If you’re walking down the street, and someone you don’t know comes up and gives you a hug without any kind of introduction, how would you react? Given the context, most people would probably display shock or fear on one end of the spectrum, or downright hostility on the other end of the spectrum. This is because hugging a random person you don’t know in that kind of environment is not considered appropriate.

Many people don’t stop to think about this scenario from our dog’s perspective. We have an expectation that dogs should be friendly to everyone, under most circumstances. Despite displaying signals of discomfort that all dogs understand, such as turning the head away, ears back, licking the lips, tucking the tail, and rigid body posture, most humans don’t recognize these behaviors as signs of anxiety. So when a dog is approached by someone he doesn’t know, and the human ignores/doesn’t see the signs of stress, he may snap or bite and subsequently achieve unfavorable status as an “unpredictable” or “dangerous” dog.

Sadly, this happens all too often. As a veterinarian with a special interest in behavior, I frequently find myself counseling dog owners on what is considered normal and abnormal behavior.  I consider the above example to be normal behavior, given the context. If a dog is approached in a stressful environment (for some dogs, this means anything outside of the home) by someone he doesn’t know well or someone who makes him nervous (e.g. shrieking children, people with hats or beards, or people with loud/harsh voices), he will display signs of stress. This can certainly vary from dog to dog. How many stress signals he displays, and the order in which he displays them, also depends on his individual threshold, or limit, of what bothers him.

To state this another way, think about this scenario. A dog sees his human’s suitcase out and knows something is up.  He can feel the barometric pressure dropping and knows a storm is coming (he hates storms). The neighbor comes over to say hi, who he likes, but he brings a young child with him who he’s only seen a couple times.  The child comes up to him while he’s eating his food, and the dog growls and snaps at the child.  Alarmed, the owner and the neighbor are shocked at the dog’s behavior.

If only one of those events happened (just a storm, or just the neighbor coming over), the dog probably would not have displayed aggression. But due to all these stressors happening at once, he passed his threshold, or the point of “I can’t take any more” and snapped at the child. Given the context of the situation, this can still be considered a normal (although unacceptable) response, and behavior modification measures can be implemented to address the problem this dog has with the unknown child.

Consider now a scenario where a dog is always edgy. Every little sound causes him to throw himself at the door or window, barking like a madman. He may be out in the backyard with his owner and the screech of a distant garbage truck causes him to turn and sink his teeth into his owner’s arm (a form of redirected aggression). Some people jokingly refer to these dogs as Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde, but the behavior is no joke. It is these situations that are truly concerning, because the behavior is very abnormal given the context.

When dogs are this edgy and this reactive, veterinary advice must be sought. Pharmaceutical intervention, in the form of anti-anxiety medication, may be needed. A veterinarian with an interest and background in applied clinical behavioral medicine can be your best resource.

Dangerous behavior must always be taken seriously. Don’t waste precious time in denial. If your dog, or a dog you know, has displayed anxious or aggressive behavior, please call us to learn more about how Dr. Burcham can help.

In this video, Jean Donaldson (author and dog trainer) demonstrates how to train your dog to look forward to having his Gentle Leader put on. We sell Gentle Leaders at Olathe Animal Hospital, and we frequently recommend them. They are helpful for a variety of nuisance behaviors, such as pulling on the leash, jumping up, barking, and even more serious problems such as growling and aggression. If you are considering using a Gentle Leader for your dog, it’s a good idea to have someone help you with fitting it on your dog, and our staff can help you with that. Dr. J.C. Burcham has a professional interest in helping address behavior problems, and if you have specific questions about your dog or the Gentle Leader, she will be happy to talk to you.

We realize that not all dogs instantly love their Gentle Leaders. It’s called “gentle” for a reason, but many dogs don’t like how it feels on their face, so we want to teach them that it’s a good thing when the Gentle Leader is on! This video will help.

This article is borrowed from Barbara Heidenreich with the owner’s permission.

Wow. That Bird Sure Can Scream!

By Barbara Heidenreich

www.GoodBirdInc.com

“Screaming. Somebody reinforced the heck out of that behavior.” I said to myself. Misty, a double yellow headed Amazon parrot, lived with me for only a few weeks. She was there so that I could put some of her vocal behaviors on cue. However it quickly became apparent she had a few other behaviors that needed to be addressed first. Before her stay with me she resided with Jill Bell for six years. Prior to that time her history is pretty fuzzy. She is estimated to be 19 years old. This meant screaming could have been reinforced for at least 13 years. It must have been, because it was STRONG. Misty was relentless. I’d leave the room; she’d scream and scream and scream.

She had been a good reminder of what companion parrot owners experience when faced with a very annoying and challenging problem. It can be very frustrating. Oddly enough, when I walk into someone else’s home and hear screaming birds I am usually not effected. But when a bird is screaming specifically, in what feels like a demanding way, to get my attention, it strikes a nerve. How does one find the patience to be a good trainer in those situations? It is not easy, but definitely necessary.

My mantra with Misty was “I am solving the problem. Getting angry or letting that knot in my gut sway my strategy will not give me the desired results. I am confident what I am doing will work. It has worked before with other birds I have trained. Hang in there!”

And it is true, my blue fronted Amazon parrot Tarah also learned to scream for attention. Completely through my own ignorance I reinforced screaming. I acquired Tarah, as many people do, when he was offered to me for free. At the time I was working in a veterinary hospital. One of my co-workers also worked part time in a pet store. Someone had walked in off of the street and sold her the bird for $100. Was the bird stolen, smuggled or desperately unwanted? I don’t know. My co-worker found she was overwhelmed with too many animals in her home and asked if I would be interested in watching the bird for awhile. (That “while” has turned in 18 years.)

Once in my apartment I was thrilled when Tarah offered a “hello” at the sight of me snacking on a piece of bread. However the enchantment wore off as Tarah began to scream anytime I was out of sight. Unaware of how to stop this undesired behavior, I did as many do, I ran back into the room each time Tarah screamed and told him to “Be quiet.” Did it work to stop the screaming? No, and at the same time I found I very much disliked my attempts at punishing reactions to the undesired behavior. I so enjoy having animals respond positively to my presence and did not want to become an unpleasant experience in my bird’s life in order to stop the screaming behavior.

While in the middle of dealing with this problem, I was introduced to the book “Don’t Shoot the Dog” by Karen Pryor. (Also known as the bible of animal trainers) As I read the book, I latched onto two important principles that could help me address the screaming problem. Extinction and differential reinforcement. Extinction is described as the process of discontinuing reinforcing a behavior that has been previously reinforced. In other words part of my strategy should include discontinuing offering reinforcers for screaming. This meant I should no longer run back into the room, or yell at Tarah. The book did not describe the exact situation I was experiencing with my bird. Rather it described the principles and how to apply them to a variety of examples, human and animal. In reading the words, I made the connection that the concepts could apply to any behavior I no longer wanted to continue. Paired with the principle of extinction was the strategy of differential reinforcement of an alternate behavior. In other words, if screaming would no longer work to get a response from me, what would? For Tarah this turned out to be a whistle.  In the middle of a session of screaming and me doing my best to ignore this undesired behavior, Tarah offered a “whistle”. I immediately reinforced this by responding with the word “good”. Tarah replied with a scream. This was because at this point he only had one repetition of whistling being positively reinforced and an entire  year of screaming being reinforced.  However I remained consistent with my strategies and within two weeks time Tarah learned to whistle instead of scream when he wanted a response from me. 17 years later Tarah whistles when he wants to know where I am, when he desires a toy or treat, when I come home, and when he simply seems to be “happy”. The undesired screaming behavior was extinguished and replaced with a whistling sound.

Misty seemed to throw a kink in our now peaceful, well behaved and relatively quiet household. I “knew” from my past experience that I could repeat the process I had implemented with Tarah. However this time proved to be a bit more challenging. Because I was working out of the home at the time, it meant no breaks from dealing with the behavior problem. Every time I left the room I was challenged with having to be focused on training this bird. I was finding this to be very demanding. In addition there were times in the day when mentally I was just not prepared to train. Rather than feeling inspired to train and ready to resolve the behavior problem, I found myself dreading having to leave a room and work with Misty. I decided I needed to better set myself up for success. In getting to know Misty, who other than the screaming behavior, I found to be a delight, I learned that in the past she was accustomed to being covered at night. I took advantage of this and decided to leave Misty covered during the time in the morning I needed to shower and prepare breakfast and bird diets in the kitchen. This allowed me time to peacefully attend to necessary tasks in the morning. After this, I found I was less stressed and more prepared to begin a training session with Misty.

Throughout the day I would treat each time I left the room for whatever reason as a learning opportunity for Misty. I practiced my strategy of extinguishing screaming by not responding to it, followed by reinforcing a desired behavior. In Misty’s case the desired behavior was not a specific sound. Instead I chose to reinforce silence. My plan was to reinforce small increments of time of silence and gradually increase the duration Misty was silent before I would reinforce her with my presence or attention. If I was in the kitchen I would wait just outside of her view while she screamed. At first if she offered a pause in screaming that seemed the slightest second longer than what she had presented in between screams in the past, I would quickly appear and offer generous amounts of attention. I wanted quiet to receive a greater amount of positive reinforcement than screaming if I could. Overtime I gradually increased the amount of time she remained quiet before I would respond. And it worked!

However this was not without challenges. There were times throughout the day when a training session was not convenient for me when I needed to leave the room. Rather than cover Misty I opted for engaging her in other acceptable activity. For example, I often offered Misty a small cardboard box, a rolled up ball of newspaper, a new toy, or a portion of her diet just prior to leaving the room. This gave Misty another activity to focus on instead of screaming. But it also was not an opportunity for Misty to learn that screaming would not gain my attention and quiet would. It was still important to include training sessions throughout the day. The other activity was meant only to offer a break from training for me. This may have also lengthened the amount of time it took overall to teach Misty that screaming no longer would work.

Another challenge in training Misty was that Tarah was in the same room as Misty. Tarah would whistle at times when I left the room. While I wanted to respond to his whistle, I did not want to also then accidentally reinforce Misty’s screaming. My strategy had to be to only reinforce Tarah’s whistle if Misty was not screaming. If I was focused on the training session, I also found I could position myself so that Tarah could see me, but Misty could not. This allowed me to reinforce Tarah’s “good” behavior and wait for Misty to offer silence before responding to her.

Misty’s screaming also appeared to stimulate an occasional screaming behavior in Tarah as well. Fortunately because he had a strong reinforcement history for a whistle, I simply waited for him to offer a whistle before I would respond. Tarah quickly returned to offering a whistle and once again extinguished screaming.

Misty also would on occasion scream for my attention while I was in the room. When this occurred, I simply left the room. Again my thought process was to teach her that screaming now created the opposite response. Instead of people coming to her, people go away. It was also important to reinforce her with attention at times for being quiet while I was in the room as well.

Overall training Misty to present silence to gain my attention took about 6 weeks to train. Obviously this was longer than it took to change Tarahs behavior. This could have been a result of the strength of the behavior in each bird based on their individual positive reinforcement histories. It could have also been a result of the fewer training sessions applied to Misty during the given amount of time. It could also be a factor of the birds as individual learners. In any case the end result was a bird that successfully learned to present desired behavior for attention as opposed to the undesired behavior of screaming.

I went through the emotional gamut that many companion parrot owners face when addressing screaming problems. However by focusing on good training strategy and allowing myself opportunities to relieve myself of the stress associated with addressing the problem I was able to attain my desired training goal. Screaming for attention is a behavior problem with a solution. Set yourself up for success and invest the time to train the desired behavior. The end result can be a lifetime of good behavior.

Tips to address screaming for attention

• Extinguish screaming.
• Reinforce any other behavior besides screaming.
• Remember the extinction burst is a good sign! The end might be insight. Change your feeling from frustrated to hopeful when your bird really goes for it.
• If you need to leave the room, but can’t focus on training, offer another positively reinforcing activity prior to leaving the room. This may buy you a short window of time to move freely between rooms without screaming behavior. However you will still need to include training sessions at some point.
• Get some earplugs to help you cope with the screaming during the extinction burst.
• Plan to wait in the other room. Prepare in advance a quiet activity you can do when trying to deal with a screaming session.
• Leave the room immediately when your bird screams for your attention.
• Manage your activities to help set yourself up for success. For example keep the lights off or your bird covered for a few extra minutes in the morning until you are prepared to deal with the screaming with good training strategies.
• Get support. If neighbors are having a problem with your screaming parrot, explain to your neighbors that you are working on training your bird not to scream.
• Count seconds in intervals of silence and increase if possible.
• Focus on fixing the problem instead of your frustration.
• Believe you will get there. This strategy does work.
• Keep notes if necessary to determine how and when this behavior maybe getting reinforced. Eliminate any reinforcers for screaming.
• Offer even more reinforcers for the desired behavior than the undesired behavior would normally receive in the past.

© Copyright 2006. First appeared in the Volume 2 Issue 1 Spring 2006 Good Bird® Magazine.

For more information on training your parrot visit www.GoodBirdInc.com

Barbara has been a professional in the field of animal training since 1990.
She owns and operates a company, Good Bird, Inc., (www.GoodBirdInc.com) that provides behavior and training products to the companion parrot community. These products include Good Bird Magazine, books, videos, and training/behavior workshops. Barbara has provided behavior workshops and/or animal training presentations at the Association of Avian Veterinarians conference, The American Federation of Aviculture conference, The International Parrot Conference at Loro Parque, Parrot Festival, The International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators conference, American Association of Zoo Keepers conference, Association of Zoos and Aquariums conference, The Parrot Society of Australia conference and many more. She is a past president of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators (www.IAATE.org) and served  on the Board of Directors from 1997-2009. Her expertise has been utilized by the US Dept. of Agriculture, Fish and Wildlife Service and numerous international professional organizations.

She is the author of “Good Bird! A Guide to Solving Behavior Problems in Companion Parrots” by Avian Publications and also “The Parrot Problem Solver. Finding Solutions to Aggressive Behavior” by TFH Publications. She is also the producer of the Good Bird Parrot Behavior and Training DVD series.

Barbara’s experience also includes consulting on animal training in zoos and other animal related facilities. She has been a part of the development and production of more than 15 different free flight education programs. Barbara continues to provide consulting services to zoos, nature centers and other animal facilities through her other company Animal Training and Consulting Services. In her career she has trained animals, trained staff, and/or presented shows at facilities around the world.

What behaviors define aggression in rabbits? Lunging, boxing, chasing, grunting, mounting, nipping/biting (all usually performed with the ears laid flat back) are all displays of rabbit aggression. Here are six common reasons rabbits exhibit aggressive behavior (several are closely related):

Sexual maturity: Once a rabbit reaches the age of 4-6 months, hormones play a significant role in determining behavior. In males, the most common hormone-driven behavior is mounting; the buck may attempt to mount the caretaker’s arm or leg, biting to maintain his grip. The doe, on the other hand, becomes increasingly protective of her territory (see below), as everything in her system prepares her to kindle a litter. Solution: spaying or neutering can eliminate, or greatly decrease, hormone-driven behaviors in both sexes.

Protecting territory: Experienced rabbit caretakers have observed that females are often more territorial than males. Even after spaying, some females continue to exhibit cage aggression; boxing, lunging, and nipping at hands that are attempting to perform routine husbandry tasks. Solution: Place one hand on the rabbit’s head, and exert gentle pressure while removing or replacing bowls, bottles, and litter box with the other hand. Do not release pressure on the head until in-cage tasks have been completed and the “working hand” has been removed from the cage.

Dominance: Individual rabbits vary greatly with respect to dominance. Some extremely dominant rabbits exhibit aggression toward the caretaker (usually lunging and nipping) as well as toward other rabbits (usually mounting, chasing and nipping) in order to maintain their dominance. In bonded pairs where one rabbit is clearly dominant, it is not unusual for the dominant rabbit to become aggressive when the partner rabbit is receiving attention from (or being handled by) the caretaker. Solution: Avoid situations where the dominant rabbit will be “challenged.” With bonded pairs, for example, stroke the dominant rabbit first, or stroke both rabbits simultaneously. With some pairs, when access to the submissive rabbit is needed, it may be helpful to follow this sequence: 1) remove the dominant rabbit from the cage or pen; 2) remove the submissive rabbit (for medication, etc.); 3) return the submissive rabbit to the cage; 4) return the dominant rabbit to the cage.

Pain: A rabbit in pain can exhibit a broad spectrum of responses, ranging from withdrawal and hunching to sudden irritability and aggression. In my experience, well-localized pain is more likely to result in aggression than more global, systemic pain, but this varies with the individual rabbit. Solution: If aggression occurs suddenly in a rabbit who is normally not aggressive, a thorough physical examination may be indicated.

Poor close vision: Although rabbits have excellent distance vision, the placement of their eyes makes it difficult for them to see objects directly in front of themselves at close range. They will often lunge and box at fast-moving objects approaching them from the front (such as hands entering their cages to provide food or water). Solution: Approach the rabbit from the side, pausing briefly a foot or so from the rabbit’s face before attempting to touch him.

Poor handling: When picked up or handled in ways that cause fear, discomfort, or stress, many rabbits develop a repertoire of behaviors (including lunging, boxing, grunting, nipping) aimed at keeping hands at a distance. I have known two rabbits who actually learned to hold their mouths wide open in readiness as they saw humans approach. Solution: control the rabbits head as described above (see “Protecting territory”), and work toward developing alternative ways of lifting and handling the rabbit. Support the front quarters with one hand under the thorax (rather than the abdomen), while using the other hand to support the entire hindquarters.

When dealing with aggressive behavior, it is usually counterproductive to try to “discipline” a rabbit, since this can exacerbate the problem, rather than resolving it. Patience and a calm approach are much more likely to yield satisfactory results.

author: Mary E. Cotter, Ed.D., LVT
House Rabbit Society, 2003

From big to small, all dogs are in need of proper socialization, and this begins when they’re puppies! In fact, the critical “window” of opportunity for social development in dogs closes by 12 weeks of age!  The experiences puppy has during this time influence the type of dog he will become.

• Introduce your puppy to 100 different people by 3 months of age.
• Set up puppy play dates with a variety of other dogs, so he can learn correct doggy etiquette.
• Teach puppy that things like umbrellas, hats, wheelchairs, canes, walkers and loud noises are associated with happy voices, treats, and play time!
• Avoid rewarding fearful behavior with coddling—instead, work on gradually increasing his exposure to whatever it is that scares him, and make the experience fun!

• Peanut butter and bananas
• Rice cooked in chicken broth with garlic
• Apple chunks with peanut butter
• Cream cheese with apple chunks
• Meat flavored baby food (no onion!) and cooked rice
• Canned dog food
• Dry cereal with peanut butter
• Dry dog food with vita-gravy or broth
• Canned pumpkin

Puppies love to explore their world with their mouths—and they have no idea how sharp those little teeth are!  When puppy’s teeth meet your skin, keep in mind the following:

• Our hands (feet, clothes, etc.) are not toys!
• Respond the same way a puppy playmate might—let out a little yipe! Or a high-pitched Ow! Be over-dramatic, it’s ok!
• Don’t punish—no swatting, holding muzzle, or yelling.
• Instead, turn your back, hide your hands, avoid eye contact, and generally refuse to play!
• Redirect puppy’s chewing instincts towards an appropriate toy, and praise him when he chews the right thing!

Luckily, those sharp teeth start to fall out around 5-6 months of age!  Chewing will continue (it’s part of being a dog), but it will be gentler if you help him learn appropriate behavior as a puppy.

I often hear new puppy owners express concern about their puppy’s apparent inability to catch on to house training. Today’s call was from the owner of a 7-month old neutered male dachshund.  Here are some of the tips I suggested:

1. Use the “umbilical cord” method–this means keeping his leash on and attaching it either to your belt or a chair, thus restricting his free-range. A dog who is not house-trained should not be allowed to have free-range of the home because the potential for an accident is too great. We must set them up to succeed–and this means not even allowing them the opportunity to have an accident!
2. Supervise constantly! An accident can occur in just a fraction of a second, so if you’re busy talking on the phone or cleaning up the kitchen, you may not be able to watch your puppy closely. This is where crate training is so helpful. Put your puppy in its kennel until you can pay more direct attention to him.
3. You must be present when you take the puppy outside to potty–you can’t just let him out in the backyard and praise him when he comes back in. They need instant gratification–it’s like a party when he goes in the right place! Use a really happy voice and give him 3 little treats in quick succession! “Wow, that was really great, you are such a smart puppy!”
4. If the puppy must be left alone longer than we can reasonably expect him to “hold it”, we must create a long-term confinement area. This is usually a small room such as a bathroom or laundry room that is puppy-proofed. Set your puppy’s crate in here and leave the crate door open. Offer an appropriate potty area. I recommend offering a litterbox with grass or sod in it. There’s nothing else in the house like this (unlike puppy pee pads, which can resemble carpet), so it helps teach him that grass is the best type of surface to relieve himself on.

Most importantly, be consistent, be persistent, and be patient! Good luck!

It is extremely frustrating to find that your cat is not using the litterbox. Some cats may use their litterbox for years and then stop using it for no apparent reason. Most likely there IS a reason they have stopped, and to fix the problem, you will need to figure out what the reason is. It is possible, however, that your cat has been using the litterbox for years and all of a sudden decided that what he didn’t like about his litterbox was just too much to take one more time. Most litterbox problems can be fixed and your cat will be back to using its litterbox immediately.

1. Medical problem. Cats may stop using their litterbox due to a medical problem, such as a urinary tract infection (UTI). Medical reasons may make it uncomfortable for a cat to use its litterbox and because the cat most likely first felt the “pain” from whatever medical reason while it was using the litterbox, the cat may associate the litterbox with the pain. When having litterbox problems with your cat, you should start by ruling out medical causes by taking your cat to a veterinarian and having a urinalysis performed. At Olathe Animal Hospital, we collect a sterile urine sample with a cystocentesis or bladder tap. It is very important to address any medical problems first, prior to attempting modification of problems listed below, because no amount of environmental or behavioral modification is going solve a cat’s medical problem.

2. Poor location of litterbox. Poor location of a litterbox might cause a cat to quit using its litterbox. For example, perhaps you have placed your cat’s litterbox next to a noisy hot water heater, or by the washer and dryer. Cats tend to like quiet, private places to go to the bathroom. You should add a litterbox in a quieter place and see if your cat starts to use that new box. Cats also want to feel as though they have an “escape route” from the litterbox in case they are confronted with another animal as they try to leave, so try to avoid having only one entrance/exit available to the litterbox.

3. Unclean litterbox. Not only is a cat’s sense of smell many times sharper than ours, their noses are 20 times closer to a smell’s source. Cats would like to have their boxes cleaned after every use. Realistically, the litterbox should be cleaned once a day, or at a minimum thoroughly cleaned once a week (even if you use scoopable litter), including the litterbox liner if you use one.

Do not use bleach or any other strong smelling cleaning agent to clean the box or this will cause your cat to shy away from it. Avoid soaps containing perfumes for the same reason. Use hot, soapy water to clean the litterbox thoroughly and rinse it well. The use of a litterbox liner (which is changed out frequently when cleaning the box) is another good way of keeping the litterbox clean.

4. Litterbox count. You should have at least one litterbox per cat in the household. In some circumstances, two litterboxes per cat may be necessary (some cats won’t urinate and defecate in the same box). If your living space is fairly spread out, it’s a good idea to have a litterbox on each floor so the cat doesn’t have to travel too far to use it. If you have 2 cats and only one litterbox, add a litterbox next to the original box you had. Both cats may end up using both litterboxes, but they will each have a box.

5. Litter choice. If your cat was using its litterbox and then you decided to change the litter to something “better”—you may have a problem. It is important to mention the old saying, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” If your cat is using its litterbox, don’t switch the litter for any reason. If you have switched the litter from what the cat is used to, this could be why your cat has stopped using the litterbox. You should switch back to your original cat litter to see if this fixes the problem.

Note that litters with perfumes or additives for smell in litter may also cause your cat to rebel. Some cats have an aversion to these smells. Some cats with “litter aversion syndrome” can even stop using their litterbox because they don’t like the feel of a harder type of litter. Clumping/scoopable litter can be used to give your cat something softer to go to the bathroom on.

To see if this is something that is an issue for your cat, you should add another litterbox with scoopable/clumping litter in it next to the cat’s original box and see which box your cat chooses to use.

Note: If for some reason you HAVE to switch cat litters, you should gradually mix the new litter type you are switching to with the litter that the cat has had over a period of time. Gradually increase the amount of the new litter vs. the old litter, until you are 100% to the new litter. Switching to a different type of litter with no transition period (“cold turkey”) is more likely to cause some problems.

6. Box size. The litterbox you choose for your cat needs to be shallow enough that a cat can climb into it (pay attention to this if you have a kitten!). A litterbox also needs to grow in size with your cat. If you have a large cat, a plastic under-the-bed storage unit can be used as a litterbox.

7. Privacy issues. Cats are “evolutionary programmed” to follow an elimination ritual to cover their scent to protect from predators—this calls for peace and quiet! Don’t place your cat’s litterbox in a high traffic area, but also avoid putting it in some dark hallway or closet area. Cats also need to be able to easily get into their litterboxes.

8. Moving location. Moving the box from location to location can be a problem for a cat. Find a place that both you and the cat like, and stick with it. Cats take their litterbox area very seriously and you should too.

9. Invaded territory. If a cat is in the litterbox and a second cat (or dog, or other animal) in the household confronts it while it is in the box, the cat may start to avoid the box to avoid the confrontation.

In addition, if your cat can see another cat outside through a window or door, this may cause stress (feels its territory is being invaded). Typically you will see spraying (vs. urination; see below) in this regard and if that is the case, you will need to deal with the territory and spraying issues to solve the problem.

Again, as discussed in #2 and #7 above, no “escape route” for some cats can be an issue due to invaded territory.

10. Punishment strategies. Cats do NOT do things out of anger or spite; they are trying to communicate there is a problem! If you punish your cat when it doesn’t use its litterbox, you have added to the stress your cat is already feeling and instead of stopping the problem, you may have just accelerated the problem. NEVER punish your cat when he doesn’t use the litterbox (or for any other reason)—only use positive methods and positive reinforcement to solve a litterbox problem.

In addition:

• Never rub their noses in their accidents! Not only is this not going to solve the problem, it will make it worse. In addition, this is completely unhealthy for your cat.
• Never physically punish your cat or forcefully place him in the litterbox to “teach” him the right place to go. This will actually cause your cat to think it isn’t supposed to use the box because your cat will think the box is someplace where he gets punished.
• The use of squirt bottles is not recommended because it is difficult to use a squirt bottle and not be seen by the cat.
• Confinement also doesn’t necessarily solve the problem long term because you haven’t addressed why your cat quit using it in the first place. Confinement may work short term because the confinement area may be so small your cat doesn’t have a choice not to use the box, but long term we need to solve the problem of why your cat quit using his litterbox so your cat can live out and about your house as a member of the family.
• Never take an indoor cat and put them outside to be an outside cat because of a litterbox problem. Indoor cats should be indoor cats and should stay that way! You need to work to solve the litterbox problem for your cat.

Myths.

It is important to note that cats do not quit using their litterbox to “get back at their guardians.” A cat may even urinate on the floor right in front of their guardians, or urinate on their guardian’s bed but the cat is only going in these places to get the attention of their guardians, because they can’t help it, or because the surface they are going on is softer than their litterbox. Cats also do not quit using their litterbox because they are “jealous” of another pet, a new baby, etc.

Spraying.

Spraying is a separate issue from regular litterbox issues. Spraying is usually (but not always) due to territory issues. Here are a few things you can do to solve spraying issues:

• Close all the curtains/drapes in your house for a period of time so they can’t see outside, and thus, can’t see other cats walking around their yard (their territory).
• Use Feliway by and around the windows/doors that your cat is spraying around. Feliway is a spray that contains cat pheromones and so tends to make stressed out cats relax. You can get Feliway at a pet supply store, here at our hospital, or by ordering it online from pet supply websites.
• Talk to your neighbors and ask them to keep their cats in their houses so they aren’t wandering into your yard where your cat can see them.