Dear Dr. John,
I adopted a cat, Marty, a number of months in the past from a shelter. He has settled in pretty properly. I had one other cat named Mick that I needed to put to sleep final fall after a protracted sickness. Recently, I’ve discovered Marty urinating exterior of his litter field in varied places across the condominium. I ponder if he does it due to any smells of my earlier cat nonetheless lingering within the condominium. What might different causes for this new habits be? I clear out his litter field day by day. Am I doing one thing improper? He appears content material, has the run of the home, however I must discover a solution to cease this from occurring. Any recommendations you might need can be appreciated. Ok.R.
Dear Ok.R.,
There is all the time the chance that your new cat discovered some residual odors in your house that has triggered his urinating or marking habits within the residence, however it’s not extremely seemingly. I presume that Marty is neutered and the truth that the inappropriate voiding didn’t begin at the start makes this much less of a chance. Since this doesn’t occur on a regular basis, a urinary tract an infection isn’t seemingly however can’t be dominated out. Despite that, this sounds largely like a behavioral drawback.
Cats urinate exterior of the field if they’re upset even when it’s not apparent. Various causes for a cat being upset embrace a change in your schedule, guests, noises exterior or within the constructing which are new, a field that the cat deems is badly cleaned, or something that has modified in his and your each day routine. It can take some sleuthing to determine it out.
Here are some things you’ll be able to strive doing. Change the model of litter, if the field is uncovered then get a lined field or vice versa, transfer the situation of the litter field, get a second litter field, or strive buying one of many many pheromones one can discover to loosen up a cat and alter habits similar to Feliway.
I might contact your veterinarian as properly to see what they are saying. They may wish to be sure that the cat has no issues within the bladder similar to urinary stones, or the rest. Discuss your plans of motion with them. As a final resort, they could advocate anxiolytic medicine. Good luck!
Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic.He will be reached at 781-899-9994.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”