How Do I Stop Undesirable Cat Behavior?

We have 7 cats in my house. 4 of them are fine. The other 3 have a few issues we're trying to fix.

2 of them (Mitzy and Chloe) are known to pee all over the kitchen. On the counters, on the stove, and on the floor. Their catboxes are clean, so I dont know why they wont go in it instead.

The other one, Lily, has taken to nursing our new kitten Dakota that we got for Rai to have a new playmate since Cammy died. Its not her kitten, and we want this to stop.

Lily also bullies the other cats, except for Dakota and Rai, who she has "adopted" and is apparently "protecting".


How can I fix these issues?

How many litter boxes in the house?

Two, considering a third.

The kittens have their own in another room as well.

Are the 2 peeing male or female? Chloe seems like a girl name but It never hurts to ask. Concerning the kitten that is nursing, it's the kitten that is initiating this behavior not the older one.

They make a special spray you can buy at pet stores that is fairly odorless for humans but cats avoid it, that could be a starting grounds for suggestions.

A good way to keep cats off counters and stoves is to place aluminum foil around as they hate the sound and feel of it.

That's about all the suggestions I can really think of that have personally worked in the past.

trade them for dogs

Something to be cautious of is to not Overly clean the litter tray, as if the cat can't smell itself it will get confused. Buy cleaner that has a strong smell to clean the sides and such with will help in stopping the behavior.

If they're young though, unfortunately it will take time for them to get into the swing of things.

Boss lady hates dogs anyway.



Chloe/Mitzy/Lily are all female. Lily is fixed, Chloe/Mitzy aren't yet.

^ Yerp. My cat, also named Lily, kept peeing on my pc chair. Eventually, I had to get a new one so I started putting foil on it at night before I head to bed and it works like a charm.

We have a Chloe (Calico) and she's the trouble maker in our house.

As for your cat behaviour issues, you don't correct them, you just learn to accept them and carry on. The first and most important step in cat ownership is learning they run the house.

Mmm i would really consider getting another litter box, some cats are pretty picky when it comes to a clean box .-.
Also what's so bad about the older cat trying to nurse the kitty?

Seven cats in one house is too many. I would be surprised if at least some of the bad behavior isn't related to overcrowding stress.

The surrogate-nursing behavior is pretty normal, though. I don't know why you're worried about that.

Any sudden new problem should always be evaluated by a vet first to make sure there are no underlying medical issues. A trip to your veterinarian should also always be the first course of action if any behavior is new, whether litter box problems, dramatic changes in appetite, activity level, sleeping patterns or distinct behavioral changes. Any time inappropriate elimination occurs, it's time to confine the kitty to just one room, alone (bathroom, office, or small bedroom work great!). This reduces the elimnation options, gives them a safe room in case the cause is stress from another cat, and allows you to better monitor which cat specifically is having any issues. Ultimately, litter box blues are not considered normal they will always come from a medical issue or a stress in the home life. If you are interested in more information/tips please send me a PM.

reference: my job

edit: get them fixed too

I think you are supposed to have one more litter box than cat. So if you have 2 cats, you need 3 litterboxes, 3 cats need 4 litterboxes, and so on. So if you have 7 cats, you'll need 8 litterboxes.

http://www.petfinder.com/cat/litter-box-101-how-many-litter-boxes.html

They might also be sick. If they have crystals or a urinary tract infection they might go outside their litterboxes.

http://www.cozycatfurniture.com/cat_newsletters/cat_newsletter_2_issue.html

I can't help with the nursing or bullying though :-( Might have to confine some cats away from the others until they calm down.

Lily is already crazy, this only makes her even more territorial and aggressive to the other cats.

She was kept in a room with Loki, another cat that she actually gets along with, for almost a year. Since we got her fixed and out of that room, we're trying to integrate her with the others. All of our cats get along with each other, EXCEPT for Lily. She's aggressive towards other cats (oddly shes very sweet to people) and very territorial. Imp is the "alpha male" and gets into small spats with Loki sometimes, but thats normal.

Almost everyone I've know with more than 2-3 cats has those exact same issues. I think it's just how they are. I have 2 cats and we have 2 literboxes because the female was afraid to go in the 1 box, almost like the mail was protecting it from her. They are brother and sister too -- both fixed.

You could also try:

http://www.amazon.com/Remote-Control-Training-Collar-Vibration/dp/B001LRLUPK

I know it's made for a 100 lb dog but I'm sure it will work just fine! At least make a video to show us what it does. (I've always wanted to try one on mine when they piss me off haha)

That's most likely the problem then. We have 4 (3 girls, 1 boy), and the girls would just piss all over everything they could until we got them fixed. It didn't take more than a week after getting them fixed for it to completely stop.

Please DO NOT do this, cats do not understand this type of training.

also Bekisa please do not adopt an animal anywhere, and if you do have one please relinquish it to the nearest humane society.

Everytime i hear someone owns more than 2-3 cats and is not living on a farm or something >:

Cats prefer to have their own toilet-thingy, so you should try to get one for every cat, that might help a bit.
But when you have that many cats, there will be territorial behaviour that's very hard to "fix", as it's in their nature.

Mitzy/Chloe are next in line to be fixed. We've been slowly fixing them when we have the money for it.

I would agree that getting them fixed and adding another liter box is a step that should be looked into. Aluminum foil on counter tops and places you don't want them and maybe look into that spray that keeps them from going and sniffing places.

Concerning the nursing, you will either have to let it happen or better yet in my opinion try to work with the kitten to stop it over a course of time.

I raise you...

Honestly 7 cats is just too many unless your house is absolutely massive.

3 bedrooms, 1 bath, large den (our library lol), very large kitchen.

At first we started with the initial 3 cats. Imp, Loki, and Prissy. Prissy we gave to Boss lady's mom a little later. We still have Imp and Loki. Later, we got Lily for an ex of hers, since she wanted a cat too.

We got Mitzy/Chloe on a whim. Saw an ad in the paper for free kittens. This lady had 2 cats who had a litter each. One of them produced a lot of milk, the other didnt, so they raised the litters together.

Then when boss lady's sister moved in, she wanted a cat of her own, since she couldn't bring her own cats from home. She got 2, since we always raise them in pairs, these were Rai and Cammy. Cammy died recently, and we got Dakota in her place.


All of our cats are very well treated. They have plenty of food, water, toys, freedom, and a ton of love. They are all indoor only though.


Whats that spray called?

There is tons of different kinds and this is just 1 example:
http://www.nationalpetpharmacy.com/product/6411/Keep-Off!-Dog-And-Cat-Repellent?utm_source=nextag&utm_medium=cse

They just basically make them not want to stick around there very long at all and detest the odor.

I just wonder what people do with 7 cats... just seems like too much to deal with... I also never really got cats though... I've only ever had two dogs at once and that was a good balance... any more than that to me would be too much... The cost too... there was some lady that had 100+ cats on her farm house and spent something like 10K+ feeding them all lol... until they came and took them all away...

Edit: dependent on where you live you might have too many pets in the household as well...

surprised she didn't die of ammonia poisoning with 100 cats

Found this online with Petsmart:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754438

Should work?

Few things~

First, not near enough cat boxes for that many cats. If you have 7 with a mix of male and female you will need at least 6 boxes. Not even kidding. My grandmother (crazy cat lady grade B) has 9 cats. Males and Females will often not share a box.

There are 2 other reasons they are peeing in odd places, other than infection. First is they are pissed. Its simple, if a cat is unhappy it will show you. Often they will try less messy ways first, peeing is often a last resort. With that many cats it is not unlikely that some are unhappy or feel left out.

The second way is depending on their previous homes there might be something with their 'kittenhood' that causes this. Like a cat who is locked in the bathroom all day while his people are gone will often take to peeing in the sink or bathtub, even if they have a nice clean box it is just what they do.

A very important factor is stopping cats from peeing in a place is to make sure to use a enzyme based cleaner. If you arent breaking down the proteins in the urine then they will continue to think that is a litter box. Even worse, others might get the idea, like a male and its mate, even if they are both fixed.

There are also sprays that deter the cats from using places as a toilet. Sometimes they work other times they do not.

I have no clue on the nursing business...

Cats will fight, its a dominance thing. Not much of a way to stop it until either one stands up for itself or the other one gets tired of picking on them. Defending kittens, even if they are not their own, is a difference story.