Redirected Feline Aggression

Hi Chris,
You've been such a help so far with my very aggressive cat. She's doing fine as an outdoor cat.
She still has some peculiar aggression behaviour which baffles me. She becomes aggressive towards me or anyone else while cleaning out her litter box. Or, more often, it's when I'm bringing the litter to the curb for garbage and she smells it in the bag. I think she thinks I'm another cat or something. I always have to be very careful when cleaning the litter and I always look around to make sure the cat's not around. She will come up and growl and try to bite and scratch.
Do you have any explanation for this? So far I'm managing by keeping the door open as a quick escape route but any suggestions would help.
Also, if there is another cat around she will redirect her aggression towards me as well. Any suggestions on this too?
Thanks so much
Tinku

How to keep cats off the couch?

Are you having troubles keeping cats of the couch, or anywhere else you don't want them to go?

Well there are lots of easy solutions.

One of the easiest ways is to use a product called SCAT MAT





SCAT MAT emits a noise whenever is senses your cat has jumped on the couch or countertop.

Most people notice is only takes a few times for your cat to be scared by the SCAT MAT and it will not go near the couch again.

Thanks,

Luke

Adopting a kitten/intergrating it into the household

This cat behavior question comes from Sharon S.: If you have a question email me at lukeblaise1m@excite.com

I have 3 cats, all adults, one is 12 yr old. I am looking to adopt a kitten, and wonder how this is going to affect the adult cats. What is the best way to introduce the kitten? I currently have 2 females, and 1 male. The ages are: 12, 8 and 3 yrs old. All are spayed and neutered. All were adults that I adopted. Thank you for any advice you may offer!

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for the question. It is great you want to give another cat a great home.

For some of the older cats it might take time to accept the young kitten. Kittens have lots of energy, which can be annoying for older cats who are happy just to nap all day.

It would be best to keep the kitten separate in another room for a few days to get used to the smells of the house and then only let them spend time together when you can supervise them.

Also give the kitten lots of places to hide, in case she wants to escape from the other cats.

Here is a great article with more information: Introducing a new cat.

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Luke

Big Update About Cat Behavior

Hi,

Thanks again for reading, if you haven't signed up for my free newsletter, the sign up form is to the right side of the screen, its free.

Big Update #1: I started working on my new website at www.catbehaviorproducts.com

I hope to make it the premiere cat beahvior website.

Big Update #2: I found a place to get four free pet books. Just check out the member's area at www.free-online-veterinarian-advice.com/askavet.html

Good bye for now

Luke

Older male cat growls at younger cats?

Here is a cat behavior question from Sandra L. If you have one please please email me at lukeblaise1m@excite.com

Hello,

I have a cat that is 7 years old, a male, neutered. I also have two other male cats which are much younger - ages 3 years old. Whenever the two youngest cats go near the older cat the older cat runs and hides and growls. He is a big cat, approximately 18 lbs and the other two are like maybe 10 lbs. Why does the older cat act that way? All have been in my house since being born. This behavior started about 6 months ago.

Sandra L.

Hi Sandra,

Thanks for the question. I can think of several reasons why your cat maybe acting like this. The younger cats are probably a lot more energetic than the older cat and the older cat likely wants to be left alone. Cats are naturally solitary creatures, unlike dogs who like to run in packs. Since there is not actual fighting at this point, I think it is best just to let the older cat be.

Thanks,

Luke

Automatic Litter Box and Litter

Many people who buy automated litter boxes aren't aware that some of them recommend that you only buy their brand of cat litter.

They do this because they say, their cat litter is specially designed to work with their specific litter box.

I don't think this is necessary:

As long as you buy a good clumping cat litter, like Arm and Hammer, it should work just fine with the automated litter box.

I have found that Johnny Cat is extremely poor in clumping and would not recommend it at all.

Luke Blaise

Toilet Training Cat The Easy Way

By using incremental training it is easy to train your cat to use a human toilet. Why? Imagine if you never had to worry about cleaning the litter box again or lugging large boxes of litter home from the grocery store.

Lots of people have already trained their cats to use a human toilet saving them lots of time and money. One of the best part of all of this is you no longer need to have space for regular litter box, giving you extra space in small apartments and condos.

The easiest way to train your cat to use a human toilet is to use incremental training. What is incremental training? Incremental training is slowly molding your cat’s behavior into the actions that you want. This can be done over the course of a couple of weeks. The most important thing to remember when doing this is to take the process really slowly and do not rush your cat at all.

To train your cat to use a human toilet start by slowly moving the litter box closer and closer to your toilet. You need to move it slowly over the course of a week or two to help your cat get used to using the litter box next to the toilet.

Once your cat has been using the litter box next to the toilet for a couple of weeks, slowly start to raise the litter box up, a little each week until the height is the same as the toilet seat.

After a couple of weeks of this you can move the litter box on top of the toilet and then insert a litter box that sits into the rim of the toilet. Once your cat gets used to using the sunken litter box in the toilet, remove it and your job should be done.

The most important thing to remember when toilet training your cat is to take it slowly and by slowly that means weeks, and two days.



Luke Blaise