Cat behavior question...

Question

Zero the goofball   QUESTION: Hi Kate,

I have two very sweet and beautiful rescued indoor cats. One in particular, Zero likes to get frisky as soon as we go to bed and all of the lights are out, he starts to "sing and howl" and hunts for any plastic bags from the grocery store that might be lying around. Then he will pick up the plastic bag and carry it in his mouth and drop it on the bed right in front of me. He never tries to ingest or chew on it. I am just wondering if he is bringing me a gift? LOL! I am curious as to what could be going through his mind?? What is your opinion?

ANSWER: Hi
this is a very common behavior for cats as night time is intinctually the time they are most alert in the wild.

This is when they hunt, prowl, explore exetera and that is what your cat is doing. My cat does it too some times, the yowling is particually appealing as you are trying to sleep don't you think? :)

There is not much you can do a part from feeding them just before bed time and perhaps playing an energetic game with them about half an hour before bedtime. Also making sure that they have plenty to keep them happy and occupied at night and in a seperate room to you is a good way get your 8 hours of sleep.

I don't think your cat is bringing you a gift, he simply want to play with you, so he is bringing you the bag so that you can play with it too. Ahhh

best wishes Kate

http://www.our-happy-cat.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your advice on our cat Zero. Our other cat is Yoshimi. She is a siamese mix about 3 years old. I have growing concern about some of her odd behaviors. She has always been finicky and sort of quirky, but also just a joy to be around. We love her so much. We have always fed our cats hollistic diets and homemade foods. I cannot fathom why, but she likes to pee in the sink and the bathtub! This is something she has always done, since she was about 6 months old. We have 3 litterboxes and 2 cats, also the boxes are cleaned every other day. Also, no matter how much we feed her, she has always been skinny. Not so much that her backbone or her ribs are shown, but I think she could stand to gain a few pounds. Other than that, she is active, has a beautiful coat, bright eyes, and an active personality and always been an indoor kitty, never had to see a vet for anything (thankfully) other than vaccines when she was a baby. I am concerned about the urinating in the sink and the bathtub based on what I have read. I am wondering if it could be a UTI, but she has dont this her whole life, so i dont really know :( What do you think about that and also about her finicky eating? Sometimes she will refuse to eat ground beef, but she will aggressively eat lettuce, or pineapple chunks! It is quite funny. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks!

Tianna

Answer
Hi
Well I wouldn't have thought that she has a urinary infection as she has displayed this behaviour her whole life. Usually when n infection flares up there behaviour would change and urinating would be al over the place in some bad cases.

It is more likely that she has simply learned that the bathtub and the sink is the place to go rather than her litter tray. if the behaviour was not altered when it first started to happen it will now be very difficult to change. You would have to confine her to a room for a week or so with just the litter box and no access to the sink or bathtub.

As for the eating issue, well some cats are just more picky than others. Indeed it is a cats nature to change its diet from time to time as this assures survival in the wild i.e they are not reliant on one particular food.

However due to her skinniness I do wonder if she has some sort of underlining illness that may need to be looked into. Things like diabetes or a thyroid problem may be causing her thinness. If I were you I would definitely take her to the vets to be checked out for this. they can do some tests to see if there is anything physically wrong with her that could be causing the eating and weight problems.

best wishes Kate