Conference misery::feline_v1

    It might not be necessary to administer any followup shots, once the
    behaviour pattern
    has been changed for four months, I would hope.
    

    well, we'll find out shortly as I am bringing Spiro in tonight to get
    one of these shots. He had been so good about not spraying, and then
    the weather started to get spring like, and I guess he started
    generating hormones again. I guess old habits are hard to break.
    I hope this will work and he will only need it once.

    Anyhow, has anyone had any experience with this? I understand it is
    like long-lasting ovaban.

    Deb

    
    My vet, Dr Gleason /Amherst Animal Hospital will not give any animal
    this shot. He says, they can go into diabetis with just one shot.
    He uses a mild valium instead. It work good and did break  Mocha
    stopped spraying, but is doing it again as the outside cats are
    spraying the shrubbery in front of our house.
    
    I am giving him the medicine again.
    
    Barbara

    well, as it turned out, when I brought Spiro on Monday in they were all out
    of depo-provera. The vet put him on a mild treatment of Ovaban and has
    has not sprayed since.  By mild I mean

    	days 1-5	1/4 tablet twice a day
    	     6-10	1/4 tablet once a day
    	     11-20	1/4 tablet every other day
    	     21-28(?)	1/4 tablet every 3rd day

    until eventually he will either not need it at all (i.e., the
    behavior modification is permanent) or just a real small dose like 1/4
    tablet per month (she is hoping we won't have to do the latter). 

    A real nice side effect of this is that Spiro has stopped his
    night-time calling that he used to do. Often cats that go on Ovaban
    become ravenous, but (so far) I haven't seen his appetite increase.

    Deb

    The reference to night time calling leads me to ask about what Little
    Bit has been doing lately.  LB became a fulltime indoor cat at the
    end of November, and initially there were several weeks of night-time
    calling, getting adjusted to inside, etc.  Then he got more
    and more mellow, and started also to come to me for petting, etc.
    However, the last few days as the weather has warmed up (it's spring in
    Calif.), the 4 a.m. calling has resumed.  I'm learning to sleep
    thru it and am trying to tire him out with games before bedtime,
    but the latter aren't having much effect.  He was altered when
    he was about a year and a half old, if I remember the date correctly,
    and he's now about two.  Is this some residual mating season thing?
    Might it go on all summer?  sigh....
    

    Spiro was adopted about a year ago, after having been feral (and
    unneutered) for about 6 years. And despite his being small, he was the
    top cat in the area.

    Since neutering, he has been a lovable lap cat and very playful; he's
    been the perfect cat except for the spraying (which was under control
    until the spring weather arrived) and chasing the girl cats. Even
    though he was neutered, he has called every night that I have had him
    for at least 10 minutes. I had learned how to sleep though it. As for
    other "residual mating behavior", well, every night after the girl cats
    have let him know that they don't welcome his advances (even when he
    tries to charm them by rolling on the floor and exposing his belly), he 
    goes and finds this yellow nylon stuffed tube thing (it is about 2 feet
    long), which he drags all over the house by it's "neck", finally brings
    it into the living room, straddles it and proceeds to go through the
    actions of mating  with it, if you get my drift. (This is a bit
    embarrassing if you have company over).
    
    By the way, no matter how long I played with him to tire him out,
    didn't seem to prevent this. Guess he felt he had a duty to do.

    Since he went on the Ovaban, both the calling and the affair with
    the yellow tube toy have ended.

    Deb