Expert: Norman Auspitz - 1/30/2010

Question
I have two questions to ask, but first I will give you some background on our cats.
First, we have Booger. He is a 2 year old male cat, neutered when he was 1.5yrs, very friendly and cuddly with everyone. He was too needy and too energetic (waking us up at 3am to play, knocking stuff off shelves, ripping posters off walls, etcetc) so we recently got another cat in hopes that it would calm him down.
Second we have Trixie. She's four months. Neutered. We got her two months ago. She was abused, and is therefore VERY afraid of ppl. She will interact with us, but only if she initiates it. If we have ppl over she hides. She LOVES booger and follows him everywhere. He also loves her, and has taken on a very maternal role. He's calmed down completely!
Problem 1: Trixie pees our bed every 2 weeks or so. They have separate litter boxes, and they get cleaned every day (sometimes every other).
Problem 2: Sometime when booger is bathing trixie he'll bite down hard on her neck. He's biting her from her front - not the nape of the neck. It's like he's going  for the jugular or something. She doesn't react much. I don't know if it's because she's to scared to, or because she doesn't care. Why does he do this?
Thanks!
Laura

Answer
Laura,



First of all, the biting down behavior is a way cats play. They have very, very tough skin and their play often involves quite a bit of biting and scratching behaviors.  As long as no blood is drawn, I would not worry about it.

As to the peeing in the bed business, the first order of buisiness is a vet check to make sure there is no urinary tract medical issue.  If it is not medical, then you have to do some detective work. It may be you need the litter pans in a separate areas. IT is possible Booger is occsionally not letting Trixie use either litter pan.  Yoiu also, just may try keeping to door to the bedroom closed when you are not in there to keep Trixie out.  If she does pee inappropriately, the are must be cleaned with an enzyme based cleaner specifically for pet stains and pet odors (available from most pet supermarkets or farm stores). Just because youc annot smell it, does not mean Trixie cannot smell it!

Best regards... Norm.