Well, I think I have a problem… a real problem…. And i suspect Penelope.
Yesterday i went to the sewing room and found a cat pile. It was a little dried out so i did not know for sure when it was made, and i could not remember for sure if the door to that room had been closed. It could have been that one of the cats got shut up back there when the urge struck. I know that nobody has been shut up back there so long that they could not have held it but i gave the benefit of the doubt, cleaned it up, and saturated the area thoroghly with enzyme stuff.
Today there was another pile near where i found the first one. I know, this time, that the door has not been closed. I cleaned it and saturated the spot, but i cannot ignore it this time. I have a problem.
I suspect Penelope because she seems to be the one most likely to not like sharing a dirt box, but it could be ano of them. I am watching.
I can’t ignore this. I thought maybe i should put a dirt box back there, even though i do not want to. Then i thought that if i do and the problem is that i have a cat who does not like to use the community bathroom, it would not do any good. All 3 would be delighted to find an new place to poop.
I could keep the door to that room closed (though closing it is going to mean telling Luke why) but if the offender is not wanting to use the public pathroom, she (or he) will just start going somewhere else. I am being very careful to keep the dirt box outside clean, but it has been clean for the last few weeks. ( I have sometimes neglected it till it was pretty lumpy.) sigh……… Do you have any suggestions?
You realize that if dad gets around to reading this family blog…
anway.
I’d make sure the litter box is clean and the litter is still good. I know our litter needs to be changed out every now and then. (stops absorbing smells) They (or one of them) might be unhappy about a smelly box. However, they do have the ability to roam outside more freely… would hope they would take care of buisness out in the wild more.
Or they could be upset about other things. Did any of the people that sent us clothes have animals? They might be trying to mark territory in the most definitive manner possible. One of our cats will occassionally use the litterbox and not cover up…. the other cat either waits till he can’t stand it or we clean the box.
In any case, it’s hard to pin it down to a single cat right off the bat without good monitoring/catching in the act.
And another thing to consider – have you been behaving differently lately?
Cats are really fastidious about their personal space. Often, inappropriate locations are not about bathroom preferences, they’re about communication.
Couple of suggestions – get that room clean and very organized. Make sure there aren’t any fabric piles or even stacks that could be pulled over to mimic a litter area. They like covering, and if there’s no way to cover that could help. That is, assuming that it is a bathroom issue.
If it’s a communication issue, think and see if anything’s changed lately. This is being done in your room, so it’s a message to you, so what have you changed? Is there a different way you can approach it? And remember, cats are sensitive to moods and feelings. Perhaps you’ve changed in how you treat her or how you feel towards her, since you’ve started feeling like you would rather not have become a three cat household.
And talk to your vet. They have handouts and such, and can suggest lots of other things. And putting a litter box back there isn’t the solution you want. I don’t think that’s the problem you have, in any case.
good luck ..
ps – Annwynn does the inappropriate soiling sometimes. I’ve caught Grail scent marking inside the house. Neither of these behaviours has turned into habit, or problem. They can be stopped. They can be lived with.
FYI to Ramona: The new sewing room (which used to be my bedroom) and the old sewing room (now formal dining room) are both filled with baby…. stuff. Clothes, rockers, chairs, ect. So that would certainly qualify as a change.
When Christina and I move we’ll be getting rid of things to make room to absorb all the baby stuff that has been donated to us. (for which we are thankfull!). That should also have a good effect on clearing up this matter. Of course, us picking up all the stuff is a few months away…
not to mention that some of the items, clothing and swings are kinda funny smelling.
it’s like the people that donated them did not make the effort to clean the items…well on some it’s obvious (i.e. spit up on swings, etc)
we tried to cull it out, but i will admit…some of the clothing reeks of nastay. we are hoping that some of it is a combination of storage and being kind of not as clean as it could be. you know how goodwill can get to smelling??? not as bad, but not freshly laundered either.
ps – nelia if you decide to wash….please, please no fabric softener. i don’t know how crabby will react, but it makes me itch.
Hmmmm… Luke may read this. 🙂
Actually, i had thought about the smell of the clothes. They were kind-of baby/dirty-baby/other-people’s-smells/stored smelling. If the piles had been buried in the clothes or was among the stuff, i would have definitely thought that it was the smell, but the piles were left just to the room side of the bathroom door (not especially near anything) with no effort to cover.
I grant you that there are a bunch of new smells in the room and they are not good smells….. The clothes were washed before putting them away (but stinky-baby smells can be very persistent and storing something that was mildly funky would make the funky smell worse, and Christina said she thought they used Gain, which has a kind-of odd smell) but the other things, the fabric covers on stroller, swing, etc. were not washed before putting them away…. rather….. filthy feeling, actually…… I guess it doesn’t bother me as much as it does Christina because i have cleaned up other people REAL unbelievably bad filth, much worse than these baby things, and learned that it does clean up and after a while it feels ok.
Funny how we are about dirty…… My dirty i can live with, but not other people’s, and when i leave a place or store something or give something, I CLEAN it. There is a pride factor….. I do not want anyone feeling icky about my dirt. But some people pass on their dirt (and baby accidents) without a thought. (I think less of them for that.)
Anyway…. If it was the smells, it seems like the dining room would be hit. Most of the stuff is in there now. All of the rejects and the cardboard is in there. What is in the sewing room is in plastic containers.
Now we (the cats) are having issues. It really used to be Bruce who was the instigator of squabbles, but now it is Penelope. Penelope will also slap Zoeie with no provocation. It is like she does not like anybody in her space, even if they were there before she got there. I believe that Penelope would prefer to be the only cat. Sometimes i worry about that…. thinking it might be better if I found her another home…. I don’t know. It is not a huge issue… Bruce and Zoe play and hang around with eachother, and Penny and Zoe are usually ok and they do join forced to demand food. Bruce seems to be settling down. Zoeie is already settled down. But Penelope’s personality is getting more extreme…. and grouchier. Sigh…… Ramona told me that calicos are like that. She was so sweet and timid as a baby…… but she is not timid now.
Anyway……. I have cleaned the cat box and i have bought litter to set up a second box outside. I am not sure where i will put it, but i have a large covered litter box…. it would have a different feel to go there. Maybe 2 shared boxes is better then 1 shared box.
And i had not thought about it till just now, but there was another change. I did have to add some litter a couple of weeks ago and had to use a different brand, and it was scented…… It is a pretty pleasant mild scent for scented, and i did mix it in with the existing litter so the scent was milder still, but it was a change. Maybe somebody besides me does not like perfumed litter.
Anyway…….. good points.
I have closed the rood to the sewing room, and just told luke that i want to keep the door closed and the cats out. He did not question why. I have been very alert for any stinky smell anywhere else, thinking that if we are dealing with “this smells like a good place to go” the offender might move to the dining room where the baby stuff is, and if we are dealing with, “I don’t like to share my litter box,” or “I am just plain not happy about something,” we might get a pile anywhere. So far nothing.
I am also noticing when one cat is in the house alone because if one cat is in the house alone and a pile appears, i will know who to watch and who to figure out a motive for.
Do you suppose someone is mad at me? The sewing room is my room.
Again it would have to be Penny. Penny demands that i perform services for her (brushing, petting, feeding) and gets ticked when i do not do it on her time schedule. 🙂 Little stink.
(Penny is loud and demanding and very strong in her personality and opinions….. and i still think she is so blasted cute. She is perky and alert and bright and quirky.)
when cats getting really pissed about something, they often don’t poo or pee on the offending item (i.e. stinky baby stuff) they’ll put it right out where you will find it…in the middle of the floor, on your chair, on your favorite ______.
cats are smart like that. “i’ll show you!!! and i will make sure you know too!!!! ” we had a cat that got so upset with the smells after my dad came home from a hospital visit, he pooed all over his place on the couch…all over it, in one night. don’t know why i just thought of that. and since you are their primary caretaker, food giver, litter box changer, opener of cans… more likely to let you know they are uphappy than luke.
sometimes cats really get upset over different litter too. i mean it’s like you’ve been using the 2 or 3 ply Charmin all your life and then…someone decides to bring home the Institutional rough stuff, 1 ply. EWWWWWW heads are gonna roll!!! but the addition of a box outside will be a welcome addition for sure.
(and yes i do have my brand of toilet paper when i buy for the house)
Reminds me of a dog i had once…. Whnever she was annoyed with us, during the night she would poop little tiny poops all over the livingroom. She had to have worked at it. Each one would only be a half inch to an inch long. Fortunately they were so dry you could just pick them up, but it was irritating and exasperating. and i was never able to persuade her that it was not a good way to express her displeasure. She was a daschund/chihuahua mix…. looked like a shorter bodied daschund… had the daschund personality.
I suppose the cat piles could be a comment on the smells i introduced to her room. I notice she has moved into luke’s office, but she does that from time to time anyway so I had not thought anything of it this time. (assuming it was penny)