Felines instinctively lay claim to their jungle. So what's an owner to do when territorial behaviors disrupt harmony at home?
Kim Ghobrial of Tualatin, Oregon, fretted when her 1-year-old Burmilla cat, Aidan, began spraying all over her home, marking his territory. Behavior such as this, although natural to cats, just wasn't acceptable. Ghobrial also feared that Aidan's marking would set off her other felines who shared the space.
Instinctively, cats spray to mark their territory, especially if they feel threatened by other cats. Neutering or spaying usually solves the problem. And it worked for Aidan, too.
Territorial marking exhibits itself in various forms.
"Cats have scent glands all over their bodies – on their tails, on the sides of their bodies, even on their chins," says Kate Gamble, a cat behaviorist in Auburn, California. "It's natural for them to want to use those scent glands to mark their perceived area." If a cat feels threatened or stressed, she communicates by marking something, even if that means spraying a favorite leather couch.
Mikel Delgado, a cat behavior specialist at the San Francisco SPCA, says, "Spraying is a way for a cat to react in response to stress." Causes for spraying may be simple (introducing a new pet, rearranging the furniture, moving the litter box or changing your work schedule) or more complex (relocating to a new home or scolding your cat for inappropriate behavior).
"Cats are methodical creatures," Gamble says. "If things change, that throws their world into chaos."
Cats don't mark their territory only when they're stressed or upset. The act of methodically rubbing objects – furniture, people, doorways – is a cat's way of proclaiming, "This is mine." Kneading – pushing and pulling her paws in and out on a soft surface – is a marking behavior, too. Like rubbing, it shows the cat is happy and relaxed.
"Competitiveness nearly always happens when a new cat is added to the household," Gamble says. "For example, the cat will think, 'I'd better eat up all this food before the other cat gets it.'" In other words, because cats may not know how to deal with a new cat, they can respond by refusing to share their space, a food dish or the litter box.
"In many cases, territorial behavior reflects how well socialized the cat was to other cats when she was growing up," Delgado says. A competitive cat also may have had negative experiences with cats or had to fight for food in the past.
If there is no new cat, look outside to see if any neighborhood cats are staring in the windows. This is another common cause of spraying.
The key to correcting inappropriate territorial behaviors is to find out what's triggering them.
"There is a reason for every cat behavior," Gamble says. "The worst thing you can do is to punish a cat without trying to identify the reason behind the action."
In most cases, if you punish your cat, you'll just make the problem worse. Because undesirable territorial behaviors often are caused by stress, being punished will only make your cat more unruly.
"If more people understood that marking is something cats do to communicate that they are stressed, not a deliberate act of spite, they would have more patience to work with the problem," Delgado says.
Once you've identified the problem, work to remove or lessen the stress so you and your cat can live a happier, more harmonious life.
Mikel Delgado offers these stress-saving tips for adding a cat to your menagerie:
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