Seperation Anxiety

[madcatwoman66]

Hello all,

I have a 9 year old boy who lost his long term companion last summer. As his old companion was very poorly in the latter stages of her life, he didn't get that much attention, so when she passed, I though I would see how he got on being an only cat.

It's worth saying that my old girl was never that taken with him and his rough & tumble attempts to "play" generally ended up with my girl crying and him being told off!

All went well to begin with, my boy seemed to come out of his shell a lot, was very cuddly with me and he seemed happy and much more talkative. The only real issue was that I had moved house in 2011 from a large house with garden backing onto woods to a much smaller house & garden with a high number of cats close by. I think as a result of all the stress of other cats, my boy started spraying quite a lot - mainly in the lounge against the sofa.

Anyway, the spraying seemed to have calmed down a bit but never completely stopped. I do watch him spray in the garden sometimes & it often seems more than a quick squirt - sometimes, he lets out an enormous amount & the same can be said for what he leaves indoors! If I go away for weekends, I leave him with an auto feeder, catflap locked so he's safe etc. I was away last weekend & when I got back, he had literally sprayed up every available surface of 2 new sofas and also in my bedroom. I didn't scold him of course but I'm wondering whether this is anything to do with seperation anxiety and what I can do about it? I don't want to start putting him into a cattery for the weekend because I am sure he'll be happier in his own environment. I'm also now wondering whether he might need another cat companion although I realise this could so easily make things worse for him.

I just want to do what's best for him.

Can anyone help.

Thanks,

madcatwoman

[PeanutsFriend]

That guy from My Cat From Hell on Animal Plant might be helpful... Jackson. You can go to the web sight...
Sounds to me he is lonesome and needs someone else to keep him company.

[lilynmitz]

Hi, and welcome to Catchat.

As it's been a long time since you lost your ladypuss, I suspect your lad has adjusted to this by now. However, I think you're right that he's not coping with sharing his territory with so many other cats. Can they get into the house? I can understand why he would find that threatening, and that may be the cause of his spraying during the week. If so, I would suggest you try a micro-chip operated cat flap, so he still has his freedom but other cats are kept out.

But as he seems to be worse at weekends when you're not there, it may be the fact that he's locked that stresses him. The microchip catflap again might deal with this.

If it's being on his own that's the problem, do you have a neighbour who can pop in to feed him instead of leaving him with the autofeeder?

Getting a companion cat for him is a risk, if he's not coping well with the cats in the area, he may just vew a new cat in the house as part of the problem. Alternatively, if you choose well and do the introductions carefully, it might make him feel more secure and less lonely. You could also try Feliway, and possibly Zylkene in his food, when you go away. Both will help him stay calm.

Is there anything else going on in the house that could be stressing him - builders, decorators, new/frequent visitors etc? Try looking at his environment through his eyes and see if there are things happening in his world that he finds distressing. (You mention the new sofas - the new scents may be upsetting him).

Also, check with the vet that he doesn't have any health problems, such as a urinary infection.

Have a look at this link, you may find some helpful suggestions here.

http://www.catchat.org/urination.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;