Cats. Can you train them?

[lucy123]

Does anyone know anything about cat pshychology?

We have a 3 year old cat - very friendly, bit neurotic, very kitten-like. She has always been good, except for periods of whinging (especially just after dd was born).

But ever since we moved house last time (a year ago) she's been a bit fussy about going outside for her toiletry functions. At that house we had a basement, so when she didn't go outside she did it in there (not too much of a problem) - plus there was a lot of traffic noise and I put the problem down to that.

But now we live in a smaller house and she still wees on the floor ( a marble floor, which will stain) once a day or so for no reason at all. Initially she wouldn't go out of the new catflap at all, but it's now taped open and she does go outside at least once a day (and she poos outside OK).

Does anyone know if there's anything we can do about this? Dp has tried the tough option (rubbing her nose in it and throwing her outside), I tend to go for a softly softly approach (it was my idea to tape the catflap open). But we can't go on like this - if we can't get her to stop weeing in the house we'll have to give her away (which will be difficult in Spain).

Any ideas anyone?

Do you have a litter tray for her?

we have a cat, and he usd to wee and poo on the floor, but always in front of the back door, where the cat flap was. I remember reading something about them trying to eradicate other smells that come into the house, hence it was always in front of the door. Also I think his food bowls were too close to the door, too. Does this make sense? Almost like cat feng shui!!!

You could try putting a litter tray where she wees, maybe with some of the wee in it (soak it up with some paper towel and lay that in the bottom on the tray) so she understands what it is for. Then, if the tray is in an inconvenient place, gradually move it inch-by-inch to where you want it to be. You might need to try different litters, to get one she likes.

When you clean the floor don't use bleach, use a biological washing powder. The chlorine in bleach causes cats to pee even more, to cover up the smell. And please don't let your dh rub her nose in it again. She won't have a clue what he means and it might even make her worse, if she starts to feel nervous around him. Good luck.

yes, that's the problem: a litter tray would be a good idea, but I think my 16 month old dd would find it irresistable! Also you shouldn't really use soap on marble apparently (as it strips out the sealing wax - but I think ours has already been stripped out anyway).

But perhaps we can try putting tissue paper in the litter tray instead of litter. Will keep trying!

I've seen litter trays that are covered over - a bit like a private loo IFYWIM. This would prevent your dd from playing with it as the litter woulnd't be easily visible. I know cats like to cover their 'outputs' with litter, soil, sand or gravel too.

Sorry, I wasn't clear, Lucy, I meant that you should still use litter on top of the wee-y paper. The smell filters through enough for kitty to be able to sniff it out!! A covered tray is a good idea, or maybe a playpen without the bottom round the tray would stop baby from investigating.

cat's wont use a tray with no litter in it - they wouldnt know what its for!! - ours will poo outside but prefers to wee inside...dunno why. Our cat litter try has aa lid on it... seems to work. If yours was used to a litter tray being indoors then its probably now confused that its gone. Cats don't like weeing on the floor, they find it very distressing, shes doing it oout of confusion IMO and rubbing their nose in it dont work (and is cruel). They can be picky about the type of litter, so i agree, experiment. Bottom line is, if you dnt give her anything to pee in, she'll pee on the floor. could also try an outside litter tray... maybe the earth outside gets baked too dry for her to dig? Good luck.

so how do I get my cat to use cat flap. we have tried propping it open & leaving it shut, but she'd sit outside forever until we open the main door

bogwoppit - don't open the door!!

Seriously, we had to train our cats to use a cat flap into the garage when we were going away for a week. They weren't used to being fed in there so we squandered some money on things they love e.g. meaty cat food and a tin of tuna. Then we poked their heads one at a time through the cat flap whilst DD held the food just behind the cat flap so they could smell it and sort of eased them through. They got the hang of it in less than an hour.

For the next couple of days we didn't feed them inside the house but only left food in the garage, gradually introducing their normal biscuits.

Our cats are great hunters and would have killed if necessary to get food (they kill anyway and they are well-fed) but now one in particular treats the garage as his first choice of sleeping place and we still put food in there so they can snack if necessary when we are out for the day or if they are out overnight.

Good luck.

The peeing problem I'd be less certain about solving. One of ours went through a stage of peeing in odd places. He's much better now but when I got the suitcase out to go away, he jumped in, spread his legs and I just managed to scoop him out in time. Blasted animal!

I have wo cats and one in particular went through a phase of weeing on the floor. It was always in the same place and we couldn't work out why but apparently it's because the scent is already there and so they associate that area with going to the toilet. BEst idea would be to keep it as spotlessly clean as possible (which you probably already do) and clean it up as soon as she does it so the smell doesn't linger. Something with a strong scent (suggestion of biological washing powder was good) puts them off and if there is no scent already present elsewhere in the house she might well prefer to go outside.
Also, weeing indoors is often a territorial issue. Are there any other cats in the area or is she frightened of your dd? Could be she's trying to maintain part of the house as her own territory because she's insecure.
Has she been neutered?
HTH

just remembered what a friend did.... her cat used to pee in same spot indoors.... vet tld her to feed her there - theoretically cats dont like to feed and pee in the same place. Cats also hate citrus smells so could try sqeezing lemons or oranges on the floor .... dont know what that does to marble??

Spod - I think that's the best plan, and I'll try that first!

As for the litter tray - she didn't have one before (only for 2 weeks when we first moved house over a year ago), but she has always been odd - doesn't cover her doings outside. Being frightened of dd could also be part of it, although you wouldn't know it - she's very tolerant of her.

I'm very pleased that everyone seems to agree with me rather than dp over the getting tough thing - I didn't like it but know b*-all about cats! thanks all.

She has stayed outside for 2 days before now rather than use cat flap.
have tried food etc. she can jump out of it but not back in ?!?
I sometimes wonder why we bothered having the cat flap fitted to the conservatory!

Lucy123 - no suggestions about the weeing. my sister has a cat from a shelter (it was nearly drowned as a kitten) & it wees & poos on the floor from time to time. it is a very nervous cat & does it when strange people are around. Just so you know you are not alone.

Bogwoppit - Before I taped our catflap open, she would come back in through it, but not go outside!

Don't know if it'll work, but my plan is to leave it taped open so she gets used to coming in and out in that place and then one day soon I'll surprise her...

For anyone interested I have put the food in the place where she normally wees. Nothing yet!

Spod's right - stick bits of orange peel down and you should see a difference.