House soiling in cats, also called feline inappropriate elimination, is the most common behavioral complaint of cat owners. Problem behaviors can be urine and/or stool deposited outside of the litter box, or marking behaviors. When cats urinate on vertical surfaces, it is known as spraying. Usually, the cat backs up to a vertical surface, raises its tail, which may quiver, treads with its back feet, and directs a stream of urine backward. Marking includes spraying urine on vertical locations; on occasion, a cat may mark its territory by urinating small amounts on horizontal surfaces. 

Quality food, cat litter, bedding, bowls, enrichment items like toys and scratches, and other supplies are critical to a pet's well being and happiness. These items are available at local pet supply stores.

Sunshine's Friends shops at these places:

• Chewy.com - place your first order and we receive  referral donation from Chewy
• PetSmart, Ellicott City, MD and Columbia, MD
• Arundel Mills Mall, Hanover, MD
• Whole Pet Central
• Petco
• Pet Supplies Plus

WebMD Veterinary Reference https://pets.webmd.com/cats/why-cats-sneeze#1

An occasional sneeze in a cat is normal and no real cause for alarm. Just as in humans, sneezing in cats is an explosive release of air through the nose and mouth - often the body’s response to irritants in the nasal passages. Sometimes, excitement or movement can bring on sneezing in cats.

However, if your cat’s sneezing won’t go away, or if other symptoms have cropped up along with sneezing, you may need to check with your veterinarian to see if treatment is needed.

This Standards of Care document provides both current practices as well as future goals. It is intended to be read in its entirety so that information is not taken out of context and misunderstood. This document was created based primarily on:

• Title 15, MD Department of Agriculture, Subtitle 01, Chapter 11 “Animal Shelters – Standards of Care”, Agriculture Article §2-1701 at seq., Annotated Code of Maryland (April 23, 2018);
• Association of Shelter Veterinarians, “Standards of Care in Animal Shelters” (2010);
• Humane Society of the US (HSUS), Shelter Advocate Toolkit “The 5 Freedoms” (2010).

Last revision: 20230127.

Standards of Care Manual343.24 KB12/06/2023, 20:00

There are several veterinary practices in the area that offer low-cost spay/neuter services. They are able to do so because they focus on spaying, neutering, and vaccinating a high volume of pets and feral cats. The vets are high quality, but they do not offer the range of pet wellness or specialty services that their full-service vet counterparts do.

Sunshine's Friends uses the following vets for low-cost, high-volume spay/neuter:

• Spay Now Animal Surgery Clinic - Laurel, MD
• Metro Ferals - Sykesville, MD
• Spay Spa & Neuter Nook - Davidsonville, MD