Solving basic cat behavior problems.

Let's face it, if you share your home with a cat sooner or later you are going to encounter a cat behavior problem.

No matter how nice, or how much of a "good kitty" your cat is, there will be something, and possibly lots of things, that your cat insists on doing that will cause you to feel anything from mild irritation, to near blood boiling exasperation.

Do remember that what we as humans may regard as inappropriate or naughty conduct, will undoubtedly be viewed by your pet as perfectly natural behavior.

Are there things that we can do to change the situation into one where your cats' habits are at the least acceptable to you? Yes, but compromise between what you view as ideal cat behavior and the feline mindset, is inevitable.

As we shall see using punishment as a means to train your cat is futile.

Your cat, who you thought to be well trained in using her litter box, suddenly decides to start going on the carpet, in the laundry basket, on your new rug, or even your bed!

It is unlikely that your pet has unexpectedly decided to have a "bad attitude".

Your cat may behave in ways that you find unacceptable sometimes, but it is unlikely that she is behaving that way just to upset you.

Could the reason for this bad behavior be a medical problem? If your cat has a urinary tract infection this can make the act of passing urine painful for her.

Many cats will associate the pain with the litter box and stop using it. Often a cat will look and act perfectly healthy when in fact they are sick, and only a visit to your veterinarian will determine if the cause of your cat behaving badly is a medical one.

Even after any infection has been treated and cleared, your cat may continue to insist on urinating on the carpet or whatever spot that she picked to use. This is because cats are instinctively triggered to continue using an area that smells of their urine or feces.

Ordinary house cleaning products may get rid of the smell for you, but not for your cat! She will still smell it and therefore continue to use that spot. You will need to use an enzyme cleaner to thoroughly soak the area and then allow to air dry. If it is a carpet that has been soiled do not forget to also soak the underlay.

What if it is established that there is no medical reason for your cats sudden bad cat behavior?

Then you will need to do some detective work to discover the explanation. Has anything changed? Has a new pet been brought into the home? Is there a new baby in the house? A new partner? Animals can suffer the stress that change brings, just the same as humans can.

Have you changed the type or brand of cat litter that you have been using? Have you changed the type of air freshener, or room deodorizer to one with a different scent? (It is not a good idea to use a room deodorizer close to a litter tray.)

Have you recently had installed a new kitchen appliance, one that periodically makes a noise? If your kitties' litter box is close to this it certainly could be the cause of the kitty behavior problem.

An obvious reason that should not be overlooked is, has her litter box been moved to a different spot in the house? You may have been rearranging the furniture and decided the litter tray would be better placed here rather than there. Your cat may not agree.

Some non slip mats or rugs use a backing that has an odor, that may be unnoticeable to humans but to a cat is an open invitation to urinate. Not much can be done here but to dump the rug.

Cat behaving badly... Can you do anything about it?

Most cats have a preference of particular kinds of surfaces they like to do their toilet on. This preference for a surface can change for no apparent reason, and a cat that has always used the litter tray will suddenly favor going on a soft fabric surface, in your bath, or sink, or on a wood floor.

What can be done to combat this cat behavior surface of choice problem? Make the place where your cat has been using unattractive by covering it with sheets of sticky paper, sticky side up, or strips of aluminum foil.

If your cat is going on a soft surface, try changing to a soft, sandy litter, and try laying a soft length of fabric under the litter box. If your kitty is using a smooth surface, such as tiles, spread a thin layer of litter at one end of the box, and leave the other end bare.

If you catch your cat when she is going where she should not, try clapping your hands loud, but not loud enough to scare her, the aim is to distract her. If possible take her to her litter box, if she uses it give her plenty of praise.

Praise is an excellent way of modifying cat behavior, animals do respond to it. Let your pet know that it is OK to do her toilet... in the right place.

Bonkers is an adorable black cat with a beautiful glossy coat. Enter the room that she is in and sit down. She will take stock of you for a few moments and then prowl around the perimeter of the room and jump upon your lap. You will be unable to resist stroking her, and she will eat up the petting purring like a buzz saw.

After some time, when your stroking has become subconscious and your thoughts are elsewhere, seemingly out of the blue, Bonkers will bite at your hand!

Is Bonkers unbalanced? Is she a psychotic cat? No, it is quite normal cat behavior to have these mood swings. Not all cats will go so far as to bite when they have had enough petting, but plenty do.

If you experience this sort of aggressive cat behavior from your pet, try to become aware of any signals that a bite or scratch is about to occur. As soon as you see kitties' ears go back, or her tail begin to twitch or even if she just becomes restless, then stop petting her.

You are walking barefoot through your home. Suddenly your foot is pounced on and attacked by your sweet, gentle, pet cat that loves and adores you as much as you love and adore her. What is the reason for this, what sort of cat behavior is it to bite the hand, or in this case the foot, that feeds you?

Cats are hunters by nature, and even though the domestic house cat has all her food provided for her, she instinctively practices her hunting skills. Play motivated aggressive cat behavior is very often seen in young, indoor cats.

If your cat is the only feline in the home, then there is little else for her to practice her attack skills on but you. Your hand dangling by the side of the bed as you snooze, looks to be the perfect mouse substitute to your cat, so, it's crouch, creep, pounce and "ouch!"

What can be done? Try redirecting the play aggression to a cat toy dragged along by a piece of string for example. Never use your hand to "tease" your cat during play, you will only teach her that it is acceptable cat behavior to attack human flesh.

Cats are territorial, that is their nature. Your pet accepts what she is used to, if she is accustomed to seeing strangers of the human kind in her home she probably reacts without too much fuss. But what if a strange cat should enter her territory, an event that she perceives as a threat?

You may call her violent reaction aggressive cat behavior, but in reality it is instinctive protective behavior.

Some cats do not take to being picked up, even by those humans who share their home with them, and may react aggressively. This could be through something that happened during kittenhood, and if as a kitten your cat learned that violently aggressive action can end a perceived threat, then this will enforce her natural instinct.

Cats need to scratch. Scratching removes the old layers of a cats nails, and it is something that cats instinctively do. But...

...you don't want your furniture, your possessions that you take pride in, all scratched up. From your cats point of view, especially if she is an indoor only cat, there has to be somewhere to scratch, and if that somewhere is a thing humans call a sofa, well that's too bad.

The long term answer to this so called "Bad Cat Behavior Problem" is, of course, a scratching post, or even two. A great variety of posts are available from pet stores and online. They are fairly simple to construct, but if you do make one yourself, make certain that there are no nails, or other sharp things, left sticking out to snag kitty.

Cover the post with rope rather than carpet, you don't want to give your cat the wrong message, that it is OK for her to scratch carpet!

Make sure that the scratching post is tall enough for your cat, it is part of feline behavior to stretch when they scratch. It is a good idea to attach a few toys to the post so that they hang down temptingly.

Spread catnip on the post or one of the platforms to make the scratching area even more attractive to your cat.

If you put a scratching post down in front of your cat, what is she going to make of it? It may look like a good place to scratch and claw, but then she has been mildly scolded for scratching things. You have to teach her that it is OK to use the post, that it wont upset you, that scratching the post is good cat behavior.

Every time that you see your kitty about to scratch at something she should not, pick her up and place her in front of the post. If she decides to use it give her plenty of praise.

Remember, punishing bad cat behavior just does not work, rather than shouting at your cat for not using her post, cover the furniture she scratches with some netting, or even aluminum foil. She will soon learn that it is unpleasant to scratch furniture, but great to scratch her post.