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Q: I have a 2-year-old cat who likes to take a mouthful of hard food and place piles of it all over the kitchen. Why does she do this, and how can I break her of the habit?

A: In the wild, a cat that is full but yet presented with extra food will hide it for future use. It looks like your cat is just ensuring that her kitty 401(k) is kept up to date in case of a future food emergency.

Canned cat food is much harder for a cat to pick up and carry. I think that if you presented her with two meals a day of canned food, she would no longer have the ability to store her food this way.

Q: We have problems with a woodpecker that is drilling holes in an area of the stucco on the side of our house. It is on the opposite side of our bedroom wall and is very noisy. How can I get this bird to stop?

A: The best advice I can give you is to hang a sheet or tarp on the side of the house as close as possible to where the bird is drilling. As it flaps in the wind, it will scare the bird, and when there is no wind blowing, the contrast in surfaces will confuse it.

Your neighbors may find the tarp a bit odd at first, but after three weeks or so, the woodpecker will most likely find an alternative to your home for his drumming activities.

Q: I just lost my red parrot fish Delilah that had spent six years in my aquarium. Her mate, Samson, did not eat anything for three days, but, thank goodness, today he started to eat again. Could he have been depressed over the loss of Delilah? Should I get him a new mate and, if so, how old should she be?

A: Most fish are social animals, and all social animals will become depressed and confused when they are no longer in their familiar social setting.

In the wild, any animal that loses a mate or companion will seek out another right away, and it is good to duplicate this in captivity.

The new parrot fish that you get for Samson should be the same size as Delilah was, and I would advise that you get a tank divider and split the aquarium in two with each fish separated for a few days to allow them to get to know each other before the physical introduction takes place.

Q: We are having a problem with our 1 1/2-year-old female cat that we adopted as a kitten from our veterinarian.

We had her spayed at 6 months. All was fine until last October, when she began howling day and night. She would slink across the floor with her rear end stuck up high in the air and sprayed a very pungent urine on the curtains and sofa cushions.

After a week, she stopped, but then has gone through it four times again since then. She is an indoor cat, but some of the neighborhood cats have been spraying on our front steps. I do not know if these problems are related.

Is it possible for a spayed female cat to be acting as if she is in heat?

A: I would talk to your vet about this issue. In rare occasions, a vet will sometimes miss a bit of ovary during the spaying process, and this remnant will randomly produce estrogen, causing a female cat or dog to act as if they are in heat. I have seen this situation quite a number of times.

Note to readers: Marc Morrone

Pet-care Q&A