Sh*tty Kitty

Okay, veering off the baby course for a moment here to reach out to the blogosphere for some help/advice/just to vent.

So...for those who aren't familiar, we have two cats. Lately one of our cats has been having some behavioral issues. Namely, he's been "messing" on our floors. I have taken him to the vet and they have determined there is nothing physically wrong with him and that it is totally behavioral. This is unfortunately not the first time I've gone through this with him. While Troy was deployed and I lived at home, he also started having behavioral issues. That time he was throwing up blood. After a $500 trip to the emergency vet, it was determined that he was "stressed" and was put on Buspar (the anti-anxiety medicine that people take). That helped and then when we moved into our house, I was able to ween him off of it. Well, now he's having this lovely issue and I am at my wits end. Obviously, we cannot have an animal pooping around our house with a toddler and another baby on the way. Like I said, I took him to the vet last weekend to implore them for some help and they were basically no help at all. This vet obviously blamed us. Like, it was our fault for going and having kids and upsetting Rowdy's delicate world. Well, I hate to tell you but the people come first in this house. The vet recommended that we put litter boxes all over the house, try various litters to see what texture he likes best and get a $55 pheromone diffuser. As stupid as all that sounds, I did many of those suggestions (Troy was not happy about the diffuser...I think we're gonna try to take it back). Everything was great...for 4 days. Now he is worse than before. He is still pooping all over the house but this time with gusto. It's not just a steaming pile on the dining room rug (which is a hand-dyed one-of-a-kind that Troy lugged back from Afghanistan mind you). This time it is little piles all over the place...all over the loft (on the other rug from Afghanistan, natch), down the stairs, on the carpet...all kinds of fun places. Oh, and this time there is blood in his stool. And he won't eat. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH HIM??? Troy is totally at the end of his rope. He tells me every day that I just need to say the word and the cat will be gone and I'm not allowed to ask questions. But I just can't. Rowdy is 8 years old and we have had him his whole life. Plus, I know that taking him to the pound would be a death sentence for him. If he's having these kinds of "stressful episodes" at our house, I can't imagine how he would act elsewhere and they would surely put him down. I DO NOT need this stress in my life. Every day when I come home from work and find some new mess on the floor, I just want to grab him and throw him out the door. But I feel bad because I know he is acting out because we have Lainey and another one on the way and our lives aren't like they used to be when he was a happy lap cat. Honestly, we never even see him anymore. He basically lives under the guest bed and comes out when we're not here to sh*t all over the floor.

Whew! Sorry, I needed to unload a bit (no pun intended). But seriously...if anyone has any suggestions (really...anything...I am desperate), please please let me know. Otherwise I'm afraid our sweet Rowdy will not get to live here much longer.