6 protocols · library v0.1.0-draft

The protocol library, browsable

This is what a plan is built from: named sources, an honest evidence grade, and the conditions that have to be true before it applies. What you will not find below is the step-by-step sequence itself — which order, what to try next, when to stop and rewind for your cat is the judgement call the paid plan pays a person to make. Showing it here would give away the thing that costs $99, so we don't.

Soiling outside the litter box

soiling.setup.n-boxes

Litter setup — n+1 boxes, place, type, substrate, cleanliness

Attribution: Cornell Feline Health Center + ASPCA + Fear Free (Lees); buffet method named by IAABC Cassiday / ASPCA side-by-side

Evidence grade

authority

this is the standard approach

n+1, 1–2 inch unscented finer/clumping, uncovered, daily scoop are the standard approach on the opened Cornell / ASPCA / Lees pages. Buffet is a named diagnostic procedure, not an RCT of treatment. Cassiday n≈9 is under-powered by their own note — practitioner method, not a trial grade. No source here gives advance criteria or a week ladder.

Indicated for

  • Inadequate litter setup
  • Box aversion
  • Substrate aversion
  • Location preference

Prerequisites

None — this is a starting protocol.

Cadence

  • Sessions/day: scoop at least once daily (ASPCA); Lees once or twice daily; Bahner: you cannot scoop too often
  • Days/week: every day
  • Max minutes/day: not specified

Sources disagree: Full wash: ASPCA weekly complete rinse/replace vs Fear Free Lees monthly dump+wash. Cornell has no numbered wash interval. No source gives a week-by-week setup ladder.

5 steps in the full sequence — not shown here

soiling.marking.after-vet

Urine marking after the veterinarian has cleared medical causes

Attribution: ASPCA urine-marking page + Cornell house-soiling marking section + Fear Free / Delgado

Evidence grade

authority

this is the standard approach

Standard approach on opened ASPCA / Cornell / Delgado pages. ASPCA calls neuter a proven treatment for reproductive advertisement and gives no percentage. Pheromone wording is 'some effect' only — not a fail clock, not a success %. No RCT of a marking sequence was opened.

Indicated for

  • Urine marking

Prerequisites

  • Litter setup — n+1 boxes, place, type, substrate, cleanliness

Cadence

  • Sessions/day: daily scoop; individual play in different areas; no session clock published for marking
  • Days/week: every day
  • Max minutes/day: not specified

Sources disagree: No source publishes a week-by-week marking ladder or a wait after neuter / Feliway. Posture as diagnosis: Cornell 'cats don't squat to spray' vs Delgado 'some cats don't fully squat when they urinate.' Household size: Cornell more-than-seven-cats likely someone sprays vs ASPCA more-than-10 invariably — that is why flag.more_than_seven_cats is a contraindication for auto-plan, not a step.

5 steps in the full sequence — not shown here

soiling.box-aversion

Box / substrate / location aversion after vet-clear and marking ruled out

Attribution: Cornell house-soiling detective work + ASPCA litter-box resolution list + IAABC buffet

Evidence grade

authority

this is the standard approach

Standard approach on opened Cornell / ASPCA pages. Location-slide is the only step sequence with a source-written stop/rewind. Buffet is a named method (practitioner + small-n Cassiday); not an RCT of recovery. No % recovery after n+1 / buffet / location-slide was published on these pages.

Indicated for

  • Box aversion
  • Substrate aversion
  • Location preference

Prerequisites

  • Litter setup — n+1 boxes, place, type, substrate, cleanliness

Cadence

  • Sessions/day: daily scoop; location-slide only on days the cat is still using the box in its current spot
  • Days/week: every day
  • Max minutes/day: not specified

Sources disagree: Full-wash weekly (ASPCA) vs monthly (Lees). No source operationalizes 'reliably uses it.' Covers in mixed dog-cat homes: Dixon vs Cornell/ASPCA/FF/Parry/Delgado.

6 steps in the full sequence — not shown here

soiling.post-move

Base-camp after a house move (or someone moving in)

Attribution: iCatCare moving-house + settle-in; ASPCA moving-your-pet; Cornell spray-after-new-furniture

Evidence grade

authority

this is the standard approach

Standard approach on opened iCatCare moving / settle-in and ASPCA moving pages. No sourced percent of cats that soil or fight after a move. No sourced day-count for fully settled beyond the 2–3 week indoor lock-in and the 24-hour anxious-not-eating vet flag.

Indicated for

  • After a move

Prerequisites

None — this is a starting protocol.

Cadence

  • Sessions/day: home-base confinement is continuous; litter slide one foot per day (ASPCA)
  • Days/week: every day
  • Max minutes/day: not specified

Sources disagree: Outdoor access after a move: iCatCare specifies at least two to three weeks indoors; ASPCA is silent (home-base then gradual rooms only).

4 steps in the full sequence — not shown here

Intercat tension

intercat.resource-map

Resource map and hard management (tension, no injury)

Attribution: iCatCare one-per-cat-plus-one + ASPCA household management + Cornell barriers

Evidence grade

authority

this is the standard approach

n+1 in different locations is the iCatCare rule they mark as the formula, repeated on conflict / multi-cat / cat-friendly pages. Cornell/ASPCA match it for litter. No RCT of resource-split as a standalone cure was opened.

Indicated for

  • Tension, no injury
  • Resource competition
  • Fear-based conflict

Prerequisites

None — this is a starting protocol.

Cadence

  • Sessions/day: management is continuous; scoop trays at least twice a day (iCatCare)
  • Days/week: every day
  • Max minutes/day: not specified

Sources disagree: Food during visual introduction is not this protocol. Cornell + ASPCA pair food with seeing each other; iCatCare introducing says do not. Record both; do not average. Social-maturity age band: ASPCA 1–3 years vs Cornell 2–4 years.

5 steps in the full sequence — not shown here

intercat.reintroduction

Gradual reintroduction after a split (iCatCare introducing-cats spine)

Attribution: iCatCare introducing cats (prep + 5 steps). ASPCA mild/severe tracks and Cornell territorial carrier+food exist as competing sequences and are not merged into this ladder.

Evidence grade

authority

this is the standard approach

Spine is the opened iCatCare introducing-cats sequence because it is the one with sourced observable gates. ASPCA and Cornell pages were opened and disagree on food-at-visual; they are cited as competing, not blended. No peer-reviewed head-to-head of the ladders was opened. Blais is one pair (affiliative without continual monitoring at day 29) — not a population ladder. Fisher Beyond the Gate is a different problem (gate collapse / mismatched play) and is not encoded as this protocol.

Indicated for

  • Tension, no injury
  • Fear-based conflict
  • Resource competition

Prerequisites

  • Resource map and hard management (tension, no injury)

Cadence

  • Sessions/day: iCatCare: repeat supervised contact as often as possible while they stay comfortable; new/returning cat housed separately between early unsupervised sessions. No sessions-per-day number on the introducing page.
  • Days/week: not specified as a weekly quota; process is behavioural, not calendar
  • Max minutes/day: not specified

Sources disagree: Food/play at visual contact: iCatCare no vs ASPCA + Cornell yes. This record follows iCatCare and does not average. ASPCA mild door-crack and severe harness+food tracks, Cornell carrier+feed, and Fisher Beyond the Gate are competing sequences — not extra steps of this id. Fear Free kitten-to-adults page is thin and has no numeric criteria. Fear Free 'week to several months' is a cat–dog article and is not an intercat typicalRange.

6 steps in the full sequence — not shown here

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