Ann is the owner of Yoda, an 8-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair cat. Ann and her husband live together with no other family members in the home. They have a second cat, Yoda's littermate, Nyla, who is also a spayed female. Ann adopted these cats when they were five years old, and had little information on their prior history, although she knew they were living with a family. Ann is a very doting owner. The cats have plenty of toys and treats, and are given free access to the whole house, being kept exclusively indoors. Although both cats are mildly fearful of strangers in the home, and hide when guests are visiting, they are very loving and enjoy close physical contact with Ann and her husband.
Ann had two behavioral complaints regarding the cats. The first involved both cats disrupting Ann's sleep in the early hours of the morning by batting at her face, running around the room, and jumping on her in bed. The second involved an elimination problem specific to one of the cats. This was Ann's primary concern.
Yoda had begun defecating on the dining room rug four months prior to our first meeting. The first time the owners noticed feces in the dining room was upon their return from a vacation, during which a sitter had been staying in the home with the cats. There were several piles of feces in one corner of the dining room, on the Oriental rug, at that time. Thereafter, Yoda had defecated approximately once a day in the dining room, although she continued to urinate reliably in her litter box. Ann was fairly certain it was only Yoda defecating in the dining room, because she had caught her in the act once, and because she had seen Nyla defecating in the litter box frequently. Both cats had been to the veterinarian for an examination, and their veterinarian suggested Yoda's problem was behavioral, and not physiological.
Although the change in routine caused by the vacation may have been a factor in disrupting Yoda's defecation patterns, it was confounded with a change in litter at the same time. Ann reported that she had experimented with corn cob litter just prior to vacation, and had filled the three litter boxes with cob while she was away. The sitter reported that she had cleaned all three litter boxes each day, and renewed the litter completely every few days. It is possible that Yoda did not like the new cob and began using the Oriental rug for that reason. Unfortunately, when Ann returned immediately to the original clumping litter, Yoda did not return to defecating in that litter. Ann was very ardent about cleaning the litter boxes frequently. All three litter boxes were located in the basement in quiet, out-of-the-way places. They were large, uncovered litter boxes. We began by moving one litter box into the kitchen at the doorway to the dining room. I told Ann that we would begin with the litter box near the accident site, and gradually move the litter box by several inches a day until it was back in its original position in the basement. I then had Ann purchase a bag of small balloons, blow them up, and tape them to the Oriental rug. I instructed her to set up a fan on the opposite side of the dining room, facing the balloons, and keep the fan turned on whenever she was not directly supervising Yoda. We used many small, swaying balloons to make the dining room alien and uninviting to Yoda. After a day or two of this, and as long as there were no feces in the dining room, Ann could remove one balloon each day from various spots within the array, until all of the balloons were gone. I was concerned that if the balloons were removed too quickly, Yoda would regress.
Ann implemented the procedure faithfully, and was very pleased with the results. There was never a single accident outside of the litter box from the day the balloons were first placed on the rug. It took about three weeks to gradually remove all of the balloons, during which time the litter box was also gradually moved back into the basement. At a one-, two-, and four-month follow-up, Ann reported no accidents, and Yoda was reliably urinating and defecating inside the litter box.
The second behavioral complaint involved both cats bothering Ann at approximately 4:00 AM every day. They would wake up in her bedroom or come into her bedroom and proceed to run wildly with each other, knock things off of her countertops, jump onto her body repeatedly, steal valuable items in which they usually showed no interest (e.g., Ann's glasses), and even bat Ann's face with their paws. Ann admitted that she usually responded to this after varying amounts of time by walking downstairs with the cats, petting them, and even sitting with them while they ate. I made the assumption that the reinforcer for this behavior was the attention from Ann. This behavior had been increasing in frequency for many months, and was now occurring daily.
I recommended a combination of extinction and a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO) schedule. That is, Ann was to pretend to continue sleeping (i.e., lying motionlessly with her eyes closed) as long as any of the disruptive behaviors were ongoing. At the end of each disruptive behavior, Ann was to wait 60 seconds, after which point she could turn over, pet the cats, and talk to them, only if both cats had been silent and still during that 60-second period. If any batting, countertop jumping, item stealing, or body pouncing occurred, Ann was to immediately return to pretending to sleep, restarting her 60-second count. By doing so, we were able to ensure that there was always a delay of 60 seconds since the last problem behavior from either cat before Ann delivered attention. To make up for the attention typically given while Ann sat with the cats while they ate, Ann was instructed to deliver that exact same routine in the evening before bed. Therefore, the attention and food were still delivered but during a more reasonable time of day.
Ann reported that the procedure worked very well. Although I had planned to gradually increase the DRO over several weeks until attention was delivered only when Ann awoke at her normal time, Ann reported that after increasing the duration to only 10 minutes, the behaviors dropped off completely. At a one-, two-, and four-month follow-up, Ann reported that she was able to sleep undisturbed until her normal waking time. She was still sitting with the cats in the evening while they ate, but she did not express any desire to change this routine, as she found it comforting and pleasant.
Shadow is a 6-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair cat. She lives in a comfortable home with Janet and Carl. I was called to treat Shadow's fear of handling and, especially, being captured for crating or transport of any sort. Carl and Janet had adopted Shadow from a fostering program when she was a year old. She had been virtually feral, with very little socialization prior to that time. Once adopted, Carl and Janet realized that veterinary visits were made extremely difficult by Shadow's fear of being scooped, captured, crated, transported, and handled at the veterinary hospital. She had been drugged and wrapped in a beach towel for one visit, but even this was very difficult for the owners to implement.
When I was called in, Shadow was overdue for veterinary care (vaccines, physical exam) and the owners reported that their last attempt to capture her had produced so much distress (running, screaming, and scratching) that they were reluctant to attempt it again. Shadow had been prescribed Torbutrol by her veterinarian, but the owners reported that this had made her more agitated, and they had discontinued the drug before onset of behavioral treatment. Over the five years since she'd been with Janet and Carl, Shadow had learned to tolerate petting on the back and head, and would approach her owners to rub on their legs or sit near them on the couch. Antecedents for escape still included any touching under the belly (especially in a "scooping" position), and any attempts to lift or place Shadow in the lap. The owners reported that they were able to provide some scratching on the belly and full strokes from head to tail along the back but most other contact (and ANY contact from strangers) provoked escape. The owners reported that tuna had rarely been provided to Shadow in the past, but when it had, she seemed very excited about it.
Assuming that tuna might serve as a reinforcer, I provided a systematic desensitization plan that began with teaching tolerance of handling around the belly and sides. Owners were instructed to sit on the floor with Shadow and provide a nibble of tuna during or immediately following body touching according to the desensitization plan, as long as Shadow remained calm and tolerant (no aggression and no attempts to escape). Escape extinction was not implemented and Shadow was allowed to come and go freely during these sessions. If a particular step in the desensitization hierarchy triggered a fearful or aggressive response, owners were instructed to return to the previous step for several repetitions. The step that had triggered a fearful response was then made more benign by reducing the duration, shifting the location, or decreasing the pressure of the petting that had provoked fear.
After several weeks, Janet reported that Shadow was allowing petting on her sides and even some lifting from behind and also was moving freely onto Janet's lap during desensitization sessions. Janet was pleased with the progress, but was warned that she was still some time from being able to place Shadow into the crate for vet visits. Janet then suffered some health problems and sessions were discontinued for several months. When we resumed sessions, I had Janet conduct a couple of refresher sessions, and Janet reported that Shadow was just where she'd been when sessions had stopped. Therefore, we moved on to shaping tolerance of crate proximity. We began by leaving the crate open and in an area of the living room wherein Shadow spent much of her time. We placed preferred toys in the crate along with Shadow's preferred blanket. Some treats were placed in the crate for finding if Shadow did enter the crate. Sessions now took place with Janet seated next to the crate. Shadow also was led into the crate with food lures and received tuna nibbles for a series of shaping steps that included one paw in crate, both paws in crate, all four paws in crate, etc. Once Shadow reliably entered the crate for food (this took approximately 3 months with sessions occurring several times a week for about 15 min at a time), we began closing the crate door and reinforcing calm tolerance of being enclosed in the crate by popping tuna through the crate doors. We also used crate door opening as a reinforcer for calm behavior in the crate. We did not need to use escape extinction at any point, as Shadow tolerated these gradually increasing durations of crate confinement. There were two major setbacks when the crate door snapped shut very loudly. For several weeks after each time this occurred, Shadow avoided the crate and Janet was forced to conduct petting tolerance sessions only.
After several more months (total time worked together was approximately 9 months), Shadow was entering the crate freely, eating her meals in the crate, tolerating being picked up and placed onto Janet's lap, and being led into the crate while the door was shut behind her. At this point, Janet felt she could wait no longer for Shadow's veterinary appointment. I warned her that a trip to the vet without first desensitizing Shadow to the crate movement and car ride was dangerous and likely to result in some relapse. I also understood, however, the need for Shadow to receive medical care (the owners remained reluctant to use further pharmacological intervention). Janet reported that this trip went very well, and that Shadow was led to the crate by Janet, ate some tuna while in the car on the way to the vet, and tolerated the veterinary exam with minimal difficulty. Upon returning, Shadow was as tolerant as before with all handling and within 2 weeks, she was returning to the crate when lured by tuna and was entering the crate to eat her meals as well.
Pet Behavior Change, LLC | 2008 | E-mail MeganMaxwell@petbehaviorchange.com | Phone (304) 280-8543