by Heather
(California)
Ramses (male) howls whenever I am not in his site. It doesn’t matter if I am home or not. He will search the house if I do not call to him.
If I leave for school, stay downstairs, or don’t acknowledge him, he will urinate on my bed or clothes.
He also eats all the food left out for him and Ronan (his sister). He was really mean to her when they were kittens, they are now 7yrs old.
She now fights back.
Ronan is the polar opposite of her brother but has started to howl if I do not acknowledge her or pet her. She has never urinated on any clothes. How I know this is that their urine smells different to me.
I honestly don’t know what to do, I have taken them with me, talked to them, cuddled them, played with them, done all I could think of, and now I need help.
They are both dog friendly and my dog adores them and they him, so they play a lot, both cats are indoor only so they stay in my room when I am not home and roam when I am and they play with my dog or my mother or my boyfriend or me, they have everything but being allowed outdoors. Could someone help me on figuring out what is wrong with them?
Thank you tons.
Ramses and Ronan’s Mommy 🙂
Hi Heather…. thanks for visiting and asking. Sorry to hear that you have this cat behavior problem. I will ask my cat loving friends to advise. You will get some comments from good people. I changed the title to make it more focused to attract the attention of visitors.
There is not doubt (
for me) that Ramses is stressed by your absence (and a bit stressed generally). It seems that you have built up a very close bond with your cats, which means you’re a great cat and animal person.
When you are away Ramses gets stressed and marks territory with his urine for reassurance. It is a sign of a need to be reassured as it makes the place smell of him so it feels more friendly.
I think howling like this is calling for you. This is also a need for reassurance. It appears that Ramses is anxious and perhaps his anxiety is rubbing off on Ronan.
It is a hard problem to crack. The question I have is this. This appears to be a new pattern of behavior or a newish pattern. Has something happened recently that might make Ramses anxious? Has your life changed? Perhaps you are with them all holidays and now you are back at school he misses you or there might be an additional reason for the anxiety.
I think Ramses is suffering from a form of cat separation anxiety. He may have been weaned early when a kitten leaving him prone to anxiety and need for reassurance.
The answer is probably to make your departure and arrivals home as low key as possible and to try and find ways to give him distracting stimulation. In other words a change to his environment.
I know that you probably can’t do this but a nice cat enclosure or catio would probably help as he could get stimulation from outdoor activity.
Is there someone at home when you are away? I am in the dark here but if someone could come around that might help. And leash training him and going for a walk might help!
These may sound like extreme ideas to you. We all have our own ideas on cat caretaking but bottom line Ramses needs some mental stimulation and activity when you are not there with him. Plenty of exercise might help too.
This is a cat friendly house! I don’t expect you to do this by the way.
A last resort – really a last resort – is drug treatment such as Amitriptyline For Felines. Your vet might have some good ideas but the starting point is environmental changes to alleviate the stress that Ramses feels.
Ramses might feel a bit stressed all the time actually and this comes out in aggressive eating behavior. You have to find a way to de-stress Ramses..Good luck.
Michael
