If you think spraying is bad…wait till you hear about “middening”

My cousin wrote to me today about this:

You might remember we now have four cats. Well, the day before yesterday, I got up to find a real mess on our porch where our cats sleep every night. One of the cats had defecated and smeared its faeces all over the mattress, floor and wall. Clearly a cat in a rage and trying to make a point. This morning, again same thing.

Anyway, I’ve done some internet research and found out this phenomenon is called middening. The culprit, I suspect, is Yevaud, the first male cat we adopted and who’s been increasingly aggressive toward the other strays who have come to stay, i.e. encroached into his territory. However, the advice calls for a managed isolation of the rogue cat and applies to a “controlled” environment whereby the cat lives indoors with the owner. In my case, I can’t separate the animals because all the cats feed, sleep, play and live outdoors.

What would you suggest that I do? I don’t want to have to scrub and disinfect my porch everyday 🙁


Now, that’s new to me, so I looked it up as well, and here it is:
http://www.thecatbehaviorclinic.com/defecating-or-middening.html


I have absolutely no idea on what to do. Middening, like spraying, is due to stress. So, removing the stressor is the solution but that’s easier said than done. Or, though this may sound really unfair, rehoming the “middener” might be a next solution, if he persists in middening and my cousin cannot handle the cleaning.   


And my husband thought our two spraying alphas (Cow & Bunny) were bad enough? Wait till he hears about middening alphas!


We cope with Cow & Bunny’s spraying because that’s the way they are. The vets have already told me, “Sorry, but there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it, Your alphas are alphas, and that’s that.”. So, when we cannot change things, we accept it and learn to live with it.  Every day, I go around wiping the walls, and in doing so, I have become pretty good at identifying yellow streaks on the wall and tiles, and sometimes, even sniffing them out.  So, I think my senses are sharper now…..Oh well, might as well get some good out of it, rather than complain and grow old faster, right? And we have to wash the cushion covers and curtains very often as well….  


More about “middening” from http://www.felineaddiction.com/catcarebehave.htm#middening


Middening is defined by a cat deliberately depositing faeces in a certain place – in the open and with no attempt to bury them. Middening is less common than spraying, and as well as being more disagreeable to cat owners, can suggest a deeper problem. Sometimes middening is seen as an attack against a person, especially when it takes place upon the owner’s bed – but in fact it is the opposite. Middening in such a way is usually a desperate effort to defend the very heart of a cat’s territory – the place where it feels safest and where the scent of its beloved owner is most concentrated – eg articles of worn clothing or the bed. As disagreeable as it may be to find such ‘presents’ left for us – we should understand that by punishing the cat we would be adding to its stress and making things worse. Middening can be caused by the same factors as spraying, and depends upon the temperament and stress levels of the cat.



About cat stress: http://www.fabcats.org/behaviour/stressed/info.html

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One response to “If you think spraying is bad…wait till you hear about “middening””

  1. Anonymous

    Are you sure the cat is middening or is it simply having some diarrhoea, and having poor control, splattering the soft poo all over when it steps on it or there is a oonfrontation during which the cat/s smeared the soft poo all over when they tumble around the goo?

    Is the poo hard or gooey? In middening, the cat drops poo around to mark its territory and the solid poo doesn't get smeared on vertical areas like walls, I think.

    Spraying is done standing, that is why it gets on vertical places around the height of the bum of the standing cat. Urinating is done squating low, with the bum very close to the ground. Passing feaces is done half-raised for the poo to fall on to the ground. Poo is not sprayed out.

    My 2-sen observation …