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We went on a day trip to our local Cat rescue home Foal Farm. We often go there, just to look and coo (we never cry either, oh no, not us, no never!) at all the lovely kitties there, waiting to go to their forever homes.
There’s always at least one cat there that really grabs us, and if we had some lottery money, and acres of land, they’d probably come home with us, there and then…. (Don’t tell Freya!)
Anyway, this week’s cat of note is Nanook, on the Getting Desperate page (click the link and scroll down to see him)
They say about him: “ If you like big cats, look no further! He has lost his home as his owners have moved to where pets are not allowed. He is very easy going but not really a lapcat. He would love to meet you!”
Well, they were NOT JOKING about big cats! Nanook has to be about 3-4 feet from head to tip of tail! He is just magnificent! I would just LOVE to see peoples faces as he walked past in my street! If you’ve neer seen a Maine Coon in person, you just can’t imagine how big they are! I’ve often heard of them, but meeting one is a special treat!
And to think, most people comment on how small and petite Freya is! If we got Nanook, Freya would look like his little pet! (just for the record, we won’t be getting Nanook…. Just in case anyone was thinking!)
This is a picture from the internet, to give another idea of their size!
 Freya’s always been proud and unashamed of being a Mummy’s girl.
Whenever Anna sits down, Freya is never far, and automatically jumps up to sit in her lap.  She snuggles in, and kind of gloats at me, as if to say, Ha! I’m getting the cuddles round here, and you’re not!
You can see by these pictures, she knows who’s  boss, and who gets first dibs on Anna’s lap, and I can assure you, it’s not me!
This week, Anna’s been away, and taken her lap with her.
 Freya manged to hold out for about a day, but soon enough, she succumbed to the dark side – that is, Daddy’s lap.
We’ve had some wonderful cuddle time this week, and I’ve hardly had to bribe her with treets at all!
We still have a bit of a disagreement about my guitar playing, but I’ll wear her down eventually.
In the last picture, it’s almost as if she’s saying “HEY! NO PHOTOS! I DON’T WANT MUM TO FIND OUT!!”
It seems that Feliway hasn’t been the magical cure I was hoping for. Not necessarily to say anything against it, but I think Freya is just weeing, not spraying.
So far it seems only in the one place, which just happens to be in the corner of my bedroom. Now, I feel I should explain, just so you’re sure to have the complete picture. Originally, it was the garage, then it was the office, (Freya first wee’d in here when it was a barely used office) but now it’s my bedroom. (The big rooms upstairs are now work related). OK all making sense? As if.
Anyway, she did it Thursday at 07:30, and on Saturday at 06:30. Luckily, something woke me up, and I caught her seconds after the offence was committed, which I thought was a great thing, so I picked her up, carried her over to the floor patch, held her next to it (against her struggling) and said very firmly NO!
I wouldn’t dream of rubbing her nose in it or anything like that. I consider that definately NOT something an animal lover would do.
Since then, Anna has read a cat behavour book, and the author said that bad behaviour is usually as a result of stress, and telling off your cat will usually increase that stress, and damage the bond that you have with her.
So now I’m stuck!
My only other option, is regarding the litter tray. Now it may be that I was exceptionally lucky with my last kitty, Scampi, and she was very tolerant of a less than pristine litter tray, and conversely, Freya is a right little princess, and doesn’t like to use a litter tray that isn’t empty (and diamond encrusted). So I’m going to have to make a concerted effort to empty it more often now, and hope that makes the difference!
Fingers crossed!
Since every blog needs pictures, here’s some.
 This is the exceptionally clean corner of my bedroom – I’ve cleaned it about 5 times with the new Vax machine!
This is what a bedroom in a garage looks like! that’s the boiler above my head, so I get a nice (weird) sort of alarm clock about 8AM. And before you ask, yes, I have a carbon monoxide detector in the room. 
Of course, I could certainly be talking too soon, but she hasn’t sprayed anywhere but the litter tray so far, Maybe it’s the Feliway, maybe not. It’s a bit soon to be making proper scientific conclusions, don’t you think?
Almost every morning, I spray the 2 places where she unrinates, and that’s all I do. When I’ve sprayed (the Feliway!) my fingers are a bit wet from the spray, and it smells very alchoholy… after a few seconds the alchohol evaporates, and there’s no real smell that i cna detect. if I hold my fingers infront of Freya’s nose, she doesn’t really react significantly… I wonder what’s in it?
well, as long as it works, I’m happy…. and if she goes anywhere but the litter tray, you’ll be the first to know!
Freya still hasn’t got over her weeing problem.
There are 3 places she wees or to be more accurate, she “marks”.
- By the front door.
- in the corner of a dark downstairs small room, that’s not used very often.
- upstairs by her litter tray.
the third one may be a bit strange, but let me explain… Whe have the litter tray upstairs on the landing, in theory so that the smells don’t fill downstairs. the landing overlooks the stairs, and a couple of times, we’ve caught her standing up in her litter tray, (not squatting as usual) and weeing, so that the stream lands halfway down the stairs. I have a feeling that the standing and weeing, rather than squatting is a classic sign of marking, rather than weeeing.
Anyway it smells, and is a real pain to clean up.
I’ve ordered some Feliway, that is supposed to work miracles, and I have to give one spray a day to the 3 areas where she wees or marks, and magically, that will stop her.
It seems quite scientific/psychological how it works, using pheremones…
Anyway, the other thing I’m thinking about, is that marking is usually a sign of anxiety or stress. I can’t really see it, as nothing significant has changed in the house (apart from a load of moving this week, but the problem started ages ago)
I have heard that it cna also happen from a poor spaying operation, where “some female bits are left in” but I don’t really know if that makes sense to me…
I’ll let you know when the Feliway arrives what happens.
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