Do I have to link to the Very Scary Echidna Penis? DO I?
I have cat poop issues.
Mosby will not shit in the box. (I should be grateful he pees in the box, I know.) Many’s the time I have cleaned the box and added fresh litter, only to have Mosby walk in and take a dump right next to the box. Asshole.
Julian is such a fat fuck he can’t clean his own ass. He has very long, fluffy hair and very sticky shit, so he develops the most disgusting, huge dingleberries known to man. I just pinned him down and removed some the other evening. Neither of us was very happy.
One of our cats puts toys, hair braids, and bits of the dogs dry food in the water bowl. She then sits next to it and smiles at us.
Another cat will capture, but not kill, lizards from outside and release the wounded victim inside to play with.
True that. But: my workplace did some research on this problem. It turns out that the most effective method is taking on so called cat hot spots. Hot spots like campings and farms in the Netherlands, and I assume trailer parks in the US. These are places often geographically near nature reserves, and they have a big semi-feral cat population. And the cats are actively fed by the farmer/people in the trailer park or vacationers in the camping, thus exploding in numbers.
Such semi-feral cat populations are apparently no-ones responsibility. The cats are supposed to keep the mice under control, and vacationers feed them because the cats know how to beg and how to steal. And these cats breed like rabbits, sending more and more cats out into the near wilderness.
These hot spots are the biggest threat to wildlife in reserves, dwarving the problem of straying individual cats living in homes, by sheer numbers.
What is needed are catch neuter release programmes, targeted at those hot spots.
We also have a plastic bag licker. That is his least offensive habit. He was raised by human foster parents and appears to think he is a human. When he was a kitten he was in the bathroom with my husband. Hubby was standing there peeing and looked over to see Mac peeing in the tub, very nonchalantly. We had to start leaving 2 inches of water in the tub to break him.of that. But he was still under the impression that it was his duty to use one of the porcelain fixtures in the bathroom ( not the toilet of course, that would be too easy) so he started peeing in the sink. We had a helluva time breaking him of that. Leaving water in the sink did not work, he just squatted above it. To this day we can’t have a bathroom rug because he will shit on it.
He is proof positive that if you are cute and cuddly enough you can get away with anything.
My cat won’t leave the lowest level of the house. I live in a six-level house. It’s a cat’s dream house. It’s like a large-scale version of one of those multi-level kitty play structures. But she won’t leave the lowest level unless forced out. There are no doors between levels. There is nothing scary about the other levels. Some of them are quite inviting. She could sleep on my bed on the top level if she wanted. There are open stairs to play on – my last cat loved them. But Spooky is content to stay on the lowest level. She’s got everything she needs there, her food and water and litter box. Toys, TV, computer, stereo. It’s not really pit worthy, I suppose, just odd. I don’t complain or force her to leave – frankly, it’s great to not have a cat getting up on the kitchen counter. Still, it’s odd.
I didn’t know about the hot spots, but you are singing my song anyway. Trap Neutor Release is really the only effective and humane way to treat the problem.
As long as there is a food source, there will be feral and semi-feral cats. Removing the food source is usually impossible. Trapping and killing the cats just means that more cats will move in. Neutored cats will defend their territory, but won’t breed.
The remote town of Jermone Arizona used to have a terrible feral cat problem. They chose to do TNR and rounded up all the ferals/strays and fixed them. Next they started low cost spay/neutor clinics for the pets. This was a town decision, everyone bought into it. Every year, they go out and TNR any un-eartipped cats.
Now they have to import kittens.
Gosh, just typing about that brought a tear to my eyes.
To keep with the topic of ranting: I must find a way to keep Streak from waking me up at 4:30 in the a.m. He climbs on me and kneads me until I kick him off the bed. After six or seven repeats I pick him up and put him out of the room and shut the door. Then I lie there listening to him yowl until I can’t take any more and get up and make coffee. He smiles smugly when I get up. He wins again. Grr. His sister Shadow is pretty quiet in the morning until I am actually UP but I can’t seem to teach Streak the virtues of morning silence and sleeping in. Anyone have any tips?
Fashion a piece of aluminum foil to fit the opening, or to cover just about anything you don’t want bothered by cat nonsense. A sheet of aluminum foil thrown in a tub will thwart tub poopers as well.
Sorry, that was pretty preachy.
What pretty kittehs. How old are they, they look like teenagers. Kittens are cute and cuddly and make a mess, but teenagers are even worse. About being active problems, I mean. This is why I only adopt adult cats.
Do you have a bathroom in a different part of the house? Put a litterbox there, and food and water. Give him treats and cuddles and then lock his butt up in durance vile and go to bed. He will probably shred the toilet paper and shower curtain, but you will be able to sleep and share more pics with us all.
Its a win win all around!
Yow! I couldn’t face dealing with that many stairs – though I guess it would keep your butt in great shape.
Maybe your kitty is just lazy like me.
Confesses that I wondered about that too. A 6 floor house to me would have to include an elevator. I could just see my lazy cats sitting at the door and waiting for a human to come and push the button.
Or standing on each other to reach the button. Lucky is being a butthead, but he’s a smart butthead.
Aieeee! You are living with Basement Cat! Run! Run while you still have legs!
Aluminum foil did not keep my Mac from peeing in the sink. What finally worked was lurking until I could catch him in the act and then spray in his general direction with the air freshener. Turns out he really hates that, it still scares him.
What is it about cats and 4:30 in the morning? Ours think that is a splendid time for us to get up and feed them. What is interesting is that after the time change from daylight savings time to regular it takes them a week or two to readjust their little internal clocks.
The thing with cats and the pre-dawn hours is that’s their naturally most active time. They’re nocturnal carnivores that hunt mostly mice and birds, which are just starting to stir after a night’s sleep, before sunrise. It’s easier to catch small furry and feathery things when they’re closest to the nest and maybe still a bit sleepy. So pre-dawn it is.
The second most active time for cats is right around sunset. Since we’re usually up then, too, it’s not nearly as noticeable as when they’re running across our sleeping faces.
Here’s a question I’ve wondered - those of you who have cats that are especially persistent in their 4:30-ish behavior - are you also fairly early risers? I have a theory that it’s harder to “break” cats of the early “hey get up!” habit if they’re rewarded within an hour or so by their people getting up and the household becoming active anyway. I’m not sure how closely that theory holds water, but only one of my four does that, usually between 4-4:30am, but I’m usually just going to bed around then (2nd shifter), so it doesn’t bother me - plus, he stays off the bed and just bounces off the walls everywhere else for about 20 minutes.
Funny you recommended the bathroom prison, flatlined; that’s exactly where Streak ended up this morning at 4:15.
Those pictures were taken when they were about 9 months old. They’re a year and a half now. I remember my Rocky cat turned into a grownup and stopped yowling at night at around two years old so I still have high hopes. These two current cats are brother and sister and they had a very rough start in life: lost their mom as babies; got adopted and then abandoned, then taken in by a foster mom who was kind but kept them in one room and took them to adoption events every weekend but (lucky for me) held out for someone who would adopt them as a pair. Since Shadow is so shy they were afraid she would not do well without Streak. I think they were right but these poor guys were so uprooted and needy, I try to give them as much attention as they need: just not at 4:30 a.m.!
Dot usually starts around 530, I try to be up and working by 630. Their breakfast is around 715 - 730. Unfortunately, Dot’s wake up routine includes dive bombing me from the top of a book case or my tall dresser, crawling under the blankets and skittering around my feet, and the ever so fun paw to the face / meow act.
Then, once I am up, she takes my pillow and naps until breakfast.
owlfan that is brilliant – a terrifying HISS as a deterrent. And since most cats don’t like citrus, a fruity orange smell would be a plus.
Thwarted Tub Poopers = Band name!
Cats are amazing:
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-global/dims3/GLOB/resize/550x600/http://www.blogcdn.com/www.mandatory.com/media/2013/01/physics-cat.jpg
I’m a typical man. It took a woman to get me to appreciate cats.
My wife’s family has had at least 6 generations of cat fanciers, probably more.