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Seriously, this cat has something wrong with her brain. She's taken to climbing anyone who stands in the kitchen for more than a minute (so she can jump on either counter or the refrigerator) and has also developed the habit of trying to play with Julie and I at around 4:30 in the morning. So far, we've been punishing her by locking her out of the bedroom, but she only makes a horrendous noise by meowing and scratching on the door.
I know that we've spoiled her; we both love Valentine, but this is getting ridiculous. Any ideas on how to train a cat?
Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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You don't train cats. You adjust your schedule to fit theirs.
Cats are nocturnal and they like to climb things. Everything you've described is completely normal cat behavior.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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My cats probably worse. She's anorexic, for one, and when she does eat, it's usually lizards which make cats even slimmer. She's got two different colored eyes. Recently, she's started freaking out if I pick her up and walk within a 20 foot radius of my new puppy. She also gets on the fridge, but the kitchen counter is next to it so she doesn't have to climb up us. Her name is Skittles, if, for some reason, you wanna know.
She's a good fighter, though. She picks a lot of fights, but never loses...
Anyway, sorry, can't help, other than saying that my other cat ("Puff") is completely well-behaved, fat, and laid-back.
posted
When she tries playing with you in the wee hours of the morning (our cats do this too), you can try either squirting her with a water bottle (they hate that and usually learn really quickly), or try putting her in a room where can't hear her meowing (not just locking her out of your room).
I'm not really sure about the jumping up on things. Our cats don't usually jump up where they don't belong (although lately our older cat has been jumping up on the kitchen counters to lay on them ). When he does that, I just tell him sterly, "No!" and pick him up and dump him unceremoniously on the floor (usually while trying not to laugh).
Like Zal said though, both are perfectly normal at behaviors.
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We have a cat that must have some kind of vision problem, although it isn't serious. She will jump out of her skin when she comes in the door and sees a shoe or a boot sometimes. Walking across the room, she will stop and stare at something, like magazine cover; then, reach out with her paw and touch the cover like the picture is real.
Kind of weird to watch.
Nice cat, you know, just not operating with all paws on the floor. Posts: 440 | Registered: Oct 2001
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My current cat was like that when he was young, but he grew out of it quickly. Now he's fat, old, and grumpy. Just the way I like my cats.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Spray bottles, cans of coins, and double sided tape. Put it where you don't want her jumping. I find locking out my cat worse than having him in the bed because he becomes more obnoxious for attention. Give her a few pets and hope she settles down to cuddle.
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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My cat loves playing with double sided tape. He makes a beeline for it and seems to get a kick out of hesitantly pawing at it then jerking his paw quickly away when it sticks. Then he bites at it and drops it in my lap.
The squirt bottle should work great.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Yeah, humans naturally have a 25 hour biological clock (on average) which is reset every day by the sun, physical activity, and so on. That's why we love to sleep late on weekends. Cats, on the other hand, have a normal 23 hour biological clock and if you indulge them, say getting up and feeding them at 5AM instead of 6AM just because they are hungry and woke you up one day, then the next morning they'll be there at 4AM.
I solved the sleeping problem by just training myself to sleep through anything a cat can do. Samekind used to go get every toy he had and walk up me (full length feet to chest) and drop them one by one on my face, wanting me to play. I would roll over and feel these hard lumps in my bed all the time that he had dropped there. Brando would reach out a paw and very delicately prick my nose or lip with one of his needle sharp claws. (He was very careful and never drew blood.) I would put the covers up over my face.
I am just very good at sleeping through stuff in the morning and while I used them to help me not oversleep on weekdays (lots of times they saved me from that), I was quite talented at sleeping through anything they could send my way on the weekends. They realized that pretty fast and got where they gave up. There was ALWAYS dry food available for them to eat, so they never went hungry because of my sluggardness.
The climbing thing is a kitten thing. Kittens are pretty wild and playful for the first year or two. Mouse was very playful until she was about 10, actually, but didn't climb your legs for that long, don't worry! The only thing I know to do for that is just to wear thick jeans. If the cat is an indoor only cat (as all cats should be) then you could trim the very tips of the nails off. (Don't trim any more than just the very tip, cause you would leave them totally defenseless in the event they should ever escape to the outside.) They also have these little plastic nail sheaths which you put on with a dab of superglue. They come in various sizes and designer colors. They also will prevent furniture scratching and curtain climbing and so on as well as leg climbing. Neither operation is particularly salubrious for the cat-human relationship, though.
Being up playing wild games in the middle of the night is also a kitten thing. I remember waking up at 3AM and whisper-shouting to Brando and Felicity and Samekind their first year that it was time for people to be sleeping and they should settle down and be quiet! They just like to rock and roll all night long at that age. Sort of like when you were a kitten in college, remember?
I mean what I do is just accomodate my life to whatever they do. If they decide this is their favorite corner to go to the bathroom, then I put a litter box there. If they decide to get on the table all the time (I used to try to defend tables as food surfaces, but they wore me down from outnumbering me and from being home all day when I wasn't around to squirt them) then I just scrub it down very well every time before setting the table and serving food, and only defend it until after we're done with dinner.
All that sounds like perfectly normal cat insanity, though. And yes they are insane.
[ September 11, 2003, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: ak ]
Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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The playing in the middle of the night is a kitten thing? Both ours (1 and 2.5) often get kind of rowdy in the night, but usually they can just play with each other. If they get too noisy, they get yelled at and will run off. The little one learned not to try to play with her toys on our bed while we were sleeping because Mommy would wake up and take them away and she wouldn't get them back until the morning. After only a couple nights of losing 3-4 toys, she stopped bringing them up on the bed.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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haha, ak! I have been wondering why my cats think the path to anywhere they want to go involves walking all the way up me. Even if it's just to get to the window beside the bed, or to the back of the couch I am sitting on.
And my female cat is known for quickly getting INTO the fridge and laying on the bottom shelf if you're not careful. She has thick fur and it's cool in there. She also eats ice.
We also have to bleach everything down before cooking and eating. But it's worth it.
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Try a pump squirt bottle full of water. At one time I had one cat. Since his arrival in my home I have had 2 live in girlfriends.... THe girlfriends are gone but left their cats. Now I have four cats. Don't have the heart to get rid of them. Water bottle seems to condition them so they do not do anything too annoying. Oddly enough though, they will knock the bottles off counters when given the chance. Thus breaking the the spray mechanism. Guess they have me trained quit well.
Posts: 5 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Anyone good at explaining weird cat behaviour?
Our cat Fidget (female, spayed, indoors) was under probation, because of a strange problem (a tendency to urinate on things in our home periodically) and so she was sequestered in the downstairs basement bathroom much of the time, and we found that when she got out, our other cat, Dickins (male, neutered, outdoors) couldn't stand being around her any more. He used to lay nicely in a chair with her and they'd sleep together and groom each other, but now he's intolerant of her mere presence. Is there any reason for this?
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Thank you all for reminding me of kittens. One of my cats is complacent and the other geriatric, and I miss the rambunctious kittens who played with my toes through the blankets at night.
I have friends with kittens Wookie and Griffin -- I'm not sure how old they are, but mostly full-grown. Housemate Gwyn has stuffed animals on the top shelf of her bookcase. A while back, Griffin got up on that shelf, threaded his way among teddy bears and dogs to the far end of the shelf, where he knocked two zebras on the floor (a puppet and a beanbag). When Gwyn found the zebras in the morning, she put them back in their places. The next day Griffin repeated his stunt -- now the zebras are designated cat toys. The funny thing is, Wookie has no interest in them.
Posts: 1785 | Registered: May 1999
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Ryuko, I'm no expert, but I would say that your male cat has decided that he now owns your house. Whereas before he shared ownership with the female cat. Your family is of course allowed to live there simply because your cats tolerate your presence.
Anyhow, your female cat was probably pissing on everything as a claim of ownership. During her probation the male cat took over said ownership, and now he doesn't want the other cat threatening his position as king of the house.
That's my best guess.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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The definition of cat insanity from a previous thread http://www.students.bucknell.edu/nroseszu/cat.wmv. If you haven't seen it yet see it. I would also content that my cats are nuts. We also have a lot of high ledges around the house and they live up their.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Abby, whenever one cat has been away for like a week even, the other cats are prone to treat them as a total stranger when they come back. It takes a while sometimes for them to remember and get used to them again. Or they might not ever. Could go either way.
Mouse and Drive By used to get along fine, if not terribly chummily, but when Deany and Mikey moved in bringing Lainey and Tiki, and later Heidi, Drive By must have decided it was all Mouse's fault because she started ferociously attacking Mouse at every opportunity not long afterward and now, four months after they've all moved out, she still can't tolerate her. Poor Mousey has to live downstairs to escape from the depredations of the fierce Drive By monster.
I hope that changes at some point but I am starting to think it never will.
But when Brando was gone to the hospital once for a week, the other cats hissed and slapped at him when he got home. He did smell sort of funny like a hospital for a while. They got over this and soon accepted him again as always.
The same was true when Mouse ran away for 2 weeks that time. The other cats acted like she was a stranger when she got back, for a brief time. Later on they seemed to remember her, though, and things got back to normal.
Here's something weird that happened. When Peaches died, Felicity, who had hitherto been a very submissive cat, low on the totem pole, at the age of 10, turned into a completely dominant cat and started pushing Brando aside and eating first. She NEVER did that before. Now that he's gone she is the head honcho around here and until she was 10 she was the very meekest and most retiring (around cats) of them all. That's just bizarre to me, but Dr. George said that happens. That there's no way to predict the new order of things after a cat dies or a new one joins the household. Sometimes everything is completely turned upside down.
Okay, probably more cat sociology than anyone cared to hear there but, yeah. Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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Oh, and peeing on things is almost ALWAYS a medical problem and not a behavioral problem at all! Get your cat to the vet to check for urinary tract infection, if you haven't already, because that's the number one cause of cats peeing on things. They're trying to tell you something is wrong!
[ September 12, 2003, 02:39 AM: Message edited by: ak ]
Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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I take it back, if a cat is an unneutered male cat, then peeing on things is just normal behavior. Otherwise it's nearly always some medical problem, quite often a UTI, which cats are very prone to develop. Brando was rather injudicious in his choice of places to pee because he was diabetic and had to go so very often. It just was apparently too far to the litter box each time. So I made it as convenient for him as I could by putting a litter box in his favorite places.
I always get my males neutered very young to prevent them ever getting in the habit of spraying urine on things as a sexual marker. Lots of times if this habit ever starts it won't go away even after neutering. (Other times it does. Just depends on the cat.)
Females I wait to neuter until they go into heat the first time, for two reasons. One, it's a major operation for the girls and if they are larger and older they have a better chance of it going okay. Secondly, though, they are more affectionate, I've found, if they're allowed to mature a bit before being neutered. Not affectionate in a gross way but just in a sweet way. I know lots of vets are telling people to get all kittens neutered very young, even as tiny kittens, but I disagree with this practice. I let the boys get to be about 4-6 months and the girls whenever their first heat is.
[ September 12, 2003, 02:41 AM: Message edited by: ak ]
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One more odd fact of cat sociology. I would have expected the pecking order to be a linear thing, or at least a hierarchy, but dominance is not a transitive property, apparently. The way things are in my household now it's a rock, scissors, paper situation; Drive By beats Mouse, Mouse beats Felicity, and Felicity beats Drive By. Felicity is most dominant because Mouse doesn't choose to take her on very often, but when she does, she always wins. She is her mother so that seems to still be in effect. Weird, huh?
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Sounds like a fun, adventurous cat. I loves me the kitties.
OT-- could you email me a mailing address for you guys? I fear the one on your Bed Bath and Beyond registry may be old. (Better late than never on the Wedding gift front, wot.)
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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This reminds me of when my cat was a kitten. She used to jump up on the counter all the time to eat our plants in the window sill. We tried tape, spray water, and shouting at her when we caught her, and in typical cat fashion she remained oblivious. Then one night we had all gone to bed and left out a hot cookie sheet with cookies on it to cool. In the morning we woke up to see a perfect paw print in the middle of one of the now cool and hard cookies. She'd jumped on the counter and stepped on the hot pan. Luckily she wasn't hurt, but she didn't jump on the counters anymore either. Of course now a days she's so old and fat, she doesn't jump anywhere if she can help it, but that's another story.
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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This reminds me of when my cat was a kitten. She used to jump up on the counter all the time to eat our plants in the window sill. We tried tape, spray water, and shouting at her when we caught her, and in typical cat fashion she remained oblivious. Then one night we had all gone to bed and left out a hot cookie sheet with cookies on it to cool. In the morning we woke up to see a perfect paw print in the middle of one of the now cool and hard cookies. She'd jumped on the counter and stepped on the hot pan. Luckily she wasn't hurt, but she didn't jump on the counters anymore either. Of course now a days she's so old and
Posts: 349 | Registered: May 2003
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ak: They took her to the vet, I believe, and I'm not sure that there was anything wrong with her. I think part of the problem is the fact that my sister and brother are in charge of cleaning the catbox.... :-/
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Ah, yes. If you don't give them a clean place to go, they will make a new one. It's a shame that they punish that cat for that, though. Why not lock the sister and brother up in a room with the dirty catbox until they clean it?
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A word of caution when using a squirt bottle to train your cat: it only works if you’re sneaky.
The idea behind the method is that the cat associates a certain action with getting squirted (which they don't like). If a cat sees you squirting them they don't associate it with their action, they just think your being a jerk. If, on the other hand, you can squirt your cat without them seeing they will form the association.
I prefer a soda can with some pennies in it. When you shake it is makes a load sound which scares most cats. It's easier to be sneaky with the can since you can do it behind your back...
I used the squirt method for a while then switched to the can once the squirting stopped working.
Posts: 409 | Registered: Apr 2002
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All very good ideas, guys...I'll have to try some of them.
But the spray bottle does not work. It worked for maybe the first week, but now Valentine likes to jump up on the edge of the bathtub while we're taking showers and watch. Sometimes she gets in. We don't mind it that much because it's adorable, but now squirting her with a spray bottle just results in her twitching and continuing on with whatever she's doing.
I've had cats before, though now that I think about it, I was probably too young to remember the kittens acting like kittens. I have considered taping her to the outside of our bedroom window for the night, but that probably wouldn't work out well. Tieing her to the tracks is a possibility, though...
Insane kittens, while a hassle, provide enough entertainment value to outweight the insanity. Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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Thanks, Dan. I thought it would get some reaction, even if it was outrage on cat owners who didn't think it funny. I thought the play on words was worth at least a groan or something. I'm glad it wasn't entirely missed.
Everyone: good suggestions. And even better stories. I think we'll maybe try the can with pennies in it - she's not fond of loud noises.
And I found that if I don't respond to her when she decides to play with my fingers while I'm sleeping, but do my best to keep my hand down and flat, she'll give up pretty quickly and go bother Dan instead. Works for me!
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![[Frown]](frown.gif)
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). When he does that, I just tell him sterly, "No!" and pick him up and dump him unceremoniously on the floor (usually while trying not to laugh).![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Works for me!
