By LEANNE ITALIE (AP): Angie Best-Boss has tried changing litter boxes, types of litter, brands of litter. But something has gone terribly wrong with Tiger.
"I loathe my cat," said the freelance writer in New Palestine, Ind. "Actually, loathe might be too weak of a word. I hate it. The stupid, stupid cat pees. On clothes. Only on clean clothes. And beds. Regardless of what spray I buy, what medicine she takes, she just really, really likes to pee."
Dogs chewing through table legs. Cats diving for the family dinner. Biting cockatiels. At a time when many people are scrimping on themselves to indulge their animals, the love is lost for owners of infuriating pets.
Still, many can't bring themselves to dump their wayward animals in shelters. Instead, they pay sky-high vet bills for intervention that doesn't work. They endure in-your-face barking rants in the middle of the night or are startled awake by the routine hacking of hairballs.
When Cherie Miller's 16-year-old cat, Kitty, goes out, he wants in. When he's in, he wants out. He whines relentlessly and refuses to eat unless a human stirs the kibble around in his self-feeder. The family calls it "whooshing."
"When it scratches on the bedroom door at 3:21 a.m. to have its food whooshed, it's enticing to imagine creative ways to ditch this cat. I'm a pet lover, but come on," said Miller, who lives in suburban Atlanta and was inspired to start a blog about pesky pets called pet-peeves.org.
"We all know couples who look like they like to fight. They let fights happen because, it seems, they're getting something out of it. Some people have that relationship with their pets," said psychologist Stephanie LaFarge, who specializes in the human-animal bond at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "Some people like to think they love their animals so much they're willing to be victimized by them. It's proof of how much they love that animal and proof of what a good animal person they are and what a good person they are."
Jellybean is the nippy childhood bird of Jennifer Guild, who lives in Richmond, Va. The bird materialized one day, and Guild's parents took her in. After she and her siblings moved away, Guild took on Jellybean, despite a bird allergy.
"Jellybean has always been pretty mean. When you try to take her out of her cage, she tries to bite you," Guild said. "My husband has always hated her."
She tried her local SPCA with no luck, so Jellybean is confined to a back bedroom in virtual exclusion, at maximum volume. "Try sleeping in on a Saturday morning with a bird screeching in the next room," Guild said.
Jennifer Guild holds her bird, Jellybean, at her home in Richmond, Va., on April 12. Jellybean is the nippy childhood bird of Guild. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)