Millie as Experiment

It occurred to me suddenly. Millie stopped wetting where she shouldn’t downstairs in part, I think, I because of the covered litter-boxes. But it was something else. She had been wetting against a wall. I blocked off the wall, with boxes and a freezer. She stopped wetting there. She did not seem to consider wetting against the obstacles, which constituted the ‘new wall’, as it were.

I decided to do the same in the cat-room. So far, in response, she has used the litter-boxes three times in two days, counting this morning, and has not wet anywhere else. This, despite there are still being unobscured walls elsewhere. There appears to be a mild obsession about certain locations; once they are denied her, Millie sees no alternative to the litter-box.

I have no idea how this will be explained to someone interested in adopting her. However, readers may note that one of the obstacles, seen in the photograph, is a cat-tree, with perfectly good access to the wall behind it. She has not wet there. This suggests that the real obstacle is anything that presents even a notional barrier to her preferred location for wetting. If this is the case, then I can gradually reduce the obstacles to something insubstantial, before removing them all together.

First things first, however. We will see if this policy, borrowed from her time in the library, will keep Millie focussed on the litter-boxes. I will then allow her to roam the rest of the house, when she wishes it, while keeping the other cats out of her safe-room. As with every controlled experiment, one factor needs to be confirmed first, before moving on to the next.

Let’s hope the subject doesn’t catch on to what I am doing.