Remember my cute tiny kitten? Flora is a year old already. It seems like yesterday that I was flying to Seattle to pick her up.

She has grown into a full fledged cat and she is still adorable. She is still small, only about 7 pounds. She is a small compact cat, typical of American Shorthairs. She has striking markings and adorable big eyes. People always comment on how beautiful she is. So many people have told me that she is the most beautiful cat they have ever seen.

She is adorable, and we all love her. One thing I don’t love, though, is that she has started peeing on my carpet. I feel like I am cursed when it comes to cats and urinary problems. Our old cat Amos used to get cystitis all the time and pee on my bed. I thought that was terrible. Now I think that was easier. At least then I could just wash all the blankets and sheets and get the pee out. It is nearly impossible to get it out of my rugs.

When we got back from our last trip to North Carolina I noticed that it smelled like cat urine in our stairway. That night I got out the black light and went pee hunting. I found tons of spots on the landing, and more downstairs. The next day I found her squatting and peeing on the landing.

Now I have a bunch of issues. The first is getting the pee smell out and the second is how to get her to stop the urinating. I decided to take her to the vet today to rule out any medical problems. I should get the results tomorrow. But my gut tells me it is just a behavioral problem. She gave me some suggestions and ultimately said that there are medications we can try that have a 90% success rate. That was a big relief to me. I don’t want to medicate her, but I am happy that there is something we can do if all the other things don’t work.

I love Flora, but I just can’t deal with a cat that urinates all over my house. She is confined to the laundry room for the next week so she doesn’t have access to any of her favorite pee spots. The vet said some cats just need to be reminded and retrained to use the litter box. If all else fails, I guess we will have a kitty on Prozac.