Hi Lora,
What a terrible situation. One suggestion that I don't think has been tried is to leave out a completely empty litterbox. Some cats are 'smooth surface eliminators' and will NOT use any kind of litter. They literally prefer a smooth surface (such as the top of your stove).
Is there ANYONE you know who might be willing to give Dartagnan a 'test drive' in a home where he is the ONLY pet? We just adopted out a cat who was not cat-friendly; she went to a house where there was only a dog. It took her about 3 days before she started attacking the dog and then re-directing her aggression at the new owners. She quite obviously wants to be the ONLY pet in the house.
Medications such as Prozac, Valium, etc. are actually the very same medications that you or I would take. My vet, for example, chooses not to stock those drugs (yep; people will attempt break-ins to get them), so when something like that is prescribed, he writes me a prescription and I go to the pharmacy and it's filled from the same big container that it would be filled from if the prescription were for me. The vet who gave you such a hard time sounds like a total lunatic! The dose for a cat is typically at the low end of the protocol, but those types of medicines are not based on weight as antibiotics are.
It sounds as though several people have had success with the "Prozac"-type drugs when nothing else worked. I hope you can find a reasonable vet who is willing to try prescribing them; it's worth a shot.
I wish you and Dartagnan all the best; I have one like him (not as severe), and I've basically just learned to live without certain amenities like carpeting, drapes, etc......in short; if it can't be cleaned with hot water and soap, it's not in my house anymore! I also bought those little plugs that you put into electrical sockets so that children can't put their fingers in there; that helps and I also try to arrange furniture so that it blocks access (by his butt!) to sources of electricity.
I hope some of this helps!
Love, Julie
"I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is
to protection by man from the cruelty of man. "
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged
by the way its animals are treated."
Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948)
Paws Come WITH Claws!!!
If you're thinking about de-clawing your cat, you need to re-think your decision to acquire a pet.
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