Training a Cat?

[Shortie]

Help!

Has anyone on the 'vine ever trained a cat before, that can give me any hints or point me to a decent website?

I have two 7 year old cats and one has always been a bit 'not quite there' as it were.

Anyway, long story short, he's started wee'ing in the house (but always the same place) and I also want to try and retrain him to sleep in specific places rather than on my banister (that'd be the banister that he falls off 3 times an hour, digs his claws into to save himself, scratches the paintwork and digs the wood, and then gets straight back on to settle down again )

I don't want to put a cat litter tray in the place he's wee'ing as it's small enough already (under the sink in our bathroom). They've always had outdoor access via a catflap.

Does anyone have any hints as to how I can get him to (a) not wee in the house (b) sleep in one specifed place?

Thank you!

[shirlthegirl43]

Can't help with the sleeping bit but if you wash the area where he has wee'd with vinegar it removes all traces of scent and should confuse him.

[Headfry]

Daft question, is he stressed....try 'Felliway' it's a plug in thingy, would need to get it from vets....calms cats! see if they have a web site as they do things for problem cats too...
oh dear poor puss has problems, I hope you can get him sorted out

[Hazel at the Hill]

Bet you that it's a reaction to the new baby - change in the household, and all that! Hope you get him to settle down again soon.

[moggssue]

I was going to say the same as Hazel, he's probably not happy with the change in the house. He will probably keep wee-ing in the same place now unless you can make it smell totally differently, especially something chilli or vinegary which his delicate nose won't like! Do you have somewhere different you can put a litter tray for him? I found with mine, when I take her to stay with someone when I go away, just showing her where the tray is located and dipping her paws in is enough for her to always go in that spot even in a strange house.

[OverWyreGrower]

We wash any puppy wee on carpets out with bio-washing powder, they generally don't wee there again.

I heard that citrus keeps cats away, could you put some orange or lemon oil on cotton wool in the places you don't want him?

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Shortie,

I am sure it is due to the new baby, cats are creatures of habit and like to mark the teritory if there is change even a new carpet can start a very house trained cat into changing it's toilet habits.

As said before you need to get rid of any traceof wee left, your cats nose is much more sensitive to smell so using vinager or citonella should work.

As far sleeping arrangments they usually sleep where they chose but as yours likes high places have you thought of a radiator bed? one that actualy hangs of them giving your cat somewhere high and possibly warm too if you have the heating on for your baby.

Let us know how you get on, Mandy

[Headfry]

Felliway..... new baby lovely, but bet the puss has noticed!

[TPeers]

Couple of thoughts on training cats. Apart from cleaning the area with something designed to remove trace odour and then putting citrus or vinegar to deter the cat there is physical training.

Take the cat to an area where you are happy for it to go, such as a specific flower bed or a cat loo, and put the cat there holding it down for a few seconds and maybe scraping at the soil/litter with the cats paw. Repeat on a daily basis until the cat gets the hint.

Aversion tactics. Spray the cat with water if it enterd the space you don't want it in.

My cats wanted to sleep with the baby and weren't taking no for an answer so I had to be a bit rough... I crept up on the cat while she was asleep in the crib and gave her a flying lesson. Had to do it twice before she learnt, but learn she did!

She is, I should say, perfectly fine - she was thrown onto a bed and had soft landings each time. I love my cats but they have to understand that I am in charge and not them.

[seasprout]

Now don't laugh but you need to place a food bowl (with food in) where he is inappropriately soiling. Cats never pee near their food source.

About the sleeping, cats naturally like to sleep up high, admittedly not all cats actually do though. Can you not provide puss with one of those cat towers, some have a nest pad at the top. Puss is probably feeling insecure with a new baby in the house as others have said.

Now that I have written all that, i have found that Cats Protection do some superb downloadable leaflets.

One is called cats and babies... here is the link to the list available....
http://www.cats.org.uk/catcare/leafl...#catsandpeople

[Snadger]

Maybe it needs a pill???

http://www.mamarocks.com/how_to_give...cat_a_pill.htm

[Nicos]

We had terrible problems with one of our cats 7 years ago weeing on our beds or the sofas , and after 2 years of trying to help her we decided that our home had become too stressful for her what with builders and teenage childrn and their music and friends ..... We tried all sorts of things from the felliway spray, antidepressants .... Finally we decided that we were actually being unkind to her making her live in an environment she was clearly not happy in and managed to rehome her.
A couple of years later we aquired another cat who was clearly showing signs of being bullied by one of the original cats, but as he got older became the more dominant cat.
We suddenly realised that although we had a cat flap open all the time and a litter tray downstairs, the older cat was guarding routes to both and had clearly done so with the one we had rehomed
Easy answer was to have had more litter trays about the house and then poor Hettie would have still been living here.
As far as the bannisters is concerned- why not put slippy towels etc on the surface so the cat is reluctant to jump up there in the first place???- just an idea!?
Good luck to you!!

[Shortie]

Love the link Snadger, and the Benny Hill music made me chuckle. I learnt early that the way to give this cat a tablet is to hide it in a teenie bit of tinned food, then carry on filling the bowl and letting the other cat join in with the unmedicated food (yes, this same self cat also has hormone problems that means he has very bad skin unless he has hormone replacement tablets )

I never really thought about the new baby as he was find when my first was born, but the I suppose each situation will be different for him and maybe he just reacted to this one...? He seems perfectly normal every other way - still as friendly as normal, etc

Okay... I'm getting out the white vinegar very soon and rescuing the litter trays from the loft - I've just to figure where to hide it as we have a very open planned house and no utility room etc. Where does everyone else hid theirs cat's litter trays? I just figured that I shouldn't have to put any out as they had outdoor access all day.. Oooops.

Thanks for the link SeaSprout, having a good nose now.

We've tried the radiator thing before and they didn't use it.. maybe we'll have another go? I might try out a nice deep dark box with an old towel on the landing too (or my favourite magazine, lol)... you know what cat's are like!

Thanks everyone. I was starting to dispair a bit, and started to have thoughts of not keeping him much longer, but then couldn't face my conscience if I'd done that as they're too much a part of my family, and we got them as rescue cats and would have felt awful putting them through that again...

OH is taking this cat to the vets on Saturday about his skin, and I've already asked him to mention about his 'mental health'.

Thanks all for the support and suggestions. I'll certainly post back with updates

[Shortie]

Ooo forgot to add that I've put towels on the banister which he slept on, but it'd slip under him, end up on the floor and he'd jump straight back up

[Hazel at the Hill]

Suggest foil on the bannister (twist it round so it doesn't fall off....)

Litter tray in the kitchen by the freezer which sounds YUK until I tell you that it is a covered tray with a little swinging door like a cat flap. Not that my two use it often, but better safe than sorry!