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<17 Aug 98 From: Sharon Re: Aggressive Cate>

Just joined this list, as I am owned by 4 Kats & one is very aggressive towards the other 3.  Hoping to find some alternative ways of dealing with this aggression, as well as talking to everyone about our "Kats!"

Linda & Montana Fats (I'm not fat, I'm fluffy)
        Iris, Kritter (Iris's Son) & Sebastian

Welcome to the list.  BTW I'm a bit "fluffy" myself. LOL

I recently had a problem with aggression myself and one of the folks on another list suggested something that I had completely forgotten about.

Cats recognize each other not by sight, but by scent.  If you rub a towel over each cat, then you can distribute the scents.  Maybe the grouch will become so accustomed to the scent of the other cats on him that he'll mellow out.

I'm sure that others on the list will suggest some other personality fixes, like the flower remedies.

Cats will thyroid problems are also frequently irritable.

Sharon
Boston

By popular demand, here is Julia's post on stress/overgrooming.

--------- Begin forwarded message ----------
From: Julia Craig-McFeely <julia.craig-mcfeely@

THINGS TO TRY FOR RELIEVING STRESS
NB: particularly in the case of homeopathic treatment, the specific circumstances of the cat should be understood thoroughly before 'trying things out'.

General:

• Vitamin C
• Evening Primrose Oil (if hormones involved)
• TTouch/Massage
• Extra attention
• Extra exercise
• Soothing thoughts
• gentle massage of head and shoulders
• Also quiet, darkness, warmth, gentle talking or singing humming on a monotone
• HEAT! (often underestimated)
• Protection from draughts
• White noise.  (poss. because it buffers out strange sounds.)
• confinement and regulation of routine (if insecure)
• more freedom (if frustrated)
• another cat/kitten (if lonely)

• Folliculinum (if hormones involved)
• Arnica for stress 30C general, or 200C (major hassle)
• Aconite 200 (fright)
• Gelsemium 30 (stress causing physical symptoms (e.g. cat nervous in car using litter en route), show nerves)
• Staphasagria (for territorial aggression/anxiety: suits cats who are terribly sad about the changes in their life, and angry too about it, but
• with a feeling of helplessness.)
• Lachesis (for territorial aggression/anxiety: cats who are very jealous, tend to insist on having their own way no matter what, etc.)

Herbal:

• Valerian
• Skull cap
• Passiflora
• Nepeta (Catnip)

• Lavender
• Chamomile
• Basil
• Marjoram

• Rescue Remedy (in the cat's water, orally if desperate)
• Holly (jealousy)
• Mimulus or Aspen (fear of known or unknown things)
• Olive (exhaustion)
• Impatiens
• Sweet chestnut (anguish)
• Star of Bethlehem (great distress)

I have some things to add to that stress list, all tried and tested:
 Playing with the cat with no other cats around until exhausted (the cat that is)

• Pulsatilla 200 -- this is also particularly good in cats who attack other cats in the house: once a day.  Some people also offer it to the one who gets attacked.

First of all, Barbara, yes yes yes cats can overdose on vitamin E. It's a fat soluble vitamin, which means that what the animal doesn't use is stored in the fat rather than excreted like water soluble vitamins. Over time the excess builds and can be (okay, it IS) toxic. I think the recommended guidelines for a healthy cat are 1500 IU a week, but that's just off the top of my head and I need to confirm that.

Hans, been there. Oh man, have we been there. Annie lost all the fur on her tummy and the inside of her hind legs because she pulled it all out.

It took a very long time and a lot of frustration to figure it out. I don't know how you feel about this, but I found the most enlightening thing was a session with an animal communicator. It didn't help me solve the problem, but it did help me to *identify* it, which is truly important. For a long time I waffled between physical and emotional causes, till I discovered that it was almost entirely emotional. But that didn't stop me trying to treat the physical aspects of it, of course.

Is there anything that's new or different? Anything at all? For us it was big time change, but I think even small changes would do it. One of Annie's problems was a neighbour cat who had always been meek was suddenly turning on Annie and she didn't know how to deal with it.

In my frustration I tried scolding her everytime she licked the area, which of course didn't work. I tried distracting her, which didn't work. I tried squirting flower essences on her -- that was truly tricky. If you've ever tried to put something on a cat's tummy when she doesn't want it there, then I don't need to explain. I had to do it when she was licking, cause that's the only time I could get near it. Vitamin E might help, if you can get the E on the area, and within reason. Sick cats can tolerate slightly more E than healthy cats, but there are others who can tell you lots more about how much is safe -- I'm not confident enough to give you guidelines.

Echinacea will help, and it'll taste really really bad. You don't want to stop the cat from grooming there altogether, of course. But you do want to find something that, if this is a behavioural issue, will help to change the behaviour. Of course it's of the utmost importance that you figure out the *cause*, cause otherwise stopping this behaviour can lead to other more drastic outlets.

Calming herbs like catnip, valerian, skullcap and chamomile may help (try one at a time, tho). Or a remedy like Calms Forte, or I think there's a product called Pet Calm?

FLower essences might work well here too. Honeysuckle and walnut would be very useful if there've been changes that he's not used to. White chestnut may be useful if he seems bothered or anguished by something. If there are other emotional factors, different remedies would help, but these are the ones that come to mind first.

Fish body oil may be very useful, internally and externally. Not the liver oil, but the body oil. According to Natascha of the Feline Future
Foundation, body oils don't carry the risk of overdose that liver oils do. Someone please correct me if that info is inaccurate!!! It's helped Annie quite a bit, and although her fur *still* hasn't grown back, it's getting better and she's learning to leave it alone.

Is it at all possible to establish a routine with him that you can stick to? With Annie it was close to impossible to give her what she wanted -- Sean (my partner) had lost his job and she wanted the old routine back where he'd go to work each morning at a certain time. She took to refusing to get up in the morning without a whole lot of coaxing. We have managed to find something *resembling* routine, tho, and that has helped. Just in the past week or so, she's begun waking *me* up, which is the way it's "supposed" to be :)

What do you feed him? Is there any possibility of a food allergy? I investigated that route too, with no success. Could he be having a reaction to a medication? Even one that you gave him some time ago? Any chance of a bladder infection? Does he go outside at all? Does he have long hair or short? Annie has long hair and she goes outside. She used to come in covered in these little itty bitty burrs (this past summer I hardly saw any, though cause it was so dry). But I'd have to be vigilant about getting them all off her, and I'd have to wipe her down with wet cloths each time she came in or she'd have these things stuck to her everywhere. And they would irritate.

Hans, I do have other suggestions, but these are sort of the first attempts. I can send along other suggestions privately, but try these first.
And yes, if you're at all open to the idea, try an animal communicator. Lots of people here are skeptical, and that's fine. I've personally had very good success with mine.

Take care all
Kathy and the cats

Here's a copy of a housesoiling article by a vet that may help your friend. However, you should also tell your friend not to scold the cat for inappropriate peeing the way you would a dog.  Cats don't respond well to being shown the spot and scolded - they only become afraid of the person. I'll see what else I can find regarding behavior, but I will be out of town Fri-Mon.

Lee

A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO FELINE HOUSESOILING
Susan Little, DVM

The most common behavioural complaint about cats presented to animal behaviour consultants in North America is house-soiling. The typical presentation is that of a cat that both uses its litterbox and eliminates outside of it. It is also typical for the cat to deposit only urine or stool outside the box, but not usually both.

It is critically important to discriminate between medical and non-medical causes of a behaviour problem. The common occurrence of feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD - formerly called FUS) makes this especially important for house-soiling problems in cats. This holds true whether the problem is soiling with urine and/or stools, or if it involves spraying or marking behaviours. A good history of the problem is second in importance only to the tests required to rule-out medical problems for both diagnosis and treatment. It is essential to establish an accurate diagnosis for each case.

Remember that a problem behaviour is not necessarily an abnormal one - most problem behaviours are actually normal ones which are exhibited in an inappropriate manner.

When your veterinarian is taking a history of a housesoiling problem be prepared to answer questions such as:
- detailed description of the problem, its duration, progression and severity
- a description of any associated events
- a description of any corrections already attempted
- a description of the environment: ie. number of animals, number of litterboxes, locations of boxes, interactions between animals, etc.
- medical history (ie any history of intestinal problems or FLUTD)

There are 3 basic categories of housesoiling problems:
1) normal elimination at an inappropriate site (most common type)
2) marking behaviour (spraying). It is important to distinguish between urinating outside the box and spraying - this is done by a description of the cat's body posture and location of the urine voiding.
3) medical disease

** or a combination of any of the above **

After taking a complete history of the problem, your veterinarian will want to run some medical tests. A urinalysis is always indicated when house-soiling involves urine, and is usually necessary if stools are involved as well. It is not unusual for a cat to have a medical problem when the behaviour history is suggestive of only behavioural factors. Other tests may involve blood samples to determine if another medical problem, such as kidney disease, is contributing to the housesoiling.

A diagnosis is reached by applying criteria to show which of the potential contributing factors (both medical and psychological) are involved. A working diagnosis has the advantage of suggesting the factors which must be modified in the treatment plan. A treatment plan is then formulated. The plan should be designed to: entice the cat back to the litterbox using any changes (sometimes extraordinary) necessary, and modify the inappropriate site to make it unattractive or inaccessible.

It helps to understand that elimination in cats is actually a sequence of individual behaviours, and a problem can develop at any of the steps involved. In nature, cats have an infinite variety of sites and substrates for elimination, but in a home setting, they are expected to use a restricted number of sites (often only one) and a restricted type of substrate (again, often only one).

        The elimination sequence:
        1) search/approach location - involves visceral sensation
        2) dig - involves tactile sensation (very important)
        3) eliminate - involves visceral sensation
        4) sweep/cover movement - involves tactile sensation

The contributing factors to housesoiling:

1) Litter aversion: a common cause of house-soiling. A cat selects a site initially based upon the tactile sensation created when it scratches at the surface. A cat may dislike litter because of:

• inadequate cleaning (some cats are extremely fastidious, and this can set off a litter aversion)
• learned aversive association with the litter due to: pain (ie FLUTD), diarrhea, fear  (owner catches it in litter to give it medication, or another cat in the house always  traps it there to attack it), odour (either from inadequate cleaning, or from  deodorizers or cleansers used by the owner)
• an unlearned spontaneous individual aversion - just doesn't like the tactile sensation  of the litter type
• a plastic type litterbox liner is being used, so the cat catches  its claws on it when it tries to dig
• the litter type itself may be OK, but there may be too little in  the box or too much
• and just to complicate things, some cats dislike the litter if  you keep it too clean

• cat avoids litter completely
• cat uses litter, but scratches at the sides of the box, on the floor, or other objects  nearby instead of  in the litter
• cat uses litter, but shakes paws a lot during and after using it
• cat does not dig in litter
• cat straddles the box, putting feet up on edge of box to avoid touching the litter
• cat uses litter, then bolts out of box quickly
• cat meows at or talks to litterbox
• cat starts urinating in box in normal squatting position, but ends up standing and  spraying urine

Finally, remember that some cats prefer two locations for elimination: one for urine and one for stool. Providing enough litterboxes for this may be all that's needed.

2) Surface preference: a cat may find another surface in the house it prefers to the litter provided in the litterbox. This is very common. Even in cases in which some other factor was the initial cause, a cat can develop a new surface preference. The most common preferred surface is some type of fabric, with carpeting being number one. Sometimes these surface preferences can develop accidentally, ie. the cat accidentally scratched at the bathmat hanging next to the litterbox and develops an association between
elimination and the fabric. Cats can also have a primary preference for one type of surface over another - ie they just like carpet better. A nice study involving an experimental trial of different litters for cats (Dr. P. Borchelt, Vet Clin of N.A., 21(2), 1991) showed conclusively that cats prefer finely-grained textures. Therefore, the most preferred litters are the sandy, clumping types. Second most preferred would be actual playbox sand. Third would be the finer traditional clay litters. Last would be products such as wood shavings
and recycled newspaper.

There are some cats who actually prefer a smooth surface - they will be the ones eliminating on a floor surface, in the sink, bathtub, etc. They may respond to an empty litter box, or one with a bit of tornup newspaper. You can then try adding litter very slowly and in small amounts to the box. Carpeting presents a particular problem as it is almost impossible to clean. Urine odour is very pervasive and usually soaks into not only the carpet, but the underlay, and even the flooring underneath. For lightly soiled areas, clean with a odour eliminator such as KOE or Outright, or get a professional carpet cleaner in (most home steam cleaners won't help). In many cases, the carpeting must be ripped out or the area re-floored in another material. It may be necessary to place a piece of scrap carpet in the litterbox itself to get the cat back to the box or to build a small platform surrounding the litter that is carpeted, so the cat can perch on the platform.

It may be necessary to block access to areas previously soiled (ie. keep bedroom door closed, cover the soil in plant pots with a fitted mesh or add lots of pebbles, move a large object on top of a soiled area). Areas can be made undesirable by many tactics: covering the area with tinfoil (don't use plastic, many cats love to urinate on it), using moth ball flakes (as long as there is no danger of a child or dog ingesting it and you only need a small amount). For cats who get up on countertops and urinate in things, place a strip of double-sided sticky tape on the edge of the counter so the cat's feet will touch it when he lands there - most dislike the sticky sensation. In some cases, you may need to resort to using a motion detector that emits a noise when the cat disturbs the area, this works very well; and most cats will learn to avoid the area after only 1 or 2 tries. However, be sure you want the cat to totally avoid the area (ie its not your favourite place to sit and cuddle), and if you have neighbours, you better warn them of the noise as it may scare more than the cat. For bathtubs and sinks, leave 1 inch of water in them. For only one or two favouritely soiled areas, try feeding the cat at that spot. In North America, there are companies who sell indoor versions of the "invisible fencing" systems used outdoors that could be used to keep a cat from certain indoor areas.

There are many other creative ways to make a spot aversive to your cat, but they must be used in conjunction with tactics to get him back to the litterbox, for if you train him to avoid one area he will go to another instead. In some cases, it may help to isolate the cat in a small area (typically bathrooms are used) with the litterbox, a sleeping spot, toys, food etc to enforce re-training. Make sure the food is not too close to the litter. This process may have to be carried out for 2 weeks or more. The cat can be allowed out of isolation only when the owner is around to carry it at first, then gradually for little play sessions, or cuddle sessions, gradually increasing in time providing no relapse to house-soiling occurs (if it does, you went too fast, start all over).

3) Location/Litterpan aversion: the location or the box itself can become associated with aversive events for the same reasons that the litter itself can (ie pain, fear, odour, etc.). Most cats prefer an easily accessible spot, but one with some privacy. So strike a balance between getting it out of the way for your own sake, and making it private but not too distant for the cat's sake. Some cats prefer open boxes, some prefer the privacy of closed boxes, most like large boxes, a few like small ones.

Cats will learn a preference in which elimination becomes associated with a specific location(s). This type of preference can develop very quickly if a cat first chooses to go out of the litterbox for any other reason. It is to be strongly suspected if a cat repeatedly goes back to one area, or one room. Some of these location preferences can become ridiculous, so don't be surprised by anything (the
most outrageous I've heard is a location preference for the middle of the dining room table). To help treat this type of problem, you may actually have to provide a litterbox in the cat's preferred spot to get the cat using the box again, and then slowly move the box back to another location. Cats will usually dislike having to eliminate where they must eat, so don't put the food bowl and the litterbox side by side.

4) Anxiety-related causes: you must always consider the possibility that stress or anxiety is contributing to the house-soiling (still, this is not as frequent a cause of house-soiling as most people think). Types of stress:

• separation anxiety: previously recognized only in dogs, now believed to occur in cats. Usually occurs when there has been a prolonged absence of an owner, ie over 8 hrs. The house-soiling will occur 8-12 hours after the owner's departure, which is totally opposite to dogs, where the behaviour occurs right after departure. The behaviour may involve diarrhea and destructive events in addition to house-soiling. It can be treated similarly to the way dogs are treated (ie training thru graduated departures - requires a lot of patience and time) and with some medications.
• fear: cats that are naturally shy or fearful may not want to *come out into the open* to go to the litterbox. In some cases, there is an identifiable fearful stimulus, ie a certain person, cat, dog, object, sound that can be modified or removed. Desensitization and counterconditioning methods can also be used. You may have to provide a litterbox for that cat in some *safe* location.
• overcrowding: there is a large variation in individual tolerances for overcrowding. Where some cats may be happy with 20 other cats in the house, others will dislike even 1 other cat, or even one other animal of any kind. Cats do not naturally live in social groups all the time, they spend much of their lives in solitary circumstances and get together for breeding or they may raise kittens communally, or if they are forced to by a limited food supply. Many cats may view all living beings (including people) in the home as part of the social group, and adding to the group in any way can upset them. You can decrease the number of cats/animals, you can increase the amount of vertical space available by adding cat trees, or even clearing bookshelves to allow cats to perch there (be creative). You can separate the cats/animals into smaller colonies within the home either on a permanent basis, or for a few weeks to resolve the problem and then try re-introducing.

In summary, make the simplest changes first, make all changes gradually, be prepared to address multiple factors, and be prepared to modify your treatment plan.

The prognosis is variable, and it partly depends on getting an accurate diagnosis. The longer the problem  has been going on and the more severe the problem and the more animals in  the home, the graver the prognosis.

For new kitten owners there are steps to take from the start to try to avoid housesoiling problems:

• make the litterbox location easily accessible, but in a low traffic area
• try to provide 1 litterbox per cat (or for those cats that prefer 2 locations, two  boxes for the one cat)
• use finely-grained litter types
• do not put food and water beside the litterbox
• scoop the box at least daily, change traditional litters at least once weekly and   scoopable litters every 6-8 wks
• avoid frightening the cat in the litterpan, or trapping and catching it there
• **never, ever, ever punish a cat for house-soiling
• **make any changes to the litterbox filler or location gradually
• ** call the vet quickly if any housesoiling occurs

I'm currently dealing w/ some biting kitten/cats.  I found this passage from _Twisted Whiskers: Solving Your Cat's Behavior Problems_ (pp 87-88) helpful.  The author, Pam Johnson, is a "Feline Behavior Consultant" (with a great sense of humor!) Susan

Begin Quote

Always use toys when it comes to playtime so your cat can scratch and bite to his heart's content.

If your cat does accidently bite or scratch your hand in play (or if you've been allowing him in the past), don't pull your hand away.  To pull away is to react the way prey would and that'll only cause your cat to keep his hold on you.  If you look at the way his claws and teeth are shaped you'll see that pulling away will only do more damage to your skin.  Your first response should be to push toward your cat.  This may sound odd but it does work.  First, it confuses the cat because he expects you to pull away.  Also, by pushing toward him you can easily disengage his claws or teeth.  I also add a verbal response whenever a cat bites or scratches.  Saying a key word in a higher pitch helps get the cat's attention.  I use a high-pitched "ouch" because that's the easiest word to get out when the skin on my hand is getting pierced by sharp teeth.  If you use the high-pitched "ouch" every time then eventually when he hears that sound he'll know to release his grip immediately.  Once he's learned this trigger word you can use it as he's about to make contact and avoid damage to your skin.

Whenever I'm playing with a cat and he bites me, after disengaging my hand I ignore the cat for a few minutes.  I don't hit or scream at him, I just ignore him.  This sends the message to him that whenever he bites or scratches someone's hand, playtime ends.  After a few minutes, I'll get the toy and resume playtime.  This will show him what is acceptable to bite.  After all, you don't want to send the message biting/scratching is totally forbidden.  You want to send the message that biting/scratching is forbidden on humans.  Never hit a cat for biting you.  Never hit a cat for anything.  All you'll accomplish is to make the cat afraid of you.  ENd Quote.