Bad Bad Kitty
Sometime your cat does some bad things....
1. Urinating outside of the kitty litter box.
Well this is the number one reason cats get kick out... first is your cat fixed? Getting your cat fixed male or female gets rid of that need to mark for territory or for finding a mate. Plus it helps with the over populated cat problem. Second do you have more than one cat? That means more than one kitty litter and you might have to have the boxes in different areas of the house. Do you keep it clean?? Got to clean them. Is your cat territorial? Is it marking by the door on the wall? Well there might be a cat out side spraying close to your door or window that your cat can smell. Sometimes, just putting a item (decor or a plant, etc) outside slightly away from your door will lead the outdoor cat to mark that than in front of your door. Is your cat urinating on vertical or horizontal items. If its horizontal, most of the time it has a medical problem like a urinary tract infection and if it's a male, it could be fatal. Seek medical attention soon, especially if you see blood in urine. If you have more than one cat, and can not figure it out. Take the one you think it is and put in another room with litter and water. If there is still urination going on outside that room, then try the next cat you think it is. Sometimes, if it turns out the urine is marking.....your cats are fighting over territory. Try going vertical if you don't have much room.....build a shelve for a cat to get up higher or a cat tower. Place a couple of inexpensive crates around or under the bed for each cat to have its own secure spot.
2. Cleaning up the urine. Well there are lots of ways and lots of products out there and it depends on the surface area that was the target of urination. Make sure you blot up the area first with towel and do not rub...blot. Maybe use a little water first then the product. Always test area first. Clothes; use odorban-available at Sam's cub, Home Depot and Walmart. Also try oxyclean( most stores) or awesome oxygen available at the dollar tree. Carpet; use a combo of hydrogen peroxide and water. Be careful and start with 1 to 4 ration of peroxide to water. Let is sit for a bit cover with plastic. Check area and blot and repeat. Also Odorban works well for carpets but follow the directions. For ceramic tiles, all of the above seems to do the job. The Best stuff to used for all of the areas seems to be Whip-it. Man this stuff really does the job and seems to work on most surfaces. So far, only seen it at Sams Club and online. Its a little pricey but a little goes a long way.
Feliway comfort zone is a good product to help with cat marking and scratching. Get the plug in for the house and spray for trips. Its recommends you using it for 3 month.
3. Scratching. Not a big fan of declawing. Some cats develop behavior problems or get worse ones after getting declawed. Some owners have health issue and can not afford to take the risk. But make sure you plan on keeping the cat and dealing with any issues (like urination outside of the litter box cause the litter hurts its paws) that may come up after surgery. You might have to try different litter to see what feels ok on its paws. It's always sad when we get a cat who is declawed and thrown outside cause it developed more issues. Then, it has no way to really defend its self or catch prey. Talk to you vet and find out all the pros and cons. If your vet acts like there is no cons, don't trust your vet. Do research first. Why does your cat scratch? It feels good and its also for marking and putting their scent. Now how to keep your cat from scratching your couch. Try a good scratching post with rope or wood. I would stay away from carpet ones unless your cat already likes the carpet. Then you should make sure put it near where it's been scratching and slowly move it away from the area. With cats, redirecting the behaviors helps than just trying to get them to stop. If you give them a good scratching post (make sure its tall enough and secure), and they still go back to the old area, just spritz them with a little water in a spray bottle. Soon it should get annoying enough and they will prefer the new area.
4.Fighting. Are all your cats fixed? Very important. But if you have two dominate cats or just one and an insecure cat it can lead to fighting. You might have to separate them till they get used to each others scent and slowly bring them together. A good way is to bond them is when feeding them. Make sure the bowls are very far apart and over time slowly inch them closer together. Provide a good secure hiding place for the more insecure cat and make sure it has two exit route encase the dominate one tries an surprise attack. Yelling at the cat and hitting them never does any good so don't bother. You have to redirect their behavior. Give equal play time to each cat and make sure you are alone with each cat to build it's confidence. If the fight does not stop for a long time, you might have to learn to keep them separate. One person had two cats fighting and it took almost 2 years for them to at least stand each other enough not to fight. But that was from not doing any preventive measures. Also, sometime getting another cat can help the situation if you have only two. It could help better establish ranking system that cats have, but you have to know your cats behavior and find one that will balance that out. There are animal behaviorist that you can find who can help you with the situation. Sometimes two cats are really dominate and will not back down. Re-homing one or keeping them separate might be your only solution, but that is really rare.
6. Biting. Some cats play more aggressively than others and may bite when playing or being petted. Sooner you stop it the better everyone will be. When playing and you feel like your cat is going to bite, put a small stuff animal for it to bite on. It is just getting too excited and you have to distract your cat with something you approve of. Play with your cat with an string item to avoid hand contact. If it bites when you pet it, try to pet it softer or even a little less. Some cats get annoyed with too much petting or to much petting the wrong place. I have one cat I pet mostly in the head and chin area cause she gets annoy with to much lower back petting. While I have another one that love to be petted the whole back. Each cat is different and has its own personality that ya just has to kind of figure out.
Another thing that has helped me with a few fosters that may have been played to rough as kittens and tend to bite, is to buy a stuffed animal. Get one that is about a 1/3 to 2/3 the size of you cat. When it starts playing rough, putt the stuff animal in between your hand and the cat. it takes a little bit of patience, but really does help alot. The cat will kick the stuffed animal and get its need to bite on it. After you establish this, make sure if the cat does this to your hand that you place the stuff animal in place of your hand and then walk out of the room or walk away from the cat. Mother cats do this to correct bad behavior in their kittens.
1. Urinating outside of the kitty litter box.
Well this is the number one reason cats get kick out... first is your cat fixed? Getting your cat fixed male or female gets rid of that need to mark for territory or for finding a mate. Plus it helps with the over populated cat problem. Second do you have more than one cat? That means more than one kitty litter and you might have to have the boxes in different areas of the house. Do you keep it clean?? Got to clean them. Is your cat territorial? Is it marking by the door on the wall? Well there might be a cat out side spraying close to your door or window that your cat can smell. Sometimes, just putting a item (decor or a plant, etc) outside slightly away from your door will lead the outdoor cat to mark that than in front of your door. Is your cat urinating on vertical or horizontal items. If its horizontal, most of the time it has a medical problem like a urinary tract infection and if it's a male, it could be fatal. Seek medical attention soon, especially if you see blood in urine. If you have more than one cat, and can not figure it out. Take the one you think it is and put in another room with litter and water. If there is still urination going on outside that room, then try the next cat you think it is. Sometimes, if it turns out the urine is marking.....your cats are fighting over territory. Try going vertical if you don't have much room.....build a shelve for a cat to get up higher or a cat tower. Place a couple of inexpensive crates around or under the bed for each cat to have its own secure spot.
2. Cleaning up the urine. Well there are lots of ways and lots of products out there and it depends on the surface area that was the target of urination. Make sure you blot up the area first with towel and do not rub...blot. Maybe use a little water first then the product. Always test area first. Clothes; use odorban-available at Sam's cub, Home Depot and Walmart. Also try oxyclean( most stores) or awesome oxygen available at the dollar tree. Carpet; use a combo of hydrogen peroxide and water. Be careful and start with 1 to 4 ration of peroxide to water. Let is sit for a bit cover with plastic. Check area and blot and repeat. Also Odorban works well for carpets but follow the directions. For ceramic tiles, all of the above seems to do the job. The Best stuff to used for all of the areas seems to be Whip-it. Man this stuff really does the job and seems to work on most surfaces. So far, only seen it at Sams Club and online. Its a little pricey but a little goes a long way.
Feliway comfort zone is a good product to help with cat marking and scratching. Get the plug in for the house and spray for trips. Its recommends you using it for 3 month.
3. Scratching. Not a big fan of declawing. Some cats develop behavior problems or get worse ones after getting declawed. Some owners have health issue and can not afford to take the risk. But make sure you plan on keeping the cat and dealing with any issues (like urination outside of the litter box cause the litter hurts its paws) that may come up after surgery. You might have to try different litter to see what feels ok on its paws. It's always sad when we get a cat who is declawed and thrown outside cause it developed more issues. Then, it has no way to really defend its self or catch prey. Talk to you vet and find out all the pros and cons. If your vet acts like there is no cons, don't trust your vet. Do research first. Why does your cat scratch? It feels good and its also for marking and putting their scent. Now how to keep your cat from scratching your couch. Try a good scratching post with rope or wood. I would stay away from carpet ones unless your cat already likes the carpet. Then you should make sure put it near where it's been scratching and slowly move it away from the area. With cats, redirecting the behaviors helps than just trying to get them to stop. If you give them a good scratching post (make sure its tall enough and secure), and they still go back to the old area, just spritz them with a little water in a spray bottle. Soon it should get annoying enough and they will prefer the new area.
4.Fighting. Are all your cats fixed? Very important. But if you have two dominate cats or just one and an insecure cat it can lead to fighting. You might have to separate them till they get used to each others scent and slowly bring them together. A good way is to bond them is when feeding them. Make sure the bowls are very far apart and over time slowly inch them closer together. Provide a good secure hiding place for the more insecure cat and make sure it has two exit route encase the dominate one tries an surprise attack. Yelling at the cat and hitting them never does any good so don't bother. You have to redirect their behavior. Give equal play time to each cat and make sure you are alone with each cat to build it's confidence. If the fight does not stop for a long time, you might have to learn to keep them separate. One person had two cats fighting and it took almost 2 years for them to at least stand each other enough not to fight. But that was from not doing any preventive measures. Also, sometime getting another cat can help the situation if you have only two. It could help better establish ranking system that cats have, but you have to know your cats behavior and find one that will balance that out. There are animal behaviorist that you can find who can help you with the situation. Sometimes two cats are really dominate and will not back down. Re-homing one or keeping them separate might be your only solution, but that is really rare.
6. Biting. Some cats play more aggressively than others and may bite when playing or being petted. Sooner you stop it the better everyone will be. When playing and you feel like your cat is going to bite, put a small stuff animal for it to bite on. It is just getting too excited and you have to distract your cat with something you approve of. Play with your cat with an string item to avoid hand contact. If it bites when you pet it, try to pet it softer or even a little less. Some cats get annoyed with too much petting or to much petting the wrong place. I have one cat I pet mostly in the head and chin area cause she gets annoy with to much lower back petting. While I have another one that love to be petted the whole back. Each cat is different and has its own personality that ya just has to kind of figure out.
Another thing that has helped me with a few fosters that may have been played to rough as kittens and tend to bite, is to buy a stuffed animal. Get one that is about a 1/3 to 2/3 the size of you cat. When it starts playing rough, putt the stuff animal in between your hand and the cat. it takes a little bit of patience, but really does help alot. The cat will kick the stuffed animal and get its need to bite on it. After you establish this, make sure if the cat does this to your hand that you place the stuff animal in place of your hand and then walk out of the room or walk away from the cat. Mother cats do this to correct bad behavior in their kittens.
