Kitty decided to pee... inside my work bag.

[lilin]

Wondering if anyone can offer me insight to this?

So I have a generally lovely kitty named Pia. She's a 1 1/2 year old DSH, spayed, and has perfect litter box habits. I adopted her a couple months ago.

Today was perfectly ordinary. Wake up, food, pets, hanging out with me at my desk, I went to work, I came home, pets, and before I had a chance to do food, she decided she would really like to investigate the bag I take to work.

I had nothing potentially dangerous in there, so I let her at it. I'm a bit lax with kitties, what can I say.

And once she was done sticking her head in it and playing cat explorer... she decided to pee in it. *sigh* Lovely...

Why?

What did I do wrong?

Is it an issue of her not liking that I leave? She's been abandoned by humans more than once. I could understand that. But I came home at the regular time. What would she be unusually mad about? She knows my routine by now.

Does she need to let the world know, when I'm out and about, that this human and her bag are "hers"?

Did she just feel like peeing in it?

Weirdly enough, her behavior otherwise is perfectly normal. She wants pets. She wants to play. Everything's normal.

What the...?

ETA: I accidentally got some non-clumping clay litter. Maybe she doesn't like that? But I've been using it up for the past week or two, so why wouldn't she express her disapproval sooner... and why my bag?

 

[chloespriestess]

Inappropriate elimination can signal health issues, but knowing the specifics, I don't think that's the reason.

You probably take the same bag to work everyday, I'm assuming. It has your scent plus your work place scent. Anything in the bag also picks up scents from all over. (A pen case set upon a desk at work, etc.) You probably set your bag on all types of surfaces, so the bag picks up more scents from food scents on café table to disinfectant smell from the bench in the locker room. If you take public transit, the bag picks up thousands of scents from all kinds of things.

The smorgasbord of all these scents is fascinating to your cat. You might even see her doing the tell-tale open mouth sniff, using her Jacobson's Organ to detect pheromones. (Try sniffing at the bag yourself. "What would you call this smell??") She now thinks, "All these scents, but no scent of mine! I must pee on it in order to make it smell like me quickly!"

Things come into the house smelling unfamiliar all the time (Groceries in a bag, for example), but things like your works bag has you as the base note, so it is something special to her.

There are other objects that cats seem to like peeing on, such as shoes (leather shoes and gym shoes are favorite), work clothes, cell phones, door mats, suitcases etc. People tend to link "Peeing" to "insult" and think, "My cat doesn't want me to leave, that's why she peed on my suitcase" or "She is upset because I'm ignoring her, and that's why she peed on my cell phone"; that would be true if cats are human, but well, cats are cats. They are not that complex. The theory of "peeing as a punishment" is also nonsense.

The only way you can make sure that she doesn't do this is to keep your bag off limits to her. Hanging it on a hook works best.

Good-luck!

 

[catspaw66]

Nice explanation, Chloepriestess. I never thought out completely about how many smells we pick up on a trip away from the kitties.

 

[lilin]

Thanks, Chloe! I hadn't thought about it from that angle.

I know cats don't "pee in spite" but I thought perhaps it made her territorially insecure or nervous, which is something she's struggled with after being move about so many times. But like I said, she seemed perfectly happy.

Maybe that's it. A kitty version of, "Hello, world!"

I will start hanging it up.

I've always grown up with cats, but I've never had a cat who is... such a cat, for want for a better. She isn't as people-socialized as my elder kitty, who communicated in very human terms a lot of the time. She's a lovely, wise creature (underneath her teenage antics), but I'm still working on understanding her on her terms. So many of the things that make her comfortable are things that never even occurred to me with such a "human-like" cat.

 

[chloespriestess]

It could well be that she did indeed, felt insecure temporarily; we can only guess how our cats are feeling at that very moment. Is it, "There! Now Mom's bag has all the scents. Perfect, like me!" or is it, "I better mark this thing, just in case these animals are thinking about coming in here and take Mom, my food and my bed"? Oh, don't we love to know! If she starts to pee everywhere though, (when there is no health issue in sight) it is likely that she is insecure about her territory. (Goodness, I hope not.)

If your kitty is new in your household, you might want to give Feliway diffuser a try; it helps calm her nerves. It does seem to work for most cats.

You are right, cats are all very different. Some are extrovert, a bell of the ball, the star; others are shy and reserved, preferred to sit quietly with one favorite person (that's you) to share popcorn and a movie. 

Of course, we all know the best medicine for an insecure kitty is one-on-one time when nothing else exists...just you two... so extra kind words ("Don't worry; you won't have to go to a different home ever again" etc.) during your nightly bedding-down will help to reassure her.

 

[lilin]

I really hope she isn't insecure. It's just me and her, and I've gone to pains to make sure she isn't removed from my apartment for any reason, including getting a vet who does home visits.

Pia was abandoned in a vacated home, found, adopted, and then sent back to the shelter again (apparently she wasn't entertaining enough for the children they couldn't bother to teach manners to). She couldn't handle the shelter environment, so she was kept in a foster home, and transported back and forth for every potential adopter. There were many over the 3 months she was in the shelter -- adopting out traumatized adult cats is tough. So I have made an effort to keep her here at all times, at least for the first few months.

She was recommended for an "only pet, no kids" home. She does ok with cats, but she feels somewhat intimidated -- she's not an alpha. She's terrified of dogs and kids. And she is, indeed, my only pet, and I'm childfree. So this should be her ideal environment.

I do try to reassure her constantly that she's a wonderful kitty (and she is!) and that she isn't going anywhere. She will live out the rest of her life with me, barring some kind of freak accident that renders me incapable or dead. And I do have "godparents" for her, should that happen.

I love her dearly, and I hope that translates.

She has come out of her shell really well over the last couple months. She's such a loving, wonderful cat.

I'm hoping it's more of a "hello, world" than a "don't take my mom!" sort of thing. So far, she hasn't repeated it. So we'll see. But I want her to feel secure here.

 

[catspaw66]

Very nice, heartfelt post. Since she is an only cat, it seems to be correct that the peeing was to integrate her smell into your everyday world.  Just keep up what you have been doing with her, and any insecurities she has will go away. She is very lucky having you as her person.