Feline Behavioral Problems

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Feline Behavioral Problems
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• Try to determine if behaviour is normal or
  abnormal
• If normal may not be tolerated- scratching
  furniture
• Classify behaviour by signs
• Inappropriate Elimination
• Fighting
• Withdrawing

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Frustration

• Stress is the most common cause of behavioural
  problems
• A break in routine is upsetting
• A new pet or family member
• Inconsistent punishment
• Change in type of kitty litter
• Lack of proper exercise
• Tensions increase
• Resulting behaviour is normal but expressed
  inappropriately
• House soiling, aggression

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Classification of Feline Behaviour

• Socialisation
• Where the animal learns to accept certain animal
  species, including its own, within close
  proximity
• Occurs only during a limited time span during the
  first few months of life
• Improperly socialised cats are handicapped in
  normal social situations and undergo a great deal
  of stress

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Stress

• Most common cause of behavioural problems
• Socialization occurs during the first few months
  of life
• Normal behaviour?
• Medical problems excluded

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Behavioural problems

• Aggression Predatory, play, fear induced,
  redirected, pain or disease induced
• Inappropriate urination
• Scratching furniture etc

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Treatment / prevention

• Surgery
• Medical
• Feliway
• Negative and positive reinforcement
• Environmental changes etc

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Classification of Feline Behaviour

• Genetics
• Cats are more genetically diverse than dogs
• Only 7 of cats are pedigree compared to 51 of
  dogs

• Cats have personalities
• Shy,timid, fearful or confident
• Timid cats take longer to approach people
• Trusting cats are trusting no matter where they
  are

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Classification of Feline Behaviour

• Medical Conditions
• Never discount medical problems when assessing an
  animals behaviour
• Always have the animal examined by a vet to
  discount physical causes of problem behaviours
• Examples are
• frequent urination caused my urinary calculi
• Aggression caused by hyperthyroidism

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Feline Aggression

• Commonly reported- claws teeth are formidable
• Petting induced aggression
• Biting occurs when handling no longer acceptable
• Will use grooming as displacement activity
  afterwards

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Predatory Play Aggression

• Attacks are carried out without distance
  increasing body signals- attacks are without
  warning
• Involves 5 phrases-
• Alerting to prey
• Stalking
• Pouncing
• Killing with a neck bite
• Sedentary cats have pent up energy and any
  movement can trigger predatory behaviour
• Offer toys especially those that move swing
• Aversion therapy such as water pistols are good

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Predatory Aggression
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Fear induced aggression

• Fight or flight- will flee if it can
• Howling, spitting, hissing, swiping with the fore
  paws while showing the teeth
• Conservation withdrawal crouch down, avoid eye
  contact stay perfectly still
• Fear induced aggressor attacks with head drawn
  back and hits with its paws instead of biting-
  this is why vets, nurses attendants get
  scratched more often than bitten

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Extreme Defence Posture
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Fear Aggression

• Aggressive display- pull itself up on fully
  stretched legs and arch the back in the shape of
  an inverted U- stiff legs mean the cat is angry,
  arched back indicates fear
• Kittens will arch at almost anything
• Feral cats and isolated kittens will arch at
  people

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Defensive Threat Posture
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Redirected Aggression

• If the cat becomes agitated enough to lash out
  but is unable to it will vent its anger on
  someone or something else
• Often it is someone the cat feels safe to attack
  or the first one to come along
• It is induced by a frightening experience but
  heightened by an increasing level of excitement
• It is an offensive form of aggression, can be
  premeditated and can be painful

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Pain and disease induced aggression

• Usually one off
• Cat lashes out at source of pain
• Older cats can display aggression because of body
  discomfort
• Hyperthyroidism in older cats causes them to be
  cranky, scruffy skinny
• Cats become less tolerant and more irritable when
  ill- eg sore mouths, cystitis

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Inappropriate Elimination

• Cats are generally clean
• Can have very adverse emotional response in those
  humans affected ( whose clothes have been pooed
  on)
• Conflict within the house hold because of
  differing attitudes
• Loss of time cleaning
• Expensive replacement of equipment
• Abuse
• Abandonment
• Euthanasia

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Identify the Cause

• Important to differentiate between cats who
• Dont want to use a litter tray because they have
  developed an aversion to it or prefer to urinate
  elsewhere
• Or
• Urine spraying or faecal marking

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Marking

• Urine spraying-small volumes, done on vertical
  surfaces, with a high quivering tail
• Faecal marking- deposition of normal amounts of
  faeces in a prominent place-
• This is to communicate the presence of the
  signaller to other cats

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Predisposing Factors for inappropriate Elimination

• Faecal Incontinance after diarrhoea or old age
• Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease
• About 37 of cats with a litter tray problem have
  FLUTD
• Lack of House Training
• Aversion to litter
• Avoidance of area
• Proximity of food drink
• Inaccessible litter tray
• Anxiety
• Eliminating in other properties
• More attractive surfaces
• More attractive areas

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Predisposing factors for Urine Spraying

• 100 of male cats spray, 10 of desexed male
  cats 5 of desexed female cats spray
• Some change in the internal or external house
  environment or routine
• Use of some cleaning agents-ammonia,chlorine,pine
  eucalyptus
• A new cat outside
• Other cats coming in
• The season for sex activity
• Temperament- more anxious cats spray
• Group size
• Frustration to get outside

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Treatment for unacceptable elimination

• Treat the medical disorder
• Effective cleaning of litter tray
• Use more attractive litter-
• Odour elimination- use 3 solution of bicarb
• Retraining
• Anxiety reduction- feliway,medication,environmenta
  l enrichment, cubbyholes, removing cause of
  stress
• Some cats like empty litter trays
• Use hooded trays
• Keep food 1 metre away from litter
• Make walking surface aversive

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Treatment for urine spraying

• Desexing
• Odour removal
• Put a permanent food supply under spraying area
• Use aversive ground surface
• Use pheromone
• Medication
• Intense environmental enrichment
• Decrease cat numbers in house

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Environmental Enrichment

• Make the cat spend more time finding ingesting
  food- hide food, give chunks of meat or use Kong,
  parmesan cheese container full of biscuits
• Encourage cat to chase jump after fast moving
  objects or lights eg laser
• Provide a view of a busy scene
• Compatable companion

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Allow cats a view outside Cats love to be up high
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• Daily access to cat nip, cat mint cat grasses
• Positive reinforcement obedience training
• Stroking grooming
• High level walkways
• Scratching post
• Provide cubbies
• Entertaintment boxes full of goodies
• Allow trips outside under supervision

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Scratching the furniture

• Normal behaviour
• Surface is unacceptable to the owner
• Cats prefer surfaces
• That are vertical
• Near their sleeping area
• Through which their claws can be drawn to leave a
  visible sign
• Provide scratch pole near sleeping area
• Cover scratched surface with non-clawable
  surface-thick plactic
• Water pistol

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End of Feline Behavioural Problems ASSIGNMENT 5