"strange" Kitty Behavior

[shiaena]

Hello everyone!

My mom was curious about some of Espa's behaviors, and posted it on some other response only to get a very judgey negative response. However, whenever I post here, I notice that the responses are more supportive and helpful. I'm a grateful first-time kitty owner to have found this site!

Now! There are some distinct behaviors that Espa presents that we're curious about:

One, she's picky about her litter. When she was younger and we had her brother, he would poop in the litterbox without covering it and she would make a scene about covering it up. Which she does even today with her own poop. If theres just one poop in the litterbox, she will freak out and meow at us, walking back and forth from the box to us and back until its clean. While we clean it, she will watch us, and once she knows it was ALL picked up, she'll happily jump in to use it (if she needs to), or just trot away with her tail in the air.

Reason I'm mentioning this is because of this behavior, we have to clean the box one to two times a day, while many say that you should ONLY clean the box once or twice a WEEK. When my mother mentioned this on the other site, she got a major backlash about animal abuse and how Espa wouldnt survive outside.

But this transitions to another behavior. They mentioned Espa going outside as her forcefully escaping outside, perhaps to our negligence of having open doors or something. However, we noticed that by just us carrying her and heading close to an open door, or into the garage while its open, she will puff right up, tail between legs, start yowling and digging her claws in our skin. And she starts aiming to jump TOWARD the inside of the house. And it could be a nice, quiet day out! We're starting to believe she has some fear of the outdoors! She loves windows, she can tolerate carriers, but being outdoors completely is too much for her.

Espa, to me, seems like a high maitenance cat, but I love it. Shes clean, shes loving, and shes not dying to go out and kill birds or something, which makes my worry of mom or dad going out and her escaping much much less. But what do you guys think?

 

[foxden]

shiaena
Espa sounds like a high-maintenance normal cat to me.
My Robin is the first cat I've ever had to participate in litter box scooping. She's not as demanding as Espa, but there are 4 large boxes and 2 cats. As soon as she hears me cleaning the boxes, she comes down to the basement to supervise and inspect my work. I usually get to scoop at least one box twice while I'm in the process. I try to clean daily, but I also know that cleaning every other day works well enough for my cats. Some members here scoop 2 or 3 times per day, and would do more if it encouraged their cats to use the litter box.

Espa sounds content to be an indoor kitty. I would not try carrying her outside without a collar or harness, just because she could get away from you.
Here in the US, many cat parents and shelters (and I) prefer to keep cats indoors. In other countries, owners typically have indoor/outdoor kitties. In the UK, I believe some shelters will not rehome a cat to an owner without a garden for outside space.

 

[Sarthur2]

My cats prefer clean litter boxes also, so I clean them every day! They also like to supervise the cleaning, as well as play inside the lids that I remove and set aside while cleaning.

Your cat sounds like she gets very afraid that you are taking her somewhere while carrying her past an open door. I find that cats do not like surprises, and when unaccustomed to the world beyond the safe confines of the house, they can get very nervous. I agree that avoiding such situations will probably keep your cat calmer!

 

[Cerraigh]

I clean up the litter boxes two times a day. I have three cats. I've never heard anyone say that you should only clean once or twice a week. It seems to me that this could lead to behavioral problems. Cats are by nature pretty diligent about keeping clean.

 

[Kieka]

Link is the same way about his litter box. He was on medical relate house arrest for a few months and we had to have two large boxes set up for one cats use. Each box had to be kept clean at all times or he would tell us off. He frequently went from one to the other before picking one for pee and the other to poop then would tell us he was done for cleaning. When he was in a crate it was even higher demands (yes, higher) of having to change the towel lining the crate and clean the box after each use. Although he was horrible about burying anything; even though he is obsessive about burying outside. I bought little dog poop bags and kept them right next to the box for rapid clean up. I couldn't even imagine trying to get Link to accept once a day let alone once a week cleaning.

The outside sounds kind of like Rocket when she was startled by one of the doors. She absolutely refused to go out that door for a solid week. I think the only reason she started going out it again was because she followed her brother through it after watching a few times to make sure it was safe. Your girl sounds a lot like Rocket in that sense. I would go out on a limb and guess she also like routine and everything in its place? If so, you just have a cat who needs structure and stability in life and changes upset her. Something probably startled her outside or near that door and she just doesn't want a repeat experience.

In short Espa sounds like a typical cat to me. But maybe my cats are just as odd. I am okay with that.

 

[shiaena]

Thank you everybody for your responses! I showed this to my mom and she feels 10x more relaxed that we're doing things okay. Espa is forever am indoor cat, especially since we suspect she might have some sort of asthma. We appreciate all the feedback, its so nice to have a place with people who genuinely care for their cats and other kitties!