As your cat matures from kitten to adolescent, once funny behavior may become irritating. Fluffy Sue and Tigger could be relocated if their owner is less accommodating. Understanding is required at this age. Perhaps seeing your cat’s activities from his eyes would help you comprehend.
Spraying
Hormones! Any parent’s nightmare, whether they have cats or children – or both. As a male adolescent feline, he has the desire to mark his territory and alert his rivals to it.
Sashaying up to a vertical surface, raising up his tail, and splashing pee and possibly anal sac secretions. This normally occurs once his urine has grown to the point where it resembles cheetah urine rather than chinchilla Persian urine.
The solution to a spraying Tom, Dick, or Harry is simple: neuter him as soon as possible and he will almost definitely never spray again. Because the older the cat is and the longer he has been spraying, neutering is less likely to alleviate the problem. If he – or, in rare cases, she – continues to spray, drastic measures such as blocking outdoor views, behavior modification, rehoming additional cats, drug therapy, and other veterinary procedures will be required. He does this to avoid having other cats in his realm! If you neuter him before puberty (between the ages of two and six months), you will almost surely avoid spraying.
Estrus
Is your female cat adoringly purring, “Hey sailor, fresh in town?” She has most likely had her first heat if she is between the ages of five and 10 months (estrus). She will yowl, roll about on the floor, and rub all over anything accessible for around 10-14 days. In an attempt to make new pals, she may even urinate about the house.
The answer is straightforward. If Fluffy Sue is urinating outside the litter box, get ear plugs, restrict the cat to a spot that can be easily cleaned, such as the bathroom or kitchen, and make a spay appointment. If you know this is her final heat cycle, she’ll be a little easier to cope with. There’s no reason to subject yourself to kitten agony in the first place. Kittens as young as two months old can be spayed successfully, according to certain shelters and veterinarians.
Scratching
Is that scratch, scratch, scratch going down the side of your new sofa? Why is Fluffy Sue destroying new furniture when the obscenely expensive, color coordinated, carpet-covered scratching post half a room away is unused? One reason is that she is striving to leave her mark by claiming ownership of that piece of furniture. The second, and perhaps more pressing, reason is that she is striving to remove bothersome old nail sheaths so that new nails can develop.
What should a company owner do? To begin, trim the cat’s nails every two to three weeks to keep them sharp. Second, provide a scratching post that is at least three feet tall and has a wide, strong base that will not tip over even if climbed or “attacked” by the cat. Sisal is best, but rope, starched burlap, or natural bark will also suffice. A cat will reject a short or wobbly post in favor of furniture that will not topple over. Draw the covers up over your head to ignore his requests.
Engage the cat in interactive activities surrounding the article to draw the cat’s attention to the material. Put it near your cat’s favorite napping location, where the temptation to scratch is greatest. After a month of scratching the cat write-up rather than the furniture, you can move it to a more handy location by one inch per day.
Declawing will not be the answer to your prayers. Anecdotal information suggests that this surgical amputation may reduce your cat’s confidence to the point that he stops using the litterbox, becomes a biter, or begins hiding in dark, out-of-the-way places to avoid social meetings. Aside from behavioral changes, it is a painful treatment that is a harsh, permanent therapy that should be performed only as a last resort.
Predatory Aggression/Play
Crouching, stalking, pounce, and biting are all options! It wasn’t a mouse, but an ankle! Felines are predators; many kittens have received all of the necessary training to become Mighty Hunters as young as eight weeks old. If your cat was separated from his littermates too young (before the age of 8-10 days) and was not aggressively taught to repress his bite, you could be his next unfortunate victim.
He needs an outlet for his predatory behavior. Direct the predation toward playthings you can make come to life. Reprimand your cat with a loud hiss or a blast of air in his face if he focuses his attention on your body parts. To soften harder core cases, use a spritz of water, compressed canned air, or a loud noise. Praise him for exhibiting any interest in the toy with which you are taunting him. Please, no hitting, as his predatory behavior will swiftly become defensive aggression. Never tempt him by touching your fingers or toes, and while playing, always maintain a toy between you and your cat.
Night Time Behavior
Was your cat keeping you awake the night before? Cats, unlike bats and raccoons, are not nocturnal, but latchkey kittens have been reported to get restless as the sun rises. When hunting, cats pursue, pounce, kill, and consume their prey. Playing interactive games and then feeding your cat could be a highly rewarding predatory ritual for him. For an early-rising child, a 10-minute play session followed by a stylishly late dinner works wonders.
Make sure you’re not unwittingly teaching your cat any bad habits. If you get up to (a) feed him, (b) play with him, (c) cuddle with him, or (d) all of the above after he cries loudly and for a long time, he will be rewarded for his negative behavior and will repeat it. Do not comply with his demands. Possum amusement. Every few weeks, dust the post with catnip to keep it fresh. Non-rewarding conduct will eventually die off.
If you can’t stand it any longer, turn a room like the bathroom into a play area/bedroom for your cat. There should be a litterbox, a bed, and various toys dangling from doorknobs and towel racks. This will be your cat’s bedroom till he gets over his morning jitters. Rather than waiting till he wakes you up, tuck him in there before bed. He gains access to your bed by behaving well, such as learning to sleep in until you say so.
Patience, a sense of humor, and a firm understanding of feline teenage behavior are your best weapons throughout this period of raucous high energy, willful excessive activity, and boundary testing.
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