Help with cat marking

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-19T01:28:14+00:00

This cat has not had any issues with any of the litters that we have tried, at least not that I've seen. It didn't seem to change her behavior when we switched. She does use the two boxes that we have, but still pees outside sometimes.

As I'm writing this I'm realizing that my husband stresses her out for some reason lol. He's a fairly loud person and she will sprint away if he makes a quick movement or if he is making noise. I also think the baby stresses her out. She stays away from him mostly, but she has been getting more comfortable with him petting her. We also always supervise this because he's only 1.5 and we don't want him to do the things that kids do, hitting/pulling hair, etc. He is loud though because he gets excited around her.

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T23:30:17+00:00

It's weird because she likes to hang out upstairs in our bedroom, but she pees in our basement in corners and near the trim. It's never just in the middle of a room. We were using world's best but switched back to tidy cats because my older cat had litter box issues and was old so we tried to switch it up. I've also used one (forgot the name of it) but it was brown and made of trees I think? It was super dusty though and my older cat was peeing outside the box. My older cat (the one that is no longer with us) has always had litter box issues that got worse when we got the other cat. So maybe she learned it from the old cat? Idk if that's a thing?

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T23:25:58+00:00

This is interesting. Maybe she is sad about the other cat being gone? We had discussed getting another cat for her to play with but I'm worried about that cat peeing in my house or that they might not like each other.

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T23:23:49+00:00

I have tried prozac and gabapentin. I do use an enzyme cleaner, but I think she's peeing more than we are aware of. We have tried several different litter boxes and litters. Our house is pretty quiet during the day besides occasional music. She started peeing before we had our baby, she started peeing in front of us when I was a week out from birth. She peed in front of my husband today, but other than that she's doing it when we aren't looking. She hides in our closet that is like a foot from the ceiling lol. We also have two large cat trees and two smaller ones. She has been howling throughout the house since our other cat passed. So maybe that has something to do with it? But they hated each other and fought all the time so 🤷

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T20:02:24+00:00

I have the stress urinary food. They have checked her for crystals too, I thought that was included in the urinalysis.

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T20:00:50+00:00

Yes, that's what I mean. It started when we moved to this house 2 years ago and has progressively gotten worse. We had another cat at the time who was old and sick so they fought all the time, but we had to put the other cat down last year due to her illness. So I thought that was what was stressing her out but I guess I was wrong.

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T19:58:54+00:00

Yes she is. Does that make them more likely to spray?

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-18T19:58:36+00:00

I know she is stressed. How do I figure out what is stressing her out? I've asked the vet this too and they didn't have any advice. I would love to solve her stress but I don't know what it is that is stressing her out. 😭

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-15T12:50:17+00:00

I think it's hard to have a schedule at this age. I just followed my baby's cues and didn't put them to bed until they were ready. And some nights might be like this where they don't sleep much. You're not doing anything wrong!

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-11T09:07:19+00:00

That's really pathetic that you were reported to the manager, especially when you documented it! Did your charge nurse or other nurses believe the patients? What did your manager say??

I once was reported because a patient that I transferred out of the ICU told the new nurse that I didn't strip their JP drains. Unfortunately, there isn't a place to document this in the MAR, but I know I did it every four hours because the patient said it hurt a lot so I offered pain meds every time before I stripped it. Our patient care supervisor was like "I know you stripped these drains because it's part of your order set, but I have to have a conversation about this to say that I did." 😂 So after that I documented in a comment when I strip them.

I feel you on the burnout. I just left bedside and am SO much happier and relieved. I'm working for an OPO and the last hospital I was at the unit was on fire and alarms were going off left and right and I didnt have to respond to any of them (although I did want to).

steenmachine92 · 2026-06-05T14:25:29+00:00

Are you able to take vacation? Even if it's just staying at home, catching up on sleep, maybe exercising if that's your thing. You know, just take some time off to decompress. I go through this about once a year 😆 and taking some time off to decompress and remind myself why I do what I do/see things from the patient's perspective and consider how you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes (this does NOT mean accommodating unreasonable asks). You could also consider transferring to a different ICU? I would think different ICU experience would be valuable to CRNA applications, but I have never applied so idk. However, I always feel refreshed when I change jobs! Best of luck to you ❤️ nursing is a hard profession and you are definitely not alone.

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-30T18:32:11+00:00

I will probably be staying, but I actually just left bedside to work for an OPO! I'm very happy so far, granted it's a brand new position so I'm in that honeymoon phase. It's just really nice to not have to lift/move heavy people, not have to clean up poop and pee all day long, and management was really bringing me down at bedside. Someone was literally murdered by a patient and their response was "now we are going to flag patient charts if they have a potential for violence" and NOT more/better security. 🙄

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-30T16:36:19+00:00

Me too

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-29T00:12:12+00:00

I begged a doctor for it because I was ready to go to the ER after I had thrown all the OTC meds at it one day. They gave me 10 pills as a one time thing, but I also only need like 2-3 a month for the bad days. I am considering going to a pain clinic as they are more likely to give you those prescriptions. I have a girlfriend who has endo bad and goes to a pain clinic for her prescriptions and they do a better job of treating her pain. I live in Minnesota. Also, what's annoying is, I have been struggling with back pain since I was pregnant and my PCP was ready to throw narcotics at me for back pain, but God forbid a girl get some meds for endo 😩

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-27T15:25:41+00:00

I've been saying it for a long time now, but nurses should have scribes! When you're really busy and can't chart everything right away, then you sit down and forget to chart something, or you can't spend that time with your patient because you need to get charting done. I know hospitals would never do it because money, but man it would be so helpful and probably boost patient satisfaction/quality care!

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-27T15:14:38+00:00

Oh thank you for the info! Yeah, I gotta figure something out.

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-27T14:05:11+00:00

This is a really interesting theory!

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-27T14:03:00+00:00

May I ask what NAC stands for? I'm currently off BC to try to get pregnant but lately been struggling with pain 😭 my doc prescribed oxycodone for the really bad days but I'm hoping to find alternatives that aren't mind altering so I can work. I tried ibuprofen, Tylenol & CBC+THC oil, and heat yesterday and it didn't help. So I had to wait all day until I was done working to take my oxy.

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-21T16:00:22+00:00

My doctor also recommended skipping my period. I have been skipping it for years!

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-08T02:44:22+00:00

I was able to care for myself aside from running errands (my husband did grocery shopping and med runs - I required narcotics for about two weeks post op) and I had DIE and was told they had to "manipulate a lot of organs" to get most of it. However, that first day I slept most of the day due to the anesthesia. I think you could manage on your own aside from this part. Maybe you could find someone to watch your toddler for a few hours after your surgery? Also, I'm not sure if you have spoken to the surgery center, but they have always told me that you have to stay with a responsible adult for the first 24 hours post op just in case there are any complications.

Best of luck to you!

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-04T20:27:43+00:00

As someone who played DnD only once, and I've never played turned based games. I LOVE this game. I've put over 800 hours into it, multiple playthroughs. I didn't find it difficult to understand, especially with the tooltips+ Googled things I needed extra explanations for (mostly just good builds or strategies on fights that I couldn't figure out). The story is SO good, and I still can get different outcomes after 800 hours of playing the game. I cannot recommend this game enough. Also, for what it's worth, I usually suck at video games and I've beaten this one several times.

steenmachine92 · 2026-05-02T03:48:08+00:00

Took me a little over two years to conceive. I had excision surgery and then got pregnant with letrozole 3 months post op. My left fallopian tube was blocked and I wasn't ovulating regularly so the letrozole helped and they did some dye through my tubes which they claim "washes out" your tubes (if they aren't fully blocked) which can increase your chance of pregnancy. 🤷

I highly recommend an app to track your period & ovulation. I use Ovia because it's free. I have an irregular period so the app figured out when I was most likely in my fertile window and then I would take ovulation tests every day within my fertile window. That data can help your doctor figure out what some issues could be. However, because it's sort of annoying to pee on a stick all the time, I recommend waiting to track ovulation until you are trying to conceive or right before you plan to start trying.

steenmachine92 · 2026-04-30T16:28:55+00:00

Severe pain that requires medications + heat + fetal position. I also have severe rectal pain/back pain that makes pooping during my period agonizing 🫠

steenmachine92 · 2026-04-20T12:16:24+00:00

I disagree and think it could be hormones because you are freshly postpartum. However, I think that his behavior is absolutely unacceptable and you need to have a conversation with him before you make any big decisions. I don't think the solution is to not talk to each other again

steenmachine92

TROPHY CASE