Cat People, pls help

Nicki

Agree with what everyone else has said. When we got ours from Battersea, they gave us very detailed instructions about how to introduce her to the new house, which was basically confine her in one room (the one where the litter tray will be kept) for 3 days, and limit the number of people who approach her, then slowly introduce her to a larger area (eg the bottom floor of the house) for a few hours at a time, until over about a 2 week period she gets the whole run of the house, and not outside at all for 6 weeks. In fact our cat, who had been very timid and shy in the shelter, absolutely loved coming into a domestic home and had settled in after about a day, but as a rule of thumb, with a nervous cat, I think that's probably quite a good schedule to stick to.

Alfietinker

gravitytolls wrote:

Has she been sleeping on your bed as well? It would be highly unusual for a cat to use it's sleeping area as a loo.

Our cats are now banned from our bedroom (they used to sleep with us) as Tinker decided to start using it as a toilet - number 1s and 2s. :eek: She is now also banned from the spare room as I found a little present left for me on the floor, the bathroom as she actually sprayed up against the wall (I didn't even know girls could spray but we saw her do it).

She has gone to the vets each time but he can't find anything wrong with her so we're thinking some kind of stress?

I'm not sure about older cats but when we got ours as kittens we were told to pop them on the tray when they looked like they were needing to 'go' and it seemed to work, just to show them where the tray is.

Samphire

OK, this is my first ever post, so be gentle with me!

When we took in a rescue cat 8 years ago she spent weeks living behind the sofa. I'd spend an hour or so every evening talking gently to a terrified pair of ear tips before she'd get the courage to come out for a quick bite to eat and use the litter tray - then something would scare her and she'd bolt back to her "safe place". The slow blinking and ignoring when the cat gets the courage up to explore also worked for me, we had to be totally nonthreatening. She was always a nervous cat, we think she'd been mistreated before we got her, but she was amazingly affectionate and had a lot to give. She died of cancer last summer :-(
You might want to be sure that any accidents are cleaned up so that the cat can't smell them any more, otherwise they can think that it's the proper place to do it. If there's any pee on the carpet it can go through to the underlay, which is a pain (we ended up losing the carpet in the end). Kitchen floors are at least easy to clean, maybe the cat would be comfortable with a big carboard box in a corner to hide in if the kitchen doesn't offer much in the way of hidey-holes?
Best of luck. Rehoming an animal can be hard, but I think it's a great thing to do. I've also rehomed two fully grown (5 foot nose to tail) iguanas, now that has it's own challenges....

anniestar

Hi firstly congratulations on your new cat and well done for getting her from a rescue centre. We have 7 cats a lot of whom have health problems (including two brothers from a litter of five rescued at 8 days) It seems to me that your little one is suffering from stress-it can often be very unsetteling for any animal when they are initially rehomed. This is the case even if they have been kept at less than perfect conditions before the re homing-its what they were used to. To come into a home is, initially very stressful. Please bear with her cats are naturally very clean things will improve. When we got Lucy who we have now had for 8 1/2 years(she initially came to me as a foster cat) she had been very badly treated before being signed over to cat protection. She was terrified of men, particularly tall men and also books. My DH is 6'4" and an English teacher. We had a horrific three months my DH still has scars on his legs-she went through DENIM !!! and clawed him very badly.Now as I type Luce is sprawled on the sofa as happy as anything. Things WILL improve honestly. Having so many cats we occasinally do have the odd spat, and have had inaproprate behaviour , we consulted out vet and were reccomended a plug in difuser(like the air freshners that you can buy) its called Feliway and although expensive, worked very well for us. Please bear with her, I'm sure in a very short time you will wonder how you ever managed without her. Please feel free to PM if I can be of any help. GOOD LUCK.

Samphire

I forgot to say, if there have been any accidents on the carpet then we found a little biological washing powder in warm water, followed by a quick wipe with surgical spirit (though check it won't stain!) is good for cleaning it up. I bet there are other solutions elsewhere in these forums! We tried specialist cleaners from the pet shop and they were no better. Cats' noses are very sensitive, they may still be able to smell where they've been and return to that spot even though we can't smell anything. I'm guessing your leg should be safe though!!

Is the litter tray in what the cat will see as a safe place - i.e. not noisy, not somewhere people will walk by often and not in a draft? They are less likely to use a litter tray if its too near their bed or food. When we had a problem with the cats peeing in one spot on the carpet (neighbors cat had got in and sprayed there) I tried putting dried food down there in the hope that it would put them off using that spot as the toilet but it didn't work on my girls <sigh>

Oh, and if you have a Christmas tree in a pot then it might be worth keeping the cat away from it, a friends cat saw the soil in the pot and, erm, "soiled" it which isn't what you need! :rotfl:

quickstepqueen

Hi S13....I'm sure things will improve in time. Fortunately for us, when we got our 2 cats from the cats protection people we took them home, let them out of the cage and they instantly found the litter tray!! You must be really frustrated right now but as others have said it's sure to get better. I take it the food bowls etc are away from the litter tray as I know some cats won't do their business near their eating area. Anyway good luck and let us know how you get on.

anniestar

One of ours sleeps with us, often she gets undre the duvet with her head on the pillow. Occasinally, she sleeps on the floor or at the bottom of the bed(always her choice) when she does that DH cant sleep!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jcr16

this will sound odd but once she had done a wee in the litter , don't remove it . as the scent( smell ) will help her find it again. we had to do this with one of our cats. as every time we cleaned the cat litter she could never find it again. untill she had got used to where the tray was kept. it only took about a week for the cat to get used to where it was.

Anastacia

One of our cats got a little 'confused' when she was a baby but basically make sure there are no cat wee smells anywhere except the litter tray & confine to one room for a day or two. I chose the bathroom because the kitchen was a bit busy.

A lot easier to train than the children i seem to remember though. Dont worry, it will all be behind you shortly!!! honest.

TheDink

I've just read a couple of the Vicky Halls books about cat pschology - lots of useful advice in there if you can get a copy from the library.

Much of the relevant advice has already been given, e.g. letting the cat get used to one room first. Also make sure the litter tray is in a quiet place where the cat can use it without being watched (either by you, or by next door's moggie through the door/window).

My cat also went through a stage of messing all over the house - they seem to look for a change in the texture of the surface under their paws (hard floor to rug, floor to cushion etc) and the softer texture is something they feel is suitable to dig in and use as a loo. He had a stomach problem though and was being "caught short". If it doesn't settle down for your cat, get her checked out by a vet.

Did you have a cat previously? Maybe there are some cat smells around the house so the new one is trying to mark territory.

You could also try some Feliway to make the cat feel more settled. You can get it from vets or online vet pharmacies in either spray form or diffuser. It's not cheap but does seem to have an effect.