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Need advice from cat owners
Ok this was posted on the pets board too but I trust your advice here more. My DH and I have a 4 month old kitten who we absolutely love. However, the past two weeks have been rough. A short backstory is that she was found skin and bones outside while we were on honeymoon. My dad was going to keep her but she tormented my poor older dog so we inherited her. We love her. However, the last week or so, she has been very naughty. She has taken to jumping on the counters and sticking her paws down the garbage disposal (she figured out how to get the cap off) and is scratching the furniture. Brian is getting really frustrated. We tried bitter apple and the no scratch spray for the furniture. We have our squirt bottle but she just doesn't seem to care. The girls on the pet board kept saying to get another kitten but we can't in our apt. For those of you who have dealt with kittens, any other suggestions? I feel bad that she is constantly getting herself into trouble yet has no clue why.
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Re: Need advice from cat owners
My first suggestion would be to get her declawed....that will save your furniture...especially if you havent had her fixed yet you can do it all in one shot....
and be persistant with the spray bottle....As for the garbage disposal...im clueless on that one...we have been fortunate that our cat doesnt get up on the counters...I would suggest maybe stacking cereal boxes on the edge of the counter (i have a tiny kitchen so this wouldnt be hard)....create like a barrier...HTH
Put fly tape/paper up on the counters so that she can't jump up without landing on it It should be enough of a deterrent for her. I don't think it is strong enough to hurt a kitten, but if it is too tacky you could try masking tape or something. Leave it there until she stops jumping up. Then hopefully she will stop the behavior altogether.
Also does she have a lot of toys? Maybe she needs some more play time to tire her out? Though tiring out a kitten is not an easy task. A laser pen will help!
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we have a laser pointer in the shape of a mouse it it drives Figment nuts...he loves it....also if the budget is tight, our cat loves twist ties (like the things that come with garbage bags)...
Feathers is another big one for Figment...he loves feathers on a string!!
Good idea about wearing her out....we know if we havent played with figment he starts knocking stuff off our dressers LOL
lol My cat does this too, especially in the morning if I don't get up to give him his wet food early enough. We leave his dry food out all the time, but ever since he was a kitten, he gets a little bit of wet food in the morning. If I don't give it to him by like 8am, he climbs on my dresser and starts threatening to knock stuff off. He'll literally meow, push it a little bit, look at me, and then meow again. If I don't get right up, he'll continue to do this until something breakable is just about to fall and then I finally get up...such a brat lol.
As said in PP's try to make sure the kitten is entertained though out they day. If they're an indoor cat, they do get bored quickly. You can alternate the toys you buy a couple times a month. I would get it declawed if you plan on having it as an inside cat (I know a lot of animal activists think thats a terrible thing).
DH's cat went from being in a home with 5 other cats to being alone. Before we went and dished out the time and money for another cat we started looking up suggestions online.
Our cat is 8 years old, I've tried to train her not to jump on the counters/table or be in the sink. Mostly by raising my voice, or spraying her. It's to the point now were if I walk in the kitchen to find her in the sink I don't even have to do anything, she just takes off running to her hiding space.
They're smart animals, and eventually your kitten will learn that what they're doing is "bad", over time it will calm down a lot. But I can't promise that it wont become sneakier about what it's doing.
All I can say is that her activity should decrease over time, but to decrease any destruction she might be causing with scratching, I highly recommend nail caps.
http://www.softpaws.com/
It sounds like a joke, but they really work. You can get them online, and some 'premium' pet stores carry them, and they do make them for kittens too.
We lucked out and our cats aren't big scratchers, however, my girl friend that almost literally owns a zoo, uses them on her 3 cats, and absolutely swears by them. They're easy to slip on, then they just fall off after a few weeks.
It's probably better if you start using them when she's a kitten, as she'll get used to you touching her paws. Our two boys we've had since kittens are great when we trim their claws... our other cat was never brought up getting her paws/nails touched, so we can't go near her paws now without blood being shed.
Don't do this! There is nothing meaner you can do to an animal then put them through this horrific surgery!
Try the soft paws and make sure you have a lot of tall scratching posts. (Cats like to stretch while they scratch.) The kitten will most likely grow out of the behaviour as he matures.
We have a very aggressive cat and the vet actually recommended declawing. He's totally fine. I would recommend it.
Also, kittens are just nuts sometimes. Be persistent, he'll figure out soon what he's not supposed to do.
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TTC Since January 2011 - We have bad spermAgreed. I've heard only terrible things about this procedure. From the actual surgery itself, to what it does to the kitten mentally. Our kitty is around 4.5-5 (she was a stray and the vet guessed her age) and she still acts like a maniac. We've gotten her several toys and this has helped. We also purchased the sticky strips for our furniture. They are clear so no one sees them, and the first couple times she stuck, she never went back.
I don't know about the disposal. Our kitty used to get on our counter-tops but I used to just tap her little nose and say NO and within 3-4 times of doing that, she didn't hop up there anymore.
Good luck!
Do you leave the window shades up for her to look out? That might be a given, but I know if it wasn't for me, Keith would never have thought of it (he prefers them to be closed). Cami LOVES to look out the windows and "chase" the leaves and squirrels. We keep one of the front shades open, the one at the top of the stairs, and the one in the upstairs bathroom open all of the time.
The other things I'd suggest are LOTS of play time and lots of toys for her to play with by herself while you're not there. Have a variety and rotate them every few days, so that she doens't get bored with them.
Also, empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls are good fun for most kitties. Cami LOVES twist-ties (as someone mentioned upthread) but she tends to nearly eat them, so I don't let her play with them anymore.
We used Softclaws on Cami when she was young and they really do work. Just be sure to check them daily and make sure they are still on.
Here are a few toys that Cami highly recommends.
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Estimated Due Date 11/13/12 | Natural Miscarriage 4/17/12
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TTC Since January 2011 - We have bad spermI think the biggest thing to remember is that cats are different from dogs.
Most dogs want to please their owners. Cats, for the most part, couldn't care less about that. LOL
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I have got a little stray kitten almost 6 years ago now and she was pretty much the same way, naughty.
i used to put her in timeout when she would misbehave. i know it sounds odd for a cat but it worked.
My cat is a very social cat and likes to be around people. but when she would get into trouble she would be locked in the bathroom for 5 minutes. lol i would pick her up and say NO and then put her in the bathroom and shut the door.
Now she is such a well behaved cat or as well behaved as a cat can be lol
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