Hi,
I have a 6 year old male cat. 6 weeks ago my fiance and I moved from a rental to our first home. My cats have always been able to come in and out of the house as they please however our new house has a busy main road over the back fence. I had a cat pass away a year and a half ago because she crawled in my engine and I drove 3.5km without knowing she was there before she fell out. We are planning on building a cat run however it is not on the top priority on our list with all the renos this house needs. My cat however hates the idea of not being able to go outside. He will have clean litter, use it once then refused to use it again. He keeps peeing everywhere he's not meant to but its usually on my fiances stuff. I need this to stop. I'm getting to the point where I'm just going to let him out to try to stop this. Does anyone have any advice?
My Cats Driving Me NUTS!!
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Mollycat
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Re: My Cats Driving Me NUTS!!
What a pity you didn't think of your cat and any future cats you might want when choosing your home. Seems your boy is making his feelings about the whole situation very clear. If you really feel it's so unsafe then maybe make an outdoor run a higher priority, or rehome him to someone who lives in a more suitable location? If he has been used to the complete freedom of roaming he might not even be happy to settle for an enclosed run. Some cats just can't be indoor cats.
Years ago my partner's aunt had a cat, a real outdoor loving cat who got in a lot of fights. One day he tested positive for FelV and because of his fighting they decided he had to stop going out. By the morning he had opened two doors, moved a box of books and broken the locking cat flap and was out. Eventually they had no choice but to have him put to sleep, the poor cat was so miserable going stir crazy, but they just could not risk him going infecting other people's pets.
Just to add another thought, as Ruth quite rightly mentions stress. If there is lots of renovation work to do to this house, there is going to be a lot more stress coming for the cat. This could be quite a challenge for you.
Years ago my partner's aunt had a cat, a real outdoor loving cat who got in a lot of fights. One day he tested positive for FelV and because of his fighting they decided he had to stop going out. By the morning he had opened two doors, moved a box of books and broken the locking cat flap and was out. Eventually they had no choice but to have him put to sleep, the poor cat was so miserable going stir crazy, but they just could not risk him going infecting other people's pets.
Just to add another thought, as Ruth quite rightly mentions stress. If there is lots of renovation work to do to this house, there is going to be a lot more stress coming for the cat. This could be quite a challenge for you.
Last edited by Mollycat on Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Ruth B
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Re: My Cats Driving Me NUTS!!
I think you need to put catifying your home to top priority. Get the cat run built outside for him, and give him plenty of areas for him to run and jump inside. Play with him lots.
As for his litter tray problem, remember cats don't pee around the house out of spite, they do it because of stress, or to mark territory when they feel insecure. You have just taken him out of his know territory and moved him to a new house. If the previous owner had pets then the house would smell of them when he moved in. He might have seen other cats outside through a window, all of which is possibly making him feel he has to mark the house to let everyone know it is his. In addition you have had the stress of moving, which i'm sure he is picking up on and is possibly making him feel that he has to defend the new territory on your behalf as well thinking it will make you feel calmer knowing that he is willing to stop any intrusion, he doesn't understand that he is only making it worse.
I would suggest you try getting a load of litter trays, putting one where ever he is peeing. Don't clean them the moment he uses it, but always make sure there is one or two clean ones, some cats are fastidious in their habits and won't use a dirty litter tray, but leaving some uncleaned for a few hours will help him know that his scent it lingering in that area. Whatever you do don't tell him off when he goes outside the litter tray. Don't use bleach to clean anything up, the scent given off by bleach as it breaks down is similar to the one given off by cat urine as it breaks down, and cats can mistake it and believe it is an area they can use to urinate, there are cleaning products, normally enzyme based, which are specially formulated to remove cat urine and all the odours which you need to use around the house to clean up when he goes where he shouldn't.
Finally I would suggest either reading some of the books by Vicki Halls, such as Cat Confidential, she is a British Cat Behaviourist or watching some of Jackson Galaxy's 'My Cat from Hell' series or his You Tube videos, he can be very American in some ways, but he is very good at helping cats and, as many more cats in the States are kept purely indoors, he is something of an expert on that aspect of it.
As for his litter tray problem, remember cats don't pee around the house out of spite, they do it because of stress, or to mark territory when they feel insecure. You have just taken him out of his know territory and moved him to a new house. If the previous owner had pets then the house would smell of them when he moved in. He might have seen other cats outside through a window, all of which is possibly making him feel he has to mark the house to let everyone know it is his. In addition you have had the stress of moving, which i'm sure he is picking up on and is possibly making him feel that he has to defend the new territory on your behalf as well thinking it will make you feel calmer knowing that he is willing to stop any intrusion, he doesn't understand that he is only making it worse.
I would suggest you try getting a load of litter trays, putting one where ever he is peeing. Don't clean them the moment he uses it, but always make sure there is one or two clean ones, some cats are fastidious in their habits and won't use a dirty litter tray, but leaving some uncleaned for a few hours will help him know that his scent it lingering in that area. Whatever you do don't tell him off when he goes outside the litter tray. Don't use bleach to clean anything up, the scent given off by bleach as it breaks down is similar to the one given off by cat urine as it breaks down, and cats can mistake it and believe it is an area they can use to urinate, there are cleaning products, normally enzyme based, which are specially formulated to remove cat urine and all the odours which you need to use around the house to clean up when he goes where he shouldn't.
Finally I would suggest either reading some of the books by Vicki Halls, such as Cat Confidential, she is a British Cat Behaviourist or watching some of Jackson Galaxy's 'My Cat from Hell' series or his You Tube videos, he can be very American in some ways, but he is very good at helping cats and, as many more cats in the States are kept purely indoors, he is something of an expert on that aspect of it.
Re: My Cats Driving Me NUTS!!
If you have a covered patio you might try setting up a large dog pen just outside your door where you can place your cat outside but safe. We have a double Great Dane pen on our covered patio for one of our cats that likes the outdoors. The pen is 8 ft long, 4 ft wide and 4 ft high. We put up steps and shelves along the walls to take advantage of the height. Our cat loves it and plays for many hours. The pen has bottom trays ( and a roof of course) and we set up a litter box, and all the amenities for him. When the weather is good we put the pen in the yard and he feels just like he is outside.