Hello,

We have a five year old cat with some big behavioral problems.  He was a
"farm cat" that was taken from the farm at five months old.  We adopted him
four years ago from our neighbors, which had give up on him.

From the start, he has had a problem marking his territory (he is fixed).
If we were to leave a blanket on the floor, or when we bring new furniture
into the house, he urinates on it.  We have to keep all our doors in the
house closed because he'll do the same thing to our beds.

He is also turning more aggressive towards our other, older male cat.  He
spends all night staring out the windows, and if he sees a cat outside, he
will attack our other cat, at times making him bleed.

Recently, he has also started defecating outside the litter box, even if it
is clean.  For some reason, he only does this on the lower level of our
house, not on the main floor.

It would be very easy for us to bring him to the shelter.  We are moving
into a newer house next month, and don't want him doing the same things
there.  Trouble is, at times, he can be the sweetest, most loving cat we've
ever had.  I'm concerned that if we just pass our problems on to another
family, they'll just have him destroyed.

Can anyone provide some advice?  We've heard all the jokes about the inbred
farm cats, but I'd love to help him if we can.

Thanks,

-Chris