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Well, he is not sick, he was just at the vet. He does have CH. He is a new kitten to the house for those who don't know, he has been here a week.
He doesn't seem stressed, and I have seen him do it about 3 times or so. That means he is probably doing it more than that. He usually does it when I am about to clean out the litter box, but I have seen him one other time in there.
Since neither of his foster mothers realized that he walked any different than normal or fell down often, this makes me further feel that he was in a caged environment with his brothers and sisters.
I know I have seen many cats in that type of environment laying in their litter box.
Any thoughts? So glad we adopted this little fella.
It's fairly common. My Little Cat did it when she first came here, she was not a shelter or caged kitten, just with a possibly abusive history (in her 8 short weeks). The litter box was her Safe Place, maybe. Come to think of it, I think she still does it now and then.
She now 'spins' in the litter box, much to my dismay, and it was the older cat, the one known as The Litter Box Police, who taught her that. They both do it, though not too often lately thankfully. They seem to do it more in winter...so maybe it has something to do with itchy skin. Whatever the reason, it's yucky, but I haven't figured out any way to curtail it.
Out of all 5 of my kitties the only one that would do that was Bumbies (my CH kitty). He rarely does it now but did it a lot when he was a young kitten. He was never in a cage (lived outside in the woods) however I could see where a cat left in a cage for long periods of time may also do something like that. So it could be for a variety of reasons :-)
You may also see other types of behaviors/issues with Charlie that differ from KK depending upon what part of his Cerebellum was affected and whether or not the pathways/connections to parts of the brain were disrupted due to the damaged or underdeveloped Cerebellum. For years doctors/researchers thought that CH typically only affected motor skills however more and more doctors/researchers are saying that the Cerebellum plays a part in even cognitive and emotional functions (by regulating them) and with Bumbies I see this.
The differences I see in Bumbies beyond his motor dysfunction (balance, coordination and tremors) include.....
Visual/spatial issues
Sensory overload
Anxiety
Memory issues
Obsessive patterns
Social disengagement
Inability to understand social queue's
Hyperactivity
And I'm sure more but can't think of any right now
Someone reading this may now think a cat with CH is even more difficult to adopt however none of the issues above make caring for him any more difficult. Just reading up on it has made me understand Bumbies better and realize why he may be doing some of the things he does. It also helps me to take certain precautions for his safety and well being.
It will be interesting to hear more of your stories with Charlie to see if he is like my Bumbies. Our little guy sure makes us smile!! I'm glad you are enjoying your new little guy!!
When I first moved to my current house just over a year ago, I keep the kitties confined in a couple of bedrooms first while the movers were here etc. When everything was "safe" I let them out and of course most shot out the door to explore. Einstein, though, stayed in his "safe space" -- which was one of the litter boxes.
In the first few days, he would venture out occasionally, but always run back to that box. It was comforting to him so I left him alone (and no one appeared to be using it as a litter box!!). He got over it pretty quickly.
Charlie is so new to your household, he may just use a litter box as his "calm place." I wouldn't worry about it at this point!
Out of all 5 of my kitties the only one that would do that was Bumbies (my CH kitty). He rarely does it now but did it a lot when he was a young kitten. He was never in a cage (lived outside in the woods) however I could see where a cat left in a cage for long periods of time may also do something like that. So it could be for a variety of reasons :-)
You may also see other types of behaviors/issues with Charlie that differ from KK depending upon what part of his Cerebellum was affected and whether or not the pathways/connections to parts of the brain were disrupted due to the damaged or underdeveloped Cerebellum. For years doctors/researchers thought that CH typically only affected motor skills however more and more doctors/researchers are saying that the Cerebellum plays a part in even cognitive and emotional functions (by regulating them) and with Bumbies I see this.
The differences I see in Bumbies beyond his motor dysfunction (balance, coordination and tremors) include.....
Visual/spatial issues
Sensory overload
Anxiety
Memory issues
Obsessive patterns
Social disengagement
Inability to understand social queue's
Hyperactivity
And I'm sure more but can't think of any right now
Someone reading this may now think a cat with CH is even more difficult to adopt however none of the issues above make caring for him any more difficult. Just reading up on it has made me understand Bumbies better and realize why he may be doing some of the things he does. It also helps me to take certain precautions for his safety and well being.
It will be interesting to hear more of your stories with Charlie to see if he is like my Bumbies. Our little guy sure makes us smile!! I'm glad you are enjoying your new little guy!!
I'll look out for it... What kind of memory issues does your kitty have?
Right now he just seems to be a wild and crazy little kitty! The foster mom told me he never really did much but lay around. Quite different from what he does here!
I wish explaining his memory issues were as easy as saying that he can't remember where his litter pan is etc....but it's nothing like that. With a human, like my mother with dementia, it's very easy to tell but when you're dealing with an animal that can do weird things anyway and that can't talk it's hard to know what is going on lol :-) I can only assume that there is some issues with memory and/or thought process from countless hours of observing him compared to the 4 others.
First let me say that Bumbies is very robotic in his actions. He also does things over and over. Sometimes I think he does things just because he visually sees the others doing it not because he has the instinct or desire but merely that the visual (or another sense) will register something in his mind that makes him feel the need to do it.
As for where memory things come into play.....Bumbies has a routine when he comes down the stairs. He will do the same pattern EVERY time. He comes down walks towards one side of the first couch and then will proceed a foot or so in front of the couch and then notice the dogs that are ALWAYS there when he comes down. When he notices it he backs up and then proceeds around the table to the other couch. My question is...if he remembers that the dogs are always in this place why would his mind lead him this way all the time to only have to back up and go the other path. I mean he just did the same thing a couple hours ago (and saw them there seconds beforehand). He has been doing this since day one. My other cats (who don't have set patterns...at least not like this) would, from memory, know where the dogs are, because you see them when you come down the stairs, so they would remember that if they go a certain way that the dogs will still be there.
Another thing....Bumbies will try to do things that are unsafe for him (probably not unlike a normal cat) BUT when I tell my others NO or DANGER they will usually stop and then just go do something else. Sure one may try to be hard headed and do it again but with Bumbies when I tell him he doesn't get it. It's more like I broke up his chain of thought and I see him struggling to try to remember what it was that he was doing in the first place. Once he is back on his thought process he will try to do it again. This can happen OVER and OVER.
When he was a young kitty I didn't notice it as much because he was very active. I still knew there was more wrong than just his mobility but just couldn't pin point it. However now that he is slowing down a bit and I can really look at what he does, it's obvious that his mind doesn't work like ANY animal I have ever encountered. It makes me sad sometimes. I know CH groups say that the cat doesn't know that he is different but in Bumbies case I do think he knows he is different and I see him watching what all the other cats are doing and he tries his best to do all these things but I also see when he feels defeated when he realizes he just can't do it :-(
Aww. Charlie doesn't understand No either, but he is always full speed ahead...when he isn't napping.
Give him a hug for me too!
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I wouldn't worry about it at this point!
