Upset Kitty

[loupebbles]

Hi everyone,
Im new to this (but my mum tells me this is the place to go for information!).
I have a 1 year old female calico who we've had since January when we adopted her. It took her about 2 weeks to come out from under the couch and stop crying all night. She's more attached to me than my boyfriend!
Everything has been going fine until this past week when I noticed she's started peeing on the front mat. I guessed this is her marking her territory (we have a lot of tom cats loitering at our door). Thing is she's continued doing it so I've treated the areas with a repelent and a deodoriser. This morning she had a sniff and decided that instead of a number 1 she would do a number 2!!! (she knows where her litter tray is) Add to this behaviour her meowing constantly in the early hours (she used to do it when our alarms went off at 6am which was no problem, but then it started at 5am and this morning it was at 4am!) We put her to bed at 10pm and she used to wake up at 6am.
I find the constant wake up calls too much and with my boyfriend being a nurse he needs his sleep too. She has been spayed and recently started going out and socialising/ignoring the local cats. I'm not sure what else i can do. Is it possible she's in season? I've only had male cats before so im more used to their behaviour.
I'm going mad in my sleep deprived state! Can anyone help??!!

[pamela81]

Im not sure what to advise on the toileting issues but in regards to the meowing in the middle of the night, my Harris did this for months after we got him and as my boyfriend slept through it, it was me that was up during the night with him, he was only 5 and a half month when we got him. He did eventually settle down, i think it was part of the process of him settling in for us, he also settled (eventually)when we introduced another cat to the house hold. Im sure the members on here will have some good advice though. I can only go by the experience i had. In regards to teh toiletting, we did have issues with Harris but it was because he had never been litter trained. Has pebbles definitely been trained in that regard?

[loupebbles]

Hi Pamela
Pebbles did cry all night for the first week and I was also the one who got up with her (which is why im her favourite i used earplugs in the end but she settled down during February, March and most of April. Its really only the last week she's been playing up. She's definitely litter trained, no problems there. In fact she comes in to use her box instead of doing it outside!

[pamela81]

ive got no idea then Have you changed her food at all in the last week?

[yola]

Hi, sorry to hear your kitten's a bit unsettled. Can I check if she's spayed? If not please do so right away as it would stop a lot of this behaviour. If she is spayed try getting some feliway plug ins which might help de-stress her a bit.

Regarding the toileting, I had a cat who did this, we ended up putting the litter tray on the doormat where he went to the loo. It kind of worked, but ultimately we removed the doormat and carpet - but as we were rennovating this was planned anyway and wasn't too much of a problem.

After that he didn't toilet there again, but as he got older the problem came back with a vengeance and he used to go everywhere

[loupebbles]

Yola - Yes she's spayed. She's just over a year old so toilet training isn't a problem. My partner said we should put the litter tray on the mat but it's at our front door, I don't want to have to avoid it all the time plus I won't be dictated to by my cat otherwise she'll think it's ok to behave this way if I accept it. I know that sounds bad but she has a routine which she's been fine with until now. Pamela - her food is always the same - a wet pouch in the morning and evening and dry food during the day if she wants it.

[PoshPuss]

Hi there! You said that you have had tom cats loitering at the door and probably spraying there, so Pebbles is 'guarding' her territory now. If you haven't done so can you remove all trace of the toms and their scent, maybe an old mat needs removing, some strong Jeyes fluid etc, to mask the spray, a feliway diffuser to de-stress her is a good idea. I think having these toms in close proximity started up this new behaviour. Hope it resolves soon, and remember, she isn't doing it to deliberately wind you up or be naughty, she is a bit afraid. Cats are very clean by nature so her change of habit is her way of telling you something is not right.

[loupebbles]

Thanks
Very helpful information guys
I cant move the mat as it's attached to the floor and im sure my landlady won't be thrilled at my removing it. I'll definitely scrub my front step and hope the randy toms ****** off
Is there a natural product I can use to spray on the step to ward off any more spraying? Im not a fan of chemical sprays in my home (sensitive sinuses)

[PoshPuss]

They say lemon juice is a good deterrent, worth a try

[TiggerMoon]

I had a similar problem with a tomcat spraying just by the back door and making one of my girls nervous about going out. I used some bicarbonate of soda diluted with water in a spray bottle and sprayed all around the door and that seemed to work well to get rid of the smell. I used it daily for about a week, then the tomcat started spraying in a different place, a bit farther away from the door, and it doesn't seem to bother her as much now. I have used it indoors on the carpet with good results too. Just put it straight on the pee an you will see it turn yellow as it soaks it up!