Marking Misbehavior, Please Help

[koda]

Hello all, first time poster here. I grew up with dogs, but my girlfriend recently adopted two male kittens and I'm struggling to understand them.

One behavior in particular is really bothering me. At night, after my girlfriend and I have fallen asleep, the orange tabby will mark the comforter on the bed with diarrhea (I know it's him because he did it once BEFORE we fell asleep). He does not do this if my girlfriend naps alone during the day. He does not do this when we leave him alone in the room during the day. It is only at night when both of us are in the bed.

His stools in the litter box are solid, and he is completely litter trained. At first we thought he wasn't litter trained and was having trouble adjusting to a new diet, but we put him back on his old food (Purina One) and have observed him using the litter pan numerous times each day. He is about nine weeks old.

So my questions are as follows:

-Am I right in thinking that this behavior is marking?
-My girlfriend theorizes that he has a vendetta against me. Could he be marking BECAUSE of me?
-What steps can I take to discourage and eliminate this behavior? Do cats respond to conditioning like dogs do? Can I rub his nose in it?

I really appreciate anyone's help in this matter. I can't take another night of being crapped on in my sleep - I'll simply go ballistic. I look forward to hearing from you!

 

[pat traufield]

Because it is diarrhea you should take this kitty to the vet or at least if it happens again gather up as much stool as possible in a baggie and take it to the vet. (Put the baggie over you hand - grab up the material and pull the baggie off without touching the contents).

I don't think it is marking - males rarely mark with feces.
Vendetta - humans have expressions like "piss off" or "

on you" that show how we feel about pee and poop. It is hard for us to believe that animals mark that which they love.
Steps - Take the cat or loose fecal sample to the vet. Clean bedding with enzymes and use cold water. Cats does respond to conditioning - but nose rubbing is not recommended for dogs for hosuetraining. You could get hurt trying to rub a cats nose in it.

To sleep better - until you can get a handle on this - confine the cat to the room where the litter box is at night.

 

[white cat lover]

At only 9 weeks only - the behavior may simply be due to the fact that he cannot get to the litterbox fast enough when he has to go potty. He is still in the "housetraining" stage. How far away is the litterbox from the bed?

 

[koda]

The litter box is about six feet from the bed. He makes it to the litter box just fine during the day. And the feces he put on the comforter last night was, upon further investigation, NOT diarrhea, but a normal-consistency poo. If diarrhea shows up again we will most certainly bring it up with the vet.

Ten minutes ago my girlfriend caught the other (not orange) cat trying to pee on her papasan chair. He is the one we got first, and we now suspect that he is the blanket-pooper. Could he be signifying that he is unhappy with the fact that we adopted a second kitten? They seem to like one another and play together all day long. What if we set up a second litter pan?

 

[darlili]

They're so little and might even forget how far the pan is when they get interested in something else. I'd get a few more small kitten pans, and also look into Kitten Attract litter. Clean everything with an enzyme cleaner as well. BTW, how often are you scooping the pans - twice a day is good. As the cats grow up, the usual rule of thumb is one pan per cat, plus one - some kitties are very particular about using only a clean pan, or using one pan for pee and the other for poo.

If accidents continue, definitely get into the vet - 99% of the time, box accidents are medical/physical in nature, not behavioral. If a cat associates the pan with any sort of painful elimination, well, it becomes the pan's fault and they'll avoid it. That's when you get to see if another

Definitely don't do the rubbing nose in it - cats do better with positive reinforcement. If you think the boys don't 'like' you, perhaps try to be the one that feeds them on a daily basis, and always speak gently to them. Cats tend to have very sensitive hearing, and respond better to gentle voices - some cats are totally scared of loud male voices or heavy walking.

As small as these guys are, try keeping them in one room with their litter boxes and food and water (keep the food and water distant from the litter box - cats do not like to eat where they eliminate) while you're sleeping. I know it's tough - my boy had some elimination issues, since traced to some crystal issues - he was defnitely trying to tell me he wasn't feeling well, not just messing with my carpet.

Good luck and believe me, I know it's stressful - but try to be patient and positive - those kittens will pick up on the human emotions of stress and anger, just as much as they feel the love and patience you guys have with them.

 

[clucas976]

When I rescued my Kitty Maybelle, she showed that she has a similar issue.

When she gets nervous, or scared, she poops. Shes pooped on our bed and in our clothes a total of 4 times, it was a similar set up, her litter box was in the same room, cleaned constantly (nothing like the smell of poo and amonia in the bed room) and her poop is god aweful in stench, always has been, always will be, so it wasn't due to dirty litter.

Ultimately, we moved her out of the bedroom. I had cleaned the mattress with enzyme cleaner, Natures Miracle, and flipped it, and she eventually just continuted to chose the mattress. SO, we moved her.

Low and behold, she gets nervous one day, refuses to go onto the floor to her litter box, and poops in the chair next to me in her new room. she's also expressed her anal glands twice on it, and pooped on it about three total times.

Ulitmately, what worked for us, was when I ordered the Feliway and started letting her outside. (I'm not saying outdoors is the answer, she's 9yrs old and has been indoor/outdoor her whole life)

My thought here is you may have a nervous kitty, Maybelle only did it when we weren't there, or the other cat got into the room. If we were sleeping she'd dig like crazy as if she was going to poop on us, it'd wake me up and I could direct her to the litter box.

She doesn't like low places, it makes her vulnerable (she came from a home where the other 5 cats were constantly attacking her) I'm not saying you have the exact same issue, but, Get some Natures Miracle, get some of the kitten attract that was suggested, and keep them in a room where if they do potty outside the box at night, it won't hurt anything. PLEASE do not ever rub any animals nose in their own feces, that kind of treatment re-enforces one thing, that you're not trustworthy, it can also lead to animals eating their own poo for fear of punishment. I suggest getting a feliway too, at least one, putting it in the room where they're going to be during night time hours and see if it helps, then maybe investing in a couple more around the house. My problem seemed to stop after I brought home the Feliway (I let her outside prior to its arrival) They're like $18 on amazon.com and one refil lasts a month.

 

[hissy]

This kitten is still new to the world, and if he was with a queen recently, he knows he can poop wherever he wants and she would clean it up. With kittens it is best to confine them in a small room at first and be sure that you have more than two litter pans. I use the foil pans you get at the grocery store, the kind you would roast a turkey in- they come grouped together usually four for a couple of bucks. Use plain clay litter and be sure you have at least 2" of litter in each pan. I use all four and then some until the kitten knows where to relieve himself.

You are a dog person as you noted and cats are not dogs. An old outdated training method for puppies was to rub their nose in the waste. Not acceptable for either puppies OR kittens. The latter will probably scratch you and certainly stop trusting you. Just clean up the waste and put it in one of the litter pans. The kitten will catch on.

Cats don't mark with solid waste ever. They mark with pee and they mark with the scent glands in their paws and on the sides of their face. Your one kitten is Alpha (my guess) marking his favorite spot where he sleeps. He is telling the newcomer to back off, this is his. If the other kitten sleeps there, he is marking it to cover her scent and get the house back to smelling normal like him. If you let your dogs on the furniture, he is covering that scent as well. Cats act by instinct alone and no other reason. They don't hold grudges, they don't get jealous, they just exist in our world and we tend to want them to respond as we intend them to.

If you see him peeing in small amounts, and squatting and peeing and moving off and peeing, then he is stressed out and is peeing because the kidneys are closely related to stress and illness in cats. Any change in the normal routine can upset the house for him and he will respond and if not listened to, he will become sicker. But honestly, they are too young for these types of problems, My guess is they both are alpha and they are drawing the lines in the sand.

If you don't want to deal with the marking behavior, then don't be bringing anymore cats home. The more you add, the more stress you put on the cats and then problems really begin to happen.

Hopefully, both kittens are neutered- if not get them fixed as soon as the vet allows.

 

[Willowy]

A lot of people crate puppies as a method of housetraining, but I think that confinement is woefully underutilized with kittens. I prefer to keep kittens confined when unattended until they have their litter habits firmly established. Usually about 4 months of age, although it depends on the kitten. I keep my kittens in the spare bathroom. A large dog crate will work as well. But really, to give baby kittens full run of the house when nobody is there to keep an eye on them is just asking for trouble.