Tales from the Whiff

One (or possibly both, but at least one) of our cats has an annoying … well, I won’t call it a habit, because it doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens way too often, believe me … behavior.

He takes leaks down the heater ducts.

We have tried a variety of deterrents — various sprays, pepper, etc. — around the ducts. This is tough to do too comprehensively, since we have quite a few of them, and it is, as I noted, not a frequent occurance. We’ve put little air redirectors to “shield” the ducts, but that hasn’t always worked (especially, say, in Katherine’s room, since it’s a toy to her.) We’ve inserted filters into the ducts, which sort of helps in keeping the liquid from running too far, but that doesn’t resolve the matter by any means.

Both our cats are males, both fixed, but it’s clearly some sort of a marking behavior.

There does seem to be something of a correlation between the behavior and stress. It happens more often if we are off on vacation, or if the cats are shut up in the house. Since they don’t get along with each other terribly well, the more they’re forced to compete for territory, the more frequently this occurs.

Unfortunately, the stressors are not something we have much control over. We’ve had to shut up the house at night (shutting the cats in) the past few days, and probably will be continuing to do so for a few weeks more, due to another cat in the neighborhood coming into the house in the wee hours.

Suggestions (aside from indulging in the impulse to drop-kick both cats into the next county — “Honest, it’s not that far, it won’t hurt them all that much …”) are welcome.