In or Out? How to make up your mind

When people think of the ultimate living situation for a cat, several ideal scenarios may come to mind. Some may think that keeping their cat(s) indoors is safer, while others do not want to take away the quality of life that an outside animal has, justifying their cats need to go outside as more natural or instinctual. Does an indoor cat miss anything by never going out? Does an outside cat have a better life because it can choose it's own territory and lay in the grass?

A major risk for outdoor cats, and one we hear about all too often, is being hit by a car. Cats can also get stuck in many compromising situations, under houses or crawl spaces where they can become dehydrated or starve. Encounters with other cats can expose your cat to diseases, some of which cannot be vaccinated against, like FIV & FELV. Finally, there are people who simply do not want cats in their yard. These disgruntled neighbors may trap your outdoor cat and take him or her to the animal control center or far far worse punishments. Yikes, I shudder to think about it sometimes.

Fortunately, there are many ways to help your feline friend to have a happy, fulfilled life indoors or to allow your cat a safe outdoor experience.

Making The Outdoors Safe

If your backyard has a fence around it, consider installing a Cat Fence .This netting system prevents your cat from leaving the yard, so you know where he or she is at all times. It can also be used to keep other cats out of your yard.

Build an enclosure outside. This allows the cat to have an outdoor experience while remaining safe. Check cat magazines for ideas and plans.

If you have a younger cat, train him or her to accept a leash and harness. This way, you can take the cat on monitored outdoor excursions. While a few brave cats may enjoy walks around the neighborhood, the majority will prefer sticking close to home—the front or back yard.

Transitioning A Cat To Indoors Only

This isn't going to happen overnight folks. Hang in there and make some adjustments to your home and maybe even to your lifestyle. You will have to make Small compromises to make your cat happy

Put screens on your windows and get a kitty window seat.

Play with your cat more. Get him running around, chasing a string or other toy several times a day. A little catnip makes it even more fun!

Add vertical space to the cat’s territory. Cat trees, cat condos, shelves, and other climbing apparatus give your cat more places to climb, play, and call her own.

Provide scratching posts. Try posts made of different materials—corrugated cardboard, wood, carpet, or sisal rope. You can get freestanding scratching posts, floor level, or door hanging varieties.

Play videos. Many cats enjoy watching videos of cats, birds, fish, insects and nature scenes. Check your local pet supply and video stores.

Grow kitty grass. Available at many pet supply stores, it is safe and tasty for your cat to nibble.

If your cat is an “only child”, consider adopting another to keep him company. That would make The SF/SPCA, You and your cat very happy!

Remember: even indoor cats should always wear an elastic or breakaway collar and an identification tag. In an earthquake, fire, burglary, or other mishap, a cat can easily become lost outside, and identification is her best bet for getting home.

Velcro Kitties: Pointers for 9 to 5 guardians and their over-attached cats

By Daniel Quagliozzi

For those of us lucky enough to be working these days, a nine to five gig is a blessing, but for our housebound feline room mates, this time of the day can be downright traumatic. The consequence of forming a tight and routine bond with our animals can often be displayed as anxiety when we leave the inner sanctum and decide to leave for the day.

Cats are solitary by nature. They can get along just fine without the company of another cat, although there are many exceptions to the rule. While maintaining a life of independence, they tend to bond strongly with their human caretakers, even when they are paired off. After all, we are EVERYTHING to them! Humans are the providers of love, conversation, physical comfort, food, water and interactive play. Another cat simply can not provide this.


How do you know if your cat is stuck to you like Velcro? My guess is.... you won't even have to ask this question!

Signs Of Feline Separation Anxiety

• Over-attachment to the owner such as following the person to every room of the house (heal chasing).
  

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  Distress as the owner prepares to depart: This can take many forms, but some of the more common reactions are meowing, sulking, apparent depression, slinking away and hiding. (No, seriously it's true!)
  
  




• Vocalization (crying, yowling, meowing) right after the owner has left or even when you are sleeping.
  




• Anorexia – the affected cat is often too anxious to eat when left alone.
  
  




• Inappropriate elimination – often in the form of urine marking. Deposits of urine or feces are often near to the door from which the owner has departed or are on that person’s clothing, bed sheets, or places like bath mats, rugs and behind or under furniture.
  
  









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  Excessive self-grooming. This starts as a displacement behavior but can progress to compulsive self-grooming if unchecked. See: Don't Lose Any Hair Over It
  
  




• Destructive behavior – rare, but some cats may claw and scratch door edges presumably in an attempt to escape their solitude. This can also happen while you are sleeping to get you to wake up and give them attention.
  
  
  


• Exuberant greeting behavior – as if greeting you after you left on a long vacation. ( Where have you been ?!?!?!)

Here come the solutions!

Enriching the cat’s "home alone" environment is the key to success! This can be achieved by means of:

Giving the cat a view of the outside world! Add climbing structures, cat trees, open windows with screens.

Strategically position bird feeders near the windows with a view.

Leave toys all over the house and change it up every now and again. The same defeated mouse that your cat played with two days ago is no longer a challenge. Hide toys in creative places like the peek-a-boo box above.

Putting the day’s ration of dry food in a puzzle toy will keep your cat focused on eating instead of your absence. Although cats with separation anxiety tend not to eat when left alone, hunger is a great motivator when other sources (YOU) are no longer available. Some caveats apply if cats refuse to eat for more than a day or so. Consult your local vet if this turns out to be the case and try to work out some kind of compromise. It can get tricky.

Leave the radio on. The "white noise" effect of the radio drowns out the otherwise perturbing sound of silence. We find that classical music has positive effects on loneliness.

If behavior modification by independence training and environmental enrichment do not work it may be necessary to resort to anti-anxiety medication for the cat for a while. Consult with a veterinarian about the use of drugs like Prozac to help calm an anxious kitty.

Ok, Now go to work and rest assured that kitty is not making long distance calls, ordering pizza or rearranging your apartment while you are away.

Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

By Daniel Quagliozzi

Our recent blog, My Cat Made Me Do It and My Alarm Clock Is Hungry sparked some seriously interesting replies from our readers. It's good to know that I am not alone in my situation with Matilda, the 18 year old tortie-terror.

As promised, I have compiled a lot of the replies that I found most intriguing and have posted them below. What amazes me the most about your emails and comments is the popularity of cats that drink from glasses, sinks and non-pet specified decanters. Maybe we're on to something here? Enjoy the comments and thanks to all of you for contributing to LDYK!

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink...

My little Matilda's name was Klarizza, big gold eyes and black she owned me! Also not only did she drink from the glass she would cup her paw in the glass and drink that way. But what I still miss is I couldn't figure out why I didn't always here the alarm. Because Missy Klarizza would walk on or around my head and stand with her from legs on the snooze button and then go back to her pillow and back to sleep. That was my girl and I still miss her.

~ SFGATE comment

Double ditto on the water glass. And if the water level is too low for the little pink tongue to reach it, in goes a cupped paw to get the water up to tongue level. Cats have staff.

~ Heandi

Daniel has Matilda the cat. My roommate Karole has Betsy. Betsy drinks out of a medium sized blue mug located on top of Karole's bookcase. Usually she dips her front paw into the water and then licks it off. Over time Karole has tried to replace it with other styles of mugs, but Betsy refuses to drink from them. Betsy also likes to collect random objects from all over the house and deposit them on Karole's bed. Yesterday's haul was a plastic straw and a quarter.

~ Jamey

I am currently the owner of two adorable, large, quirky cats. They are both physically eccentric, which makes me even more fond of them, and in my eyes very enjoyable to watch in their day to day activities. One of my favorite things to watch these little rug rats do is drink water. I swear, I have tried every shaped water dish for cats you could find. They refuse to drink out of water bowls, it's just not in their nature. They eat of out normal cat dishes, but when you place the water next to it, they could really care less. Usually, they just pig out and get food in the water, thus turning them off even more.

So how do my cats stay hydrated? My bathroom sink! I could hire Mr. Clean and I still would have a consistent amount of kitty paw prints on my sink counter. Lily literally wedges her entire body into the sink, head towards the faucet, only to enjoy just the smallest dribble of water. I can be doing my make up, brushing my teeth or cleaning and she will still just get all up in the sink, like she owns it. I guess it's therapeutic for her? She reminds of a fat raccoon washing in a stream - except it's my big girl cat who knows she's getting her way.

~ Jessica

Soze balances on the toilet ledge, using his one front arm to steady himself, and then dunks his head into the water. I mean full on facial dunk into the toilet, like he needs a refreshing dip with his beverage? He will also meow/howl if the toilet seat is down, only to stop once you lift the lid for him (don't assume I'm rude b/c my toilet seat is always up!). He also gets annoyed if the toilet is in use, because apparently toilets only exist to keep my cat's thirst at bay (for the record, he only drinks clean toilet water!).

I suppose this is bad kitty behavior, but I have literally tried to detour them, and it just won't work. It also doesn't help that they can open doors, so shutting them out of the bathroom is just a joke to them. All in all, they are good kitties, and I am a sucker so therefore they get their way. I must admit, it's pretty entertaining to see 12+ lb cats wedge and dunk in my bathroom, when they could just simply lap out of a water dish. Although, I must admit, life is pretty good when the only living thing hogging your bathroom is your cat....

~ Stacey

It doesn't end with water. Some people shared all kinds of stories with us...

My number one cat had a list of tricks to play on me, seventeen pages long, single-spaced. She never had to go beyond page one. One of my current cats came to me when he was eight years old. He is still training me; I am so stupid.

~ SFGATE comment

I had a cat like Matilda. Her name was Gina. Funny, also a torti. And funnier still - with that exact behavior of turning in circles under the covers until she found her exact comfy spot. One cute thing she did was she would curl up around my neck and let me wrap an arm around her to which she would raise her arm and drape over my arm. God, I miss that.May she rest in peace 1989-2007

~ Tortimom

My 14+ year old 16 pounder also has her list of commands, which include: 1) I should stay home all day every day (it's a challenge, what with the full time job and all) 2) Water in the same locale Matilda prefers--and it had better be fresh! 3) Shade pulled up JUST enough to let her see out and make maximum use of afternoon sun 4) food bowl NEVER EVER SHOWING THE WHITE AT THE BOTTOM! 5) litter box cleaned WAY more than I do it. Apparently I am still not quite fully trained, but I'm working on it! God I love cats.

~ SFGATE comment

My feline companion, LittleBit, comes to me in the afternoons and demands I tuck him into bed. He will sit there and cry, then race to the bedroom and proceed to burrow under the covers by my feet. I have to stay put for at least 10 minutes or he gets cranky. He also let's me know when the kitty litter is getting nasty by having me follow him to the back, placing one paw in the litterbox, then looking up at me. He's such a good boo.

~ SFGATE comment

First off, I would like to commend your most recent blog about Matilda's quirks, it was a very fun read and it's nice to know that my cat wasn't the only one to demand cold water out of a glass :) Missy hated anything and everything with a strong odor. So I suppose it goes without saying that everything scented had to go. No more lotions, perfume, hair products, air fresheners, incense, smoking, even gum - it all had to go. She was blessed with many crazy quirks, which can never be duplicated quite the same, and despite her passing last year I still plan on keeping my house ever more scent free...

~ Kirsten

And FINALLY, We saved the BEST for Last...

My cat Violet was born to a feral mother who lived somewhere among the runways at SFO. She's never been a particularly affectionate cat (with humans, that is. She loves her cat companion, Junie, like crazy), but she has ways of asking for the kind of attention she's comfortable with.

This video shows her engaging in her nightly bid for some "buttbone-bumping" with my foot:

~ Dennis

Wait....before you click to see Violet's Ritual, take note of the two links below it. Ok, now you can watch the video.

* VIOLET'S RITUAL *

We love your stories. Keep them coming! Email any stories or requests for Cat Behavior advice topics to catbehavior@sfspca.org

Also, don't forget to visit http://www.sfspca.org/ to get up to speed on EVERYTHING The San Francisco SPCA is doing.

When Cat Meets Dog....The road ahead can be rocky

By Daniel Quagliozzi

In all my years of working with cats in a shelter environment, perhaps the most popular question asked is; "Can you help me find a cat that will get along with my dog?" As simple as this question may appear to be, it's a huge math equation that requires a predictive approach to finding the answer. It involves guess work, prior knowledge about the independence and gregariousness of the cat and also some background on the resident dog. To put it frankly, it's very hard to answer without thumbing through an entire list of animals and trying to imagine them adapting.



So, to make things simpler for all of you to make these decisions on your own, I have compiled some tips to help you out with the search for the ultimate dog-friendly-feline.



Smoothing Out the Rocky Road Ahead:



The best predictor of how cats and dogs will get along together is their background. Have you walked past a cat with your dog? Did it growl, bark or lunge, or did it just get curious or not care? Audition your dog on leash with a willing cat that already has dog experience – they are less likely to run away and pee on your brand new Ikea sofa. It’s also good to try out the same cat on more than one occasion and to try out more than one cat. The trick will be finding this brave and un-frazzled feline. Some cats, or shall I say most cats ...will want nothing to do with this experiment.

Read up on the cats past history. If you are adopting from a shelter, ask the adoption staff to dig up any information on the cats prior experiences. This will be essential in trying to imagine how it will be effected by a dogs approach, play and general cohabitation.



Be aware that certain dog breeds are hard wired to chase small prey. A feisty terrier that digs holes in your yard and brings home dead critters may not be a good companion for a 2 month old kitten. Predatory types are much more stressful for cats and must be constantly managed when around the cat if they are to live with one. Predation is not something a dog can be easily trained not to do as it is deeply ingrained.

Cats who have not been socialized to dogs will almost always behave defensively, by fleeing and/or with an aggressive display the first time they encounter a new dog. If the dog does not come on too strong, and if the cat is given dog-free zones to retreatto, many cats will gradually get used to the dog and sometimes even become bonded.



Ok, So you did it. You combined a cat and a dog. What should you do to make your home more appealing to both?

• Have a “safety room” or rooms as well as high places the cat can access but the dog cannot. Baby-gates, cat doors and clearing high surfaces can accomplish this. It is important that the cat can retreat to regroup and relax away from the dog and then venture forward into “dog territory” at her own pace. The cat should have access to food, water and litter in this area so no interactions with the dog are forced.
  

• Never force the cat (or dog) into proximity by holding them, caging them or otherwise restricting them from escaping. This is defintely not going to help matters. Aside from it being inhumane, stress is a common reason for cats to break litter box training and nobody wants that!

• For the first introduction, have the dog on leash in case he decides to chase. If it seems to be going well, take the leash off and supervise closely.
  

• If the dog is behaving in a friendly and/or cautious way, try to not intervene in their interactions, except to praise and reward the dog for his good manners.

• Interrupt any intense chasing and try to redirect the dog’s attention to another activity – this is very difficult so you may be forced in future to manage the dog on-leash around the cat until you have worked out a routine or divided up the house.
  
  

• In the first few weeks, observe the trend: are things getting better or worse? Monitor interactions until there is a pattern or plateau in their relationship.
  

• If the dog is the newcomer, be sure to give plenty of extra attention to the cat so she does not associate this change with reduced attention and affection. If the newcomer is a cat, it’s also a good idea to make sure the dog associates the new intruder with good things for him. Shoot for positive associations always.
  

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  Dogs should not have access to the cat litterbox – it is too stressful for the cat and the dog may eat cat feces and litter. Most dogs will also eat cat food the cat leaves behind – we suggest feeding cats in the cat’s “safe” room or on a high surface.
  

If you are successful with getting the dog and cat to live in harmony, perhaps you want to try adding a rat for good measure?

P.S. we purposely chose pictures for this blog where the cat had the upper hand over the dog. Sorry dog lovers, Litter Did You Know is all about the CATS!!!!!

Happy Cats, Small Compromises

By Jamey Walker

Do you ever feel like your cat is bored, frustrated, lonely? You leave to go to work and your cat gives you that desperate look. Then you come home and find that your “stuff” is not where it was when you left it. An odd pillow is in the middle of the floor, the garbage has been ransacked, the tattered and clawed up arm of your couch looks extra frayed, the toilet paper is shredded and your prized collection of Beanie Babies are scattered about. It’s like a crime scene that leads back to one very guilty suspect who is rolling at your feet with delight now that you’ve finally come home. Then for the rest of the evening kitty sticks to you like fly paper, even trying to squeeze through the bathroom door when you have to use the toilet (and they often stare at you which can get a bit creepy). Anyway, the point is that your cat is clearly trying to tell you something. So what can you do?

Well,the number one way to keep your cat stimulated is through playtime. Yes, we’ve all heard that one... but it’s true! One trick is to vary the toys that you give to your cat. Avoid giving them all out at one time. Instead select a few toys and switch them out every few days with different ones. And if your cat has a toy that he REALLY loves, it’s wise to put it away after a good play session. This way your cat will anticipate the arrival of this object with extra excitement and as a result get more stimulation out of that play session than they would otherwise.

Set up the space to be as stimulating as possible. Here are some quick ideas on making your home more exciting for your kitty:




Clear out a space near some of the windows and add a ledge (or even a screen for the window as long as it’s securely in place).

Have vertical climbing opportunities for your cat. Cat trees are a good option. In general, they need something sturdy that’s safe for them to climb on and explore.




Add objects for your cat to scratch on. Scratching posts, rug pieces, cardboard boxes, and wood are some great options.

Providing a kitty herb garden for them to chew on can be exciting for some cats. You can find this at most pet stores.




Add home-made toys. Paper bag, crumpled newspaper, wine corks, etc.

If your cat enjoys food and is playful you can think about adding a food puzzle to their day. These are basically toys that allow you put treats or kibble inside. When the cat plays with the toy, some food falls out. It can be a great way to mentally stimulate a cat.

Put on a cat DVD. Some cats really love them! They are specially made to be enticing for cats, with footage of birds, mice, squirrels, etc. Go to http://www.cattv.com/ or purchase a Video catnip dvd at the SFSPCA Maddies Adoption Center!

One last thought: Often, people think that getting another cat will help make their cat less bored or lonely. While it can be stimulating for the right cat, it can also be really stressful for other cats. Not all kitties want a companion, even if they have had previous cat buddies in their lives. Pairing cats can be hard and often depends on the cats individual personalities, the amount of space in the home, and the right introduction process. I advise you to use caution and do some research before making that decision.