Dear George,I’m writing on behalf of my friend Miss Penelope. She is too shy and embarrassed to post her picture or write herself but, I think she has a problem and I need your advice.
Miss Penelope is a rescue from a local shelter and she was adopted with two other cats. She was ok until one of the cats started “bullying” her. I don’t know if she is scared or has a health problem but lately she stop using the litter box. She “goes” in most unusual places through the house.
What it is very unusual ….she kind of peeing standing! Her human is worried that she might have some health problem even if all tests came back normal. Did you ever hear of a cat peeing standing? Can this be a health issue? May be some lower back problems? Hips? What do you think?
Many thanks & love Cat Victoria
Dear Victoria
I think Miss Penelope is trying to tell her human that she is very very anxious. Standing up to pee is the way we cats mark our territory rather than just relieving ourselves. This is scentmarking and it's rather like a post-it note to ourselves to tell us that something worrying is round this particular corner. My friend William used to do it against a box tree (they smell like cat pee to a cat) and also at the corner of the field where the foxes would come past on their way to hunt rabbits. It reminded him to take care.
We mark our territory when we think it is under attack or when we are feeling anxious about it. So if our stupid humans punish us, we get even more anxious and mark even more. Also once we have marked, we top up the place to keep our scent there up to date. The smell reminds us. So does the smell of disinfectant put down by humans. Disinfectant smells just like cat pee to us. My secretary Celia tells me that instruction on how to clean up cat pee, and a list of reasons why cats get stressed is on her website at www.celiahaddon.com
If Miss Penelope is not getting on with the other cats, she needs help. We are not human. Humans are absurdly social - they eat together and spend time together. Most of them like being near other humans - pubs, parties, holidays, hobbies etc. But it takes between 3- 6 months for most cats to settle into a group. We cats deal with social problems by spacing, keeping a decent distance between each other.
So her human can help her by making sure there are plenty of cat beds, that food is put down at at least two locations (a tea-tray with food can be put in the bedroom), that there is at least one litter tray per cat. Don't just put the litter trays in one location - there should be at least two locations. The idea is that cats can do all the things they need to do - eat, sleep and eliminate - without having to come close to each other. Miss Penelope needs to feel safe from the bully.
If she is being severely bullied - wounds, fur everywhere etc - she may just need to live in a separate part of the house. A Petporte cat flap into a room of her own might help. Some of us are really anti-social and just are natural loners. There's more on Celia's website about that too. Or in that ridiculous book of hers.
If only we could purrsuade humans to think cat, rather than to assume that we will like the same things as us.
Love George
PS. My secretary is trying to make a Facebook group titled Cats behaving badly but so far she has made a group but nobody seems able to join it. What is she doing wrong? Answers to her on Facebook please or via the website www.celiahaddon.com
Poor baby. My beloved Oscar Snuggles was extremely stressed by the dog odor on my clothes I placed in the dirty clothes hamper and as a result he sprayed the hamper. Unfortunately, that hamper was in my husbands closet. Celia came to the rescue as how to clean the urine off the floor by cleaning the spot well with surgical alcohol (it is denatured alcohol in the USA). It worked like a charm. We have hardwood floors and I just poured a nice big spot of that alcohol over the spot soiled on the floor, left it for a few minutes to allow it to seep into the cracks of the floor. We never had another problem with Oscar spraying the hamper in that closet. George, you have a very smart secretary, you must keep her.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what humans do when stressed?
ReplyDeleteDo they pee outside the box?
Cayenne
My heart goes to you, Miss Penelope.
ReplyDeleteI know how it is to be stressed.
Try to keep some distance between you and the bully. Hopefully your humans read this blog, so they can learn what to do in such situations.
Love
Shumba
PS. Cat Victoria....you are awesome!
Poor Miss Penelope! George that is most excellent advice as ever. I do hope Miss Penelope's apes can help her settle down in her new home soon.
ReplyDeleteOur apes use Feliway Diffusers around the house and they help make us feel more secure because they make every room smell more like us, to us only. This is useful if there is a foster cat or an intruder cat as I get very upset about such events.
I also make my apes get down on their hands and knees, and not just for their regular Worshipping Wuudler duties either, but to help them see the home from a cat's point of view. Apes need all the help they can get understanding the feline view of the world. When they are down on the floor they can spot new ambush hidey holes that Gerry might use. I then make them move the furniture so I may have safe passage through the house, unhindered by my rude brother.
Whicky Wuudler