A question for the cat people

[lisa127]

My adult daughter lives in the upstairs of my house and has a young cat. The cat primarily lives upstairs but comes down occassionally to visit. The last two visits downstairs she snuck into where the turt/torts are kept and got into my redfoots enclosure. Both times she peed in it. She doesn't bother the tortoise, she just pees in there. Now normally that wouldn't make me wonder as they usually like to use enclosures as litterboxes because of the dirt. But the thing is, my redfoot was treated for parasites a few weeks ago and has been on flat newspaper sheets the last few weeks. Why would the cat want to pee in there when there is no diggable substrate?

 

[SarahChelonoidis]

Had she peed there in the past? Cats seem to like to pee places that already smell like cat urine - even if we can't smell it, it's hard to clean something well enough that they can't. If it wasn't a past "litter box", I'm not sure. Perhaps tortoise urine smells close enough for their purposes.

 

[TardisTortoise]

When cats are bored or stressed, they may urinate or deficate inappropriately. Indoor cats are prone to it since they do not have the stimulus their wild ancestors had. There is a website you can look on. I think if you search for the indoor car initiative you will find it. It gives ideas on how to keep your indoor kitty happy. It could also be a medical problem as well, but since it is younger that is less likely. If it continues, she should take it to the veterinarian. Also, if it is not fixed that could have something to do with the behavior.

 

[wellington]

I would take caution with the cat getting in with the torts. There has been a couple post of members cats chewing/hurting the torts. Besides the cat could get burned or start a fire from the hot lights heating elements.
I would guess the cat peed in there already and you may not have noticed it and he can smell it. Or the cleaning of it your doing is not good enough to fool a cats sniffer

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Just a word from experience. I had to make my largest outdoor Redfoot pen CAT proof because neighborhood cats liked to come from miles away it seemed to sleep in and crap all over my tortoise pen and inside the warm doghouses. I discovered that my tortoises loved to eat cat poo.
I ended that party.

 

[leigti]

I would Proof the enclosure. For one thing, once a cat peas and there it is almost impossible to get the smell out. And they will continue using it as long as the smell is there. And I really don't think it is good for the tortoises either. Cat P has a very strong smell and tortoises have pretty good noses so being cooped up in the small area with that smell plus the humidity just can't be good for them. Even a frame with chicken wire on it will be enough to keep them out.

 

[leigti]

Change out the substrate and cleaning closer it's self very well.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

Cats do lots of strange things in regards to where they pee and why. Sometimes they are showing discontent for something, like where attention is going they think should be theirs, like remarking their odor when the last time's effort had been disturbed etc. And there is a small chance that a zoonotic parasite could go either way, from cat to tortoise or tortoise to cat. A few parasites are very cosmopolitan, they can even end up in you from the tortoise or the cat.

Cat's can end up hurting tortoises, even if only as a semi animated toy. During one winter when I let the ambient in the house go down, my cat would sneak into the tortoise area and go to sleep under the heat lamps, despite being somewhat afraid of the tortoises.

Probably best to keep them apart.