone injection--in case it hasn't been
explained and you didn't know, that is, I believe, a hormone that
signals the cat to end the heat period.  That may be only a temporary
fix, though I'm sure it'd be worth it at this point.  Even the
amitriptyline might not fix her permanently--my vet warned me that I
might end up pilling her in perpetuity, so maybe I just lucked out.
Depends on a lot of things, I'm sure.

I hope this is of some help to you, and best wishes for a good
resolution to this for you.

Jeff