Cool Cherry Cream

My family loves our cat, Rolo. We’ve had him for nine years. He’s playful and cuddly and outgoing and loving. He’s great.

But… he pees on things.

The first time he did it, five years ago, we took him to the vet and they said “well, maybe it’s a urinary tract infection” so we put him on antibiotics. And it stopped. For six months. Then he did it again. We put him back on antibiotics, we put him on Prozac because they said it might just be a behavioural problem. And it stopped. For six months.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. But now, we’ve put him back on the drugs, and it doesn’t help. He keeps peeing on things, more often now. Where he would usually do it every six months, he’s done it now at least three times in the last six months.

Last time we took him to the vet, my parents said it would be the last time. And now he’s done it again. So what do we do now? We can’t keep taking him to the vet to get medicine that doesn’t work. We can’t keep replacing blankets and clothing and furniture.

My mom told me that once when she went to the vet, she sat down next to a woman who told her that her cat was very lucky to still be alive. My mom replied that ours was too. The woman said “oh no, you don’t get it”, her cat had surely committed the ultimate sin, done something unforgivable. Eventually, my mom found out that the woman’s cat had peed on her new sofa.

I’ve looked online to find out what other people with this problem have done. And you know what? The only solution I’ve seen people use is to put their cat to sleep. And certainly, they didn’t all wait five years to do it.

We’re trying. We’ve tried everything. We don’t want to get rid of Rolo and we certainly don’t want to put him to sleep. But what are we supposed to do? If we give him to a shelter, who is going to want to adopt a cat that’s nine years old and pees on things, when there are plenty of other younger cats that don’t have a problem? If we give him to a shelter, he’s going to sit in a cage, unadopted, until his time is up.

I found some suggestions to try giving the cat to a “cat community” or “cat rescue” organization. I’ve found a few in the area, one in particular that keeps cats that are older and unadoptable. I don’t think Rolo is unadoptable, but because he is older and most people would be hesitant to adopt a cat with his problem, he might fall under that category.

I emailed the organization and woke up this morning to the response. I certainly wasn’t expecting anything, and it’s a good thing I wasn’t.

According to this person, I “do not seem capable of compassion”.

You know what? I’m going through a tough time here. One way or another, I’m going to lose my cat. He’s going to a shelter or a community or he’s going to be put down. There’s no reason to insult someone in this situation, whether you think what they’re doing is wrong or not.

Like I said, I’ve been looking for solutions online. I’ve been looking to see what others in the same situation have done. While some replies are helpful, the majority of them are from “animal lovers” who have never been in this situation and who can’t comprehend that it’s not something you can live with forever.

Of course euthanizing our cat is not desirable and it’s not what we want to do. That’s why we’re contacting these “animal rescue” organizations in the first place. The least they could do is be understanding and just say “no, sorry, we can’t take in surrendered pets”. Not be judgmental arseholes!

As you go on in your life, you make decisions. You choose what you like to do and do it. Some people like animals, some people don’t. Some people like PCs, some people like Macs. Some of these decisions, small as they may seem, some of these things you choose just grow on you, become a part of you, and you become a judgmental arsehole. You can’t control it, it just happens.

I hope to never meet an animal-loving Mac user. Sorry Lisa Simpson, we can’t be friends anymore.