# Crating a cat?



## Cygnet

I know this is fairly accepted with dogs. Am I being cruel to contemplate crating my cats when I'm not there to supervise them?

I am already crating one at night -- he yowls at the bedroom door and hangs off the doorknob and shakes the door, but if allowed in, he gets the zoomies and won't stop playing. Then an hour or two later, he's hanging off the doorknob wanting out. He's just a very intense cat, hyperactive and waaaaay too curious for his own good. (And he's seven. He lived in a crate when he was a kitten because he was 10X worse. So this is nothing new for him.)

Leaving the bedroom door open just results in four cats with the zoomies in the bedroom. (They're five and seven years old -- these are not kittens.)

Needless to say, nobody gets any sleep if he's loose.

Shutting him in another room just means he pees on the floor by the door (even if a litter box is provided) and knocks all sorts of stuff off shelves, sprays, and generally makes his displeasure known. So I don't feel too bad about crating him -- it's that, or get rid of him.

But I'm also having issues with things being peed on even when there are clean catboxes, general destructive behavior -- I have another one who deliberately shoves stuff off shelves just to hear the crash, and just, generally, cats being cats.

So. 

Am I really being cruel to contemplate getting some very large dog crates and crating all four of them when I'm not home to supervise? 

Meh. I feel all sorts of guilty about it, but on the other hand, my house reeks of cat pee, I need to shampoo the carpet AGAIN, and they got my clean clothes the other day. In the dryer. And my grandmother's schoolbooks from when she was a little girl, which were on a high shelf. And the light switch in the bathroom -- how he managed that one without electrocuting himself, I don't know.

(And this is behavioral, not medical.)


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## GoldenMom

Cygnet said:


> Am I really being cruel to contemplate getting some very large dog crates and crating all four of them when I'm not home to supervise?


Nope, not being cruel at all! I have recommended crating for behavioral urination issues in cats, but usually the owners won't consider it. There's no reason your cats won't be perfectly happy crated when you aren't home to supervise-they sleep 23 hours a day anyway! As long as they are getting some time outside of the crates I wouldn't worry.


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## mamahen

I've seen some very nice cat cage enclosures. Like giant ferret cages with shelves & ramps. But even a plastic airline type crate would be ok for a few hours, or over night. Just be careful they can't get they're head stuck between the bars if you use a wire dog crate!

After all cats are crated in humane societies & pet stores, right? Better to have a cat, happy to be let out, than a house full of pee, right!?


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## belladulcinea

I've had to crate Blue on occasion. I just use Bella's crate and put in a small litter box. He's not happy but he is safe for the time I need him to be cooped up.


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## TedH71

You can put mouse traps on where you don't want cats to be resting on or those plastic spiked rolled carpets. Cats hate those. Be sure to check for urinary tract infection. Male cats have it way more than females due to the design of their privates and also if fed inferior cat food, they will develop UTIs rather fast. Neutering helps tremdously and spaying helps female cats not spray while in heat.


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## Cygnet

TedH71 said:


> You can put mouse traps on where you don't want cats to be resting on or those plastic spiked rolled carpets. Cats hate those. Be sure to check for urinary tract infection. Male cats have it way more than females due to the design of their privates and also if fed inferior cat food, they will develop UTIs rather fast. Neutering helps tremdously and spaying helps female cats not spray while in heat.


They're all on prescription diet kidney food at $45 per ten pounds. I have had them tested for UTIs. One is prone to it (and has had stones) but ironically, he's the only one who I've never caught peeing. They're all spayed/neutered at six months which was the earliest my vet would do it. 

They did not do this until the neighbors obtained a very VERY aggressive tom cat about two years ago. My cats are not allowed outside, but the neighbor's cat would hang off the window screens and scream threats into the house, and spray our front door, and various other lovelies. He doesn't come around any more (buckets of ice cold water discouraged him) but my cats picked the habit up of spraying to mark territory and it's a hard one to break. I've been battling this since. 

He'd get my cats so upset and worked into a tizzy that my dominant cat would attack the other cats because he couldn't get to the tom cat screaming at him from outside. (My dominant cat would scream back and then suddenly launch himself at one of my other cats.) This did not help things because everyone was stressed out for awhile. They normally get along. 

So I'm pretty sure this is behavioral, a bad habit they picked up then.

I have plastic rolled carpet in the hallway. They pee on it -- it's their favorite spot. Honestly, I'd rather they pee on the plastic than on the carpet itself. It's easier to clean. I hate shampooing carpet. 

Sigh. I love my cats and getting rid of them isn't an option, but this is getting ridiculous and I hate living this way. It's gross, and smelly, and I can't invite anyone over because of the cat stink. 

-- Leva


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## Terry W

Nothing at all wrong with crating a cat--get one of those nice big things, put in a litter box, some toys, and any water container they like-- you'll be stressed less, and your house and carpet will thank you. Shoot, you may even be able to make a nice 'den' of the crate--and they may enter it freely during their 'house time'


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## mzzlisa

Two of my cats get crated at night. Bubba pees on the couch if he is loose at night and Betty scratches the bedroom door to be let in, then let out, then let in, then let out, etc. Makes me nuts! 
I bought two of the extra large dog crates and they have water and a cat box in them so they really can't complain. They usually try to hide when its time to be crated, somehow they know, but I told them that the alternative is the pound so they don't put up too much of a fight. 

I have peace of mind at night knowing my couch won't be wet in the morning. And I get to sleep through the night.


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## Otter

There's nothing wrong with it, but can I make a suggestion? Some cats can freak in a cage and if there's a way to get caught in it they will. I say this 'cause I once saw one get her lower jaw stuck and nearly broken, in a wire dog crate. If it was me I would sacrifice a closet. Take the door off and replace it with one made of 2x4 and 1"x1" hardware cloth. You could put in sleeping shelves and line the floor and walls with linoleum. I worked in a boarding kennel that had this set up for cats and never saw one accident. If you feed them there and only there they should go right in.


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