STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

greca · BCBG

Cat owners: need your advice!

Hermione · Kate Spade

yikes, what a problem! my first thought was to shut him out but you said he scratches at the door - maybe you should try shutting him in a bathroom or something for the night so you can get some sleep?

laken1 · Hermes

Does he sleep all day while you are home? Mine does this too & I have taken to playing with her more (ie: waking her up) during the day so she'll be tired at night. I must admit, it doesn't always work. I am curious to see what everyone else says. She seriously wakes me up like every hour or every other hour.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

I once had a cat that irritated the hell out of me at night! It would run back and fourth from my room, jump on my dresser and knock stuff over. I would toss it out of my room, but it would come back! So I just put it in my brothers room and shut the door!

Lock the kitty up in a utility room or bathroom so it can't bother you or leave suprises on the floor. Or maybe if you sprayed him with a perfume or especially orange citrus room spray. You have a pleasant scent and the cat is gone!

-- Edited by Cortney1982 at 20:14, 2006-01-19

small fry · Chanel

Is your cat netured? If not this may help, I know sometime it calms them down, does he go outside at all? I know when I first got toby he was a total terror because he was at the shelter and always in his cage and he wanted to go outside so after weeks of him tearing up the place we let him out and now he is happy and very laid back when he comes in. We live in a small town and he stays near the house never wanders off but Iam still scared something will happen to him. I also know he is used to being outside and he would be miserable if he was always inside.

ejc423 · Coach

*sigh*

I have the same problem with my baby. Shutting the bedroom door is not an option because she has actually jumped up and opened it before.

A few months ago I started putting her in her kitty carrier when I go to sleep. I didn't want it to be like a punishment, so I would put her in there or lure her in there with a treat. She actually has done really well. She rattles the door of her carrier when she is ready to get out in the morning, which is usually when it gets light outside, and I am ok with that. And now when I get up to get her treats she gets in the carrier by herself! And they say you can't train a cat. . .

greca · BCBG

I feel better now- I thought I was the only one who a night time demon cat!

Maybe I'll try shutting him in the bathroom, but it's connected to my bedroom so I'm sure I'll still be able to hear him going crazy...

Laken- I wake him up all the time, but he still never seems tired enough at night

Courtney: You crack me up! I wonder which perfume our kitty would hate more- Ralph Lauren's Romance or Chanel's Chance?

Kaykay: Yes, he's neutured...and he's strictly an indoor cat since we live in downtown Chicago

ejc423: Our cat opens doors too...the carrier idea sounds good, but what if the cat needs to use the litter box or is thirsty? I don't want him to associate the carrier with being "bad" because we have a hard enough time as it is when we need to take him to the vet...

Thanks for all your feedback ladies!!

blink · Coach

I would do what someone else suggested, stick her in a crate/kennel or the bathroom with a treat. maybe throw in some of her favorite toys and some cushy bedding too.

I am thankful my cat was only so needy up until age 1. My cat has two dopey dogs to pick on, so she's not lonely.

small fry · Chanel

maybe getting her another fury friend , is that possible

luckylily · Gucci

I can totally relate. We have three cats, and I haven't slept through a night without one of them annoying me in 8 years. They are actually getting better as they get older tho.

I find that they tend to want to sleep right after they eat, so feeding them as late as possible helps.

ejc423 · Coach

greca wrote:

ejc423: Our cat opens doors too...the carrier idea sounds good, but what if the cat needs to use the litter box or is thirsty? I don't want him to associate the carrier with being "bad" because we have a hard enough time as it is when we need to take him to the vet... Thanks for all your feedback ladies!!

Well she was probably about 7 months old or so when I started. I've never had a problem with getting her in the carrier because she hasn't been to the vet that much (just twice when she was a baby). I travel between VA and SC a good bit, and she comes with me in her carrier. It's about a 7 hour trip, so I knew she would be ok without the litterbox/water for that long. I figure if she needs something she will shake the door to the carrier and meow. She does every once in a while and I will let her out if she does that, but she is usually quiet and goes to sleep when I put her in there. It sounds like it might be difficult to "crate train" an older cat though.

Good luck, I hope you can get it straightened out!

NCshopper · Hermes

Oh, I SO can relate to you on this! My old cat would literally make herself throw up if you locked her out of the room. It was awful. She also learned how to turn the light switch on that was right above my parents' bed, just to wake them up in the middle of the night.

My dad eventually took to sleeping with a pile of balled up socks by the side of his bed as well as a folded up piece of newspaper. He'd throw the balled up socks at the cat, which would get her to leave them alone for a little while or he'd whack the newspaper against the side of the bed to scare the cat. Not the most effective methods for the long term, but they work for a little while.

Is there anything your cat wants? Is he hungry? Thirsty? Sick? Or does he just want to play and get some loving? Unless something is wrong, I'd almost suggest ignoring the cat. It sounds weird, but cats can be so much like kids. Negative attention, to a cat, is still attention and if attention is what he's after then don't give it to him. Maybe he'll learn. And even though he's still not a kitten, cats do tend to mellow out with age.

greca · BCBG

ahhh, gotta love cats! Thanks everyone for sharing your stories/advice...I guess this is good practice for having kids, right?

Luckylily: I will try feeding him later in the hopes that will work...

Kaykay: We considered getting another cat, but decided against it because unfortunately our little boy has a very rare (and potentially fatal) blood disorder; basically his body doesn't produce enough red/white blood cells and although his disease isn't contagious to other cats, we wanted to make sure he gets our full love and attention and not stress him out by introducing another animal...but despite this, he's definitely not in any pain or discomfort (according to the vet)

NCShopper: I think you're right about trying to ignore him, but boy is it hard when it's 4 am and you're in lala land and then you have a cat doing it's best job to wake you up...in fact, one of the only things that calms him down is when my fiance gets out of bed to sleep in the living room- with the cat! I know it sounds crazy, but for some reason it works! Obviously, this is not the best solution!! I guess we'll have to try ignoring him the best we can and hope we sleep through it...

Thanks again for everyone's words of wisdom- no matter how crazy our kitty makes us, we still wouldn't trade him for anything!!

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Can anybody just get their hands on some animal tranquilizers? That might work (sleep at night, awake in the day!), don't know if it would be a good or bad thing to use daily. My cat really needs one before I put her in her crate, she only has been in there three times, and let me tell you, fur literaly flies and she will cry and cry for three hours straight!

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

My cat does the same exact thing as yours. He is very spiteful but I love him regardless. You might want to try giving him treats with catnip in them during the day. This may seem counterproductive, but I give mine treats that are made of catnip during the day. He runs around like a maniac during the day, but at night he is so pooped that all he wants to do is sleep! The treats I get are called Kookamunga, but I'm sure there are many different brands.

Good luck!

laken1 · Hermes

nunzi182 wrote:

My cat does the same exact thing as yours. He is very spiteful but I love him regardless. You might want to try giving him treats with catnip in them during the day. This may seem counterproductive, but I give mine treats that are made of catnip during the day. He runs around like a maniac during the day, but at night he is so pooped that all he wants to do is sleep! The treats I get are called Kookamunga, but I'm sure there are many different brands.

Good luck!

nunzi, are they in a mouse or something? just alone? I never know what in the heck to do with my catnip - i know that sounds stupid but i have some loose stuff- looks like grass. So tell me more about what kind of "treat" it is. I need to try this - last night was awful - with my little cat ,but my big cat too & he usually sleeps all night.

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

Laken, this is what I give my cat. They're actually treats, not the loose stuff. I don't know what to do with the loose stuff either:

Elle · Hermes

Cortney1982 wrote:

Can anybody just get their hands on some animal tranquilizers? That might work (sleep at night, awake in the day!), don't know if it would be a good or bad thing to use daily. My cat really needs one before I put her in her crate, she only has been in there three times, and let me tell you, fur literaly flies and she will cry and cry for three hours straight!

Nope, not safe for daily use. They can damage their liver if used frequently - our vet didn't even want us to use them once a month!

needsfashionadvice · Kate Spade

laken1 wrote:

I never know what in the heck to do with my catnip - i know that sounds stupid but i have some loose stuff- looks like grass.

I use the loose stuff and I just sprinkle it on my cats scratch posts. She sniffs it and rolls around in it and always eventually falls asleep on whatever I sprinkled it on.

TheLovelyLady71 · Hermes

These reponses are pretty funny! My cat Smokey does that from time to time; he was playing w/one of his balls, WHICH HAS A JINGLE BELL on the inside, at 2:00 IN THE MORNING! Joe and I yelled at him to chill out; he'll wait a few minutes, then start up again.

One time, we TRIED locking him out the room, he just kept scratching, meowing all UGLY, but he eventually gave up. He does sleep all day, till we get home, but I TRY to keep his little behind busy, so he won't keep up at night when WE try to go to bed! LOL And we've also brought him catnip in the past - he was REALLY a nutcase then, never mind the fact that he's a darker colored cat, he uses that against up, esp. at night, when it's dark. LOL

-- Edited by TheLovelyLady71 at 12:12, 2006-01-20