Inapprop. Urin. - I have a theory

Well, Henry's been gone for weeks, and Louis has started spraying
again.

No other changes in the household, except I was out of town this
weekend. My wife caught him spraying our closet door upstairs (where
no one's peed before), and the closet downstairs (where he used to
pee).

I've gone through the checklist at http://tinyurl.com/7mjox and have
an appointment for him tomorrow at the vet to check out his urinary
tract. We've begun the conversion to wet food, and I'm going to get a
Feliway diffuser tonight.

However, I've got a theory about what might be going on. I think he
has anxiety about closed doors - perhaps acquired when we had Henry
here and he was sequestered behind closed doors.

If the closet door is open, he won't pee there. If we hide a door
(putting something in front of it) he won't pee on it. When my wife
caught him on Friday, she had just closed our closet door. I'm
guessing he's worried that there's a cat hiding behind that door, and
he needs to mark it. We're going to try supervising him with those
doors open. I dunno how we can break him of this neurosis, if in fact
that's what it is, but at least we can ameliorate it temporarily.

Whatever the reason it's a pain in the ass. But there are lots of
success stories of people working this out, so I'm confident we can
bring him back to civilization. I just hope we don't have to sequester
him.

Thanks for any tips.

BLink

Suddenly, without warning, Brian Link exclaimed (5/16/2005 8:23 PM):
Well, Henry's been gone for weeks, and Louis has started spraying
again.

No other changes in the household, except I was out of town this
weekend. My wife caught him spraying our closet door upstairs (where
no one's peed before), and the closet downstairs (where he used to
pee).

I've gone through the checklist at http://tinyurl.com/7mjox and have
an appointment for him tomorrow at the vet to check out his urinary
tract. We've begun the conversion to wet food, and I'm going to get a
Feliway diffuser tonight.

However, I've got a theory about what might be going on. I think he
has anxiety about closed doors - perhaps acquired when we had Henry
here and he was sequestered behind closed doors.

If the closet door is open, he won't pee there. If we hide a door
(putting something in front of it) he won't pee on it. When my wife
caught him on Friday, she had just closed our closet door. I'm
guessing he's worried that there's a cat hiding behind that door, and
he needs to mark it. We're going to try supervising him with those
doors open. I dunno how we can break him of this neurosis, if in fact
that's what it is, but at least we can ameliorate it temporarily.

Whatever the reason it's a pain in the ass. But there are lots of
success stories of people working this out, so I'm confident we can
bring him back to civilization. I just hope we don't have to sequester
him.

Thanks for any tips.

BLink

It's probably a good working theory. Cats don't like closed doors -
if I close a door, Meep is convinced that something terribly interesting
or tasty is behind it, and I'm just being cruel keeping her from it.

In your case, I think it's reasonable that he's worried about cats on
the other side, and looks like you're doing the right things. I'm not
sure if this'll work, but if you close a door, and see him approach,
open it and let him explore what's on the other side, maybe after a
while he'll realize you're not hiding a rival?

I've never used Feliway, but I've heard great things about it. If you
can, I'd suggest putting a diffuser near each problem door, unless one
is good enough for an entire house...

jmc

Could be! SOunds plausible.

"Brian Link" wrote in message
news
Well, Henry's been gone for weeks, and Louis has started spraying
again.

No other changes in the household, except I was out of town this
weekend. My wife caught him spraying our closet door upstairs (where
no one's peed before), and the closet downstairs (where he used to
pee).

I've gone through the checklist at http://tinyurl.com/7mjox and have
an appointment for him tomorrow at the vet to check out his urinary
tract. We've begun the conversion to wet food, and I'm going to get a
Feliway diffuser tonight.

However, I've got a theory about what might be going on. I think he
has anxiety about closed doors - perhaps acquired when we had Henry
here and he was sequestered behind closed doors.

If the closet door is open, he won't pee there. If we hide a door
(putting something in front of it) he won't pee on it. When my wife
caught him on Friday, she had just closed our closet door. I'm
guessing he's worried that there's a cat hiding behind that door, and
he needs to mark it. We're going to try supervising him with those
doors open. I dunno how we can break him of this neurosis, if in fact
that's what it is, but at least we can ameliorate it temporarily.

Whatever the reason it's a pain in the ass. But there are lots of
success stories of people working this out, so I'm confident we can
bring him back to civilization. I just hope we don't have to sequester
him.

Thanks for any tips.

BLink

Brian Link wrote:
Well, Henry's been gone for weeks, and Louis has started spraying
again.

BLink

My cat Ruprecht, opens doors so long as they are not fastened shut.

maybe, put a a piece of tape across the strike plate so door won't
catch.

Leave the doors open about an inch...for a few days, let him see he can
open the door...then tweak tweak...doors are closed, looks nice, but
they are not fastened.

bigbadbarry wrote:
Brian Link wrote:
Well, Henry's been gone for weeks, and Louis has started spraying
again.

BLink


he can learn to reach under the door to get a hold on it. (this is what
Ruprecht does)...it's cute to see the paw from the other side...

Infection? I'd bet my money that Louis is dropping crumbs for Henry.

Brian Link wrote:
Well, Henry's been gone for weeks, and Louis has started spraying
again.


The house still smells like Henry to him - he is liable to spray for
awhile. You might consider cleaning the carpets to help get rid of the
Henry smell.

-L.