welcome to our routine “Ask the feline Behaviorist with Mikel Delgado” segment. when a month, we’ll publish a reminder for you to publish your concerns for Mikel. She’ll response as many of them as she can each time, as well as I’ll publish her answers in a subsequent post.
Mikel is a licensed feline habits consultant at Feline Minds, offering on-site consultations for feline guardians, shelters, as well as pet-related businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as remote consultations around the world. She acquired her PhD in Psychology at UC Berkeley, where she studied animal habits as well as human-pet relationships. Mikel is co-author of Jackson Galaxy’s newest book, Total feline Mojo: The ultimate guide to Life with Your Cat.
Cat walks out of the litter box when he urinates
Hi Mikel! like your posts! say thanks to you for what you are doing to assist feline guardians!
I have a 5 yo male orange tabby who was orphaned at 2 days old, bottle fed (by me), as well as neutered at 2 months. He had PU surgical treatment at around 6 months because of being sucked on by his litter mates. So I am quite specific urination triggered him pain for the very first part of his life. He eats wet food only, sees the vet regularly, as well as has only had 2 UTIs in the past 5 years.
Here’s what I requirement assist with, as well as no feline habits professional has been able to assist me with this yet… He poops in the litter box just fine, however he walks out of the litter box while he urinates. So, he gets in the box, digs his bit hole in the litter, starts urinating, as well as then slowly walks out while he urinates. So he leaves a big stream of urine outside the litter box. I clean the (open top, not enclosed) litter boxes 3 times a day, deep clean them as well as add new (unscented) litter every other week, as well as buy new boxes every year. The boxes are extremely big as well as in prominent, socially-relevant areas of the home (not hidden away). I truly don’t believe it’s an aversion to the litter box, however rather a habits triggered by former pain when urinating. I would like to clicker-train him to pee in the box, however he starts going out as soon as he starts urinating. any type of concepts on exactly how to assist him urinate inside the box as well as not walk out? thanks so much! – Samantha Bell DiGenova
Hi Samantha! It’s lovely to hear from you – I like YOUR work! as well as well, I can honestly state I have never encountered THIS issue before, as well as I enjoy a new difficulty (usually!). I agree with you that there is a strong learned element to this behavior, as well as whether or not it can be altered without stressing him is unknown!
There are a few different techniques you might take (and you may have already tried a few of them) – the very first that comes to mind would be to do the opposite of what we usually tell people to do, as well as try a smaller, higher sided litter box that he might not walk out of rather so easily. depending upon your present set-up, you might add a piece of plastic to the box he currently has, to act like a shield as well as slowly decreasing the amount of area he has offered to him when he eliminates. Basically, anything that would stall the walking without you having to intervene WHILE he is eliminating may enable him to stay in location long sufficient that you might utilize clicker training or other praise to strengthen staying in the box. If he is agile enough, it may likewise be great to raise the sides of the box so he has to either hop or climb out of the box.
We want this modification to be something “encouraged” by the environment, as well as not by force or physical intervention. however it seems like in addition to being a extremely well-established habit, it is just as well simple for him to walk out while he’s in the act. If we can sluggish that down just a smidge, it may assist him stay in location while he’s peeing. great luck as well as let me understand exactly how it!
Cat bites when he wants attention
Hi Mikel, I have a 2 year old tabby that I adopted from a shelter 10 months ago. He’s always been a lap cat. He just jumps on your breast or lap, head butts you then curls up. It doesn’t matter where I am, it can be on the toilet as well as he jumps on me. He’s never been an aggressive feline except for petting aggression at times however just recently he’s taken on the habit of biting me when he wishes to be pet, if he’s comfortable laying on me as well as I move, or if he wants interest – at least that’s exactly how I translate his behavior. I have tried getting up as well as leaving him alone or just telling him NO. He usually runs to his food bowl to eat when I do this. The other thing he does is that after her eats he come backs, stares at me as well as then gingerlnullnullnull