I need help

[YellowSapphire]

Oh my goodness...your post could not be more timely. We have an annoying outside dog (had him for ten years now...half lab, half dalmation) who barks alot. However, since hubby left, this dog feels he is on hyper-alert and he barks constantly all night long...the sort of frantic barking that makes you sit up in bed thinking, "Oh my goodness, somebody is breaking in."

I have not been sleeping well as it is. I'm missing my husband so much that I dread going to bed at night and stay up much too late, coupled with my anemia and one child who always has leg cramps in the middle of the night and another who just will start screaming for no reason in the middle of the night, well, I am exhausted too.

Seriously, I am not rational in the middle of the night when the dog does this and I've actually considered doing something pretty serious to the dog when I've been absolutely exhausted and I love animals. My father suggested that since he is ten years old, I feed him lots of fatty foods and just help him die sooner and happier but I cannot even bring myself to do that and I feel terrible for thinking about these things.

I feel for you. I really do. I like the idea here but drugging the cat and may look into that for the dog. I've really had it with him.

Amazing that somebody else is going through the same thing.

What about a shock collar for the dog? Dog barks, dog gets shocked, dog mysteriously stops barking. They have them at petsmart for around 50 bucks.

Pets, huh? Can't live with them... too cute to kill them.

 

[Autumnleaf]

Benadryl knocks dogs out. Not sure if it works on cats.

 

[Leanna]

This thread is making me glad not to have any pets

 

[Entertaining_Angels]

I did go to petsmart for the shock collar. The problem is our dog has very, very thin fur. Seriously, it gets below 70 and that dog will start shivering everytime you look at him. The guy at the store said it might hurt him a little and I couldn't do that.

Add to that the fact that he managed to get the house 'skunked' last week and that dog is this close to becoming bbq.

 

[syrin]

First of all.. *hugs*... sounds like you have a rotten situation here. I think the kennel idea is a good one. That way the cats could be upstairs and not in the basement. Continue to talk to your husband. Even if its about nothing, communication is so important that if you shut each other out you won't be able to work on any problems. Ask you husband his advice. Sometimes men like to be "fixers" and maybe getting him involved would help. I hate to think you will sleep in seperate bedrooms because of your pets. Men can become very attached to pets or tools even when they feel insecure or unsure of themselves. oops, sorry I didnt mean to pry or say anthing out of line.
Well, I'll stew on this a little more and think up some more ideas...
Good luck to you !!

 

[jlwmomof4]

Hi sorry to hear about your cat, mine is quite the pain too. He likes to pee on our dirty laundry. I used to work at an animal hospital and I hope I can help in this situation. I think your husbands cat has a seperation anxiety problem. unfortunately cats are very hard to train after they have decided they like to behave a certain way. I used to have a cat that would urinate on my boyfriend while he was sleeping. lol. It's funny now, but was extremely frustrating while it was happening. My suggestion is to get an extra litter box, with 2 cats you should have 3 or 4 boxes.The only question I have is do the cats get along? Is your husbands cat hiding from the other cat during the day, and doesn't fell comfortable coming out for attention until the other cat is curled up elsewhere? I've had alot of cats with behavior problems, it's very, very, irritating so I know how you feel. I would suggest giving her her own feeding area as well as designate boxes, you can do this by continually putting the proper cat in the proper box and they will associate it as their's. Good luck and feel free to pm me if you have additional questions I'd be happy to try and help. jlwmomof4