Animal behaviourist opinions sought

[mrsbrown]

The cat shat on the mat, well, my jeans, at 5am.

We've been frequently washing towels, and other items of clothing we habitually keep on the floor, because the cat wee'd on them. He does this during the night and occasionally, we even hear him preparing to do it. We did this morning. He'd been thrown out of our room twice before he did the smelly deed.

Does he want us to let him out? He was certainly hanging near the front door when we got up to clean it. I don't want to let him out overnight, I hate him killing birds or getting injured.

Is his litter tray too close to his food? The litter tray is on the floor, his bowl on a table directly above.

Have I damaged him psychologically by locking him in the toilet, with his litter tray, at 5am?

Comments

[splodgenoodles.livejournal.com]

You won't have achieved anything, because that's not how cats learn. The risk is that he would start to associate the kitty tray with bad experiences.

I don't know why he'd be hanging around the door *after* he'd done that, except that it was pre-dawn and he wanted to hunt. And maybe he didn't like the fact that your room now smelt like a toilet...;P

Try shifting a litter tray to your end of the house. Given the choice, cats will bury their waste. For some reason he doesn't feel like there's a choice.

Is the tray somewhere nice and quiet? They don't like being disturbed.