Kitty acting very strange again. I hope you can stand another tale about Benny.

For those of you who don't know, Benny, is the kitty who was attacking me on a regular basis. He turns out to have thyroid and asthma problems, which we have brought under control with medication so the attacks are infrequent now. This is the good news. Now Benny really likes the outdoors and he hates to use his litter box, so he will hold it until dawn before I let him out to do his business. (I make him come in when it's dark to protect him from predators.)

Well his routine is, out at 6:00 AM, back at 10:00 for breakfast and a nap. Out again at 3:00 PM and in around 6:00 PM until the next morning. Well yesterday, while he was in for his 10:00 AM nap, we had a siren alert (one of the joys of living on top of the San Andrea's fault and near a nuclear power plant.) They are very loud because the siren is only 100 yards up the hill from where I live and much longer than you would like. I thought it might spook him, but he seemed okay in his condo, a drawer under my bed. 3:00PM came around no Benny. I put his food out at 6:00 PM but no Benny. I finally had to pull him from under the bed to give him his medicine. He nibbled at his dinner and went under the bed again for the night. This morning, no Benny but food had been eaten. Finally around 11:00 AM I pulled him out again to check him out. He has no fever and decided to go sleep on a bookcase in front of a window, one of his favorite places. He still hasn't gone to the bathroom or eaten by this time.

Finally about twenty minutes ago he went to use his litter box. Now it's a good sized litter box for a good sized cat, but after doing his business, he went about this strange scratching ritual in the box around the box and pretty much in place that weren't near the box. Now he has gone into his condo to sleep some more. I'm thinking this is psychological, not physical. What does he know that we don't? Or, did the sirens really scare him that much? He usually has gotten over siren trauma by the next day, but not this time. Any ideas? Is there something unseen out there that he's afraid of?

All the scratching is a protective measure. Couldn't speculate on what he senses, though.
Do you have a place to go should an earthquake start?

However, my house is a trailer. Since they are built to be pulled on the road, they are built to withstand a lot of rattling, so I'm not too worried about that but Benny might be. I'm wondering if our Cougar is around. The coyotes don't come out except at night around here, but I've seen the lion during the day before. It doesn't show up too often though, maybe once every six months.

You know all the scratching is to remain elusive to a predator. I'm glad he is smart enough to avoid the danger.

They cover their wastes to hide/eliminate the odor so they can't be tracked by a predator. Remember that if you're ever out in the wilderness! :D He is making extra extra certain he leaves no marking odor.