dog and cat behavior

Question
Hello-

I am having a huge issue with my pets.  I've got a 4 year old domestic short hair cat named Nala, and I adopted an 8 year old lab/hound mix in July named Lucy.  We've had Nala since she was 6 weeks old and she's really good about using the litter box.  She's quite finicky about it too.  Lucy came house-trained but has developed some issues with defecating and urinating.

Nala has been the only animal since last November, when our other cat passed away.  Then I got Lucy.  Nala has taken to urinating and defecating in a specific corner of my living room where I had put a bed for Lucy.  She urinates on the bed itself as well.  I've shampooed the carpet, washed the dog bed, thrown out the dog bed (Lucy has another bed in my room), spritzed her with water when she heads to that corner.  I know she's peeved because of the introduction of the dog.  We have made attempts to give her a secure place of her own. She's got a tall perch in the kitchen by the window that Lucy cannot get at her and she gets fed there so she's not bothered.  She's got an additional bed in the living room window so she can watch the birds. We've discontinued allowing Lucy on our beds because Nala originally had that privilege of sleeping either with me or my oldest daughter.  We prevent Lucy from pestering her and chasing her and Lucy goes outside to the yard for a couple of hours throughout the day so Nala gets some quiet time.  I am not real sure what else to do here for her.  I squirted her one night for squatting in that corner, and she promptly sprayed the floor again.

Lucy needs to be walked daily or she paces all night long.  She's on a limited diet due to being obese when I got her.  She's on a second round of anti-biotics due to four hot spots she chewed up on her flank.  Her issue started in early September. I had a cook out and she got into the party food and it made her sick.  She's not allowed human food except veggies.  I spent almost a week cleaning up after her in the basement.  She is let out first thing in the morning for an hour, and as soon as I get home from work for an hour, then out as needed and back out for a half hour before bed.  She does this over the course of the night.  On Monday, she bolted out of my front yard and disappeared for over an hour.  She came home covered in burrs and smelling.  I washed her that night and when I got home yesterday she had defecated on a blanket on the basement floor and urinated on it.  It was fresh and she had just been let out for an hour about 90 minutes prior.  Last night I had her out for over an hour and brought her in at 11.  I woke up this morning and she had defecated and urinated on the basement floor again.

I am at a total loss.  Any ideas on what is going on with my animals and how to take steps to correct it?  Lucy needs some basic training, she jumps on people, barks constantly, gets on furniture and begs.  What else do I need to add in?  With the hound and lab in her, is there anything else I need to be doing with her?

Any suggestions you might have would be great.

Answer
Hi Holly,
I almost pushed the rejection button stating that this question is too long and involved for me because it is.

I didn't because I wanted to give you some suggestions about where to turn with this.

As I am sure you can tell, these are behavioral problems. The cat is acting out because of the dog, and the dog is having issues probably because she is in the basement and away from your family. Dogs are social animals and taking her out twice a day and leaving her in the basement the rest of the time is going to make one unhappy dog.

Untrained dogs are unhappy dogs as well. She is obviously spayed,but has had little attention or training. The first thing you need to do is enroll her in an evening obedience class. She needs basic training or she will never be the dog she has the potential to be. She will also not stay house trained if she isn't trained to have manners.

Once you get this wild and loud dog under control your cat will calm down as well and stop soiling the house. She is upset and no window perch is going to relieve that with a loud, obnoxious dog around.

It's not Lucy's fault and not yours either. Her previous owners didn't put any time or effort into taking care of this dog properly.

Never, ever feed her human food. A few veggies is fine, but dogs can get sick enough from one feeding of human leftovers or scraps to die from pancreatitis.

Don't risk it. Call a trainer, find a local kennel club that does training. Our local one has year round classes at the local fairgrounds and park.

If you need other help then I suggest you talk to your vet and/or a pet behaviorist.

I wish you all the best!!