Roast Grumpy Old Thread- 10k posts of whinging

[Sopwiths North]

Teenager at home lives in his bedroom atm like most teenagers.

Had a visit from meow, who jumped up on his bed and went and gave him a smoochie headbutt then turned around walked to the middle of the bed and took a big piss. Luckily I was out working, Mrs Spider working from home not happy. Meow hasn't been inside since.

Sopwiths North is this our cat asserting his dominance over my son?

Yikes! There's nothing worse than cat pee on the bed. (Well, down your stove elements runs close.)

I wouldn't say that the cat is exerting "dominance", as cats are solitary by nature, and not pack animals (with the exception of lions), so dominance isn't really their m.o., but he's certainly either upset (pissed?) about something, or else there's something physically wrong with him. It doesn't take much to upset cats, and even just a minor change in the household due to these pandemic times (i.e. - more people home more of the time? Less space and quiet and privacy for the cat?) can be enough to cause what is called a "stress cystitis", where the bladder wall gets inflamed and irritated, and causes the cat to urinate inappropriately. Cats also will develop crystals in their bladder if their urine becomes too alkaline, a common feline problem - they are true carnivores and we essentially feed them cereal - corn or wheat -based kibbles - when what they need is meat. Meat acidifies urine, grains make it alkaline - crystals develop in alkaline urine. These crystals often cause cats to pee in weird places and at weird times, and in male cats can be potentially life threatening if they form plugs and obstruct the urethra. So, in short, if it happens again, or if the puss seems in any other ways off, I'd recommend a vet visit to get a urinalysis as a start. If that's all clear, then it's likely the source is behavioural (and no human will ever understand cats), and potentially a fair bit harder to solve.

Hope that's helpful. Inappropriate cat urination can be a bugger to solve though if it's behavioural. My guess is he's upset by the change of activity in the house, but any physical problems should always be ruled out first.

 

[Gasometer]

Yikes! There's nothing worse than cat pee on the bed. (Well, down your stove elements runs close.)

I wouldn't say that the cat is exerting "dominance", as cats are solitary by nature, and not pack animals (with the exception of lions), so dominance isn't really their m.o., but he's certainly either upset (pissed?) about something, or else there's something physically wrong with him. It doesn't take much to upset cats, and even just a minor change in the household due to these pandemic times (i.e. - more people home more of the time? Less space and quiet and privacy for the cat?) can be enough to cause what is called a "stress cystitis", where the bladder wall gets inflamed and irritated, and causes the cat to urinate inappropriately. Cats also will develop crystals in their bladder if their urine becomes too alkaline, a common feline problem - they are true carnivores and we essentially feed them cereal - corn or wheat -based kibbles - when what they need is meat. Meat acidifies urine, grains make it alkaline - crystals develop in alkaline urine. These crystals often cause cats to pee in weird places and at weird times, and in male cats can be potentially life threatening if they form plugs and obstruct the urethra. So, in short, if it happens again, or if the puss seems in any other ways off, I'd recommend a vet visit to get a urinalysis as a start. If that's all clear, then it's likely the source is behavioural (and no human will ever understand cats), and potentially a fair bit harder to solve.

Hope that's helpful. Inappropriate cat urination can be a bugger to solve though if it's behavioural. My guess is he's upset by the change of activity in the house, but any physical problems should always be ruled out first.

Sounds like the Cat needs to see a shrink tbh

 

[Orange Peanut]

Yikes! There's nothing worse than cat pee on the bed. (Well, down your stove elements runs close.)

I wouldn't say that the cat is exerting "dominance", as cats are solitary by nature, and not pack animals (with the exception of lions), so dominance isn't really their m.o., but he's certainly either upset (pissed?) about something, or else there's something physically wrong with him. It doesn't take much to upset cats, and even just a minor change in the household due to these pandemic times (i.e. - more people home more of the time? Less space and quiet and privacy for the cat?) can be enough to cause what is called a "stress cystitis", where the bladder wall gets inflamed and irritated, and causes the cat to urinate inappropriately. Cats also will develop crystals in their bladder if their urine becomes too alkaline, a common feline problem - they are true carnivores and we essentially feed them cereal - corn or wheat -based kibbles - when what they need is meat. Meat acidifies urine, grains make it alkaline - crystals develop in alkaline urine. These crystals often cause cats to pee in weird places and at weird times, and in male cats can be potentially life threatening if they form plugs and obstruct the urethra. So, in short, if it happens again, or if the puss seems in any other ways off, I'd recommend a vet visit to get a urinalysis as a start. If that's all clear, then it's likely the source is behavioural (and no human will ever understand cats), and potentially a fair bit harder to solve.

Hope that's helpful. Inappropriate cat urination can be a bugger to solve though if it's behavioural. My guess is he's upset by the change of activity in the house, but any physical problems should always be ruled out first.

Wow I have inadvertently stumbled across the inappropriate pissing by cats thread. And they say this pandemic is a "disaster"?

Dear Sopwiths,
We have had our cat 2 years now (since kittenhood) and he won't pee in the kitty litter. He literally will sit on the (thankfully sealed timber) floor next to the litter tray and do his business. Then he scratches the floor all around the area like the dickhead is covering his tracks from someone, using fresh air.
For poop, he stands in the tray and it's a 50% bet whether the results go in the litter or out onto the floor.
It's got to the point where I get puppy training pads to position around the litter tray, and as soon as he's been one of us cleans up the mess before it has a chance to stink the house out our cause damage to the floor.
Please help. We may have guests in our house again one day and this is no way to greet them!
Regards
Orange

 

[Sopwiths North]

Wow I have inadvertently stumbled across the inappropriate pissing by cats thread. And they say this pandemic is a "disaster"?

Dear Sopwiths,
We have had our cat 2 years now (since kittenhood) and he won't pee in the kitty litter. He literally will sit on the (thankfully sealed timber) floor next to the litter tray and do his business. Then he scratches the floor all around the area like the dickhead is covering his tracks from someone, using fresh air.
For poop, he stands in the tray and it's a 50% bet whether the results go in the litter or out onto the floor.
It's got to the point where I get puppy training pads to position around the litter tray, and as soon as he's been one of us cleans up the mess before it has a chance to stink the house out our cause damage to the floor.
Please help. We may have guests in our house again one day and this is no way to greet them!
Regards
Orange

Dear Orange:

First of all, give yourself a pat on the back for being a truly wonderful human, and not giving up on a cat who won't use the litterbox. It's the number one reason cats get dumped in shelters, but you've stuck it out - you're made of good mettle!

Anyways, to the problem - it sounds like a substrate preference issue. Sometimes box location is an issue for cats, but your guy is going in and around it, so I don't think that's the problem. Sometimes the sides of the box are too high, so you could try something with lower sides - like go down to about 4 cm or so. But this is usually only a problem for geriatric cats who have lumbar spine arthritis and actually find it difficult to climb into high-sided boxes. So unless your young cat has a history of spinal or pelvic injury, then I don't think it's a physical problem. But still, you could try a lower-sided box.

In all likelihood though, he just doesn't like the litter. He prefers the feel of the pads, (or the wood floor!) or something else about them. Cats are often incredibly fussy about substrates - lots of cats will pee on a pile of laundry or a towel if it's left on the floor. Or on the bed, as Spider has endured. So while you could try changing the type of litter, I'm not sure it will be all that successful. You could even try something radical, like putting soil from the outside in the box. Or shredded newspapers, see what he thinks of that. But I would start with a simple experiment first: Remove all the litter from the box, and wash it out so it's clean. Put it back where it normally lives, and put your pee pads all around it. Line the box itself with one of the pee pads. If it overlaps itself, or is flappy and too big for the box, fold it or cut it down so that it just nicely fits the bottom of the box. Then see what he does. If he pees on the pad IN the box, then he probably just likes the pads. If he continues to pee outside the box on the pads, then he probably has some kind of issue with the box itself. At which point you might want to try a lower-sided box, line it with a pad, and go again. See what he thinks of that. If he still won't go in it, then I'd say to heck with the box, it's not useful, and just (for the sake of your floors) get a large flat hunk of plastic, or some other type of thing that you can put down to protect the floor underneath, line it with pee pads, and just have that be his bathroom. Change pads as needed. I agree that it's not ideal, and a lot of waste, but then, cats don't care about the environment, and in the long run it'll be easier than fighting with him.

Now, if he DOES pee on the pad in the box, and then goes on to do it regularly, there's a chance you could transition him to litter in there verrrrry gradually - like, put a handful in on the pad one day, two handfuls the next, three the next, and so on and so on. If it's too many handfuls and he starts to pee outside the box again, back off with the litter and just use the pad. Wait until he starts going on the pad in the box again, then try a handful of litter, rinse and repeat.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but hey, we're in a pandemic, and we're kind of bored, so what better time to experiment with your cat's toilet routine? Plus we're already obsessed with toilet paper these days, so just think of it like a theme party.

Anyways OP, I hope this is helpful. Good on you for sticking with him. There's nothing makes you more grumpy than a cat that won't use its box, trust me, I know!

Sopwiths

 

[Sopwiths North]

Sounds like the Cat needs to see a shrink tbh

Yep. But it's not surprising if you think about it. I mean, imagine if the tables were turned, and we were the ones who had to live by another species' set of rules and have to adapt to their world. We'd freak out. We can barely handle the simple things we've been asked to change in a pandemic.

Animals put up with so much crap from us. You think we're grumpy olds right now, just try living a life from their perspective. They knock us humans right out of the park when it comes to being asked to live in environments that are not tolerant or understanding of behaviours that are perfectly normal for your species.

I'm blown away every day by the amount of stuff they put up with from us, and by how incredibly adaptive they actually manage to be in order to suit our silly human wants.

Ah, the humans. It's always all about us.

 

[Orange Peanut]

Dear Orange:

First of all, give yourself a pat on the back for being a truly wonderful human, and not giving up on a cat who won't use the litterbox. It's the number one reason cats get dumped in shelters, but you've stuck it out - you're made of good mettle!

Anyways, to the problem - it sounds like a substrate preference issue. Sometimes box location is an issue for cats, but your guy is going in and around it, so I don't think that's the problem. Sometimes the sides of the box are too high, so you could try something with lower sides - like go down to about 4 cm or so. But this is usually only a problem for geriatric cats who have lumbar spine arthritis and actually find it difficult to climb into high-sided boxes. So unless your young cat has a history of spinal or pelvic injury, then I don't think it's a physical problem. But still, you could try a lower-sided box.

In all likelihood though, he just doesn't like the litter. He prefers the feel of the pads, (or the wood floor!) or something else about them. Cats are often incredibly fussy about substrates - lots of cats will pee on a pile of laundry or a towel if it's left on the floor. Or on the bed, as Spider has endured. So while you could try changing the type of litter, I'm not sure it will be all that successful. You could even try something radical, like putting soil from the outside in the box. Or shredded newspapers, see what he thinks of that. But I would start with a simple experiment first: Remove all the litter from the box, and wash it out so it's clean. Put it back where it normally lives, and put your pee pads all around it. Line the box itself with one of the pee pads. If it overlaps itself, or is flappy and too big for the box, fold it or cut it down so that it just nicely fits the bottom of the box. Then see what he does. If he pees on the pad IN the box, then he probably just likes the pads. If he continues to pee outside the box on the pads, then he probably has some kind of issue with the box itself. At which point you might want to try a lower-sided box, line it with a pad, and go again. See what he thinks of that. If he still won't go in it, then I'd say to heck with the box, it's not useful, and just (for the sake of your floors) get a large flat hunk of plastic, or some other type of thing that you can put down to protect the floor underneath, line it with pee pads, and just have that be his bathroom. Change pads as needed. I agree that it's not ideal, and a lot of waste, but then, cats don't care about the environment, and in the long run it'll be easier than fighting with him.

Now, if he DOES pee on the pad in the box, and then goes on to do it regularly, there's a chance you could transition him to litter in there verrrrry gradually - like, put a handful in on the pad one day, two handfuls the next, three the next, and so on and so on. If it's too many handfuls and he starts to pee outside the box again, back off with the litter and just use the pad. Wait until he starts going on the pad in the box again, then try a handful of litter, rinse and repeat.

I know it sounds like a lot of work, but hey, we're in a pandemic, and we're kind of bored, so what better time to experiment with your cat's toilet routine? Plus we're already obsessed with toilet paper these days, so just think of it like a theme party.

Anyways OP, I hope this is helpful. Good on you for sticking with him. There's nothing makes you more grumpy than a cat that won't use its box, trust me, I know!

Sopwiths

Wowee that is some of the best, most thorough advice I've ever received. Thanks heaps!

I have often suspected the litter itself might be the problem, we use the recycled paper pellets for environmental reasons. But I was considering traditional clay litter just to see if it had more appeal to his instincts.

Maybe I'll give that a go first, then start working on the box. I didn't mention this but I recently took all his toilet stuff out of the room to do some cleaning, and came back to find him scratching the bare timber floor, all around a nice pile of liquid. So I feel like he's happy with the location as much as anything.
I will definitely keep you posted!
Thanks so much again SN. If you ever need advice on =VLOOKUP or =SUMIFS I'd be happy to return the favour

 

[Samsquanch]

Wow I have inadvertently stumbled across the inappropriate pissing by cats thread. And they say this pandemic is a "disaster"?

Dear Sopwiths,
We have had our cat 2 years now (since kittenhood) and he won't pee in the kitty litter. He literally will sit on the (thankfully sealed timber) floor next to the litter tray and do his business. Then he scratches the floor all around the area like the dickhead is covering his tracks from someone, using fresh air.
For poop, he stands in the tray and it's a 50% bet whether the results go in the litter or out onto the floor.
It's got to the point where I get puppy training pads to position around the litter tray, and as soon as he's been one of us cleans up the mess before it has a chance to stink the house out our cause damage to the floor.
Please help. We may have guests in our house again one day and this is no way to greet them!
Regards
Orange

Bloody hell. If my Mrs saw our cat do its business on tbe floor she would kill it (seriously). Lucky fot it that when we brought it home from the RSPCA it was already litter literate.

 

[DaveyBoy123]

I came here looking for grumpiness and all I got was pussy!

(Stick that on a t-shirt and watch the dollars fly in).

 

[Gasometer]

Yep. But it's not surprising if you think about it. I mean, imagine if the tables were turned, and we were the ones who had to live by another species' set of rules and have to adapt to their world. We'd freak out. We can barely handle the simple things we've been asked to change in a pandemic.

Animals put up with so much crap from us. You think we're grumpy olds right now, just try living a life from their perspective. They knock us humans right out of the park when it comes to being asked to live in environments that are not tolerant or understanding of behaviours that are perfectly normal for your species.

I'm blown away every day by the amount of stuff they put up with from us, and by how incredibly adaptive they actually manage to be in order to suit our silly human wants.

Ah, the humans. It's always all about us.

One can only hope that if there is reincarnation that I come back as a Cat and not the helpless Frog that I rescued from drowning in my Pool last night...saw it by sheer chance.

 

[Nate7]

I came here looking for grumpiness and all I got was pussy!

(Stick that on a t-shirt and watch the dollars fly in).

All I'm learning lately is that Sopwiths North is the pussy whisperer!

 

[SpiderBurton22]

All I'm learning lately is that Sopwiths North is the pussy whisperer!

Surely you have a gif for that.

 

[Nate7]

Surely you have a gif for that.

I have a gif for everything!

 

[Sopwiths North]

All I'm learning lately is that Sopwiths North is the pussy whisperer!

I'd prefer "feline whisperer" thank you. As a heterosexual woman, the former title just sounds all kinds of wrong to me.

 

[hilly]

Costco > Ikea. I feel exhausted after about 15 minutes at Ikea.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[The Other Dean]

Billboard cassettes from Bali TT?

There are a few of those amongst the collection, along with mix tapes galore. Most of the ones I wanted to keep I subsequently replaced with CDs.

Ha, being both a music head and a Bali head, I had a heap of those tapes. Best thing about them was the main album would finish half way through side B of the tape, so they'd tack some other stuff on the end to fill up the rest of the side. Usually something else by the same band, but occasionally they'd chuck on something from a like-minded/sounding band. Fave was a prized Go-Between's tape with some bonus Triffids stuff tacked on the end.

Kinda miss not seeing those tape shops in Bali these days. They were very cool.

 

[The Other Dean]

All I'm learning lately is that Sopwiths North is the pussy whisperer!

 

[Hojuman]

Costco > Ikea. I feel exhausted after about 15 minutes at Ikea.

On SM-G950F using BigFooty.com mobile app

When they opened the Ringwood Cost-co they did an ABC report there. Journo asked " what's the most expensive item in-store " They had a $750,000 wedding ring !

 

[gokangas]

Ha, being both a music head and a Bali head, I had a heap of those tapes. Best thing about them was the main album would finish half way through side B of the tape, so they'd tack some other stuff on the end to fill up the rest of the side. Usually something else by the same band, but occasionally they'd chuck on something from a like-minded/sounding band. Fave was a prized Go-Between's tape with some bonus Triffids stuff tacked on the end.

Kinda miss not seeing those tape shops in Bali these days. They were very cool.

Love Bali too - only place you can buy a CD of AC DC’s greatest hits. Bali is just devastated at the moment and can’t wait to get back there in due course. Hope their travel industry survives this pandemic.

 

[koshari]

Love Bali too - only place you can buy a CD of AC DC’s greatest hits. Bali is just devastated at the moment and can’t wait to get back there in due course. Hope their travel industry survives this pandemic.

iam sure it will, they are pretty robust bunch of people, reckon their hindu beleifs keep them in a pretty positive mindset. like the old cassette shops the internet cafes are pretty well long gone with wifi. there are aq couple of awesome family run warungs off poppies 1 that iam sure will be feeling the pinch, i suspect they would jsut close up shop and head back to the contrysode where they all seem to have family homes. evry few live in kuta as its so much more expensive for locals, thats why there is an army of mopeds that head in every morning and that the beach road is literally full of parked mopeds all day.

 

[koshari]

3 days on and my bullant bites are really itchy, really tring to resist the tempation to scratch them, really gotta pay a litle bit more attention when cleaning up rotting wood in the paddocks.

 

[koshari]

Billboard cassettes from Bali TT?

cant imagine just how long these guys would have spent dubbing casettes, and to think i was a little frustrated copying my digital collection across to another hard drive and it taking a few hours.

 

[Samsquanch]

cant imagine just how long these guys would have spent dubbing casettes, and to think i was a little frustrated copying my digital collection across to another hard drive and it taking a few hours.

Gee. I recall back in the day, when you'd go into a tape shop and listen to the tape, FF to each song to make sure you weren't getting ripped off. Then next thing, after you'd buy whatever tape, you'd see the same thing in another shop but it was on TDK Super Avilyn, Chrome or BASF Metal. Damn!!!!

 

[Kanga Glory]

3 days on and my bullant bites are really itchy, really tring to resist the tempation to scratch them, really gotta pay a litle bit more attention when cleaning up rotting wood in the paddocks.

I got attacked by a bull ant last year and same thing it was red and itchy. I put some ice on it and it helped

 

[The Butcher]

I went away from my tried and true savoury shapes today and gave some sea salt & balsamic vinegar rice snacks a go.. first handful left me unsure, very salty, so I go back for more and of course I've chipped a tooth. Get a little adventurous one time..

 

[Gasometer]

I went away from my tried and true savoury shapes today and gave some sea salt & balsamic vinegar rice snacks a go.. first handful left me unsure, very salty, so I go back for more and of course I've chipped a tooth. Get a little adventurous one time..

I don’t know if the Dentist will see you either...