Diceman So an animal that cleans itself with its tongue is trying to improve MY hygiene?
My cat has also taken to peeing in the bathroom sink. Thankfully, there are two sinks there, so I can brush my teeth in a clean one. I’m not sure if she thinks that the bathroom is the place to do that now, or what…
Has anyone else ever seen their cat cover it’s eyes with it’s paws when a light comes on? Mine did this, and I could just imagine the swearing. She did give me a sleepy and not terribly friendly “meow” when it came on. Of course, she then moved to my bed and fell asleep there, as if to mock me for getting up.
Mine also have the disturbing “stare at nothing” tendency that does no good for my firm disbelief in the spirit world.
One of ours is declawed, so now she’s taken to biting the couch. We finally deduced that it wasn’t about sharpening the claws, it was about destroying our furniture.
It’s too bad I can’t have more than one 666 post. Hey, Dante! Another Torontonian! Isn’t the weather great today?
Anyone got any suggestions for getting a cat to use its scratching post instead of the sofa? No? Didn’t think so…
It looks like any kind of remotely cat-related story is fair game on this thread, so…
I think my little destructress ate a votive candle earlier today. I set it on the coffee table (where she isn’t allowed) and five minutes later it was gone. The little metal ring is still there. No sign of the candle anywhere in the house. Just a few little crumbs.
My little black Queen is a bit on the odd side as well. She absolutely loves water, which is about as opposite typical cat behavior as you can get. She frequently climbs into the shower with me. I couldn’t figure out, though, why she kept emptying the water dish all over the kitchen floor. After watching her a while I came to the conclusion that she’s trying to catch the light reflection on top of the water. The fact that she never can doesn’t seem to dissuade her in the least. She also can’t catch the mouse cursor.
Staring at nothing? Chasing imaginary mice? Chewing various and sundry household items? Count your blessings.
We acquired a new pet last night, thanks to the cat who got out earlier and then meowed to get in at eleven. We call the little guy “Mr. Squeaky” and he lives in the wall behind the baseboard radiator in the kitchen. Or maybe he’s made it into the garage by now. Or the living room…or maybe he’s chewing on the insulation of our electric wires, since there’s probably nothing to eat back there.
I’m planning to go buy Mr. Squeaky some “special food” at the hardware store tomorrow, if I can sneak it past the kids.
My loveable ball of fur named SleeStak has annoying habits when she wants food put in the bowl. If I am sleeping she jumps onto the bed right next to my head, licks what ever part of my face that is showing and then bounds off.
On the other hand if I am on the couch she walks up behind me and tries to crawl onto my head. That wouldn’t be so bad except she is a really fat cat.
Gouda, my other little ball of fur, has this thing for licking my fingers. The fingers of my right hand. The right hand only. Apparently the fingers on my left hand are not tasty.
Gouda also likes NASCAR. When I watch it she plops down about a foot in front of the tv and watches the cars go by. She’ll do that for hours.
Samhain has a thing for hands a feet too. I don’tknow what the deal is, but if I’m barefooted, she’s licking my feet! If I hold her, she’s licking my hands and she does that to everybody. She also unsuccessfully chases the mouse cursor and Scrat whenever we’re watching Ice Age.
What kind of scratching post do you have? There are at least three popular kinds: carpeted, sisal, and corrigated (?sp) cardboard. If your cat doesn’t like one, try another kind. If your cat likes catnip (the cardboard ones are usually have cat nip in them (or maybe it’s just the scented)), put some on the post or get some catnip spray and spray the it. You might also think about getting some enzyme stuff ([a href=“http://www.petsmart.com/products/product_308.shtml”]Nature’s Miracle[/a] is good) to remove your cat’s scent from the part of the sofa he scratches.
Put the post right next to the sofa where your cat scratches to encourage him (her?) to use the post instead. Put double sided sticky tape on the couch where he scratches. Tin foil also works great - most cats don’t like the texture. When your cat is finally using the post instead of the couch, start moving the post to the location you’d prefer it. Do this slowly over the course of days/weeks.
Also, try to have more than one post in the house. Make sure that one of them is next to where your cat sleeps. Cats get the urge to scratch when they first wake up.
Cats scratch for a variety of reasons, mainly to mark their territories, exercise, and to help shed their nails. Marking is accomplished by both putting their scent on the item via the scent glands in their paws and by visibly leaving a…mark, if you will, by shredding the item. So whatever you do, don’t throw that post away when it starts looking ratty - that’s when the cats like it most. The rattier the post the more it says “MINE” to the cat.
Getting cats to stop scratching the furniture? HAHAHAHHAHAHA…that’s a good one, Lissla. Thanks, I need the laugh!
Try spending an entire day turning sofas and taking the mattresses off of the bed so that you can cover the undersides of the sofas and the beds so the little kitten won’t eat it the fibers at the bottom and end up with Poop-on-a-Rope. Or spending the day after Christmas taking your Christmas tree down early because a certain orange tabby decided she likes to nap in the bows.
Dante: Thanks, I’ll consider m’self lucky from now on. One of our is declawed (front only) from a previous owner. He’s a “Hemmingway.” (I think that’s who I’m thinking of) Six toes on each foot. We’re his third owner(s). Whoever owned him first named him Razor and had him declawed. His second owner (my SIL) renamed him Oswald, and spent large amounts of time away from home, resulting in Mrs. Skeezix and I ‘cat-sitting’ so often that he ended up staying. He is the worst of the bunch for creepy/annoying behavior.
I am somehow unsurprised by this realization.
Instead of biting the furniture like yours, though, he still claws it. It is, without a doubt, the funniest non-destructive behavior I’ve ever seen from any of our cats. His front feet travel around 100 mph, as he digs for all he’s worth on the side of the couch, or the arm of a chair.
I suppose he’s still marking it up (scent glands, and all) but he goes to town with it the way that a small dog will hump your leg. There’s that same look of desperation in his eyes, too. He knows he’s supposed to be getting better tactile feedback, it’s just not there, and he refuses to give up on the off chance that any second now it’s “gonna get good.”
Then again, he also insists on scooping every last freakin’ piece of dry cat food out of the ‘gravity feeder’ for reasons I am afraid to speculate on. It’s possible he thinks it’s a big box of Cracker Jacks, and he wants to get to the damn prize before one of the other cats comes along and snatches it up. I don’t really know.
Weird animals, man.
[sub]“Oswald. Oz. Ozzie! Eat the damn food while it’s in the dish, or so help me I’m gonna come over there and stuff you in the hopper! Look at this mess, you moron. Why? And… look stupid, stop digging! It’s empty! Oswald, you are digging the bottom of an empty feeder, surrounded by small mountains of cat food. Is this supposed to be modern art, or what?”[/sub]
Our beasts don’t have a scratching post, but my theory is that in order to get them to use it, you should loudly scold them, and/or chase them away, every time they approach it. That ought to make the urge to scratch it irresistable.:rolleyes:
