Suicide Kitty

I was given a beautiful seven-year-old Birman cat named Scooter, by a breeder I happened to know personally, who hoped I could help the cat by being her new mommy. Her previous owner had died 3 years ago and she had been shuffled around to different homes since. I was already on a long waiting list for a Siberian cat.

The reason Scooter had no permanent home was that she had a pooping problem. She would be fine for a few months, and then poop on your bed, so she could never be allowed in a bedroom. That behavior started after her previous owner died.

I thought, "Okay, that's not so bad." That's what doors are for – keeping creatures of all kinds out when you don't want them there. But oh, surprise-surprise. There was much more going on than I was led to believe.

She does not cover her little gifts in the litter box. Other than waking up tortured to death, there cannot be anything worse than the smell of cat poop just hanging out on top of the litter in the litter box for a few hours, waiting patiently to say an enthusiastic "howdy" when you awaken.

The Scooter goddess is a bit spoiled. She wants her water fresh from the flowing faucet, wanting to drink only from the faucet. She turns her nose up at water in any type of container. Whenever she wakes from her many naps, she jumps in her sink and wants me to come brush her. Yes, I said "her sink."

One of the reasons the breeder thought she would do well here is that I had a second full bath that I never used, and that could be used as Scooter's new home while I retrained her potty manners according to the breeder's instructions. It also offered a space that was not so big as to overwhelm her all at once. She seemed very anxious and depressed when I got her.

Although I kept Scooter in that room for 2 weeks, going in to play with her and pet her, then taking her on a leash (yes, she walks on a leash) for explorations of my house, turns out Scooter didn't really need retraining. Scooter's last home was a multi-cat house. She wouldn't use a litter box with any other cat's smell in it.

She also seemed to be used to people picking her up to place her where she desired to be. She would meow at me and indicate that she wanted to get on the deck table. Since I had seen her in high places in the house, I knew she could jump onto a standard-height table. I left her out on the deck and stood behind the screen, watching her pitifully climb up onto the table using her claws and paws, and then she looked back at me with this pathetically pained expression.

The next day, I left her out on the deck and closed the sliding door. Since I have had my sliding door covered with heat reflective film that I can see out of without being seen, I watched her nimbly jump up onto the same table just as quick as you please. Pretty slick!

I took Scooter out on my deck one day, thinking she might like some fresh air. I was looking up kitty behavior and remedies on my laptop when I had a thought I believed to be beyond silly. I thought, "Can cats be suicidal?" I entered the query into a Google search and couldn't believe some of the things I read.

I went inside to get more lemonade and when I came back, no Scooter, no leash, nothing. My balcony is on the second floor. I tied her leash to a table in a slipknot on the deck and she was in a harness, rather than a collar. I never thought she would try jumping from that height. There are no stairs.

When I looked over the side-rail, there she was, leash and all, looking up from the grass and meowing at me. I don't know if she was asking me to bring her back up so she could try again, or asking me to come get her because she fell. I still don't really believe in kitty suicide, but what a coincidence.

Her potty behavior now is not random, but marking behavior, because she felt the need to mark her favorite places in the multi-cat environment. Now that she is in my home, she's happy with her litter box but still feels the need to mark the places where she sits with me.

The last chance I see for her is to be medicated. That could turn out to be expensive. If I kept her, I would also have to find some kind of litter box to keep the nasties in check.

Scooter is really a sweet and affectionate cat once she learns who is in charge. A few well-placed hisses from me seem to be very effective. She nuzzles and cuddles, and seems to want to be sure I will keep her safe.

She follows me everywhere and wants to see what I'm doing. I would like to keep her, but I won't be able to deal with her toilet problems as they are at the moment. No one will.

Does anyone have any ideas? I would be grateful for anything anyone can share.