Apollo is 13 years old now. He had never marked the house as a kitten, not with the introduction of a new dog, or even a new cat to the home. When I moved after vet school, he would very occasionally mark, but only when my mother-in-law brought a package over that must have smelled like one of the cats in her household. No big deal.
It wasn’t until we moved into our current home that his marking behavior picked up significantly. I’ve ruled out medical problems for him- multiple times, so I’m left with the conclusion that his desire to drench the house in his special parfum de peuw is the result of some primitive instinct in his little furry cat-head. Marking can be a manifestation of stress or insecurity. So what’s different about this house now in 2011 as opposed to my other home in 2002?
- Brody
- no Callie
- 2 loud kids
- many more resident neighborhood cats roaming about
Of all the possibilities, I’ve concluded the last reason is one of the main problems for Apollo. We have a lot of cats in the neighborhood, often roaming the yard, coming up to our windows, and taunting Apollo. It’s not like he can hide in the bushes with a hose like my dear old Dad used to do with those pesky teenagers, so all he can do is turn butt out and scream “KNOCK IT OFF!!” in big yellow letters.
I haven’t tried much by way of cat deterrents. If Brody is around, I open the back door. I’ve also tried Shake Away by the doors and windows, though the idea of sprinkling coyote urine around the outside of my house is only mildly less annoying than washing cat urine off the inside of the house.
Behaviorists also recommend the ScareCrow, which delivers a motion-activated blast of water. I’d consider it, but after seeing Brody’s treatment of the hose heads I think it’s likely to wind up a very expensive water blasting chew toy.
It’s hard to tell when Apollo is stressed out, since aside from the marking, he doesn’t outwardly exhibit many signs. He’s a low key cat. Which is why I was utterly startled at 2 am last night to be awoken by what could only be described as the panicked yowls of a cat with his head caught in the garbage disposal. It’s a sound rarely heard outside the confines of a veterinary clinic. (Wait a minute, that makes it sound like I put cat heads in the garbage disposal at work. You know what I mean.)
My husband, being taller and longer of leg, made it downstairs ahead of me and remains the only witness to the scene, but I find him credible. According to him, Apollo was perched on the front windowsill. Directly opposite him on the other side of the window was one of these:
Of course, by the time I made it downstairs, the bobcat was gone.
A couple of weeks ago, my husband had informed me he spotted what he thought might be a mountain lion cub cruising the sidewalk by our home, but he didn’t get a great look at it. Since this one was so kind as to be posing on the front stoop like a carnivorous lawn ornament, he feels more comfortable in his assessment, right down to the short tail. The most likely conclusion, of course, is that they are one and the same. But seeing as how he has now had 2 viewings and I’ve had none, I admit to being a bit apprehensive. What is this Chupacabra of the Pawcurious Glade?
“Why didn’t you shoot it?” I asked with no small amount of irritation. “Because I didn’t have time to dig out the tripod at 2 in the morning,” he sensibly replied. (This was a fun story to tell to my neighbor who, not knowing my husband’s weapon of choice is a Canon, gave the appropriate “NOOOO!” horrified response to my call for shooting.)
I then decided that I didn’t believe him and it was probably just one of those fat tomcats you see waddling around. So the next morning, I went out early before the kids got up and investigated. The weather was wet and muddy, and sure enough, lined up and down in front of the house were a set of well-preserved big cat footprints. I looked online for pawprint photos, I pressed Brody’s foot into the mud to compare, and there’s no doubt: those were the feet of a forty pound feline.
I doubt that cat cares about my measly coyote pee sprinkles.
No wonder Apollo is stressed! I’d be too! Sometimes, when it’s late at night and pitch black and I didn’t close the shutters, my brain starts to play games with me like, “What if you looked up right now, and there was someone standing there with his face pressed to the window? Someone like FREDDY KRUEGER??” and I have to run into the laundry room for a minute. That kind of happened for real to my cat. Poor Apollo. I’d scream too.
I have no idea what a bobcat would make of the ScareCrow. I suppose it’s worth a shot if he shows up again. In the meantime, let’s forget him for a moment and assume we are talking regular neighborhood cats. Anyone have tried and true methods to get them off your property?
I actually would feed the outside strays and ferals — but only on the side of the house with higher windows so the insiders wouldn’t see them. It didn’t take too long for them to begin to stay on that side of the house instead of the front yard with the big, low windows. Poor Apollo, I wouldn’t like that big guy thumbing his nose at me, either!
Wow, Dr. V. I hear stories more and more about big cats and coyotes coming into urban areas. Or are we moving into their areas? Whichever, domestic and wild are coming too close. Be careful. I doubt even Brody would come off well in that fight.
We have open space fairly close, though our immediate area is well developed. One more reason not to leave the dogs outside unattended!
I often have to deal with the occasional curious skunk, raccoon, or even sewer rat (so not a fun experience), but never one of those big kitties. I think I’d be pretty intimidated myself if I saw one peeking in my window. I don’t really know if where you live is urban enough, but could this be something you local animal control could handle? Live trapping the bobcat and then moving it to a less populated location?
Their response is that it just makes room for another predator, so take commonsense precautions. We are suburban, so I figure it’s part and parcel to being out here (though I was definitely surprised that they venture this close!)
Funny to read your post this morning, as only about an hour ago, I was awoken from one of my cats making that same panicked yowl because there was a neighborhood cat up on the roof staring in through the window. Never occurred to me this might stress him out to the point of needing to mark his territory. Yikes.
Can you just keep Apollo upstairs at night somehow? Or even just in your bedroom ? Or would he not like that?
That low window does have closeable shutters (though not all the house does.) I can’t imagine locking him in the bedroom. He’d drive us nuts! 😀
OH MY LORD. Poor Apollo. No wonder he’s doing his best to stake his territory!
I feel SO stupid trying to give advise to a vet, but am doing this, because as you know all too well, this type of marking behavior and other litter issues is one of the main causes of pets being euthanized. I’ve been blessed to find an alternative. First of all, my vet recommended that I put a “feliway” type calming collar on my cat full time. These are available through any big-box pet store & through most pet supply catalog sites. Secondly, I accidentally came upon a life-saving and sanity-saving website called Meow Wear.com. Their address is http://www.meow-wear.com. One of the things they sell is custom made “special needs wear” for pets. They have a special little suit to put on them if they spray, a zoot suit in case your pet is totally incontinent, and one to keep him away from any healing wounds on their body. People need to know that THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE to killing their pets because of these issues. I wish I could shout this info to the whole world!!! Such heartache and needless suffering can be avoided by just knowing there is an alternative out there.
Oh, please don’t feel that way at all! I get wonderful advice from readers. I haven’t heard of Meow Wear but it sounds like something I need to investigate. Thank you!
And I thought it was bad when our 9 year old cat, Amaretto, was chilling on the back deck this weekend and I heard that horrible cat yowl, like someone put him in a shredder. (side note: Amaretto never goes outside, but he hasn’t been feeling well lately, so I let him out, because he wanted to! Then I forgot he was out there.) I jump up and do not see Amaretto, but see one of the indoor/outdoor cats from next door, (this is a whole different story in itself… grrr) sitting on the deck. I open up the back door and WHEW! Cat pee stench central! I shoo’d the other cat away, but Amaretto was so traumatized, he wouldn’t even come back in, and was hissing at ME! I finally convinced him to come in, but his eyes were just glazed over. He jumped up in to a corner, behind our wood stove, and even hissed at our other cat, Ashton, who he is best beds with. It took him a good 3-4 hours before he was back to normal again. It was pure scary!
And now when I open the back door, to let the dogs outside to do their business, all I get is cat pee smell. So so bad.
We’ve had bobcats in our yard a couple times. A baby one came up to our glass door and our Yorkie Freddie went all kinds of crazy barking at it, hasn’t been back since.
I love that the Yorkie chased him off! 🙂
Wowie! That would stress ME out, let alone the cats! We live backed up to a state park… while we haven’t seen any big cats, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are there. We’ve seen racoons, deer, foxes, etc. But our boys don’t get to go outside at all, and we live up on the third story, so they wouldn’t see them much even if they were around! Now, being higher up, they DO love watching the birds that swoop by! (All sizes, from hummingbird to giant eagles!)
Recently CATSTER named a product called (ready for this?) Anti Icky Poo as the best cat & dog stain and odor remover on the market. They sell on the web only at http://www.anti-icky-poo.com. I figure that with a name like that it’s got to be good!! It claims to never have found an odor that it can’t handle. They offer personal customer service support and a product guarantee if it doesn’t work for you.
I can attest to the claims of Anti Icky Poo. It really works. I’ve used it for years on any malodorous problem. I, too, saw the name and figured that with a name like that, it has to be good. Then I read the label and among the odors removed was “dead bodies” and I knew it had to be good. I buy it by the gallon just to have for any household problem, not just cat urine.
I don’t have a bobcat but we do get urban foxes which really like to dig up the lawn and yowl really loudly at 4am. I bought the Scarecrow pest repellent last year and it works a treat. Of course I did have that one ninja fox who delighted in trying to dodge the spray but that’s a whole other story 🙂
MY LAST COMMENT – I PROMISE!!! Many years ago, when I had a formerly perfectly contented kitty go bonkers because of stresses, my vet put him on the drug Buspar for awhile. It worked miracles in calming his fears, and helping him return to his normal delightful self. Also, he didn’t have to be on this drug for very long. This was many years ago, and I have no idea of what research has found regarding this, or it’s safety in senior kitties, but it was literally a saving miracle for my precious furkid. Dr V, what does the latest info say about this type of drug intervention? Is it still considered safe and do you ever use it in your practice?
There’s enough on that topic to warrant a whole additional post- I agree, drug intervention can be a literal lifesaver when used appropriately. I have considered Prozac for Apollo, in fact!
I am amazed that so many people in our neck of the woods (San Diego) let their cats outdoors. I am not for it in any location, but especially here – my brother had to scare a coyote a few months ago with a neighbor’s cat IN ITS MOUTH! Luckily, the cat got away. Only idea for you would be to close curtains or shutters if possible. I know how crazy our cats would go if they saw an outdoor cat while on our screened in porch, so I can only imagine the reaction to a bobcat!
You might try a Wire-Haired Fox Terrier. I had one when I was in High School, and my Siamese used to lure neighborhood cats into the back yard, then sit with a smirk on her face as she watched the panic that ensued as those poor cats barely escaped the terror-I mean terrier.
i just read your column, loved it. I have 10 cats and all because of 1 I have to keep one of the litter boxes upstairs. the others are downstairs. If I don’t keep one upstairs you know what will happen.
Oh my gosh! Poor Apollo!
My best friend is in San Francisco on business and is renting a house. There are some friendly raccoons who scurry up onto her roof in the morning and scratch around by her bedroom window, and she’s taken to watching them out the window in the wee hours of the morning (she’s having trouble sleeping so far away from home). The other night, she heard the scratching at about 3 am, went to the window and pulled the curtains back, and was staring eye to eye at A MAN, ON TOP OF HER ROOF, OUTSIDE HER BEDROOM WINDOW. She screamed, grabbed the phone off her nightstand, and called 911… and they put her on hold.
She had said that living in SF was like living in a Disney movie, but has recently had a change of heart. She’s now officially homesick.