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[Jack_Bread]

It's an old picture. We shaved her a few days after taking than and she has the habit of pulling off tufts of fur off of herself. We don't allow her on the furniture anymore, so I only have to vacuum occasionally.

[ToonyMan]

Looks like a sheep!   

[Christes]

Ugh, my room smells like cat urine for similar reasons.

[G-Flex]

The damn-near trolling in this thread is getting ridiculous. He asked for actual help, not "screw cats" or "get a belt sander" or whatever.


The cat's old. If it had problems and lived in a house full of cats, it probably was never trained to actually go to the bathroom in "appropriate" spots.

It might also have urinary tract problems. Maybe. It almost certainly has social and mental issues.


Quite simply, this cat was never housebroken, and it sounds like the people in your house don't know very well how to housebreak a cat. Seriously, you never take in a sick, old, or neglected animal unless you really, really know what you're doing. Your mom made an awful mistake. It's like taking in an abused child because it looks cute even though you've never had a kid in your life; you won't know how to handle it, and will get surprised when issues (obviously) come up.

You can't just rub a cat's nose in its mess; they aren't dogs. Punishment doesn't work well with them.

As far as litter goes, like I said, she probably came from some sort of awful cat-lady house or something like that, where she didn't have to worry where she urinates. Keep in mind that cats don't really have any way to know what you consider a "good" place to go to the bathroom.

Here's a thing I quickly googled on litter training: http://www.perfectpaws.com/litter.html
It's obviously meant for younger cats, but it should provide some insight nonetheless. Not necessarily something to follow to the letter, but basically, you can't just assume that your cat will want to choose the litter box over anything else. You have to establish trust and good will with the cat and actively encourage her to use it. This is all made worse (much worse) by the fact that the cat probably didn't live a normal life, and is old.

In short, successfully training the cat will be difficult no matter what you do. This is a challenging situation, and I don't understand for the life of me how you or your mom didn't expect this to happen. You took in a possibly-ill, old cat, who obviously was going to have some problems; you guys knew this going in.


If she had to possibly compete for food previously in her life, you might face a couple problems there. She might end up overeating, or she might not. She might also get really nervous if no food is available. Just pay attention to her, really, and see what happens.

[Neonivek]

I was helping  Though I was trying to put it into him for the future that when you get a Cat you are buying a responsibility.

You can't just rub a cat's nose in its mess; they aren't dogs. Punishment doesn't work well with them

That doesn't work for either

[Jack_Bread]

She probably does have social and mental problems. She walked in between my 2 dogs playing and just started meowing for food. Also, it's my mom who does that. I have no idea why, either.

[G-Flex]

I was helping  Though I was trying to put it into him for the future that when you get a Cat you are buying a responsibility.

Don't worry, I wasn't referring to you. Wasn't trying to, anyway.

[Rilder]

Ugg the cats around here are terrible with their hygiene too, tempted to kick them all out of the house.

[redacted123]

The damn-near trolling in this thread is getting ridiculous. He asked for actual help, not "screw cats" or "get a belt sander" or whatever.

Sorry...I feel bad now.

[G-Flex]

Hey, at least I could tell you were joking. Besides, a truly spiteful cat would intentionally learn to avoid them just to annoy you.

[Jack_Bread]

She's bleeding, or something, from her butt. My mom thinks she's dieing. It's like a watery with a tinge of red. There was a chunk of something in it when I had cleaned it up. :|

[ToonyMan]

Leukemia?   

[Cthulhu]

Your cat may have what my sister's cat had.  It had this sore on its side that wouldn't go away, but didn't seem to hurt it.  One day whatever infection it was worked its way into the cat's intestines.  Nasty stuff, massive hernia, prolapse, intestinal fluid everywhere, had to get it put to sleep.  I hated that cat.

[Jack_Bread]

Your cat may have what my sister's cat had.  It had this sore on its side that wouldn't go away, but didn't seem to hurt it.  One day whatever infection it was worked its way into the cat's intestines.  Nasty stuff, massive hernia, prolapse, intestinal fluid everywhere, had to get it put to sleep.  I hated that cat.

I told my mom this, and she's curious about the morality of putting animals to sleep.

[Cthulhu]

Its intestines were no longer in its body.  They were literally hanging out of it.  It was leaking intestinal fluid everywhere, and was clearly going to die.  That cat cost us so much money.  Every year it had something else we needed to fix, and it was a stray!  My parents spent thousands of dollars on surgery for a cat that wandered into our garage, all because they didn't want to hurt my sister's feelings.  Made me angry.