Wild cats in nature don't **** in their own dens. The mother cat (yes, it's yukky) cleans up her kittens with her tongue. When they're old enough to move around of their own accord, they follow her outside. She digs a hole to wee and poo and buries it; this prevents the smells that would attract predators to find and eat her babies while she's out hunting. They learn by copying everything she does.
With cats raised by commercial breeders, the queen or mother cat teaches the kittens to use the litter tray in the cage. So bought kittens automatically have clean habits.
A cat will only dirty its own environment if left locked inside for long hours and the human has not cleaned out the litter tray properly. Properly means all faeces and soaked litter removed every day, and the tray washed and litter replaced as soon as it gets a bit wiffy. In other words, it has to be desperate.
We keep our cat's tray on the verandah, well out of the reach of rain. She will push through the cat door to go out and use it even in the middle of a freezing night.
Tom's will instinctively spray their territories - but responsible pet owners do not keep Toms.
Also, some cats may take revenge by doing something they know they're owner hates when they're stressed by something. Cats do not forgive or forget cruel, selfish or inconsiderate behaviour. The more frequent, erratic or habitual the negative behaviours, including abuse and violence towards other human family members and pets, the more neurotic and badly behaved a cat will become. A cat will forgive a human if the human apologises for the mistake - providing it wasn't too heinous. Try asking vets or the staff at animal rescue centres if you want corroboration.
When domestic animals behave badly, the most common cause is ignorance on the human's part. The human does not understand the animal's needs, doesn't know how to read its body language, and doesn't know the species-specific way to train it effectively.
This post was edited by my2cents at August 17, 2019 2:14 PM MDT
aaah.... Bixby... such a little cutie, seems like he has it made... very Cool. And I bet he has a beautiful couch he can use as his scratching post?...haha
Yes, Bixby is adorable. The only thing that "stinks" about cats, usually, is their instinct to kill other little creatures just because. Dogs often do that too, though...including cats.
Orange tabbies are great colors for cats. I used to love that damn Morris. lol He was big and grumpy
Bixby is a lucky kitty to have a loving daddy like you.
Now, in respect to Gris. LOL He is right. Indoor cats defecate and urinate in a box in your home. I don't care what people try to say...the moment I walk into their home, if they have a cat, I will smell it. The problem really comes into play when you have three or more felines. From my experience, there really is no discernible difference in the stench level between 1 or 2 cats, but when you have 3 or more ..Holy hell the stank is revolting and you should basically burn your house down with all your belongings inside.
Seriously, Burn...that...shnitzel...down
This post was edited by Jon at August 17, 2019 2:15 PM MDT
The problem with cats is ----------- They have instincts to kill anything small enough that they can overcome. I have two, and they love to track down baby rabbits and eat them.