Lola
“Lola” 1 yr, old female/spayed brown Tabby cat – long-distance telephone communication
Anna is a bit of a workaholic and very fastidious. She loves her young tabbycat Lola, but is very upset about a certain habit of hers. Even the vet seems a bit stumped as everything else about Lola is purrfect. Lola has the disconcerting habit of, upon her person’s arrival from work, going into her litter box, taking a piece of fecal matter in her mouth and dropping it in front of Anna – preferably in the middle of the room. A particularly strange behavior for most animals and especially for a cat.
After communicating with Lola on the origins of this behavior, I was able to share with Anna that this habit initially formed as a result of an accident (poop stuck on bottom) and then a favorable outcome from where such accident landed. In plainer terms, one evening Lola lost a stray piece of stool in the middle of the living room floor. Lola recalls that Anna became quite upset over this, her voice getting very high pitched and ending in her chasing Lola around the house trying to catch, discipline and clean her.
Lola is a very bright and active cat. She gets quite bored and lonely throughout the day as at least 5 days out of the week she is left home alone while Anna is at work. The shrieking and chasing was more fun and activity than she had in a very long time. Anna is often tired when she gets home from work and does not have a lot of energy to engage her in play. As far as Lola was concerned, this was a brilliant tactic even though it started out as a misfortune. If it aint broke, don’t fix it – a motto I have been reminded of time and time again! Lola realized right away that she could repeat this each evening and get almost the same desired affect. Hey, even negative attention was good attention to Lola and it’s not like Anna was ever really angry, just frustrated.
I asked Lola what she might need to help her to amend this behavior as her person was very obviously weary of it and also concerned about her cat’s health carrying around all that … you know… I reiterated her tedium and isolation home alone and that Lola had asked for a feline companion to help her pass the time, keep her company and play. Lola hoped that this other kitty would be as gregarious and playful as her. As I passed this information onto Anna, I also recommended (should she decide to go that route) adopting from a cat rescue organization as they often have a very good idea of each of their felines personalities.
Shortly thereafter, Anna did indeed get Lola a wonderful, young feline companion and the ‘poop-drop’ game ended immediately. Two very happy cats, one very happy person & a spotless living room floor ensued.