Inappropriate Elimination

[Cwazy Cat Lady]

FELINE INAPPROPRIATE ELIMINATION

I spend much of my days evaluating house-soiling histories of owner-surrendered cats. As a result, I'm not only well-read on the issue, but also experienced in analyzing the behaviors and helping to resolve them (before animals are given up or as they are being re-homed). So this is one of my topics of expertise and one that I actually enjoy talking about because of the potential to help people and their pets.

I am going to continually add to my lecture/training session in this thread about feline inappropriate elimination over the course of the next days/weeks. Please stick around. I am sure you are dying to know all about it.

To start, let me first say that this topic goes by two general names:

'house-soiling' and 'inappropriate elimination'

While the latter term, 'inappropriate elimination' sounds more exact and academic, it's very anthropocentric. In a particular cat's point of view, crapping on the sofa or peeing in a laundry basket is not deemed 'inappropriate' behavior at all, but rather appropriate.

I always begin my talks and consultations by letting people know that when a cat is missing its litterbox, it is trying to tell its owner something. There are four general 'messages' conveyed. These four messages I will discuss in the posts to come.

I'm sure the suspense is killing you... Stay tuned.

[FedUpWithFaith]

You should write to Dirty Jobs. I'll bet they'd do a great show on you.

What you call "Inappropriate Elimination" my family used to call "Get the vinegar! That fuckin' cat pissed all over the curtains again!"

I'd tell you what eventually got eliminated, but you don't want to know.

[Cwazy Cat Lady]

Actually, I don't go on-site with black lights and so forth. It's all from my desk! But we do have some dirty jobs at my work... I actually was curious to learn how to work/load the incinerator... :hum:

[FedUpWithFaith]

I actually was curious to learn how to work/load the incinerator... :hum:

Wow, that sounds like fun. Learn how to use it and next time I'm in town we can toss in some dead cats together. Or some live ones, if you're into that too.

[Cwazy Cat Lady]

You should write to Dirty Jobs. I'll bet they'd do a great show on you.

What you call "Inappropriate Elimination" my family used to call "Get the vinegar! That fuckin' cat pissed all over the curtains again!"

I'd tell you what eventually got eliminated, but you don't want to know.

Tsk tsk...

You'd better sit down for the lecture, Feddy. Vinegar is not a good way to permanently remove the odor and deter the cat from reoffending!

[FedUpWithFaith]

You should write to Dirty Jobs. I'll bet they'd do a great show on you.

What you call "Inappropriate Elimination" my family used to call "Get the vinegar! That fuckin' cat pissed all over the curtains again!"

I'd tell you what eventually got eliminated, but you don't want to know.

Tsk tsk...

You'd better sit down for the lecture, Feddy. Vinegar is not a good way to permanently remove the odor and deter the cat from reoffending!

Who said anything about odor? Whenever our cat had what you called an "Inappropriate Elimination", destroying our curtains, we covered him with a potato sack and gave him an immersion punishment bath in vinegar. I guess it never taught him anything. But it made us feel better.

[Cwazy Cat Lady]

You should write to Dirty Jobs. I'll bet they'd do a great show on you.

What you call "Inappropriate Elimination" my family used to call "Get the vinegar! That fuckin' cat pissed all over the curtains again!"

I'd tell you what eventually got eliminated, but you don't want to know.

Tsk tsk...

You'd better sit down for the lecture, Feddy. Vinegar is not a good way to permanently remove the odor and deter the cat from reoffending!

Who said anything about odor? Whenever our cat had what you called an "Inappropriate Elimination", destroying our curtains, we covered him with a potato sack and gave him an immersion punishment bath in vinegar. I guess it never taught him anything. But it made us feel better.

Stick around to find out why that didn't work. In fact, it probably exacerbated the problem.

You hooked yet?

[FedUpWithFaith]

Yeah honey, I'm hooked. Anything having to do with pussy.

I'll be honest with you. We don't have a cat because my oldest boy is allergic. The one we had we had to give to my sister. But he was a joy - is - I still visit him though he's getting old. He never had an accident.

We did have a cat when I was a boy and it had accidents, both shit and piss, in hidden places in my mom's bedroom, particularly under the bed. This will seem unbelievable but it's true. This must have went on for years, at least 4, undetected until one day my mom decided to rearrange the furniture. I saw incredible piles of cat shit, much of it largely decayed or seemingly mummified, and piss stains everywhere under every crevice where furniture had been. Yes, it's true, my mom wasn't much of a housekeeper.

How did we not notice the horrible smell? To this day i can't figure that out. Maybe it was a reaction with the carpet and/or maybe we got used to it. I do recall telling my mom some of my friends told me our house smelled funny. She told me my father (they were divorced and not friendly) built the house wrong and it was full of mold.

My mom eventually ran that cat over in a car accident, pinning its head to the side of our garage - knocking the support bricks out. My mom was also a shitty driver.

[ScholasticSpastic]

Cool! An animal behavior thread! I'ma be in here a lot.

[Geoff]

You should write to Dirty Jobs. I'll bet they'd do a great show on you.

What you call "Inappropriate Elimination" my family used to call "Get the vinegar! That fuckin' cat pissed all over the curtains again!"

I'd tell you what eventually got eliminated, but you don't want to know.

Tsk tsk...

You'd better sit down for the lecture, Feddy. Vinegar is not a good way to permanently remove the odor and deter the cat from reoffending!

Who said anything about odor? Whenever our cat had what you called an "Inappropriate Elimination", destroying our curtains, we covered him with a potato sack and gave him an immersion punishment bath in vinegar. I guess it never taught him anything. But it made us feel better.

There are times (not many, but some) when I'm really glad you're back!

[FedUpWithFaith]

Well you be sure to keep a list of those fleeting moments Geoff. I'll be coming to check it.

[Feck]

I used to trap and foster Feral cats for the CPL ,it was crazy ,if you sat quietly in the house at night eyes used to
appear from every hiding place .My arms had more scratches than an EMO kid.

[Pappa]

My old cat has started crapping all over the house. Not often, but often enough to be a hassle. I suspect he's got dementia and doesn't realise what he's doing.

[FedUpWithFaith]

Reminds me of my grandfather. Too bad it's so much easier to euthanize cats than people. Society won't waste $135,000 to tie a cat to tubes to prolong its life for an extra 2 weeks either. That's why cats are great. And then you can get a new one.

[Feck]

My old cat has started crapping all over the house. Not often, but often enough to be a hassle. I suspect he's got dementia and doesn't realise what he's doing.

Stop blaming the poor old cat Pappa we all know its you .