Cat Behavior Problems!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I have two cats who are approximately seven months old, and if they don’t quit getting on my nerves, they may not get much older. (That’s a joke. I adore cats.) But these boys are really testing me. They’ve already clawed my furniture to ribbons, which is fine, since it was nothing special to begin with. But they have a couple of other habits I need some help dealing with.

First, they want to go in and out all the time. About every seven minutes, I’d say, someone has to get up and let the cat out. Or in. Or the other cat. I just replaced my outer doors in hopes of getting some other fool to buy this shack one day, so I’m really not interested in installing kitty doors. I’ve also tried keeping a squirt bottle next to the door and squirting them when they go in or out, in hopes that they would enter and exit with less frequency, but that just caused them to hesitate longer in the doorway before making up their little kitty minds. I don’t do it anymore. I can’t ignore them for long when they want out because of the MEOWing. I can’t ignore them for long when they want in because of problem number two…

They jump up on the outer windowsills and velcro their furry little bodies up on the screens by their claws. (While MEOWing.) They also thrust themselves through the resulting holes in the screen so that they are sandwiched between the screen and the window glass. I live in Florida. In a month or two, we’ll be dealing with massive amounts of bugs and heat, and I’m going to need screens! Between now and then, I’m just worried they’ll break the damn glass. I don’t want to have them declawed, but I’m at my wit’s end. Does anyone have any ideas for keeping them off the window sills? I have read that a cat can be trained to stay off countertops if you cover the countertops with double-sided tape for a while, but this seems to have drawbacks for use outdoors. Besides, I have a feeling that this would work well only until I removed the tape.

Please, Dopers, help me to domesticate these furry devils! They woke me up about four times last night, and you know, that’s got to stop.

2

I’m not a vet nor am I enthusiastic about the question I am about to ask, but have they been “fixed” yet? If you don’t snip those fellas they will not only roam and spray but will fight other cats continuously until they meet up with a tougher cat. You will have to pay for lots of antibiotic, then.

Fixing them now is better than waiting. They will be very affectionate and won’t mind their new-found lack of male sexuality at all. It might even save their lives (the fighting, you know.) Besides, you don’t want lots of other little fellas running around the neighborhood without a home.

:slight_smile:

3

I second the “fix them” idea if you haven’t already. Male cats need to be fixed just as soon as the vet says they are old enough.

Don’t let them claw up your sofa even if it is junk. One day in the next fifteen years or so you will probably get a new sofa and they will claw that to hell too unless you teach them now.

I am not a anti-declawing person. I think that there are good reasons to get your cats declawed. However, cats who go outside need their claws. If you are going to let the little guys go outside at all declawing really isn’t an option.

As far as the meowing to go outside, just ignore them. They meow to go outside because they know it works. The cats have trained you to open the door when they meow. It is time for you to train them. No matter how much they meow only let them out a couple of times a day. Make it around the same time every day. Just ignore the meow the rest of the day and try to distract them from time to time. It won’t take long before they catch on.

4

I was going to ask the same thing! If they have been fixed, they should mellow out in a few months. Soon, you should have fat and lazy lap cats. At least, that’s always been my experience.

One of my cats used to tear holes in the screen and sneak out as well. He also used to invite squirrels into the house through the same holes. A zoologist friend of mine suggested squirting vinegar or tabasco sauce around the screens to discourage the cats from escaping & the squirrels from entering. I chose vinegar because it’s less staining and the smell evaporated pretty quickly. The cats & squirrels haven’t exchanged places since.

Good luck!

5

Try putting a cat door in the window. They’re easy enough to build, but you can buy them as well.

http://www.2kstore.com/wns/07.htm
Only downside is that you have the cats bringing you presents all the time.

6

I got the boys when they were just a few weeks old from our area vet school, and they are supposedly fixed. I have seen them do the “tail rattle” in the direction of the furniture, but I didn’t see any results. (I don’t have a sense of smell, but the kids would tell me, right?)
Finagle, that kitty window thing looked good!

7

I would double-check on the neutering thing. Many places will not spay or neuter kittens who are just a few weeks old for various reasons, and these guys certainly don’t sound neutered. It’s also possible to miss ectopic testicular tissue, especially in very small kittens, and that could be causing some of the behaviors you’re seeing. Another possibility is they’re both cryptorchid–their testicles never descended, so they merely look like they’ve been neutered.

Also, find out when they had their vaccines–they should have started the series at 6-8 weeks and gotten boosters every three weeks until they were four months old. If they haven’t had that, you need to get on it RIGHT NOW. Vaccines are vitally important for outdoor and quasi-outdoor pets.

8

Will do, CatLady. Thanks!

9

Something I’ve tried that worked as a deterrant to keep a misbehaving kitty away from places I didn’t want them was a spray bottle with a fairly strong lemon juice/water mixture, spray the place, not the cats. They HATE the smell of lemon juice. Fix them if you haven’t by now, that will also help.

As far as the in and out business, if they start doing it again, look at them and say “In or out, but don’t just stand there!” and also words to the effect of “No, you just came in (or out) I’m busy, you stay there. Make up your mind where you want to be next time.”

They might not fullly understand what you are saying (depending on their intelligence, some cats can understand the gist of those phrasees) but they will at least understand that you are upset, and hopefully begin to curb their behaivior. Basically stop “rewarding” the behaviour you want to curb by giving them what they ask for, assert that you have rights too. This MIGHT work if the cats are smart enough to pick up on the idea that they aren’t going to get their way all the time.

I’m having to deal with a young female kitten I took in as a foundling waif, she’s about six months old. I became her “mommy” because she was just barely old enough to be weaned when I rescued her, though she ate solid kibble with no problem. Her eyes were just beginning to change color, they were a gorgeous green at the time.

She is a bit nuerotic, she HAS to lick me as I sleep. She tries to lick my lips, (I’ve learned to press them tightly together, folded inwards if I feel her get on the bed.)will succeed on my forehead or chin if I am deeply asleep, and has a perverse desire to nibble my eyelids and the bridge of my nose/nostrils. She also wants to lick inside my nostrils, needless to say, this makes for a grumpy sleep deprived mommy. I’ve started lightly swatting at her when she comes to groom, but not when she just wants to cuddle, and it’s working a little. She just does not understand that what she is doing is not nice, and not wanted. Her NEED to do it overrides any empathy she might have. I think it’s because she was taken from her kitty mommy to early, and so needs to “nurse” still. Any animal behaviorists on the boards that could offer a bit of advice? I’m at my wit’s end some days.

Something that helped a bit is another cat in the family closely resembled her mother, a fluffy white with golden eyes. We could tell this from her joyous reaction to seeing him, and her immeadiate affection towards him. She was hostile to the other two cats, one of which was black and white, the other black. Fortunately, this cat is very nurturing, and is happy as a clam when he’s got another critter to groom. He’s an odd fellow, but wise in some ways. She’s made a truce with the black and white tom, they play. Sometimes he forgets his strength, and then they fight though. The black cat is just too much of a grump, don’t know if they will make friends or not.

She’s got Siamese/Oriental traits, she’s pure white with golden eyes, Siamese face and body shape (old fashioned Siamese, not modern) and LOVES to fetch. She’s very talkative. She loves feathers, and has a little feathered ball that she loves to fetch for you, she kills it first, then brings it for you to throw again. I think she might have some kind of breathing type problem, she wheezes a bit, and doesn’t have such good balance at times, landing badly from short distances (jumping from my arms) when a cat that had it’s balance wouldn’t. I’m going to ask the vet about it when I bring her in for her vaccinations, and to make the appointment to get her spayed.

10

To keep my kitties from scratching the box springs (only place they scratch, go figure) I placed double sided tape all over the area and it stopped them immediately. You could try a big sheet of Contact paper over the screen, sort of like cat flypaper, hee!

My two cents on scratching the furniture-- you might want to stop them, even if you don’t care about your current stuff. Someday you could have trouble getting them to leave your new, spiffy furniture alone.

11

Wish I had an answer for you on the scratching thing…I had to give up my baby because she JUST WOULDN’T QUIT! (Plus she got into the habit of peeing and pooing where ever our other female would lay). I love my kitty, but I was literally about to have a breakdown over this. Luckily my F-I-Law adores her and spoils her like I never could and I still get to see her lots.
Right now I’m having a problem with my male kitty, Jesper.
I’ve had him since he was a bitty-baby and he is spayed. About a year or so ago, (he’s 6) he started to hike his bum up so that he ends up spraying pee over the top of the pan onto the wall.
We got a “Boodah Dome” (round cat pan with lid) to save the walls, but he still hikes (can hear it hitting the plastic instead of the litter, plus there’s always a mess to clean up where it drips down between lid and pan).
I would love to teach them (also have female, Gia) to use the toilet, but how can I teach him with him doing that?
When we used to go to the bathroom together (anybody with a cat pan in the loo knows potty time is a social thing :rolleyes: ) I would gently push his rear down whilst he peed, but he didn’t take the hint. Didn’t seem to upset him; just didn’t make a difference.
Anyone else have that problem? Any solutions?