Is Your Cat Angry With You?
It's a familiar scenario to many of us : We go away for a few days and come home to find our cats not quite as friendly as they were when we left them. Many times, those same kitties have taken to use carpets, shoes and bedding as their cat boxes. To many clients, this is the cat's way of expressing anger and spite. But is this really what's happening?
Animal behaviorists assure us that the feline brain doesn't process anger in that way. When you're sitting on the beach, Fluffy isn't sitting at home thinking, "I'm going to make sure that they never leave me again!" While humans are spiteful with one another and "act out," out cats just aren't wired similarly.
So, what's going on here? What we do know is that cats react to stress in a variety of ways. Your absence from the home is a break in the nice, normal routine that your cat has come to know and expect. Similarly, children on summer break from classes, new visitors to the house, workmen performing construction projects, all are stressors and are cats react in many ways. Inappropriate urination and defecation are common, as are bouts of lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD) -- but not urethral obstruction (where the kitty cannot urinate and is critically ill.
Many times, the stress is so severe that it's as if the event is "hard wired" into the kitty's emotional calendar.
Several years ago, I saw a frustrated young man who came in because his male cat was having clinical signs of FLUTD. The client was at the end of his rope (so to speak) and complained that for the past five years during the second week of May, his cat had this problem. I asked what I thought was a simple question: What happened during the second week of May SIX years ago? The client initially scoffed at the question, but almost immediately, you could see that he had an "ah-ha!" moment. He admitted that six years previously, he had left his home on the West Coast and travelled to Chicago in a car with the cat. It was clear that the trip made a lasting impression on the kitty and so for each of the ensuing five years, the cat "re-lived" the traumatic event with FLUTD.
I treated the kitty and got him through the crisis and suggested that we anticipate the next year's bout, trying to stave off another veterinary visit for FLUTD. My recommendations were followed and the second week of May came and went, with no bout of FLUTD.
I have often described cats as companions in whom "still waters run deep." That means that although our cats may appear to be calm and have a wonderful, peaceful life -- such may not be the case. While some clients are quick to give their cats behavioral disorders ("bulimia," "bi-polar", for example) this isn't so. However, our cats do have stressors in their lives and in addition to the ones I briefly discussed above, others include: The inability for the cat to have a quiet, undisturbed place in the home; bullying by another cat; the inability to have a cat box located in an off-traffic area; and too many cats in a home.
#1 comment posted by Kimberlee Nusser on 09/16
I have a cat that destroyed our sectional sofa beyond the point of repair. She used it as her personal litter box 4 times immediately after we returned home from a week long vacation. We found the first spot, still warm and fresh, upon arriving home. Which means she did this shortly after we walked in the door. She did it 3 more times the 2 days following our return. This was the first time Izzy (the culpret) was left home alone (with her sister Zelda) to be watched by a family friend who came once a day to feed them, clean their litter box and play with them for a bit. In the past, we had taken them to my in-laws but it always seemed to stress them out and we figured they’d be more comfortable in their own home. In Izzy’s case we were very wrong. Our vet said it’s behavioral and not related to any sort of infection. She simply get’s very stressed when we leave for long periods of time. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time it’s happened. She’s damaged a mattress too. Among other things she likes to pee on are my shoes, plastic bags left unattended (like one’s full of groceries or items from a shopping trip), and baskets of laundry (mainly clean). We’ve learned to deal with it when she messes on itmes like these, but the couch is a level we never expected and it has seriously disturbed my husband and myself. We can tie it back to my returning to work after being unemployed for 5 months. This behavior began around that time. We tried paying her more attention, we tried paying her less attention, we’ve changed her food and her litter multiple times and even tried vet prescribed treats with some sort of amino acid in them that calms cats. Nothing has worked. She is now on prozac and both her and her sister are confined to a safe room in our house when no one is home or when we are sleeping. I feel terrible medicating her and locking both of them up when we are at work or in bed for the night because I love them. But I also can’t have my cat destroying my furniture and anything else she decides to mess on. My concern is the next time we take a trip. I can’t expect anyone to take on that responsibility and risk in my home or their own. So our only option is to board her which I fear will cause an even worse reaction than what we recently experienced. We have found a wonderful boarding facility that cares for cats only and will continue her medication regime for us while we are away. I’m just concerned because while we were gone our friend said he never noticed that she had messed on the couch. There was no oder and he had even sat on it a few times. He definitly woud have noticed. The fact that she waited for us to return to do it is my fear. We can board her but the minute she gets home i’m afraid she is going to find a spot and start messing on it. How can I ward off a reaction like the one we experienced recently?
#2 comment posted by Janet Schuroll on 09/18
I have a rescue cat, now approx. 1 year old, who had a systemic infection when a kitten that has left him neurologically damaged. His gait is wobbly, he falls over a lot, and can’t manage to get into his litter box when he needs to. I find and clean up two or three piles of feces daily, always just on the edge of the box or on the pad under it. Any suggestions to try to change this will be useful.
#3 comment posted by lynn greig on 02/13
In response to comment #2: I took in a feral cat with a back leg that has been broken and fused in a strange position. It makes it hard for her to use a regular litter box, also she had to learn what one was for. To help her out we put litter in a flat tray on the floor to help her master the litter box maybe that would help your kitten. Just a thought to try! Before you buy anything plastic try a pop/beer cardboard flat it will only hold up a day or two due to the urine. I also put a plastic garbage bag under the flat in case of any urine seeping through. Good Luck!
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#5 comment posted by atiep on 07/17
I thought so. it is always true. A matter of course. Thanks.
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#6 comment posted by Andy Lee on 07/27
My concern is the next time we take a trip. I can’t expect anyone to take on that responsibility and risk in my home or their own.
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