Calico Cat Behavior Problem

[Michelle V]

I have a 6 year old calico. She is beautiful and calm with one problem, she pees on everything: counters, bags, blankets, boxes, etc. She is litter box trained and uses that well. We clean the litter box daily but that wont stop her from peeing everywhere else. I have 3 other cats, 2 males and a tortie. The 2 females are the ones that fight occasionally. I was told calicos are territorial so that is why the females fight the most. My question is, is the peeing she does caused by stress of the other female? I was told i may need to rehome her to a single cat family. Is this true or can i fix this somehow? Im desperate for help and advise.

 

[FeebysOwner]

A lot of people talk about calicos having a propensity toward 'attitudes', and that females cats are generally more territorial. But, I would be willing to guess you can find just as many other types of cats, including males, that have attitudes and territorial behavior.

More information is needed to be able to offer tips/advice. How long have all these cats been together, up to and including who was there first, who was last, etc. Were they introduced properly when new cats were brought into the home?
How many litter boxes do you have? With 4 cats, the rule of thumb would be to have 5 boxes - and, preferably in different places in the home. How many different litter boxes/litter have you tried?

Do you have plenty of space for them, including cat trees and places they can go to be by themselves if they want to? Are they played with daily?

How long has this been going on? And, what have you already tried to help stop it? Have all of the cats seen vets recently and had check-up/blood work?

Sorry for all the questions, but a background will go a long way in allowing members on this site to access your situation and offer some things you can try to improve her behavior. Thanks!!!!

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats do this when they eat too much dry food. Have you tried increasing canned food, decreasing the dry food?

 

[Michelle V]

A lot of people talk about calicos having a propensity toward 'attitudes', and that females cats are generally more territorial. But, I would be willing to guess you can find just as many other types of cats, including males, that have attitudes and territorial behavior.

More information is needed to be able to offer tips/advice. How long have all these cats been together, up to and including who was there first, who was last, etc. Were they introduced properly when new cats were brought into the home?
How many litter boxes do you have? With 4 cats, the rule of thumb would be to have 5 boxes - and, preferably in different places in the home. How many different litter boxes/litter have you tried?

Do you have plenty of space for them, including cat trees and places they can go to by themselves if they want to? Are they played with daily?

How long has this been going on? And, what have you already tried to help stop it? Have all of the cats seen vets recently and had check-up/blood work?

Sorry for all the questions, but a background will go a long way in allowing members on this site to access your situation and offer some things you can try to improve her behavior. Thanks!!!!

A lot of people talk about calicos having a propensity toward 'attitudes', and that females cats are generally more territorial. But, I would be willing to guess you can find just as many other types of cats, including males, that have attitudes and territorial behavior.

More information is needed to be able to offer tips/advice. How long have all these cats been together, up to and including who was there first, who was last, etc. Were they introduced properly when new cats were brought into the home?
How many litter boxes do you have? With 4 cats, the rule of thumb would be to have 5 boxes - and, preferably in different places in the home. How many different litter boxes/litter have you tried?

Do you have plenty of space for them, including cat trees and places they can go to by themselves if they want to? Are they played with daily?

How long has this been going on? And, what have you already tried to help stop it? Have all of the cats seen vets recently and had check-up/blood work?

Sorry for all the questions, but a background will go a long way in allowing members on this site to access your situation and offer some things you can try to improve her behavior. Thanks!!!!

 

[Michelle V]

The calico and tuxedo were first, then 2 years later the tabby and tortie. I have an open floor plan 2 story home with 4 tall cat towers and 4 litter boxes so plenty of room to run, jump and play. They were introduced properly and have all lived, played together without any major altercations. All are in good health and do for their annual vet appointment next month.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Thanks! Appreciate the extra information! So, how long did you say this behavior with your calico has been going on?

 

[Michelle V]

She has always peed on blankets and pillows but boxes started when we moved in to this house 4 years ago. The counters started post hurricane harvey home Renovations but is now so frequent she has peed in a toaster, on packages of bread and dish towels weekly.

 

[Kitty Daddy]

Female cats in general are more territorial. What you are experiencing is not abnormal cat behavior for your current kitty situation. I had a similar situation.


My ex-wife who had never had cats before, where as I grew up with them, wanted cats so I suggested that we get them from a reputable breeder and to get 2 so it would have company and it would much easier having 2 siblings so you wouldn't have to do the whole introducing a new cat thing, which is not a good idea for a novice first time cat owner. So that's what we did and it worked out well. I introduced her into cat care and cat behavior and mentored her on cat'isms which were perfectly natural for a cat but made her nervous because she never had them (maybe an outdoor one but that's different from indoor, I ended up keeping them, Tango and Cash, after the divorce.) But one day we saw a cat that was in need of a home from pet supply store that was looking to give this female black cat a good home. I held her and decided that she was a good cat and made the decision with the wife to adopt her. We took her home that day and she became territorial over us and the home, which made my Cash jealous, but he never did anything like pee outside of his liter box, not even after we brought the new cat home, and we kept them separated for the most part until they could used to each other, her and my two boys. Neither of my two boys peed outside the litter box ever not even when she was in the house. But she would go and pee in their cat beds, and even on the bottom of their cat tree which I scrubbed the living hell out of to fully clean it. We had her less than a week and I caught her in the act, twice, of peeing on a blanket, and that's when I knew that she had to go. (took her back to the pet supply store and she was readopted in less than 2 weeks) I've seen this before and is prevalent behavior with female cats in those situations in general, especially calicos! I have seen that with another calico, and in that instance in a previous relationship years ago, we gave the black and white cat to her aunt and uncle who kept her for us while I was at Parris Island and she was deployed. And in that instance we kept the female calico and gave the black and white one to her aunt and uncle. After that we never had that problem with the calico who would only do that if she got accidentally trapped in a closet. Female calicos honestly need to be the only cat in the house if you keep them indoors. She needed to be in a single cat home as the only cat.

 

[FeebysOwner]

It is going to be very hard to break a behavior that has gone on so long. But, it will be even harder to re-home a cat that has a propensity to inappropriate peeing. And, by no means will it stop just because she is an only-cat. That is just another change that she will be put through that will affect her even more.

Can she have a room of her own in your home - with all of her stuff in there? Preferably one that you can somewhat pee-proof? There are a whole host of things you can try if you can let her have her own space. And, there are numerous articles about trying to correct this behavior that can be provided to you if you can give her a good environment in your home to work with.

If not, you need to be contacting rescue centers/no-kill shelters to see what resources they have in terms of a plan to re-home her, with the understanding she would likely need to be fostered by someone who can work with her to help her get past whatever is driving her behavior.

 

[Kitty Daddy]

It is going to be very hard to break a behavior that has gone on so long. But, it will be even harder to re-home a cat that has a propensity to inappropriate peeing. And, by no means will it stop just because she is an only-cat. That is just another change that she will be put through that will affect her even more.

Can she have a room of her own in your home - with all of her stuff in there? Preferably one that you can somewhat pee-proof? There are a whole host of things you can try if you can let her have her own space. And, there are numerous articles about trying to correct this behavior that can be provided to you if you can give her a good environment in your home to work with.

If not, you need to be contacting rescue centers/no-kill shelters to see what resources they have in terms of a plan to re-home her, with the understanding she would likely need to be fostered by someone who can work with her to help her get past whatever is driving her behavior.

I agree with this 100% that in my opinion would be the best option so far. Its all a case by case basis. And in this owners case your suggested course of action sounds like a more ideal plan in this instance rather than re-homing.

Both of my cases were different than this and the best choice of action was to re-home in both particular instances, but the cat issues I was having were more clear cut.

 

[Michelle V]

It breaks my heart to have to think about having to re home her, and i do not have a room that can be all hers. I was told to buy a cat condo for her to try to retrain her to only use her litter box but i havent done any research on this to see if this could be a good option to reduse her pering every where. On the flip side of this, if the other female is causing her this stress i dont want to continue to make her so stressed. I guess ive got more research to do. Thank you for your responses.

 

[Kitty Daddy]

My heart goes out to you M Michelle V it sincerely does! I know that this isn't an easy choice to make especially with the possibility of having to re-home a loved fur baby. I will not advise on what choice to make, you have to make your decision regarding your situation but more importantly, your fur baby.

But what I can tell you is this. I have had to make that decision, along with several other decisions regarding fur babies. I have had to re-home loved cats that I raised sense they were kittens and I love(d) all of my kitties that I ever had or cared for. I can tel you from experience what it comes down to is this, what is best for the animal? Its a hard yet selfless decision, and perhaps the most important grounds on whatever decision you make. Is one able to REASONABLY accommodate the animal? Would the measures cause unreasonably excess stress for one to accommodate for the animal? Would the measure I am able to take cause the animal to be unnecessarily stressed? These are all the important questions you have to ask yourself as well as do an overall cost/benefit analysis of the situation. These are the questions I responsibly have had to ask myself. And at times, I deemed it was best to give up the animal to an appropriate home. That being said having have had to do that on more than one circumstance after weighing everything, I have found out that while it was sad to let go, I insured that the animal that I let go of because it was the best situation overall for the animal and/or myself, was in a good home and it was a good fit and match for the pet, and that sincerely put my heart at ease. And in those particular cases it gave me a reassuring peace that I did the right thing overall for both myself and the animal. If you have to re-home the animal, make sure its in a well suited loving home for the fur ball.