Hi,

I have lots of cats, and quite a few of them have unfortunate problems that may or may not be easy to fix.  Here goes:

My oldest cat, Smokey (almost 12), has always been extremely territorial.  She began acting this way right as she matured - or maybe even before that.  Anyway, for a
number of years (five and a half), she spent most of her time outside.  After one too many disappearances, we decided to bring her in for good, but that's not really
related to the problem.  You see, she had around three litters of kittens before we got her spayed, and since she went so long without that, she sprayed.  Since she
was outside most of the time, it wasn't too much of a problem, but she's always sprayed in the curtains and in the corners of the house.  She does that to this day.  
Would medication help?  Just a good cleaning of all the areas, maybe?  Okay, on to the next one...

Casper was born in the summer of 1995 (Smokey's son).  He has been neurotic from the start.  My sister kept him in her apartment for about a week before she gave
him back to us -- because he peed and pooped everywhere.  Unfortunately, we didn't even take him to the vet to see if it was UTI or anything.  Now, he has had
several UTIs that were treated - and he was always hiding and acting strange when it happened, so it was easy to tell.  (Poor thing.)  Well, Casper used to poop on
the kitchen floor and the laundry room floor (where a litter box resides) all the time, and we couldn't get him to use a box.  On top of that, he'd spray, even after we got
him fixed.  He's stopped pooping on the non-carpetted floors as often (for some reason, he never did it on the carpet), but due to newer cats who've sprayed up a
storm, he sprays more than ever.  It's always in places that have already been marked, though.  One thing I've noticed is that, when he does use the litterbox, he
sometimes hangs over the edge and misses without realizing it!  Is he just litterbox-dumb, or is there another problem?  I would like to point out that even after we've
taken him to the vet for UTIs, he'd still spray.  When he had a UTI, he'd just stay in dark places, pee all over himself (and everywhere), and act even more aloof than
he already seems.

Simon likes to poop in soft places.  Yes, you heard me; he'll use the litterbox regularly, and doesn't spray (he will occasionally pee in one of the marked areas, but he
seems to be very healthy -- I think he's just confused about non-litterbox areas being litterboxes, or something).  He has no problem using the box, but if there's a soft
enough place, especially with room to bury deep so it takes us a while to find where THAT SMELL is coming from.  Can this be fixed?  Like I said, it's only soft places
(i.e., laundry baskets, beds where he's folded the sheets over his... well...).

Oscar is the most severe.  He sprayed here and there for about a week before we had him neutered, when he was 7 or 8 months old, and then never sprayed again
until we brought in three of my uncle's cats in the fall of 2003.  After this happened, he began to turn extremely aggressive and mean.  We had him separated from the
two males before they even met him (we were afraid of a huge confrontation - but we have let them out in the same areas since then, and there were no problems,
strangely enough), but the female, who has since passed, and was very, very old, was frequently a target of Oscar's new abuse.  Around this time, frustratingly
enough, our youngest cat Sylvie went into heat, and sprayed the place up, and through what we think are a combination of contributing factors, Oscar began to let
loose like a wild cat: spraying in all previously marked corners (even though he didn't before), and most frustratingly, in completely new ones.  He sprayed on our
antique-looking chair, and -- I kid you not -- the oven door!  Due to his attacks on Miss Kitty (uncle's eldest cat), we had to put him in our garage, where some of my
other cats are for some of the day.  (We let them out, but then after some time passes, they want to go back in!)  Figuring that drama with the garage crew would be
less harrowing than what was going on with Miss Kitty, his temporary garage home would make things easier for a little while.  Miss Kitty passed away in the spring of
2004, and we started letting Oscar back in regularly, and his unrelentingly aggressive behavior was still there.  One of my older female cats took the place of Miss Kitty
in Oscar's mind, and he began attacking her just as if she were Miss Kitty.  A combination of factors has kept Oscar separated for a long time now.  Curiously, while
he's in the garage, he's just like his old self, even when other cats are present (as long as it's not Nasiki) -- but when we let him out, he becomes stupendously keyed-
up and aggitated.  Since his alarming behavior only manifested when the new additions arrived, we don't think he has a UTI.  He seems very stressed out, and we
may have to put him on meds if nothing changes.

The non-problematic members of our kitty family occasionally pee in hot spots (read: marked), but it's not frequent, and we do believe that they're just confused about
where's the litterbox.  Because we were in a financial pickle, Sylvie could not be fixed until she'd already stunk the place up with copious amounts of spray.

I know that there are a reasonable about of people with as many cats as I have, but it's starting to overwhelm us.  Still, we love our cats and would never resort to the
animal shelter.  Short of drowning 75% of the house with buckets of Nature's Miracle and a myriad of behavior-correction pills, we may not be able to solve anything.  
Before we take this step, I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about this.  I have told my Mom that maybe some of them might have UTIs, but she always
reminds me that our cats have shown clear signs of the problem -- and I know that's not always true of UTIs, which, I have informed her, can be very dangerous  If
some of you do recommend check-ups, how can I further convince her?

Thanks, and sorry for the long-winded post,
Perry