BehavioRx Case of the Month
for June 2004

Adult Cats, Housesoiling and Play

The clients had picked up the BehavioRx Instructions for Housetraining Cats - Adults and Kittens. Although the family of 5, including three daughters, age 5, 7 and 11, all participated in the program to correct their 3 year old, spayed female gray tabby. Success was almost immediate, within 3 days. Three heavenly weeks of
litter-retraining ensued, when the older girls started back to school and the youngest started pre-school. This left the cat, "Tammy," without a playmate during
the day and the housesoiling restarted. Her urination was not 'puddling,' but spraying in the girls' bedroom and in their play room.

Was it the absence of the children? The parents didn't think so, saying that they were still feeding Tammy at the spray-spots, using the proper clean-up materials and
program, praising her at the litter box when she used it when they were home. However, one, vital element of the correction had slipped through the cracks in
everyone's memory. When we about their daily activities since school started, nobody mentioned playing with Tammy. When we pointed this out, everyone looked at each other rather sheepishly, then vowed to pick up with the schedule of playtimes that they had all neglected. Two weeks later, they phoned to say things were going without a hitch. A month later they were able to miss some play sessions with no backsliding by Tammy. The moral? When it comes to play, cats have better memories than most people.

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