I am going to do serious harm to my wife's cat

[catmandu57]

I've come to the end of my rope with her (the cat). I rescued a kitten recently, and the kitten being playful will chase her siamese, who has decided she must live in our bedroom now to avoid the kitten.

I'm not concerned with that, if she wants to live in there, fine, live in there, the trouble is her relieving herself under our bed.

It started out with her pissing on the bed, I resolved that by placing a bowl of food on the bed where she urinated, and placing a litter box for her use only in the bathroom.

That worked just fine, until Friday. I heard scratching under the bed, then the odor of cat feces hit my nose. I got on her ass as soon as this happened, I couldn't catch her, I don't know what I would'be done if I did catch her.

So, I cleaned the mess up, changed the entire litter box, thinking maybe it was'nt clean enough, then this morning I'm in here reading DU, and the smell of you guessed it cat feces comes wafting through the house.

I went ballistic on her, caught her a good whack before she got hid, Marshmallow is at work, when she gets home we're going to go around over this cat, we have others, they must be democats we get along great, this one must be a repuke.

Whatever it is it's going to go away, anyone want a psychotic siamese cat?

[Philostopher]

1. You do know that hitting the cat probably will only ...

aggravate the behavior. I know it's tempting, but it really does nothing but to make the cat more neurotic. Soiling places outside the litter box usually are a reaction to stress, so chasing them down and thumping them really only adds to the stress.

Sounds to me like she's just really a hardcore territorial cat and, regrettably, there may not be anything you can do to change that. Finding a no-kill shelter that can help her find a home she won't have to share (or running an ad to see if anybody wants to take her for a nominal fee) may be your best and/or only option.

I have one who does this, but not as dramatically as yours -- she poops just outside the box, within sight of it sometimes. Not all the time -- just once in a while, maybe a couple of times a week.

She's been doing it since we started taking in other cats, I know it's really just territoriality. That she does it on the tile floor right beside the box makes it a behavior we can tolerate -- if she were doing it in the bedroom, it would piss me off, too.

Some cats just don't tolerate other cats well. Unfortunately, you don't know that until you start taking other cats in. Sometimes, you don't run into the problem until you put two cats together who 'rub each other the wrong way,' even if the cat has tolerated others. Our 'poop outside the box' cat got even worse when he got a dog, though she still only does it on the tile next to the box.

I know it's frustrating -- it's a little frightening when a cat starts something like that, since most of the time they want to use the box, and unlike dogs it's a monumental task to 're-housebreak' a cat, since the behaviors are usually stress-related, and the only way to solve them is to remove the stress from the cat or remove the cat from the stress. In a multi-animal household, this often is beyond the scope of what you can do.

There also may be a possibility that the cat has a health problem, or could be treated for stress by a vet. They make 'kitty tranquilizers' to treat cats for this kind of stuff, if you wanted to get into that -- you might discuss the problem with a vet who's familiar with the cat, who knows, a vet might be able to offer you some alternatives.

[xultar]

2. HITTING----ANIMALS----DOES----NOT---WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's get that straight right now.

Perhaps she's doing it because she's afraid of YOU!

[demnan]

3. Siamese are extremely jealous creatures

who need about twice the attention of ordinary cats, especially from their favorite person.

First I would take her to the vet to rule out any physical problems. Then discuss this problem with the vet and see if they can recommend anything to calm the cat. She is not very happy with you all right now. My Siamese did this once, when I left on a business trip for 3 days (he dominates my older Abby-mix female, but they are relatively amiable). He left a single turd by the door where I come into the apartment. And I had a friend who stopped by and constantly paid him attention! Well, he only did this once, but needless to say, I don't travel much.

I would say this is up to your wife. She is the cat's person. She should spend some time with this cat to see if she can work out the problems. Lots of love, calmness and attention. And no anger, please! That doesn't do you, the cats or your marriage any good.

[Lorien]

4. Negative reinforcement NEVER works with cats

Go to the humane societies home page or google "introducing a new pet to an existing pet". The proper introduction is key. Praise the old cat and give her treats whenever she interacts well with the kitten, and make sure the older cat is getting more attention then the newcomer for the first few weeks. Your wife is really the one to do this; the Siamese will probably never trust you now. :-(

[Princess Turandot]

5. Have you taken her to a vet.?

while I agree with the rest of the posters that inappropriate elimination can be the result of jealousy, a vet visit can't hurt.

Hitting a cat is like hitting a year old baby. She has no idea why you are hitting her, just that you are acting like a bully.

Are you letting the kitten into the bedroom where your original cat is? If you are, that may be continuing the problem. How old is the siamese cat? Some cats, especially ones who have not have lived with other cats, prefer to be only cats. The kitten that you rescued is the 'interloper', not the cat who has lived with you. If you are at the point of considering re-homing one, why would you re-home the one that has been living with you, rather than the kitten??

Here is an excellent website with a variety of links to cat care by a long term multi-cat owner. About halfway down the page, you should see links to introducing new cats into a household. (I hope that you had the rescued kitten checked by a vet to make sure she was FIV/FLeuk negative.)

Here is the link:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pointe/9352/owners.html

[patdem]

6. Sounds like you put the new kitten's interest over the cat that lived

in your home and expected to be safe and protected there...like others have said...learn to introduce a new kitten and pay MORE attention to the older cat NOT less! Since this behaviour began after you brought in the new kitty..it is not the siamese's problem, but the way you brought in the new kitty and the way you are treating the older cat???

Or you can get a divorce and keep the new kitty?