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Whether you have just one cat, or a houseful, you'll find plenty of wisdom and practical advice for soothing battered egos and preventing territorial battles, in feline behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett's Cat Vs. Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat.
Even though I've shared my home with one or more cats for more than 15 years, some of the feline facts that Ms. Johnson-Bennett presents were new to me, including the concept of "time-sharing," whereby multiple cats can share a fairly limited territory by working out a system so that they essentially take turns occupying particular places in a home:
"One cat may occupy a certain room or sleep on a piece of furniture at a particular time of day, and then another cat claims it during the next shift. This isn't just a coincidence, but rather a delicate balance of peace through avoidance. . .
When you stop to think about how carefully the cats have worked out the time-sharing arrangement, you can begin to appreciate how upsetting it must be when furniture is rearranged, certain pieces are removed, a new cat is added, or you make a move to a new home."
There is an excellent chapter on introducing a new cat--particularly apt at this time of year when so many people are adopting shelter kittens--with ingenious tips such as the "sock exchange," a method of exposing the cats to one another by first collecting "friendly facial pheromones" on clean socks and allowing the cats to become acquainted with one another's scent before they actually meet face to face.
As the reader might expect, Ms. Johnson-Bennett offers extensive information about the causes and remedies for spraying and indiscriminate urination. She is staunchly opposed to covered litter boxes, calling them "the biggest mistake I see owners make" in a multicat environment. She points out that some litter box problems may be caused by separation anxiety. We typically think of our cats as independent characters, so it may be surprising to learn that they, like dogs, can become nonplussed if we leave them alone for over-lengthy periods of time:
A cat may eliminate on your clothes or on your bed because of the strong presence of your scent. She will try to soothe her anxiety by combining her scent with yours, and she may also scratch or chew your belongings. It's important that you not punish a cat for this behavior because it'll just increase her anxiety.
The author is a strong proponent of a product called Feliway, containing synthetic feline facial pheromones (as mentioned in the "sock exchange," above), which are "released when a cat is in a calm state. . .they have a calming effect on cats when they smell them later." She advocates using Feliway on inappropriately marked areas, and in a variety of other situations, such as moving to a new home and visiting the vet.
Having recently cared for a cat who battled cancer for the last nine months of her life, I was particularly interested in the section about the signs and symptoms of feline stress, which include hiding, becoming more demanding, constantly seeking attention, excessive vocalization, decreased appetite, nongrooming or overgrooming, and inappropriate elimination. As always, the first step in addressing these issues should be a complete veterinary check-up, but if your cat receives a clean bill of health, Cat Vs. Cat offers a blueprint to help you help him cope.
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