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Hi
I was hoping to get some advice regarding the cat my partner and I adopted a few months ago - will try and give as much background as possible. He's a 1.5yr old Scottish Straight. We adopted him from a family who claimed that they got him for their children as a kitten during the first lockdown but were having to adopt him due to their youngest daughter developing an allergy. We made sure before adoption to ask all of the questions - he was fully litter trained, didn't scratch regularly, great temperment. They said he didn't really like to play much and was quite a "lazy" cat, who was used to spending some time alone and actively spent afternoons away from people to sleep. I have had a cat in the past and so not unfamiliar with looking after them but also wouldn't claim to be hugely experienced. Archie wasn't neutered at the time we adopted him - previous owners stated that he had the appointment booked but they ended up not being able to do it on the day due to him being too stressed (we have since found out this didn't happen since we pulled his previous vet records), and have since had him neutered at around 14 months old with no ill effects.
Since we have adopted him we have noticed the following issues;
- He will urinate outside of his litter box. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to this - it has happened in all rooms of our flat, but mostly in the hallway where his litter tray is located. He has 2 trays, which are huge and we have maintained the litter he has had since he was a kitten. He uses the tray around 50% of the time and alway for number 2. But the inappropriate urination happens at all times of the day, no fixed places, but usually around the edges of rooms, it happens when we aren't in his vicinity and also has happened while we've been in the same room as him. We scoop both trays every day and clean them properly once a week / fortnight depending on how much they're used.
- Scratching - We had trouble with scratch posts from the start - he didn't have any in his old home and his previous owners have said that he just wouldn't use them. We've tried scratching mats flat on the floor and also a vertical scratching post. He also now has a cat tree which he loves and there are scratch posts on this also. He does use the posts (never the mat) but again it isn't consistent and he much prefers to scratch on the living room and hallway rugs. We have tried to encourage him with treats and catnip around the posts, and we try to ignore the bad behaviour but do have to stop him scratching the rugs as they are becoming destroyed. I'm worried that he's associating this behaviour with getting attention which is why he is doing it.
- Playtime - Again - we were told he wasn't a playful cat but we have since found this not to be the case and he is an incredibly playful cat with a hunter mindset - he loves to chase the fishing rod toy around and will do so for hours and hours. We try and provide as much stimulation time as possible and he gets minimum a couple of hours a day which isn't a bad thing but just another change we've noticed in him.
- He's in the last 3 or 4 weeks become a lot more chatty than previously - again not a bad thing but we've noticed he doesn't really settle as much during the day anymore to sleep - he wanders around a lot and meows loudly whenever he walks into a room and will often just sit and stare at us and meow loudly. He is fed regularly at set times, and I don't think it is because he is hungry. He's not an overly affectionate cat, he doesn't like to be held and doesn't sit on laps but enjoys head scratches.
In terms of the change from his old house to here - he went from a family of 6 - 2 parents, a grandparent, and 3 daughters under the age of 15, in a large house to our house - which is just my partner and I. We live in a large ground floor flat.He has lost the multi floor home he had before but there is plenty of space here for a single cat (we have 4 large rooms and a hallway that he has access to (with the exception of the living room at night as he injured himself trying to jump unsuccessfully onto a large cabinet while we were asleep). We have had this injury looked at by a vet who said there were no serious issues - we had some anti inflammatory to give him and there have been no limps etc since. He's had health checks and is a healthy cat with no problems.
I feel that we may have a more anxious cat that we were led to believe he was - and that the behaviour problems might have been there from a much younger age but we have no way of confirming this - the previous owners won't talk to us about it. We are at a bit of a loss as to what we can do. We want whats best for our buddy, and hate the thought that something we are doing is causing this anxiety and bad behaviour, but we are finding it really difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing it and how we can fix it.
Any thoughts / advice as to what we could do would be massively appreciated.
Also meant to add - we have Feliway diffusers on in the flat and also spray with feliway areas of inappropriate urination and scratching. we also clean spots up as soon as we notice them with enzyme cleaner.
I was hoping to get some advice regarding the cat my partner and I adopted a few months ago - will try and give as much background as possible. He's a 1.5yr old Scottish Straight. We adopted him from a family who claimed that they got him for their children as a kitten during the first lockdown but were having to adopt him due to their youngest daughter developing an allergy. We made sure before adoption to ask all of the questions - he was fully litter trained, didn't scratch regularly, great temperment. They said he didn't really like to play much and was quite a "lazy" cat, who was used to spending some time alone and actively spent afternoons away from people to sleep. I have had a cat in the past and so not unfamiliar with looking after them but also wouldn't claim to be hugely experienced. Archie wasn't neutered at the time we adopted him - previous owners stated that he had the appointment booked but they ended up not being able to do it on the day due to him being too stressed (we have since found out this didn't happen since we pulled his previous vet records), and have since had him neutered at around 14 months old with no ill effects.
Since we have adopted him we have noticed the following issues;
- He will urinate outside of his litter box. There doesn't seem to be any pattern to this - it has happened in all rooms of our flat, but mostly in the hallway where his litter tray is located. He has 2 trays, which are huge and we have maintained the litter he has had since he was a kitten. He uses the tray around 50% of the time and alway for number 2. But the inappropriate urination happens at all times of the day, no fixed places, but usually around the edges of rooms, it happens when we aren't in his vicinity and also has happened while we've been in the same room as him. We scoop both trays every day and clean them properly once a week / fortnight depending on how much they're used.
- Scratching - We had trouble with scratch posts from the start - he didn't have any in his old home and his previous owners have said that he just wouldn't use them. We've tried scratching mats flat on the floor and also a vertical scratching post. He also now has a cat tree which he loves and there are scratch posts on this also. He does use the posts (never the mat) but again it isn't consistent and he much prefers to scratch on the living room and hallway rugs. We have tried to encourage him with treats and catnip around the posts, and we try to ignore the bad behaviour but do have to stop him scratching the rugs as they are becoming destroyed. I'm worried that he's associating this behaviour with getting attention which is why he is doing it.
- Playtime - Again - we were told he wasn't a playful cat but we have since found this not to be the case and he is an incredibly playful cat with a hunter mindset - he loves to chase the fishing rod toy around and will do so for hours and hours. We try and provide as much stimulation time as possible and he gets minimum a couple of hours a day which isn't a bad thing but just another change we've noticed in him.
- He's in the last 3 or 4 weeks become a lot more chatty than previously - again not a bad thing but we've noticed he doesn't really settle as much during the day anymore to sleep - he wanders around a lot and meows loudly whenever he walks into a room and will often just sit and stare at us and meow loudly. He is fed regularly at set times, and I don't think it is because he is hungry. He's not an overly affectionate cat, he doesn't like to be held and doesn't sit on laps but enjoys head scratches.
In terms of the change from his old house to here - he went from a family of 6 - 2 parents, a grandparent, and 3 daughters under the age of 15, in a large house to our house - which is just my partner and I. We live in a large ground floor flat.He has lost the multi floor home he had before but there is plenty of space here for a single cat (we have 4 large rooms and a hallway that he has access to (with the exception of the living room at night as he injured himself trying to jump unsuccessfully onto a large cabinet while we were asleep). We have had this injury looked at by a vet who said there were no serious issues - we had some anti inflammatory to give him and there have been no limps etc since. He's had health checks and is a healthy cat with no problems.
I feel that we may have a more anxious cat that we were led to believe he was - and that the behaviour problems might have been there from a much younger age but we have no way of confirming this - the previous owners won't talk to us about it. We are at a bit of a loss as to what we can do. We want whats best for our buddy, and hate the thought that something we are doing is causing this anxiety and bad behaviour, but we are finding it really difficult to pinpoint exactly what is causing it and how we can fix it.
Any thoughts / advice as to what we could do would be massively appreciated.
Also meant to add - we have Feliway diffusers on in the flat and also spray with feliway areas of inappropriate urination and scratching. we also clean spots up as soon as we notice them with enzyme cleaner.
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