When Abby, a 5-year-old tabby, was adopted by a California couple after the cat's first family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina, Abby's new caretakers were determined to keep the feline indoors for its own protection. After years of roaming free in New Orleans, however, Abby began to respond to her confinement by urinating just about everywhere other than her litter box. Her owners spent a year trying to change Abby's behavior with no success, so they called Dr. Kenneth Martin, a New Orleans-based veterinary behaviorist also known as the cat "psychiatrist."
Martin treated Abby with a combination of behavior therapy and antidepressant medication. "We gave her the cat version of Prozac and enriched her environment with toy rotation," he says. "We put the litter boxes in different areas. We made the areas she had been soiling unattractive to her. Within two weeks, the marking had completely dissipated." Read More: Source/KHQ Pets Cat Psychiatrist
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