Ask Ashley: Great Plains SPCA

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My partner and I have several cats in our home, but we are only having difficulties with one of them. Thomas is an older tabby cat and has recently started urinating outside the litterbox for no reason. He is over 10 years old and has never had litterbox issues previously, so we are stumped. What would you advise? – Florence Gail

There are many reasons for litterbox issues especially in multi-feline homes, including primarily environmental changes, increased stress in the home, and unclean litterboxes. Have there been any environmental changes in your home causing him stress? Does he seem to be stressed? Are there enough litterboxes in your house? Are you keeping the litterboxes clean enough for his liking? I recommend having a litter box on every floor in your home and multiple litterboxes if you have multiple cats. The rule of thumb is one litterbox for every cat in the household plus one more. Some cats do not like them if they are too small or deep and others don’t like them with hoods or liners. If this behavior started suddenly, I recommend visiting your veterinarian to rule out any medical concerns.  Some litters irritate the paws of declawed cats so you may need to use a different kind if your cat is declawed. As you can see, there are many reasons for litterbox issues and about 10 percent of cats have issues with litterboxes at some point in their lives, so this is not an uncommon behavior. Try some different things through trial and error and see what helps. – Ashley Flores, CPDT-KA

My family and I took in a stray dog a few months ago. We noticed that he was hard of hearing, so I brought him to the vet and found out that he is deaf. I am worried that our family is biting off more than we can chew since we have never had a deaf dog before, but we also do not want to rehome him, so my question is how do you train a deaf dog? – Karen Meggs

Training a deaf dog is not as hard as it sounds, but you will have to learn to communicate differently with him than other dogs. First learn how to get his attention by thumping on the ground with your foot to create vibrations or tapping his shoulder. Once you have learned to get his attention, use hand signals for commands and reward him when he displays desirable behaviors. Dogs are associative learners, which means they learn in patterns, so if you create a pattern and reward him, he will start obeying more commands. You should also work on teaching the dog to be comfortable with being touched so that he won’t get startled and possibly snap at someone he didn’t know was there. I recommend reading Living With A Deaf Dog by Susan Cope Becker. This book reviews training, facts, and resources about canine deafness caused by genetics, aging, and illness. You may also want to get in touch with a trainer that has worked with deaf dogs to help you on your journey. – Ashley Flores, CPDT-KA

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Featured Pet – Precious

Precious is a sweet and bashful two year old hound mix who came to Great PlainsSPCA when her devoted owner passed away. She is extremely friendly, and her gentle nature is evident by her love of all people and animals. She is incredibly docile, and does excellent with young kids, and even other animals like dogs and cats. Precious is also housetrained, crate trained, and is currently offsite at our puppies for Parole program where she is receiving daily one on one training at Missouri Correctional Facility. She would be an excellent addition to any home because of her loving temperament and will make her future family very happy. If you think you could be Precious’ forever home, please contactadoptions@greatplainsspca.org for more information.

Email askashley@greatplainsspca.org for a chance to have your pet question answered here in KC Parent magazine.

Great Plains SPCA is an independent 501(c)(3) no-kill shelter serving approximately 6,000 animals annually in the Johnson County community. As Kansas City’s premium family shelter, we continue to support the seven municipalities with which we are contracted including Overland Park, Leawood, Lenexa, Shawnee, Lake Quivira, and Johnson County Parks and Recreation and unincorporated Johnson County.

Great Plains SPCA

5424 Antioch Drive Merriam, KS 66202

(913) 831-7722(SPCA)

https://www.greatplainsspca.org