My cat pees now when I try to get her in her carrier

[renren]

A long story short, my cat is a rescue and I got her in August. She's lovely and loving, and generally a really chill cat who is quite needy (follows me from room to room, sleeps with me every night). My boyfriend works a rotation where he's away for 3 weeks and back for 1 week so she's taking time to warm up to him, but that's to be expected but I worry that the inconsistency of his stays confuse her.

Anyway...I had to leave town very suddenly for a funeral. I had initially planned to get my friend to take care of her. But upon wrapping her up in a towel and trying to put her in her kennel, she started peeing all over the place. I let her go and she immediately hid under the bed, and my friend arrived. We let her be for a while and she came back out, was sniffing the carrier and being normal. We tried once more to get her in the carrier, and same result, peeing all over the place and she ran under the bed, but this time wouldn't come out. In the end, I didn't want to continually stress her out by forcing her in a carrier and then bringing her to a new home for a few days. So now my landlords are feeding her twice a day and my friend is stopping by once a day to keep her company for a little while.

I don't know the state of my apartment now that I had to leave town suddenly and I worry that a) she's peeing in my absence out of fear/retaliation b) that she will now start peeing out of her litterbox out of fear/retaliation and c) that she'll now be scared of me when I return because I illicited that response in her TWICE in one night.

I feel really terrible for terrifying her. She never had that response before getting her in the kennel...she would fight it like any cat. The last time I put her in the carrier I was taking her to the SPCA to get spayed and I took her on a busy bus and realized after I got off the bus that she had peed in the kennel. Bringing her home was fine as she was drugged up so she didn't pee. But now I worry that she associates the kennel with a busy bus and with surgery which is why she pees now trying to get her in. What can I do to prevent this in the future because I don't want to make her terrified of me and I don't want her to pee when I try to put her in her kennel, but I'll have to take her to the vet still sometimes!!

 

[mservant]

Hi renren.  A lot of cats are very frighted of carriers even when they haven't had much experience of them, I guess it is just how we would be if some big creature picked us up and we saw we were about to be put in a little cage.  Most cats are intelligent and will remember and make associations between events and things that happen to them.  Sounds like your cat remembers her carrier was linked to some scary and not nice things like a busy, noisy journey and her surgery.  Also, many cats will pee or poop in their carriers so your cat is not doing anything that many of us here haven't already had to work around.  The good thing here is cats can learn and re-associate things so in the same way as she has learned the carrier is bad, she can also learn the carrier is good. Patience and introducing rewards is needed to have a chance at pulling this off.  Working on the same principles, if she has decided you were a bit scary that day and has been anxious at being left ,  she may react differently to you when you get home - but all cats will react in different ways when you leave them for a bit and come back whether they have had an experience like this or not.  It is a really good thing you were able to find someone to take care of her and not put her (and you) through more trauma.  As she is being fed, and your friend is going in and ensuring she has company there is a much better chance that she will feel relaxed and settle with you quickly - if not instantly look for reassurance and to make sure her parent is scented and made hers as quickly as possible.  In fact, because she got to stay at home rather than go to a strange place she will probably be much happier with you!  

For the carrier:

Because it can be very frightening for cats being put in a carrier, just like people who get frightened they want to go to the toilet, it is a very basic fight or flight response.  Then add to that your cat being stuck in the space and not being able to get out to go to a safe, private spot like her usual litter tray.  Many cat advice sites will say put a puppy training pad in the bottom of your cat carrier so pee can be absorbed.  A puppy trainer pad works great, and take a spare for the return journey.  If you have a big and easy, full top opening carrier like the one I have you can go a stage further for long journeys and put in a little tray of litter, esp if you have a cat that gets panicked even more when they get dirty like my boy does.   Your cat has to be a bit calmer to get in to the carrier for you to get to that stage though. 

Have you tried leaving the carrier out in your cat's normal space so she can check it out, give it her own scent, choose to go in or out without getting trapped or taken anywhere scary and new?  You can put one of her favourite blankets or covers in there so it is more familiar for her and leave it out in her space for a bit. Try introducing food or something she really likes for her there, maybe rewarding her with a biscuit if she steps in to have a little look and a sniff around, and build that up. It's basic training to develop positive association with the carrier. 

If she is very afraid, or it is a long, distressing trip it is worth investing in the Feliway spray:  you can spray this on a cover you are going to use in the carrier about 20 minutes before you put her in, and it will reassure her.  She may still pee and soil in the carrier but she should be less distressed than she would have been without it.

And basic as it might seem, it's always best to have a carrier that has a really big opening that you can ease 4 extended legs in to and then hold her down gently, open and close easily with just one hand while still having a hand on her so reducing the risk of her leaping out and getting back under the bed. 

It is really awful to see your cat this distressed, here's hoping you manage to calm her down a little in terms of her carrier being around in her space and maybe getting some rewards associated with it before you need to try it with her again.

I hope she is very happy to see you when you get back and doesn't make you suffer for too long for leaving her with your friend and landlord.  Although this was not your planned arrangement it is probably the best one for her in many ways. Cats like their own space.

 

[catwoman707]

I would also like to add, when a cat is put into a carrier they are releasing the smells of their fear. They are reminded of this by the smell inside.

It helps a bit to spray your carrier down inside with a household cleaner and rinse well, and dry.

It will remove the adrenalin smell they left from the last time.

I have to do this to traps I use to tnr cats, otherwise they can still smell the fera of the last cat trapped and are much harder to coax inside

 

[renren]

Wow... thank you so much for the informative response. I'm a still a pretty new cat parent so I'm trying my best. I love my kitty, and I just hate that I made her so scared....twice. I have read about the same thing for kennel training your dog, so I will do the same when I get back home by leaving the carrier out. She was sniffing around it after the first time I put her in there, and I had put 2 of my pillow cases in there so that it has my smell in it. She went in to get some treats that I put in there but then immediately scurried out when I tried to close the door on her. Oops

I wish I could just explain to her and she would understand instead of scaring the wits out of her. 

She is pretty territorial and hisses at my boyfriend a lot when he's over for the week. It's usually just her and I and I work from home a lot, so I think she's just used to my company. I worry about her even with my landlords and my friends and I worry about her feeling abandoned, since she was abandoned once already before by whoever owned her previously! 

I'll do the cleaning of the carrier and leave it out like you two suggested. Thanks so much! I'm glad for the internet for giving me the ability to connect with much more experienced cat parents!

 

[chasetheblue]

I leave my carrier out 24/7 with the door propped open, and I hide treats inside it for them to find sometimes. They don't go in it much but they play on top of it all the time. 

Mum's cats are hard to load, and they don't have access to the carrier unless it's vet time, so I definitely feel that leaving it out is beneficial to them. 

I'm sure that with a lot of patience, time, and reassurance, you will be able to help her be less afraid of the carrier

 

[sarah ann]

My cats get fed in their cage every day. No one has any issues with it.  I would start by feeding her next to it, and eventually moving the food closer and closer until she goes in the cage to eat.

I would tie the cage door open so it doesn't "trap" her.

 

[nbrazil]

Something to add, the concept of "retaliation" is not something a cat can comprehend or do. Aberrant behaviors can usually put into one of three categories: Medical problem, fear and/or (self) comforting. It is really that simple from the cat's point of view... we attribute all kinds of complex emotions to their behavior which are off the mark because they are, well, complex. Cats have a wide range of emotional response in regards to intensity (something I've only recently learned.... I'm bowled over by the unconditional love they can give when they bond and feel safe, I thought they were only in it for the food, LOL.), but not in regards to motivation.

 

[cprcheetah]

I leave a couple of carriers out all the time for my cats, they like to sleep in them.  I leave blankets in them for them.  I have my male who no matter what pees, poops and vomits if he is in the carrier in the car for more than about 10 minutes.  The rest of my kitties all ride and get into the carriers with ease.

 

[renren]

Yeah I guess retaliation isn't the right word to use. I heard back from my friends who are dropping by to visit her and she's doing fine, purring, wanting to be pet, etc. My landlords, who are feeding her, said that she's her usual cranky self though. Which is talking about her territorialiness.....she hisses a lot at new people or when she feels they are in their territory. She particularly hisses a lot at men, so I think maybe her history has some sort of abuse with men. The SPCA didn't really give me much information about where she came from other than that she was abandoned by her previous owner.

I'll start leaving the carrier out and hopefully with time and patience she'll build a better relationship with it. Hopefully the next time I cut her nails, she won't pee all over me! I usually wrap her up in a towel when I cut her nails since she likes to try to twist and get away from me when I do so. 

 

[mservant]

I'm glad you're getting some positive feedback from your friend, and it sounds like your girl is coping with the attention she is being given.  I'll have my fingers crossed she is all pleased to see you when you go through the door and doesn't decide to make you suffer with a little huffy spell.  I think females are often worse for that than males! 

Thinking about claw clipping, have you had a look at the cat care section and stuff about clipping claws on there?

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-best-take-care-of-cat-claws

I've always got on better with a low hold, gentle approach than the wrapping up and holding: it's like the being held and controlled is a big bit of what they don't like.  Both my previous girls hated being held but I could clip their claws no problem if they were next to me on the bed or sofa and I was at the right angle to reach round them to get to both sides. As long as you get them used to you touching and holding their paws first you may find a low hold technique is way less stressful for both you and your cat.  Same principle can work for giving medication.  You can often get at least one or two claws at a time done if they are sitting next to you and you can pick up their paw and hold it for a few moments.  Particularly for the front ones.  No harm in clipping claws in stages over an evening or a few days, you just have to remember which ones you've already done.

 

[renren]

An update: I just got home about an hour ago and my kitty (Frankie) was so happy to see me. Usually the first thing I do when I get home is pick her up and cuddle her a bit while she purrs. I was anticipating her giving me the cold shoulder, but she was so happy to see me. I worry I might have caused her a bit of anxiety as I went to do laundry in the other room and she started yowling for me — she's doing random meows now as well every now and then. She's usually a pretty quiet cat. At one point, I think she puked but I'm not sure...it was a pile of brown stuff that was all dried up but didn't smell. It could be dirt as my landlord has a tendency to walk around with shoes on so I'm not entirely sure. Aw....it made me so sad to leave little Frankie by herself for a week. I hope I never have to do it again!

 

[mservant]

Yep, that sounds like a dried up fur ball, well aquainted with those!  Don't worry, that could have happened at any time.  It sounds like she is very happy to see you, and wants to keep her eye on you for a bit and make up for some missed cuddles.  I don't think she sounds overly anxious and traumatized, your friend and landlord kept her safe and now she just wants to know her human parent still loves her.  If you go out and come back in quite quickly a couple of times, half an hour or an hour, that will help more than if you go out for a whole day.

Great she hasn't made you suffer even more, she must know you feel bad enough already.