OK, I know Mom has been letting the neighborhood cats that come to eat the food we put on the porch for them in to visit. I also note that you seem to enjoy their company.
I understand that you are territorial animals, and that having clear boundaries for your territory is important to you.
Mom and I are getting tired of cleaning up your pee from strategic locations around the apartment. Fortunately, the pet odor remover seems to work well, so lingering smells aren’t an issue. We have also noted that during periods of time when the other cats aren’t visiting, the peeing problem abates. Fine. No more friends over to visit. You have each other, that should be enough.
But, dammit, you went too far when you pissed on the vinyl carry bag for my brand new massage table. I only left it on the floor for a minute while I put the box it came in outside to carry for the trash, and I come back in and there’s a freaking puddle of piss.
Conan, I’m pretty sure it was you, but since I didn’t see you do it, and Schrodinger was also seen investigaing the bag, I’m punishing you both. Both of you can stay out of my sight until such time as I’ve cooled down enough to forgive you. I will continue to rattle newspapers at you, shout at you, and tell you to stay away from me probably for another day or so. I hope that since the pee was fresh, and I held Conan over it when I scolded him and smacked his little hiney, you are smart enough to make the connection between my being pissed off at you and my bag being pissed on.
I adore you both, but right now, I want to throw you both out the front door and get a dog…
Well, I don’t know about cats but with a dog if you don’t show displeasure at the time of the incident they don’t know what the hell you are doing - don’t assosciate it with the incident.
So, all you are really doing is maintaining your own frustration, not a good idea when it is people who have pissed you off, and really a bad idea with an animal.
But in any event, a dog or dogs would be much better than any cat.
There’s what some trainers, like John Lyons, call the three-second rule with horses – when they do something wrong (by human definition), you have three seconds to reprimand them, or you might as well forget it – they won’t associate their action with the discipline. And the discipline is “three second murder” – really let them have it for three seconds, then stop. Any further negative reinforcement is wasted and even counterproductive. This approximates how horses in a state of nature handle intraherd transgressions. I daresay that’s about how it is with dogs and cats, too.
Gee, county – I was with you all the way till you threw in that last anti-feline dig. Now I must hate and despise you, fling invective at you, rant endlessly about your perfidy, illogic, and maggot-gagging halitosis, and slap your wretched wrist.
Seriously though, I knew a guy who trained horses and his example was the guy who wanted the horse to stop at the end of an exhibition run, so he’d hit the horse with a piece of stove wood when he approached the end of the run - so, he was teaching the horse that when he got to the end of the run he would get hit in the head. The guy couldn’t figure out whey the horse was so dumb.
Checking in to say that there are medical reasons, as well as behavioral reasons, for a cat to suddenly start pissing everywhere. You should really take them in and get them checked for kidney stones/UTI/etc.
Cats are smart. Very smart, even. But no, he won’t make the connection. Unfortunately, I have to say that county is right - if you don’t reprimand as they are doing it, they will not know why you are doing it.
We had neighbors whose dog, an escape artist, would get loose and cruise around the neighborhood. The neighbors would call and call until the dog came back. Then, they’d swat him for running away. The lesson the dog was learning was pretty obvious - if I come when they call, I’ll get hit! Morons.
The peeing could be the least of your problems. If your mother has been letting stranger cats in to “play”, your beasties could have caught something from them… FeLV and feline panleukopenia (distemper) come immediately to mind.
Amanita brings up a good point. Have your cats been vaccinated for these diseases? And I assume they’re current on rabies shots? Are your cats completely indoor kitties, or do they go outside now and then?
LordVor is right about possible physical causes for the behavior, which should be checked as well. In fact, if you start to find small, blood-tinged urine deposits here and there, especially in things like sinks and bathtubs, or one of the cats seems to take a long time in the box, and go there often, that’s a red alert to get the cat to the vet.
The vaccine for FeLV does not guarantee protection against this disease. I would not let any cat of mine have contact with a cat that hadn’t been tested and found negative for FeLV and FIV, at the very least.
That’s one of several reasons that my felines are all totally indoor cats, even though I have them regularly vaccinated, **Mauvaise[b/]. I’m also careful about washing my hands between touching outside cats and handling them.
