Cat Behaviour Problems: Your cat's behaviour

House-soiling (not clean in the house):

Question: My kitten has never messed in the house and, recently, I have been moving her litter tray closer to the door and, eventually, outside. I put a pile of used cat litter in the garden and she was happy to use it for two days. She then started using the garden and so I took the litter tray away. However, yesterday it was raining and she urinated twice on my bed upstairs.

Can you explain why she might have done this - was it because the grass was wet or could it be laziness? Should I put the litter tray back again or persist until she learns to toilet outside?

Answer: It takes a while before kittens learn all the tricks of the trade to enable them to go outside satisfactorily. As you know, cats are very fastidious and digging in wet or soiled earth can be very unpleasant for them.

If she has only just started going outside, she is unlikely to have the confidence to venture too far away or to want to go into other cat’s territory. If you look at it from her point of view, the toilet in her garden was shut due to rain and there was no litter tray. A nice soft duvet must have seemed like a very good option.

I suggest you put the litter tray back for a few months until her confidence outside has increased. You will find that she stops using it gradually of her own accord as she finds more suitable places to go outside.

Don’t worry, it will happen - just don’t try to rush it.

Question: I have a spayed female cat who is almost two years old. Lately, I've noticed that when she uses the cat box she will spray when she urinates. It's a strong spraying stream and will shoot on to the side of the cat box and up the wall.

She has never done this before and I was wondering if you might know what is causing her to do it now.

Answer: She is probably feeling insecure about something. Usually cats do this as a way of marking their territory with their scent at nose height to make themselves feel more secure and advertise their presence to others.

Take a look at the world from her perspective. Have there been any changes inside the house lately – furniture moving, decorating, new babies/pets/people? How about outside?

Often this problem begins when a new cat moves into the neighbourhood. Has another cat been through your cat flap – if this is the case, you may have to consider getting a magnetic flap that only admits your cat.

If you think a new cat may have moved in the area, or you have seen her being chased, accompany her to the garden as often as you can to give her some support. You may find that she begins to spray out there when you are with her which may help to relieve some of her spraying in the house.

Cats are delicate creatures and won’t respond to rebukes or punishment for misbehaviour. Clean the sprayed area with biological washing powder solution, followed by surgical spirit when dry, and put up a board or something similar to prevent any further damage to the wall if she should do it again. If the problem persists, you may like to contact the The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors

Question: Marmalade is a ginger tom, very affectionate and very lazy. Within the last couple of weeks he has wet himself twice; once on our bed and once in his basket. It appears to be because he is comfortable and too lazy to move. Could this be the case and, if so, what can we do to stop him?

Answer: I think it is very unlikely unless he is very old. Old cats can be ‘leaky’, especially if they have had an injury to their back ends.

They don’t mean to do this, but often do not seem to realise it has happened until later. Young fit cats, however, don’t usually do this and it could be a symptom of disease.

If he is very lazy, this could be an indication that it is too painful to move around much, rather than because he can’t be bothered. Either way, I think it is essential that you take him to your veterinary surgeon who will check him out thoroughly.

Question: I have recently moved and while my other cats have settled in, one is very nervous to the point where she is messing in the house constantly. She has also taken to licking and salivating over metal surfaces, such as my fridge, the back door and the tiled kitchen wall. She is otherwise well and is eating OK. Can you explain why she is doing this and how I can stop it.

Answer: Territory is very important to cats and not all cats cope well with moving to a new one. I don’t know why she is licking and salivating excessively but it could be another sign of stress (check that she has easy access to water in case she is thirsty and take her to the vet to check nothing is physically wrong).

I would recommend confining her for at least a week to just one room in the house. Give her a litter tray and food and water and spend as much time as possible with her. Keep any pets and children out and give her time to settle down.

When she seems calmer, accompany her on excursions to the other rooms in the house. Go with her to give her confidence and let her run back into her room if she needs to.

By doing this you will give her a secure base from which she can begin to get to grips with her new location. You may need to continue to provide her with a litter tray indoors for some time until she feels confident about going out.

Similarly, you may need to feed and water her separately from the others for a while. Hopefully, she will begin to settle down with this special treatment, but if not, please contact a member of the The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors who will be able to help you.

Question: I have a 12 year-old tabby and white domestic female, Cleo, who is spayed. She was my first cat and although we have had others since first owning her, she has never hit it off with any other cats. I think she just tolerates them. We have one other cat at the moment, a five year old spayed tom.

About twelve months ago, she became very nervous and withdrawn and went off her food altogether. I took her to the vets, and after various tests they could not find anything physically wrong, but suggested she had suffered some kind of trauma.

She subsequently recovered her appetite, but will now only eat dried food. She has also gradually withdrawn from going outside, and soils inside the house, even if the door is open.

I don't know what to do with her, we've tried scolding but it makes no difference.

She has always been an outdoors cat, and I would hate to have to go back to using litter trays. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: With limited information it is difficult to say for certain, but it sounds as though she is being challenged by another cat in the neighbourhood. This is not unusual, particularly in built-up areas. You say that she does not find it easy to get on with other cats and it is therefore very likely that she would be unable to cope with a domineering cat outside.

At her age, it is also likely that she has resigned herself to not going out rather than risk attack from a younger and more capable opponent. If she cannot get out and there is no litter tray inside, she has no choice but to soil the house. She probably doesn’t like this any more than you, but she probably feels she has no choice. Scolding will not help as you have found out, but will just serve to make her feel more nervous and miserable.

I think you may have to give in and go back to litter trays despite how unpleasant they are to clean out. Your only alternative which may or may not work would be to accompany her to the garden at set times of the day so that she can go while you are there to protect her.

In addition, if you do not do so already, feed your two cats in separate rooms so that Cleo does not feel that she is competing with your other cat for food. This may make her feel more relaxed at meal times and more likely to eat whatever you give her.

You may like to read What is my Cat Thinking? for more information on understanding other cats in the territory & their effects.

Question: Ellie was a stray that I took in a year ago - I already had a neutered female cat who is not confrontational with other cats. Ellie is very aggresive towards all other cats and spends most of her time in the window or garden lying in wait for other cats. In the house she spends most of her time stalking my other cat and fighting with her when she can.

I thought the problem would settle as they became used to one another but if anything, it is getting worse.

One of her favourite places to spray is down the brass fireplace which is in the room which looks out on to the garde and against a teak cupboard next to it which I now keep covered with an old towel. She also sprays around my hall, on the turn of the stairs and against the beds.

I have just had these places redecorated and carpeted so am desperate to solve the problem. I wash with a 10% washing solution and spray with surgical spirit.

I have also used a pheromone spray from the vet and put down tin foil. Apart from the latter, which has had some effect, nothing else works.

I realise this is a phycological problem, it almost as if she needs tranquillizers to calm her wound up state and I almost feel as if she needs to be treated by the equivalent of a phsyciatrist.

Please can you give me any advice what to do. I love her very much but my nerves and my home can't take much more of this.

Answer: Although you are doing all the right things, there is one thing that you are not doing that will make all the difference.

It is, unfortunately, the one thing you cannot do and that is to remove all the other cats in the vicinity so that she can feel secure and unthreatened.

Sadly, your cat’s fear of other cats is so deep-rooted that she cannot tolerate them, will not settle with your other cat and finds the presence of cats outside too much of a threat to cope with without trying to make herself feel more secure by spraying strategic places. Long-term drug therapy may enable her to cope (you will need to consult a pet behaviour counsellor who will be able to help you with this) or finding her a home where she does not have to come into contact with so many other cats may be the only solution.

Question: Although our male kitten will use the litter tray to defecate, he urinates in the hall and also on our bed. How can we put a stop to this?

Answer: Before you can put a stop to it, you need to know why he is doing it. There can be a variety of causes.

These include anxiety, territory marking, and not wanting to use the litter tray, or a combination of these.

It may have started by him not wanting to use the litter tray for some reason, such as it was not clean, or in a non-private place, or near his food bowl. If he was then scolded for going in the wrong place, this could have led to anxiety, causing him to spray in other areas to make himself feel more secure.

If he is sexually mature, he could be practicing spraying to mark his territory. Whatever the reason, it will help if you clean the soiled areas thoroughly with biological washing powder solution, let the area dry then rub over with surgical spirit (be careful not to remove the colour from carpets etc).

Put litter trays in these places or shut doors to keep him out of bedrooms. Then you will need to tackle the root cause to prevent it happening again or elsewhere. If you need help with this, contact The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors or write to The Blue Cross, Shilton Road, Burford, Oxon OX18 4PF with a donation and a s.a.e. for a useful leaflet on the subject.

Question: Our cat won't let us touch her. She's always seemed scared ever since birth. Also she won't use a litter tray. I bought a self-cleaning litter pan but this hasn't helped at all. Is there anything we can do to overcome these problems?

Answer: The temperament of kittens is very dependent on the temperament of the father, and perhaps your cat had a father with a shy, reactive genetic make-up. Cats with a shy disposition that they have inherited from their parents are particularly hard to deal with and this may be why you are having problems.

She will need you to be very quiet and gentle with her to overcome her fears.

Use food and tasty titbits to temp her near to you and don’t pick her up at first until she begins to trust you more.

Try not to look at her or stare at her as this can be quite threatening for cats. Make sure the litter tray is placed in a position where she feels safe. If you have a busy, boisterous family, she may be better of in a more quiet, sedate home.

If the problems persist, you may need the help of a pet behaviourist. Contact the The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors

Question: We recently inherited two cats from some friends who have emigrated. Pepsi, who is two, and Errol, who is four. We also have a very lively seven month old border collie puppy. We are currently having problems getting Pepsi to go to the toilet outside.

She seemed okay for a few weeks after we first let her out of the house, but since then we have had problems with her urinating on our bed. This stopped when we put the cat litter out again, but we would prefer her to go outside.

We cannot put the cat litter anywhere accessible to the puppy, as he eats everything, (cat litter included). Pepsi had never been outside before she came to us (she was an indoor cat) and we have an open plan living and kitchen area with a dog flap to the rear garden.

Answer: The problem is not so much that Pepsi needs to have a litter tray inside, but that she doesn’t want to go outside. The question is why? Since she is new to the outside world, she is not going to be as confident out there as a cat that has always been able to get out. Any small disturbance that causes her to be insecure outside will inhibit her from going to the toilet there and cause her to need to go inside.

Cats like to be secretive about going to the toilet and so prefer dry, soft earth under bushes.

Do you have somewhere suitable for her to go in your garden without her having to travel too far from the safety of your home? Is this kept freshly dug and clean? Does your puppy disturb her when she tries to go to the toilet, or try to chase her when she goes outside (if you have a dog flap, he will be able to go outside whenever she does) (also, if your puppy likes to eat everything, he may be following her, waiting for her to go so he can eat it! Naturally enough, this may be very intimidating for Pepsi.).

Or it could be that other cats in the neighbourhood have been intimidating her (this may not have happened during the first two weeks of her freedom). Finding the answer to the question ‘why’ and doing something about it from Pepsi’s point of view is essential if you want her to start going outside again.

Otherwise, I’m afraid you may have to accept that Pepsi will always need a litter tray indoor and it is easier to provide her with one than risk her finding her own unacceptable substitute.

You may like to read What is my Cat Thinking? for more information on understanding elimination.

Question: My 8-month old kitten has always been very clean until he had a stomach upset and began messing on the carpet. Now, although he passes water in his litter tray, he is still messing on the carpet. How can I teach him to stop?

Answer: It is likely that he during his illness, he began to associate defacating in his litter tray with pain or discomfort. Instead of linking this pain with his stomach upset, he has linked it to the litter tray.

Usually, it will be very ‘context specific’, that is, he will have linked the pain to that tray in that place with that particular type of litter. Try placing another tray in a different place with a different type of litter and keeping him away from the carpet he has messed on for the time being.

Once he is happily going in the new tray, begin to move it gradually back to the place where you prefer the tray to be. Clean the soiled area well with biological washing powder solution, followed, when dry, by a wipe over with surgical spirit.

If it continues, you may need to confine him in a smaller space with no other option than to use his tray, but this shouldn’t be necessary yet.

Question: Over the past two days, our female cat, Maisie has started to urinate in the house. This concerns us as she is litter trained and has never done this before.

My husband, whom she fusses over the most, has been away for a few days with work and we thought this could be the reason.

Alternatively, we are in the middle of decorating and wondered if her surroundings seemed less familiar? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: Both of these things could be the cause.

Some cats are very sensitive to changes in the household and loosing one of her owners at the same time as upheaval is happening in the house could have caused Maisie to feel insecure. Spraying urine in the house can help to make her feel better, although, of course, it is not acceptable for you.

I would recommend confining her to one room of the house for a while until the decorating is finished, or to keep her in a part of the house where things are more settled.

Provide her with a litter tray in a quiet corner with litter she is used to using, give her a warm bed up high, and visit her often to give her attention and games.

When you are ready to introduce her to your newly decorated room, wipe a soft cloth on her cheeks and wipe this at her nose height on prominent objects around the room. This will help to spread her scent around and make it less likely that she will spray.

In addition, clean all soiled areas with biological washing powder solution, followed by wiping the area over with surgical spirit (be careful that the surgical spirit does not make colours run in fabric).

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