*Waves* Hello! I saw an old friend of mine this week who has an ongoing problem with her cat. The cat is a spayed female, approx 3-4 years old I think, they have had her since she was a kitten. The household consists of 2 adults and no children or other animals. They don't have a cat flap but their kitty does go into the garden for a bit of a mooch around, but usually stays in the house after a couple of years ago, she got badly beaten up by another cat. Kitty has been to a vet and as far as they can tell, there are no medical reasons for kitty's problems.
Anyhoo, onto these problems. There are two. The main one is that kitty is mostly very loving and comes for lap time, cuddles etc, but will suddenly lash out for no reason. I'm not talking about the normal 'lashing out' that kitties do sometimes if they've had enough of the fuss etc. The other week, kitty was sat with her daddy, resting her chin on his lap, when he went to just move slightly and she launched herself onto his arm, grabbed his shoulder with both hands and bit him - the bite itself drew blood through his jumper
She did the same to me when I was there; purring and happy one second then launches herself at you with no warning. I have a nice cut on my arm now
So that's problem number 1. Problem number 2 is that she seems to have toileting issues. She will wee in the litter tray but will poop under the table next to it. My friend says she will go into the tray, shuffle about a bit, then get out and poop nearby. They have tried changing the litter type several times to no avail. Sometimes she also leaves little presents around the house and one time weed on the duvet on their bed while they were in bed.
I have suggested that they get a feliway and see if that makes any difference, and also get a second litter tray and put it next to the first one. It seems to me as if the problems (especially the second one) are the sorts of issues I might expect to see in a stressed kitty, but with just 2 quiet adults in the household and no catflap so no 'visitors' can get in, I just can't see why she would be so stressed.
Anyone got any other ideas?! Thanks