Brat Cat

Hey everyone! I'm new here and I'm having a bit of a conundrum.

I should preface my problem by explaining my situation, I'm a college student living in a 200sq foot box (dorm) with my ESA (my cat), Holly.

In the past, she's been a pretty well behaved cat, she's always had a habit of trash diving (and still does which is part of my problem). But other than that she's always been pretty good!

And then came the last two months.

It's like I have a completely different cat! I don't get it. She's started ripping into my food, which is on shelves since there is literally no other storage for it (200 square foot box that my entire existence is crammed into). She's only ever done this before when I'd forget to put a meal down in the morning or something equally my own fault, but now she's started doing it even though I give her plenty of food. She's also managed to figure out how to get into the garbage can, despite it being a pedal-operated metal one, and of course has now gotten into the habit of dragging trash all over my room to 'play with' despite having about 40 different toys crammed into our box. The biggest problem for me though is that she's started pooping on the rug rather than in her box. I know for a fact it isn't a case of "Can't make it to the box in time" because it takes her about 5 steps to get from anywhere in the room to her litter box. This is 100% behavioral, not medical, but I have no clue WHY she's doing it. Practically nothing has changed in our routine! I still feed her 3 times a day, I still clean her box, my class schedule is the same, we still cuddle at night and she still helps me with my mental problems. (Save for the problems that have arisen over the past couple months, that's making it worse.)

As a college student, I have classes, and I'm gone most of the afternoon on any given day because of them. I'm sick and tired of coming home to poop on the rug, trash scattered all over my room, and having to throw away food because she decided to drag it off my shelf and all over my room.

I'm at my breaking point and seriously considering locking her in her carrier while I'm in classes just because of how much of an absolute pest she's being. I don't have the space to get a full sized kitty habitat, or even a large dog crate, which is the advice I've seen on how to retrain a cat to use the litter box and keep them out of trouble.

I'm really at a loss of what to do, and I definitely am not getting rid of my cat, she's still my baby even if she's being a brat right now. I just really don't know where to start with getting her to stop being a pain in the you know what!

You say that this is definitely behavioral, not medical, so does that mean that you have taken her to the vet since this started?

How long have you lived in the dorm room? What kind of space did she have before that?

If you're sure it's not a medical problem, then it seems like she's telling you that she is unhappy about something that has changed. Have her routines been changed significantly? Is her current space much smaller than she's used to? Have you had to spend more time away from her? Has anything else in her environment changed (e.g. really noisy neighbors) that might be stressing her out?

I agree with making sure a vet Visit has happened since this behavior started - it could be that she developed a new issue and feels constantly hungry or something.

Do you have visitors often, are any of them new people or have any old friends tried a new fragrance? Does a neighbor have a new pet that she can hear/smell?

Maybe I missed it, but is she fixed?

I have been to the vet since this all started and she checked out with a perfect bill of health, it was her yearly so she got bloodwork done, a full exam, etc. If there were something wrong with her, they would have found it then.

She is fixed and has been since I adopted her a year and a half ago. Before I adopted her, she was in the 'kitten room' with a few other little fluffballs. I think she was born at the shelter from a pregnant stray someone brought in.

She's lived with me in small spaces for the whole time I've had her, so I don't think it's a space issue either. I adopted her at 5mo old with the express intent of her being my ESA, and we've lived in dorms together ever since! (The exception being when we go home for breaks, but even then she's kept in my bedroom and not given full run of my family's house, the resident cat is super gripey about other cats even though Holly is always really friendly to her.) When she does start getting stir crazy from the space, we go on walks around campus or on trips to the local pet shop, since I've taught her how to behave very well on a leash and behave in public. (She loves the attention, and is pretty much never fearful or skittish when we're out and about. She plops down in the child seat of the basket and feeds off everyone stopping by to pet her, meowing and batting at their hands when they try to stop.)

She's extremely outgoing and friendly, and I don't get visitors often, but when I do, she's in their lap or wanting them to play with her within 5 minutes of them coming inside. A lot of people say that she acts more like a dog than a cat in that regard! I figure it's because I socialized her a lot when I got her to get her used to meeting lots of different people (A skill she needed to have being in a dorm). I desensitized her to a load of things (using only positive reinforcement of course), she's very food motivated, so with a handful of high value treats I was able to associate car rides, airport stress, and a bunch of other things that would be normal stress-inducers for a cat with being given some really special treats that she absolutely loves. It's part of why I feel like it wouldn't even be stress-related, because she doesn't stress out easily, she's very confident and used to unpredictable experiences. (Like airports and fights, even with all that noise and nonsense she either chills out in her carrier like it's her bed, chills out on my lap (on her harness and lead) or wants to go exploring everything (tail up and relaxed posture, so it's not her looking for an escape route). She's just a pretty well-exposed kitty.

The only real super out of the ordinary thing that's happened in the past couple months was when I went on a weekend retreat and couldn't bring her along. But even then I was only gone for 2 nights, and she was left with a timed feeder for her meals, plenty of water, loads of toys, and my RA talked to her through my door to check up on her. She was constipated when I returned home (I know for a fact because yep, I rushed her to the vet the same day thinking "OH GOD SHE'S GOT A BLOCKAGE IN HER INTESTINES SHE ATE SOMETHING SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE MY BABY WHY HAS SHE THROWN UP A FEW TIMES" only to find out from the Xrays she just really needed to poo.) I followed the vet's advice and soon enough she was right back to her normal bowel movements, just... on the carpet, not in her litter box.

The retreat was last month though, and the behavior has been going on since before it, so I don't think that was the catalyst for this.

Do you think maybe there's just something she decided she doesn't like about her litter box all of a sudden? If it's as easy a fix as "Go to the shop and buy a new box" it would be fantastic.

It could be that she Does not like her litter box. All litter boxes need to be replaced eventually. Even with diligent cleaning eventually cat claws create grooves In the plastic and that holds the ammonia in cat urine.

But you don’t say that she is peeing outside of the box. So I think it is more likely that when she was constipated she had pain and that is causing a litter box aversion. Or she might have some ongoing stomach issues.

You mention that she is getting into your food and garbage. Could it possibly be that her diet needs adjustment? What has she been getting fed?

You could try getting a new box or some different litter. What kinds of toys does she have? (You mentioned that she has a lot.) Have you considered feeding her more or giving her more access to food? How often do you scoop her litter? How close is her litter box to her food? Is there any privacy around the box, or is it out in the open. (Some cats like it one way, some like it the other way.) Does the box have a lid? How big is the box? When were her anal glands last checked?

I would call your vet again, explain all the changes and your concerns. Some issues can be overlooked in a routine examine if the vet does not know detailed specifics. While the poop issue may be as simple as changing the type of litter, the other behavioral issues would likely not stem from the same source.

I'll see about a new litter box then, hopefully that would fix it. She gets fed Radcat raw food, and I make a mix of about 5 different proteins for her. Her food is definitely really good (I've done a lot of research on raw diets and ensuring that hers is nutritionally balanced). She adores her food, but because it's a meat-based food, it can't just be left out (which I don't mind since she's prone to overeating if I'm not careful about measuring out how much to give her). That's why she gets 3 meals a day, it's supposed to keep her fed. She gets about 7oz of her food a day, which is already a bit more than the suggested feeding, plus she gets a quail egg every evening as a fun addition to keep her coat soft and shiny.

Honestly I wonder if it's just because she's VERY MUCH a food lover, so even when she's full, she wants more?


I scoop her litter every three days or so. It's an extra-giant box with a lid and flap, and she doesn't poop much at all because of her diet (not much wasted nutrients means smaller, not smelly poops lol). She's never minded this schedule before, and I haven't changed it recently.

The litter box is somewhat close to her food just for the fact that there isn't much choice with the setup of my room, however it's as far away as I can get it.

As far as toys go, she's got pretty much anything a kitty could want. I have a feather wand for her, bell balls, crinkly balls, normal solid bouncy balls, fake mice, and her all time favorite toy-- Q-tips. She loves batting them across the tile lol. She also has one of those doughnut ball things where the ball spins around the track, and two different scratch boards. Then she also gets the entertainment of watching my axolotl and my bettas in their respective three tanks. (She's never tried to catch them or such, she just likes to watch them lol). Plus a nice view out the window of a courtyard where there are always squirrels or birds to watch. As far as stimulation goes, she's got a LOT of fun, engaging things to do, yet still decides to dig trash out of the can and be destructive.

The vet checked her anal glands when I took her in because of her constipation problems. I'm just hesitant to ask my vet because the poops look fine; well formed and no off-coloration, no odd smells. They're the poops of a healthy kitty, just not where they're supposed to be. I'm on a very limited budget being a student, and vet visits are always expensive (especially after paying like $600 for her X-rays the last time I went in). If her stools looked odd, I wouldn't hesitate one bit to take her in, but I feel like I'd be paying $75 just for her vet to tell me "It's a behavioral problem" which wouldn't be wasted money I could use for gas and groceries.

Try taking the lid off her litter box. Some cats do not like it. It can happen rather suddenly. Is there a way to add a little paper basket and put small toys (springs, crinkle balls, etc...) and some treats inside it. Maybe it will give her something to dig in other than the garbage.

Holly has actually been the opposite in the past, she wouldn't use the box until there was a lid on it. Would their prerogative really change so drastically so quickly?

I can definitely try the basket idea! I think I have a little plastic tub in my storage unit that I could turn into a kitty toybox! Maybe I can even get some old newspapers to put in with her toys and treats so she feels like she's actually getting into things she shouldn't be, even though she wouldn't be!

So the litter box cannot be somewhere else,far from her food? Some cats like to pee in one,poo in another. Age does make a difference. Her preferences might change. Older more picky,territorial, and of course my cat Peaches thinks she is the ruler of my apt. Your cat sounds wonderful. Any pictures?

Not really, when you live your entire life in a room that's smaller than the average person's bedroom, you can't spread things out very much.

I'm going to try getting a new box and see what that does for her.

Here's some pictures of the little troublemaker!

He is gorgeous! I love black cats with their shiny coats

Here's mine. Not totally black Its hard to tell where she is and isnt

She actually! ^^ And yeah, I do my very best to keep her coat nice and shiny, I think the best picture of her "raw-diet SHINE" is this one though!

You can just tell she knows that she's got it lol. Your kitty is so cute!! I love tabby cats a bunch too, I actually have two other cats, but they still live with my dad while I'm at college. They're my good boys though lol. I feel like once they come live with me, my girl Holly is gonna run the house.

These are the boys though:

Maggie is a classic tabby. I also have 2 other cats living with me. Peaches and Coco. A long story about Coco in my profile

I scoop my cats litter boxes every day. Even when I just had one. Now i have 3. 2 big ones and 2 smaller ones. They all get used. I Have a one bedroom apt but it fits 2 people