I'm so sorry for the grief and stress you've felt throughout this time. You've done a kindness -don't forget that. It was difficult, but you did it because you loved Keo and wanted her to stop hurting. I've had to do it a number of times, and it's always so incredibly difficult, and always followed by weeks of melancholy. But I've never regretted it. Right now I know of a kitty, about 17 years old, who weighs about 3 lbs., and is truly suffering every day from many ailments. Her owners believe they'll 'know' when the time is right to put her down, but to everyone else, it looks like the time is right here, right now, and we feel such sorrow and pity for this poor, frail, hurting kitty..... You did the right thing. I don't know whether you're familiar with this poem, or whether it will resonate with you, but I thought I'd pass it on... The Last Battle If it should be that I grow frail and weak And pain should keep me from my sleep, Then will you do what must be done, For this " the last battle" can't be won. You will be sad I understand, But don't let grief then stay your hand, For on this day, more than the rest, Your love and friendship must stand the test. We have had so many happy years, You wouldn't want me to suffer so. When the time comes, please, let me go. Take me to where to my needs they'll tend, Only, stay with me till the end And hold me firm and speak to me Until my eyes no longer see. I know in time you will agree It is a kindness you do to me. Although my tail its last has waved, From pain and suffering I have been saved. Don't grieve that it must be you Who has to decide this thing to do; We've been so close "we two" these years, Don't let your heart hold any tears. - Unknown

We use the crystal type litter and find there is very little smell, especially if we scoop the....er...solids....out and flush them. Our cat's litter tray lives in the laundry. Sounds like Bushido has an issue with Lauren. As others have suggested, it might be her scent, but with cats it could be anything :-) I'm not sure he's peeing on her clothes to mark them: when out cat does that sort of thing it's to let us know she's PO'd about something. I'd let Lauren deal with her laundry by herself if she's going to leave the clothes here the cat can pee on them. A few late drying sessions and she might feel it's easier to put the clothes in the hamper. Out of curiosity, why does your dryer take three times longer to dry? Lint trap or vent need emptying? I ask because we recently stayed in a vacation apartment and couldn't get over how long the dryer was tasking until DH checked the lint trap and discovered we wee the only tenants in forever to do so.

It wouldn't have helped when its THAT far advanced for that one cat BUT it would have hopefully prevented another cat from ever getting those health issues to begin with. Sorta like changing a MC donalds diet after you've had a massive heart attack isn't going to help the 71 year old heart disease victim find instant cure for severe heart disease , but if you don't start a 3 year old on the same diet he/she probably won't get the heart disease. Yes letting go when there that bad is good however it does pay to research so it hopefully doesn't happen again with another cat.

On the issue of declawing cats... I can't remember the lady's name, but she wrote The New Natural Cat book. Her belief about declawing is that a declawed cat knows that it is unable to defend itself properly and so it becomes insecure. Those insecurities come out in a variety of behaviors, including inappropriate elimination. I personally have seen that scenario more than once with declawed cats and young children. Little people can be very stressful to cats, and a declawed cat has extra reason to feel threatened in that situation. I've known a few people who had declawed cats who did fine until a baby started crawling around the house- then there was suddenly cat pee in all the wrong places. I worried about how our clawed cats would react when DD started moving about under her own power. Everything went just fine and it was easy to see by the way the cats behaved around her that they felt (and still feel) very confident in their own abilities to deal with her. To this day, I'm surprised that neither one has come to the point of sticking a claw in her, she's certainly deserved it more than once. FWIW, my tortie is not sassy so much as dependent and demanding. We also have her litter mate, who is a typical laid back orange tabby. Since he doesn't have the same personality issues that she does, and we know they stayed with their mom an adequate time, I couldn't chalk her behavior up to weaning issues- but then again, who knows?