Cat Behavior Investgation: Part 2
Welcome to the ongoing saga of Marisha and her inappropriate peeing and defecation episode. From the last post our investigation has given us loads of clues.
From all the evidence so far it seems that this cat has suffered some sort of fright associated with the litter tray. This was probably something coming through the letter box and landing on her or in the tray while she was nearby, this scared her and made the litter tray and area seem to be a dangerous place. She thus now intends to do her business in a new safe place as far away from the litter try as possible and the best option seems to be behind the TV. Problem solved and we would now get the adverts in CSI 
BUT what do we do about this ??
It is important once the cat’s normal soiling procedures have broken down to try and get them back to normal as soon as possible. So the easiest way is to put down one litter tray per cat (at least) and one extra tray. Make sure they are in safe areas and try to review such areas from a cat’s perspective. For example we put a wire mesh basket on the door to catch the post and the extra litter tray put in the spare toilet was put well away from any shelves where items may drop on the cat. Make sure the trays are kept clean and use a litter material the cat likes and ideally is used to.
Remember cats also have very sensitive hearing and for example in the hall way it may be worth putting some draught excluder on the door and letterbox to reduce the clatter as post comes through.
We also got the owner to bond again with the cat by stroking and some playing cat games with a feather on a stick. These are very inexpensive but great fun for owner and cat! Ping pong balls are also a great way of bonding with your cat.
After all these changes were ut in place Marisha was back to normal in 48 hours. However remember this problem was corrected very early on and Marisha on the whole was a fairly laid back cat. With chronic behavioural problems and sensitive cats this can all take much longer ;-(
Thus again the main message is to learn cat and try to think like one as much as possible.
