Trying to Figure out Cat Behavior

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Trying to Figure Out Cat Behavior

I have five cats. They are five, five, three, 1 1/2 and one years old, respectively. We collected them from a variety of sources.
They all get along well and usually don't cause any trouble.

However, for about the last year or so one of the five-year-olds, Lyra, has been spraying pee on everything. Just like a boy cat,
she'd back up to something and squirt on it. Doors, walls, shelves full of books. And if you left a pile of papers on the table,
she'd make a puddle on it.

It was the last straw when she squatted on the keyboard of my laptop and fried it.

I love her very much and didn't want to get rid of her completely. So I just put her outside. We made sure she had food and
water out on the porch, and she'd stay outside all day and all night except I'd let her in once a day so I could pet and love on her.
I didn't want her to think she was being exiled and that we didn't care about her anymore. I mean, you wouldn't put your child
outside and never let them come in again. You'd find a way to work out the behavior. These cats are like my children. I don't
happen to think that we should treat animals any different than we would treat people. They deserve love and respect. This particular cat was just having a crisis and I couldn't figure out why.

If it was raining or really hot I'd let her in, but make her stay in the bathroom or garage.. If she was running about the house, I or one of the kids would stay in the room with her so she
couldn't make a puddle anywhere.

The first week we let her back in, she made a puddle on my kitchen cabinet. I still don't know why she did it. We put her back outside.

It's hard to get out the door of my house in the morning because there are five cats lined up at the door trying to get out.
It's hard to keep them from getting out when they're not supposed to.

Finally one day, I'd had it. I opened the door and said, "Go out if you want to." They all rushed out, except Clare, our
little brain-damaged tabby. She had an accident at 3 months old and her brain swelled, and a side effect of this is, she
doesn't have very good judgement, and she gets really scared and freaked out about things that don't bother the others. So
she doesn't go out.

But the others went out, ate grass, climbed a tree, rolled around on the concrete to scratch their backs, and then took up
residence on the front porch. When they wanted back in, they'd look in the glass door and meow.

I couldn't fight it anymore. They were all granted outside privileges, and could go out whenever they wanted. Yes, they
could get chased by a dog or run over by a car, but like your children, at some point you have to trust them to make their
Lyra own decisions. And, I reminded myself, they have instincts to help them decide what to do.

Maggie told me about a site that sells products to keep cats from peeing. I never got around to ordering anything from there. They all now come and go outside as they please,
and there has not been one instance of indoor peeing. I don't really bother to watch Lyra anymore, she hasn't made a puddle in weeks.

I still don't know exactly what the solution was. Was she just rebelling because she wanted more freedom? Does she just want to pee on the grass and doesn't like the litter box? Does she just like all the extra attention she got because we were watching her all the time? I don't know, but my cat problem is solved.

Then the yellow one, Gordon, or just "The Kitten" as he's been dubbed because he's the youngest, came home with a hole in his stomach. Sorry, I didn't take a picture of it, it was too gross. It was a perfectly round hole, and my first thought was that someone shot him with a BB. It was infected and all swelled up under his skin, and you could see his fat and intestines. He didn't seem to feel bad, it didn't interfere with his activities, but it was worrysome. So to the vet we went.

The vet took one look and said we'd have to operate. When we came to pick him up, she told us that when they cut into it to open him up, it was just a mass of rotting, stinking flesh. She said the stink filled the room. Thankfully, Clare
it was just in the little fatty pooch he has down there and didn't get into any of
his organs, so they just removed it and sewed him up. She said they didn't find a BB. She said it could have been a spider bite. I did recall that a couple of days earlier we had seen a lot of spiders making webs on the porch. I guess it could have been a spider.
Cody

Then there's Cody, who climbs up on your stomach and tries to nurse. Yes, she's a five year old cat, fully grown, and if you let her crawl up in your lap, she'll get a piece of your shirt and start sucking on it as if she was nursing. Maybe she was taken from her mother at too young an age, I don't know. We just try to love and her and give her a lot of attention.

Then there's Naomi, who was always skinny as a bean pole until she got fixed and now she's put on enough weight that I don't worry about her being too skinny. She's got one ear that's cocked to the side and a whimsical look on her face.

They all have stories of their own. They are all unique individuals. The kitten, Gordon, is bonded to me. Don't know why, unless it's because he knows I really love him. He follows me from room to room. When I go in the bathroom, he has to come, wants me to hold him while I pee. When I go to my bedroom, he follows me. When I sit on the couch, he comes to lay on my stomach. If he can't be near me, he sleeps in the dirty clothes hamper on the dirty clothes. I love to bury my face in his fur and breath in, he smells so good.

Naomi

Then there was the day we decided to give them all baths. Yes, we were very foolish but our intentions were good. We wanted to wash them with flea shampoo. My son suited up with long sleeve pants and shirt, sat in the floor of my shower, and held a cat between his hands, with two of my oven mitts covering his hands for protection. He would hold one cat and I'd pour a pitcher of warm water gently over them. They'd freak out, and he'd just hold on. We'd soap them up, and rinse. Then we'd open the glass shower door and they'd quickly make their escape. I'd dry them off and let them go. Then my son slipped in the wet shower, hit the side of the tiles, and busted a hole in my shower wall. Oh well, I wanted to put a new shower kit in my bathroom anyway.

Cody & Gordon

Hope you've enjoyed my little trip into the minds and behavior of my kitty friends. They are my pride and joy, next to my kids. They are very intuitive. Sometimes I know what they are thinking just by looking deep into their eyes. Sometimes all I have to do is look deep into their eyes and they know exactly what I want them to do and they go to it.

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