A few strange behaviors from one cat...

Hi we have two cats, both from the same mother, different litter.

The oldest is a black male named Damien, a very well behaved cat (nowadays).

The other is a tortoise-shell female named Furia.

Furia loves outside, while Damien loves inside. They are generally well-behaved. Furia used to "poo" all over the house until we eventually got her used to going outside.

Anyways I was just wondering a few things about Damien.

We ave two food-water combination bowls (with the bottles that automatically drip their water), and Damien constantly does one or both of the following things:

1-We will hear some dragging noises and go into the kitchen, only to find Damien dragging the bowls with his paw, effectively getting water all over the kitchen floor. This is not fun.

2-Maybe 50% of the time when he's done eating he will stand with his butt towards the food and apparently try to bury his food (with the tile floor). This isn't a problem for us, just an odd thing I was wondering about. Also sometimes he'll come on my desk and move papers around in the same fashion..

What is Damien doing?

Hi scythetleppo, welcome to TCS.

Damien may be showing youhis dislike for the water bowl. The water sits in the bottle for many days and cats do like fresh water. Try switching to a ceramic bowl and filling it with fresh water every day.

As for the 'burying', this is a completely normal behaviour that harks back to the wild. If a cat isn't hungry right then or has had his fill of food, he will bury it to hide it from others so he can come back later to finish it. Damien is 'saving' his food for later.

He probably does it on your desk to try and clear a spot for himself to sit or lay.

Ok, thanks for the input, I was wondering also why would he be burying my papers and random objects on my desk?

Also ever since Furia has started going to the bathroom outside, we have noticed it's much preferable to a catbox in our home. We want Damien to use the outside as well. We moved the catbox outside in an effort to start him outside, but he has actually went #2 on the carpet. Now we have to basically force him outside where he just tries to get back in the whole time. Now, it's not his fault because we don't have a cat door so we basically have been letting Furia out every time she meows at the door. How can we get Damien to sort of "graduate" into going outside for his duties?

We'll try that ceramic bowl out too thanks.

Hi there
one of my feral kittens likes to bury his food with anything handy or imaginery the other the little girl dosnt , also she loves to get out now but i have a hell of a job getting her back in only when hungers sets in will she come back , the little boy however likes to go out for a few mins then right back in and uses the litter box inside
where as i think the little girl goes outside as shes been away for 10 hours at a time and hangs around the garden so im in sort of the same situation will watch ur thread to get advice as well cheers good luck cheryl xxxxxxx

Originally Posted by SNOWIS MUM

Hi there
one of my feral kittens likes to bury his food with anything handy or imaginery

Click to expand...

so thats why abi makes that little digging motion near her food bowl? she is burying the food? how adorable.

Cats are not dogs and they are not easily trained to potty outside. They will generally go wherever they want to go, if their litter pans are removed. You are effectively confusing this cat by making the litter pans unavailable to him. He is used to the pans being in one place, he is not used to being outside, hence his meowing and trying to get back indoors where he is safer. Cats love routine, and by changing their routine as you have, you are essentially creating an unhealthy situation for your cat. Stress causes illness in cats and this cat is an open candidate for a stress-related illness.

Placing the litter pans back in the regular area of your home should stop the inappropriate peeing and pooping. If it doesn't, I strongly suggest you get this cat to the vet to be checked out.