2 Possible Causes of Your
Cat's Behavioral Problems

By Teri Champigny

As with any new pet, one of the most frustrating aspects of acquiring a new cat is getting him to behave and follow the rules of the house. You need to understand what may be causing his behavioral problems to happen in the first place.  There are numerous reasons why a cat may be urinating all over the house, destroying furniture with his claws, displaying loud noises, etc.

With time and proper understanding, you can get to the root cause of the problem and provide the proper solution for it. Below are two possible reasons for your cat's destructive behavior:

1. He may have a medical condition. You may not be aware of this, but many cats who display behavior problems are often suffering from some type of illness.  For example, a cat who has had diabetes for a while will drink lots of water and urinate almost constantly all over the place.  Though this may seem like a behavior problem to a pet owner who is not aware of his cats medical issue, it is a serious occurrence that the cat cannot help unless he is properly treated.

Does your cat bite at you or others in the house? Believe it or not this can be another problem stemming from a medical condition.  A cat that lashes out and tries to bite or scratch is doing so in order to protect himself.  This is very confusing to the owner because the cat is not really being attacked. However, unknown to the owner, his cat may have a urinary tract infection. 

When this happens, it is very painful for a cat to urinate.  He associates this pain as being attacked, especially when he is near the litter box.  He may then lash out at people whenever he feels the need to urinate. Once the cat has been properly diagnosed and treated and the the infection goes away, he will immediately stop trying to “protect himself” by biting and clawing.

2. Are you placing unreasonable demands on your cat? Sometimes it is not necessarily the cat that needs to be looked at as having an issue causing the behavior problem.  Many times it is the owner who may be pushing his pet to behave badly.  By being open minded to looking at your own role as a possible cause of your cats' destructive behavior, you may discover that it is simply a problem of you placing unreasonable commands upon your feline friend.

Ask yourself this question: Are you asking something from your cat that he may not be able to deliver? For example, are you asking your cat to use the bathroom in a dirty litter box? Many times owners do not clean the litter box as much as it should be cleaned. This causes their cat to not use it and go elsewhere in the house.

Another example of placing an unreasonable demand on your cat is asking him to stay off the couch while at the same time not providing an alternate posting spot for him to rest on. Cats love and need to have their own areas to lay down and to scratch at.  If you are yelling at your cat every time he pounces on the couch, and he doesn't stop, then it is time to invest into his own scratching post and lay area.  This is a very simple solution to getting your cat to stay off of your couch and the other furniture.