Cat's territorial peeing and anger?

by Jamel
(New York)

I have a neutered cat that randomly pees in places other than the litterbox. I've been watching the behavior very closely and it seems to happen in 2 instances:

1. When I ignore his cries for wet food, instead of dry food, he pees on the floor. This happens after all the yelling (unusually loud meows clearly directed at me).

2. He randomly pees in my wife's shoes, but NEVER pees on mine. Even if it's just my wife's shoebox, he will pee in it. (He's more affectionate toward her.) Also, this particular behavior started after we gave up our female cat to the ASPCA.

This seems like territorial and angry behavior. I'm annoyed and confused.

I've also noticed him peeing in the tub randomly. This is new behavior coupled with drinking water from the tub faucet and relaxing in the tub as well.

Any ideas?

Answer by Kate
It is more likely to be anxiety than anger. It is normal for us to try and place the same emotions that humans have onto cat behavior but they just don't think and react that way.

Basically something is upsetting him and it could be that changes to the home i.e the absence of the other cat or perhaps something else even your behavior towards him could be upsetting him.

the peeing is definitely a way to make the house smell more like him and this in turn helps to calm him down. in fact the whole peeing on your wifes things who he is closer to is typical behavior of this. i.e they smell most of her which makes him feel safe and then he wants to add his scent to them which helps him feel comfortable in the home environment. A bit odd I know but i have seen this behavior so many times before.

if the other cat only recently left then it could be that he is still coming to terms with this change (what ever you do don't get another cat, that will only make things worse). he may just need some time to settle down again.

You could try the confinement method of litter training. this method is designed to give the cat less space to have to worry about and to become more confident again as well as to become re acquainted with his litter tray. please see this page for information on this process

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-litter-box.html

As for anger when you do not give him his wet food, well again its not anger, he is used to one sort of food and he finds it difficult to understand why he is not getting it (by the way he looks like he has some Siamese in him somewhere and that would explain the loud persistent meowing).

when he displays this behavior at food times then you will have to not engage with him at all and if possible walk away from him. At the moment he knows how to get a reaction out of you, when that stops he will realize that this behavior no longer works. please see this page for more info on this method
https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-discipline.html

Also try and make sure his life is full of things to do to keep him happy and stimulated. If he does have some Siamese in him, he will be a very active and intelligent cat who needs lots to keep him interested. Again I have a page with more info on this here

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/indoor-cats.html

I hope i have been able to be of help, unfortunately there is never one simple answer to these things.

best wishes Kate

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