| Title: | Meower Power is Valuing Differences |
| Notice: | FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY |
| Moderator: | MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO |
| Created: | Sun Feb 09 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jan 11 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5089 |
| Total number of notes: | 60366 |
Lately I have been witnessing some odd behavior and would
appreciate any input or advice from the rest of the FELINE
community.
There are two cats in my house, both are 6.5 years of age.
1 male (neutered) named Gus and 1 female (spayed) named Lazy.
Until recently, these two had the luxury of having a "cat door"
installed in the basement window allowing them to come and go
as they please.
The "cat door" opened and closed for the last time several
weeks ago (it "died" of old age). Since that time, the regular
glass window has been back in place. Thus, the cats are indoors
most of the time. They are very low-key and are not [very]
disturbed by this situation.
The odd behavior comes from another cat in the neighborhood.
This cat is a male; I've seen him "spraying". He comes to the
basement window and the back door and "sings". If I let my cats
out, nothing happens. They don't fight, or play, they simply
"co-exist", never getting closer than 3 or 4 feet from each other.
But when seen through the glass, they growl and hiss and spit.
The problem is that this cat is constantly spraying EVERYTHING
on my property, including the door and the basement window. I can't
catch him (he runs away whenever I go outside). And I don't know what
to do to discourage this behavior. I also don't understand the reason
behind his behavior (I know why he sprays, I don't understand the singing
and socializing stuff). He is around every day and every night.
Any suggestions?
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3228.1 | PUT THE DOOR BACK??!! | CIVIC::MAZOLA | Wed Jan 10 1990 15:44 | 17 | |
Gee, that is pretty odd!
Maybe you can get some stuff that stops cats from spraying and put it
on the areas where he sprays now..
The only thing I can think of that would make that cat act like that is
the female. She's spayed but does that stop cats from "mating" or at
least trying? Maybe when your cats went outside, the "bully" tried to
mate her or something... and now that she can't go out, the other cat
is reacting this way.
Maybe you should replace the old door??!!
-Just my thoughts!
Sandy
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| 3228.2 | Who are the cats in the window? | SA1794::DOWSEYK | Wed Jan 10 1990 15:46 | 8 | |
I have seen cats that seem to like co-existing in an armed truce.
It sounds like that is the case with the visiting cat. And maybe
he relys on smell to identify your cats, so when he sees then through
the glass he thinks he is dealing with unknown cats, and marks his
territory.
Kirk
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| 3228.3 | Is the sprayer a new "neighbor"? | WOODRO::RUSSO | Wed Jan 10 1990 16:06 | 3 | |
Was the male cat that is spraying there all along or is he new to
the neighborhood since the cat door broke?
Mary
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| 3228.4 | WR2FOR::CORDESBRO_JO | set home/cat_max=infinity | Wed Jan 10 1990 16:49 | 12 | |
If he is spraying, there is a good chance that he might also be
a whole male. If that is the case, the singing that you describe
could be him "calling" for a mate. The spraying could be him marking
your house as his territory, as has already been mentioned.
Unfortunately, there is nothing that you can do to get him to stop
spraying your house, short of spraying him with the hose when he
comes around. If you know who owns him, you might try to find out
if he is neutered. If he isn't neutered, neutering him might help
with the spraying a bit.
Jo
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