Cat won't learn

[PBY Catalina]

Our 11 year old tom cat was provoked by a cat that lived 3 doors away. It would come up to our glazed front door and the two would hit out at each other, tapping the glass. If our cat was not around it would sit there and growl!. Outside they sometimes fought fierce fights, but mostly I kept it at bay with a plant squirter of water.

Now the owners moved three and a half weeks ago and our cat is still looking out for it, even though the rain has washed the scent of that cat away.

Why will our cat not realise that it's gone?
How long will it be before the penny drops for our cat?
Don't cats use scent as much as I assumed?

Our cat is a territorial, one-cat-household cat. Very friendly

I'm very interested in what folk think about this.

[Shelley123]

Welcome to the forum, what's your Cat called ?
Cat's don't think like us, you know the Cat and it's owners have gone because you understand language and have maybe seen them pack up and go, again these are all human things and you will have understood them.
Your Cat will know it's not seen the other cat around for a while but he will still look in case he comes back, you know they wont come back because they have moved, he doesn't.
Also even though you think the rain has washes his scent away, it will no doubt be still there even though you can't smell it, it will be in pther places too.
If he is a terratotial cat and i guess most are, he will probably always have an eye open as it were for trespassers on his land.

[angieh]

Good explanation from Shelley. Your cat will keep an eye out for his rival for a while ..... I have no idea how long it will take before he realises he can relax his vigil.

[PBY Catalina]

Thanks Shelley, thanks angieh

Cat's called Sam

So Behaviourist techniques of reward for certain behaviour seem to be lost on cats? I hope you know the psychological phenomena I'm talking about.

Cats smelling and their scent must be pretty powerful, to withstand rain then?

[angieh]

No, not entirely! Please see this thread

http://www.catsey.com/showthread.php...hlight=Clicker

But there are only certain things you can train cats to do. Time, as far I know, will be the only thing to help Sam forget his rival.

And yes, cat scent can stay around for a very long time - I have no idea how long though.

Edited to say: I was interested to find out how long the scent lasts, so Googled. But all I could find was that "it lasts a long time". Cat spray, as opposed to urine is more concentrated and contains pheromones, so lasts longer than just pee. Do you know if Sam's rival was a tom cat?

[dandysmom]

If the rival cat was a tom his spray would be much more pungent than a neutered male, and undoubtedly would last longer. Cats can be trained to a degree with the clicker system; never tried it, but doubt if it would work in your situation. Sam is just being a normal territorial cat.

[PBY Catalina]

Originally Posted by dandysmom

If the rival cat was a tom his spray would be much more pungent than a neutered male, and undoubtedly would last longer..

Don't know if he was neutered or not. If fighting all the other cats in the road on their turf is a result of no no op, then......

Originally Posted by dandysmom

Cats can be trained to a degree with the clicker system; never tried it, but doubt if it would work in your situation.

Not looking to train him rather as the stimulus diminishes - appearance of rival, scent. So heightened patrolling behaviour should diminish.

Originally Posted by dandysmom

Sam is just being a normal territorial cat.

Was normal until rival appeared. Then the frequency of patrols was stepped up and very frequent attention to front door glass panel. My mother described Sam as being neurotic.

As contributors have said; time will be the healer.

Thanks everyone.

[wilbar]

I don't know how long Sam will remain vigilant or start to relax as the scent of the other cat gradually disperses & fades. But cat urine & scents produced by scent glands contain fatty lipids & proteins. It is unlikely that rainwater will get rid of the fatty lipids, especially if the surfaces that have been marked are porous, e.g. wood. So it will just be a matter of time for them to fade.

Cat scents do fade in time ~ that's how cats can tell when rivals were last in the area, by the amount their scent has faded. So it shouldn't be too long before Sam realises the other cat hasn't been around for a while.

But there could be other factors that affect Sam's behaviour & the rate at which he adjusts to the other cat's absence. Firstly there will be a learned & habit element to his previous vigilance ~ this will fade provided that the scent isn't topped up & Sam doesn't see or hear any other cats in those locations.

Secondly, the absence of the previous cat may have lead to another cat taking over that territory ~ so Sam may well have "discovered" another potential territorial rival trying to claim that territory.

One of the ways you can help Sam regain his confidence in your garden is to go outside with him several times a day & at times when you know your garden is empty. Allow Sam to explore, sniff, scent-mark, toilet etc in your garden & in safety knowing you are there & no other cats are there. If you can keep to roughly the same times each day (just a for 5 to 10 mins at a time) & provided you are relatively certain no other cats are around, it will allow Sam the chance to put his own scent around & this will allow him to feel more confident & help inhibit other cats coming into your garden.

[dandysmom]

I saw an example of the fading scent myself. Misty was very close to my Aby, Sultan. Both were harness trained; Sultan walked all over the neighborhood and had regular spraying spots. Misty's idea of a walk was to go to the end of the driveway and sit in the sun. Sultan had to be PTS because of an incurable fungal lung disease; all she knew was that one day he went away and never came home. So, my unadventurous girl walked all over the neighborhood herself with me and stopped and checked the spots where he had sprayed... I was amazed at the time that she could tell ... and apparently the elapsed time since it had been deposited told her he had not been there for a while, so, although obviously grieving, she no longer went looking for him. I found that very touching.

[wilbar]

Originally Posted by dandysmom

I saw an example of the fading scent myself. Misty was very close to my Aby, Sultan. Both were harness trained; Sultan walked all over the neighborhood and had regular spraying spots. Misty's idea of a walk was to go to the end of the driveway and sit in the sun. Sultan had to be PTS because of an incurable fungal lung disease; all she knew was that one day he went away and never came home. So, my unadventurous girl walked all over the neighborhood herself with me and stopped and checked the spots where he had sprayed... I was amazed at the time that she could tell ... and apparently the elapsed time since it had been deposited told her he had not been there for a while, so, although obviously grieving, she no longer went looking for him. I found that very touching.

Aah ~ that's sweet.

We humans are so sight-oriented that we sometimes forget that other species have incredible senses of smell, hearing, touch etc & these are just as, if not more important, than sight.

For cats, smell is a huge part of their communication strategy & Misty quickly noticed the fading smell of Sultan & was able to work out that he hadn't been around for a while. I don't know if this helps with the grieving process but it must provide them with information about their surroundings.