Greetings!
Can you believe we’re almost through January?! On the one hand, I feel like Christmas was only a week or so ago, except we no longer have to do the dreaded chore of taking down all the fun decorations. On the other hand, I can see that in many ways we stretched out our holiday season in a really healthy way this year. Decorations didn’t come down until mid-January, our gifts are still in our front room where we are either enjoying them or occasionally taking time to appreciate them before they are all put away, and my wife and I have been playing our new Nintendo Switches together almost every night instead of me watching TV and her doing computer geek stuff in the office. Yay, us!
This Week:
We’ve been going through some tough times with our cats, Jasper and Max, over the past three months and I haven’t shared the story because we were still in the middle of it all. I think we have finally emerged on the other side with everyone healthy and doing well. (Knock on wood, or whatever you do to ensure your positive outlook doesn’t get thrown back in your face.)
Helping Our Cats Solve Problems We Didn’t Know They Had
It’s emotionally scary and draining when your pets exhibit behavior that could be related to a serious health problem. Over the past three months both of our cats, Max and Jasper, have been doing just that. It’s been quite the puzzle to solve.
It started with us finding random small poops on our floor. Max has long hair and occasionally will drag bits with him that fall off near the litter box. That’s a little gross, but no big deal. However, these were in our bedroom, on the second floor, about as far as you can get from the two litter boxes we have. In theory, it could be either cat, but we put a few facts together and decided the random pooper had to be Max. It happened a time or two upstairs, then downstairs on the kitchen rug where we routinely give them treats. Only, it wasn’t actually the same rug they were accustomed to getting treats on. I had replaced it with a new one the day before he pooped on it.
OK, we thought, he’s sending us a message that he doesn’t appreciate the new rug. We figured after a few days of receiving treats on that rug, he’d decide it was acceptable. He did. Good deal.
Except for a couple of nights later, he peed on our bed! Not only was it on our bed, but on our expensive new comforter. Did he not like the new comforter any more than he liked the new rug? Maybe, but we were worried it could be a medical issue, rather than a commentary on our style. I was immediately on the phone trying to make an appointment for as soon as possible. This was Friday morning and unfortunately, our vet couldn’t see him until Monday. Other vet offices had even longer waits. Not only were we concerned about Max, but we were disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to start a much-needed, week-long anniversary trip the next day.
I’ll skip the details, but by Tuesday afternoon all the test results were in, and we’d discovered that Max didn’t appear to have any kind of medical problem. It seemed to be a behavioral issue. That we could handle. Since peeing on the comforter, he’d been acting normal, with no pooping or peeing outside of the litter box, so my wife and I decided to take a shortened version of our anniversary RV trip. We’d only be gone four nights. Usually, a short trip like that wasn’t a problem for any of our pets. If left more than about five days, the cats started getting aggressive with each other and we’d find clumps of fur, usually Max’s, strewn all over our bedroom floor.
Our trip was near the end of October 2022, and when we returned we noticed that Jasper looked like he’d lost some weight. My daughter had been pet-sitting so we knew he wasn’t eating quite as much as usual. We figured we’d get him back on his regular schedule and he’d soon be back to normal.
It took a good week or more before Jasper was acting almost like his old self. During that time, he wasn’t eating much and wasn’t interacting with us as enthusiastically as usual, but he kept up with other daily routines like walking out on the front porch when I took Kola dog for a walk and snuggling up with us at night. So, we didn’t really think there was a serious problem. After a week, or so, it seemed like he was getting better and putting on weight. We figured his eating issue was brought on by the stress of us being gone and now that everything had returned to his expected daily routine, all was right with the world.
Wrong.
We went through a week with Jasper eating well, and then a week of him not eating much and acting not quite himself. This went on through early December. We knew he was losing some weight, but other than that he was mostly acting normal. One morning we woke up and both of us noticed he looked unbelievably thin (for him - he was usually a 14-pound cat). We decided to weigh him and according to our scale, he’d lost four pounds. This was bad. We were able to get Jasper into the vet the same day.
At the exam, where their records showed only a two-pound loss, the veterinarian couldn’t find anything obviously wrong. He showed none of the signs associated with most of the diseases that would cause weight loss. After various blood tests, nothing was found that could be the cause of Jasper’s issues. The vet suggested it could be a food allergy, so we should start feeding him lots of “novel” proteins, meaning not the Friskies canned chicken, turkey, whitefish, or salmon our boys usually ate.
As most cat people know, the stereotype of finicky cats is well-founded. A favorite food today might be unpalatable tomorrow. We knew finding new foods Jasper and Max would eat could be a challenge, so we bought many brands and flavors - duck, rabbit, something with quail eggs, and more. They excitedly indulged in some and Jasper tried to bury at least one of them. Clearly, he thought that one smelled like something from the litter box.
While Jasper seemed interested in the new foods, he wasn’t eating much more than he had been, even after trying the appetite stimulant the vet recommended. It made his ears red, so we decided that medication was not a good one for medicine-sensitive Jasper. About a week after the first visit, the vet suggested we try a dewormer, just in case. The day after his first dose, he started perking up. He ate more and felt more like himself energetically.
Jasper still had some off days, but overall, it seemed we were on the right track. The dewormer can take three weeks to reach its full effect. At three weeks, we thought maybe it had been worms as Jasper was definitely putting on weight. A few days later, not so much.
The uncertainty was hard on all of us, especially my wife, who is undeniably Jasper’s person. We were unsure if we should go back to the vet since it seemed like there wasn’t much they could do, plus it causes him a lot of stress. He has had episodes of urinary crystals due to stress, so adding to his stress level is something we are constantly aware of. We were still experimenting with foods, plus the dewormer had just recently reached full efficacy, so maybe that was still a factor to consider.
During all this time, we were tracking what food was eaten and the responses. We were also tracking another issue. Max had started pooping in the corner of our front room during the night. I had to start putting down puppy pads because he went there so often. One day, he’d both peed and pooped on the pad. I was really happy the pads held in the urine so well! Along with the food that was given, we began tracking when he went, and if anything potentially stressful had happened the previous day.
Every day we’d talk about potential causes and watch for any behaviors that could be significant. Then one day, not too long ago, my wife noticed Max pushing Jasper away from the food. We’d also noticed that Max was laying close to the door of our bedroom, which is unusual for him. We finally started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Max was bullying Jasper.
These littermates have always gone back and forth with dominance games, wrestling every couple of months for the position of Top Cat. Sometimes Jasper seemed to have won and others, it was Max.
What was happening now was more subtle than wrestling. It was mostly non-verbal, involved body positioning and unfriendly looks, marking behaviors, and maybe a lot of psychic communication. Max was taking over areas that Jasper might want to travel through, marking as his the front room, which Jasper spends more time in, and keeping Jasper from feeling safe in their feeding room.
We’d already been trying Feliway without much luck. We tried separating their food, but no one was going for that nonsense. We needed them to get along and co-exist peacefully again. We decided to give them joint play sessions with their favorite fishing pole toys, and dosing Max with some Rescue Remedy Bach Flower Essense to calm his bullying little butt down. This seemed to ease the tension and Jasper started eating more, but not every day.
Max was still often using the corner of the front room as a litter box. I’d already purchased a new litter box with thoughts of placing it where he was going. The thing is, our front room is the nicest room in the house, it’s carpeted, and the corner is not easy to reach. It is not a place we wanted to put a litter box, so we hadn’t. We tried finding another acceptable place that we thought we could squeeze a third litter box into, but every one of them felt like it would be in the way, make a mess in a hard-to-clean area, or disturb one of Jasper’s favorite places to sleep. So, we replaced one of the old litter boxes with the new box, in case that would help, and the old one was exiled to the garage.
Last Sunday, after finding yet another pad soaked with poop and pee, I reached my limit of basically changing diapers in the corner of the front room. My wife was also at her limit, constantly worrying if Jasper was going to eat and hoping Max would use the litter box. We had to do something.
In a spontaneous act of desperation, we set up the new litter box in our entryway. It was close to Max’s preferred corner of the front room, which was a fair distance from our other boxes. It was also one of the few places that is not carpeted. It’s nothing either of us wanted to put in our nicely decorated entryway but figured if we could stop the ongoing problems, it would be worth it. Besides, preferring animals to people, we hardly ever have guests over.
The difference this small change made has been miraculous! Almost immediately, the energy of the house shifted. My wife and I easily felt it. Both boys tested out the new box and must have found it satisfactory. Now, they are eating side by side again. Max is back to hanging out in his old spaces, instead of the ones he can watch Jasper from. He is using both the new litter box and his old favorite one. Jasper is eating enthusiastically, following my wife around like a puppy, and is being demanding - all super normal Jasper behaviors. The boys are hanging out together more and more with no apparent conflicts. Granted, it has only been four nights, but we have high hopes for the good behavior to continue.
I hope writing this piece doesn’t jinx the whole thing but the third litter box seems to have been the major key to the puzzle. We did discover that Jasper has a sensitivity to salmon, so won’t be getting that anymore. He may or may not have had worms. Given that he rarely goes outside, it is unlikely, but not impossible. We now know that Max can be a big bully so we need to watch for signs of trouble.
The biggest lesson? We should have followed common advice given by vets and other animal behavior experts and added a third litter box a long time ago. We were told when we’d had a past litter box guarding issue (again, caused by Max), that people should set up one litter box for each cat plus one extra. They added that we should do that on all floors of our house. For us, that would mean six litter boxes! Two litter boxes seemed to work fine, why add a third (or fourth, fifth, or sixth)? Now we know. We don’t plan on adding three more litter boxes any time soon, but at least we’ll have a better idea of what to watch for.
Behind-The-Scenes:
Today I am sharing a prototype of the “animal facts” section of my revamped newsletter, which will be called Captivating Creatures. I’m not sure what to call it, yet. For now, I’m going with: What About ______?”
What About Inchworms?
Inchworms are tiny creatures that most of us are probably familiar with. They are little worms that fold themselves in half to make their way up a branch, or maybe your arm. Depending on how you feel, they are either fun and fascinating, creepy and crawly or a damaging pest. Here are a few facts to deepen your knowledge of inchworms.
Inchworms are not worms at all. They are hairless caterpillars with three pairs of legs on the front part of their bodies and two or three pairs on the back, and no legs in between. In order to move, they pull their rear legs up, forming a loop of their bodies, then use the front legs to move forward. They do this repeatedly.
Inchworms are the larval stage of the Geometridae family of moths that are generally known as Geometer Moths, of which there are over 35,000 species. The word “Geometridae” comes from two Greek words that mean “to measure the earth.” Inchworms are so named because each time they move, they progress about one inch. They are also known as loopers, spinners, and measuring worms.
Inchworms are not harmful to humans, but a large infestation of them can cause serious destruction to plants and trees. On a brighter note, full-grown Geometer moths are considered beneficial pollinators.
Disguise is the inchworm’s best defense. With greens and browns as their most common coloring, most resemble something in their environment - twigs, bark, thorns, and even bird droppings. The Camoflouged Looper species is actually able to munch off bits of flowers and stick them to their backs with spit. As they move to different flowers, they discard one costume and trade it for another more appropriate one. How’s that for clever?
Another defense that some inchworms have is the ability to spin silk similar to a spider. When a predator approaches, they can drop down their silk string and “hang out” until the danger has passed. Conveniently, the silk hardens so that the inchworm can climb back up it and resume what it was doing, which was most likely eating. That’s the main purpose of the larval stage - eat to gather as much energy as possible for the later metamorphosis into a Geometer Moth.
Inchworms had a song written about them by Frank Loesser which was first performed by Danny Kaye in 1952 and later by Paul McCartney in 2012. It was appropriately titled, “The Inchworm,” or alternately, “Inchworm.”
There was a children’s ride-on toy released by the Hasbro Corporation in the early 1970s called The Inchworm. (I remember the original commercials. How about you?) It was green with a yellow saddle, hat, and wheels, and fairly well mimicked the movement of an inchworm. Radio Flyer now holds the trademark and is still making its version of The Inchworm.
There is an exercise called Inchworm that involves going from a standing position to planking and back to standing. It is supposed to be a great full-body exercise for improving both strength and flexibility and can be adapted to focus on particular muscle groups.
Favorite Fun Stuff:
This week my favorite fun stuff was watching Bullet Train with my 20-year-old son while he built the Lego Groot we’d gotten him for Christmas, and playing Animal Crossing on the Nintendo Switch my wife gave me for Christmas. If there is a lesson to be learned there, it’s to take time to relax, play and enjoy time with family.
Have a wonderful weekend. I look forward to chatting with you next week. As always, feel free to comment, ask questions, or just say hi by clicking the “Comment Box” below.
Peace,
Dakota Duncan
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Loved reading about your problem solving with the litterboxes. I seem to do the same trouble-shooting with my three cats. They have such interesting and enigmatic personalities.