The Drain of Pet Ownership on my Wallet

We have a real problem at my house. One of our cats, (we have two), has been spraying all over our house. We did exactly what the vets told us, got him ‘fixed’ before nine months, didn’t have him de-clawed, kept his food away from his litter, everything, but still the little sucker has decided to spray in just about every room and corner of our house.

We’ve pulled the carpeting out of the house. Thankfully we had hardwood underneath and just needed to refinish, not replace the floors. We’ve thrown out perfectly good table cloths, napkins, sheets, towels, and bed linens because the cat has found some way or another to spray on all of them. We’ve thrown out furniture and stereo equipment, lamps, and rugs. At one point I spent over $300 buying 10 feliway plug-ins, which are supposed to give off cat pheromones to help calm the cat and stop him from spraying. I’ve bought ten or fifteen different types of cleaners to get rid of the odor. We’ve bought bottles and bottles of medication, including anti-anxiety drugs and sprays. And just today I spent another $17.56 buying yet another brand of cleaner that is guaranteed to remove odors. Obviously, none of the cleaners or deterannts have worked so far.

This kitty is bound to live a long, long time and I’m not certain my wallet, my house, or my nerves can take another 10+ years of this.

2 thoughts on “The Drain of Pet Ownership on my Wallet”

  1. Hey there – found your webpage through The Simple Dollar.

    Anyway! I can totally sympathise with your spraying cat issue. My husband and I lived for 3 years with a cat who did the same thing. We even tried putting him on kitty Prozac.

    It actually got to the point where my husband and I had fights that were a direct result of walking into the closet and finding our shoes or clothes covered in cat pee. Once we had our son was born, we decided we had to do something, and that three years of trying to make him happy was enough.

    The idea of giving him to a shelter where he would probably be put down just wasn’t ok, and we couldn’t find any friends to take him. Eventually we found out that the Humane Society near us (in Washington state) would let us bring him there for adoption, specify the requirements (in our cat’s case, a house with no other pets and no children), and for a $50 fee, would call us if he wasn’t adopted and was in danger of being put down. The fee also covered calling us if he was adopted and then returned.

    He was adopted out in about 4 days, and we haven’t heard anything since. That was about 2 years ago, so we assume all is well.

    Anyway, you shouldn’t have to be miserable, living with an unhappy cat, so perhaps you can find a shelter in your area which offers a similar service.

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