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- Jan 26, 2020
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So, this is thread is going to be kind of long, but I want to give the full backstory to hopefully get a better answer to my questions. Almost 3 years ago now, one of our cats passed away and we adopted our male cat, Noel, from our local humane society. When we first got him, he was recovering from an upper respiratory infection and had two ear infections we were treating him for. Due to his illnesses, he had to be quarantined from our older cat, Mikayla, until he recovered.
Due to being quarantined in either mine or my mom’s room, he developed separation anxiety from my mom and I. Whenever we left to go to work or school, he would pee on our beds. Now, he wasn’t spraying our beds, he was squatting and peeing (which I was told was easier to stop). Eventually, he recovered, and we started letting him roam the house when we were gone but the peeing continued. We put him on anti-anxiety meds, which helped somewhat, but my mom and I took it upon ourselves to train him that he wasn’t allowed in our rooms if he peed outside of the litter box. It took about a year, but eventually he learned and no longer pees on either of our beds or anything else in our rooms.
Recently (as in the last year or so), he has been peeing on my sister’s bed. Our other cat spends most of her time in my sister’s room, so at first we assumed it was just him marking his territory and that’s definitely what it was, for awhile. At first, he was peeing on anything that our other cat laid on, not just stuff in my sister’s room. He was peeing on Mikayla’s basket that she sleeps in and all of her blankets all over the house. However, in the last six months, he has started spraying on my sister’s bed and any of her clothing that she leaves lying around. Basically, if it has my sister’s scent on it, he’ll spray it.
My sister’s relationship with Noel is different than mine or my mom’s. My sister, Erika, doesn’t play with her or give him attention or love the way that my mom and I do. It’s very clear to anyone who comes over, just by the way she talks about the cats, that she clearly favors and loves Mikayla more. She’s constantly yelling at Noel and calling him names. We’ve tried telling my sister that unless she catches him in the act of spraying on her bed, that she can’t punish him because if it’s like 2 hours or so after he’s done it, he doesn’t know why he’s being punished. However, that doesn’t stop her from screaming at him and spending days afterwards ignoring him or calling him names (she’ll call him a*****e or brat or little d**k constantly).
Now, I have a few questions about his behavior. Does he feel the animosity that my sister has for him? Could that be why he’s spraying her bed and stuff? Is it because he’s trying to spray his scent over her’s or is this his way of saying eff you to her because of the way she treats him?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. We’ve tried telling my sister to try the method we did to get him to stop peeing on her bed, but she refuses. What I’m really looking for is any advice on making Noel feel more comfortable around my sister and making sure he’s okay.
Due to being quarantined in either mine or my mom’s room, he developed separation anxiety from my mom and I. Whenever we left to go to work or school, he would pee on our beds. Now, he wasn’t spraying our beds, he was squatting and peeing (which I was told was easier to stop). Eventually, he recovered, and we started letting him roam the house when we were gone but the peeing continued. We put him on anti-anxiety meds, which helped somewhat, but my mom and I took it upon ourselves to train him that he wasn’t allowed in our rooms if he peed outside of the litter box. It took about a year, but eventually he learned and no longer pees on either of our beds or anything else in our rooms.
Recently (as in the last year or so), he has been peeing on my sister’s bed. Our other cat spends most of her time in my sister’s room, so at first we assumed it was just him marking his territory and that’s definitely what it was, for awhile. At first, he was peeing on anything that our other cat laid on, not just stuff in my sister’s room. He was peeing on Mikayla’s basket that she sleeps in and all of her blankets all over the house. However, in the last six months, he has started spraying on my sister’s bed and any of her clothing that she leaves lying around. Basically, if it has my sister’s scent on it, he’ll spray it.
My sister’s relationship with Noel is different than mine or my mom’s. My sister, Erika, doesn’t play with her or give him attention or love the way that my mom and I do. It’s very clear to anyone who comes over, just by the way she talks about the cats, that she clearly favors and loves Mikayla more. She’s constantly yelling at Noel and calling him names. We’ve tried telling my sister that unless she catches him in the act of spraying on her bed, that she can’t punish him because if it’s like 2 hours or so after he’s done it, he doesn’t know why he’s being punished. However, that doesn’t stop her from screaming at him and spending days afterwards ignoring him or calling him names (she’ll call him a*****e or brat or little d**k constantly).
Now, I have a few questions about his behavior. Does he feel the animosity that my sister has for him? Could that be why he’s spraying her bed and stuff? Is it because he’s trying to spray his scent over her’s or is this his way of saying eff you to her because of the way she treats him?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. We’ve tried telling my sister to try the method we did to get him to stop peeing on her bed, but she refuses. What I’m really looking for is any advice on making Noel feel more comfortable around my sister and making sure he’s okay.