Bad cat, what to do?
We're at whit's end with one of our cats. Actually the black one I use as my avatar. We have four cats. We love them all dearly. But one cat has been more difficult than the rest and he's almost 8 now and shows no signs of changing.
The problems started with scratching at closed doors. He hates closed doors. So much so that he wouldn't let us sleep at night when we first got him. He would scratch furiously at the door, non-stop for hours on end. Nothing worked. The vacuum cleaner trick didn't work. Spray bottle didn't work. He just kept waking us up for weeks on end. We eventually had to put a scat mat in front of the door of our bedroom with baby gates in order to get some peace.
That behavior hasn't abated. Just this morning he scratched on our bathroom door incessantly as I used the restroom. I then moved to the bedroom to stretch for the morning and he did the same thing on that door. Can anything be done about this?
The other behavior is almost as grating. He once got up as high as 19lbs. (he's now 13lbs. after years of feeding him separately from the girls) because we would feed all the cats at once and he would eat his food in about 2 minutes, then move on to eating all the other cats' food. Of course, we didn't realize the extent of how bad this was until he'd gotten pretty big. It seemed like he was being a little aggressive about the food, but to our discredit we weren't paying attention for a brief period of time to what was actually happening when they ate. Once we did it was clear what he was doing.
Now he's healthy, but he's developed a new problem. He's hungry constantly. He tries to pull down the trash can. He jumps into the sink every 5 minutes at night to try to lick the surface of any and every dish in the sink. We've tried shooing him away from the sink and counters, using a scat mat there, using a spray bottle. Nothing works. If we leave a dish near us for more than a minute unattended he pulls it off the table and licks it. If we leave a bowl or plate in the sink he licks it. If we kick him out of the sink he's back in there in a few minutes. On a given night this will happen over and over and over and over again. We'll say his name and walk towards the sink and he'll jump to the floor and run away. He knows he's not supposed to be doing it, but he persists.
I don't know what to do with him. I love him, but right now I love him a lot less. I'll never get rid of him, of course. My wife and I aren't like that. But I don't know what to do with him. We've taken him to the vet and had him tested for any medical condition that would cause him to be so hungry as to do what he does. Nothing. The door thing? I have no idea. Either way I'm losing patience with him finally and I don't know what to do. Any other cat owners out there with a clue as to what we can do with him.
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Hmm, that's tough. The only cat behavior I know how to correct is urinating/defecating outside the litterbox. I don't know if you've tried putting double sided sticky tape on the doors, but I've been told that cats hate the feeling of tape.
One thing that comes to mind is that maybe he's got a lot of anxiety or stress. Have you thought about getting him some sedatives to cool him down? Acepromazine and alprazolam seem to work really well in highly stressed animals.
What diet is he on right now? You might need a higher protein food. Cats are obligate carnivores and require more protein than dogs.
Hope that helps. Gotta get back to work now.
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I had to double check that you hadn't stolen our cat Fidget. Really.
We have 5 cats. Or 4 cats and a monster. A monster who occasionally reminds us that he was cute once. We have to put our cats 'to bed' at night to get a good nights sleep. This means the 2nd bedroom is the 'cat room'. They all go in there, and there's a scat mat inside that door to keep him from scratching all night long. Sometimes if the battery on the mat dies, he'll scratch until the pads on his feet bleed and he leaves red-brown streaks on the doorframe. He also will eat any/all leftover food, though we've been able to keep his weight in check recently, maybe due to age, he's about 12 now.
I'm pretty sure it's all related to a separation anxiety disorder. Clomicalm for dogs can be prescribed in lower doses for cats. So can human prozac. We know this well. It doesn't fix everything, but it helps tone it down a bit. We had him on clomicalm for a long time, until it just wasn't working well enough (when he starts peeing all over the house with wild abandon is the sign it doesn't work well enough), then we moved him to prozac.
Seriously, this sounds exactly like our monster, and the only thing that helps is medication, and making sure he occasionally gets serious one-on-one attention. He's very hateful to the other cats and needs reassurance frequently. Typical bully behavior.
I try to remind myself than he can be adorable sometimes, like when hunting vicious teddybear monsters like this:
Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
As for the doors, if the cat doesn't scratch a large multitude of doors, you can just put double stick tape on the door to give it the sticky feeling on its paws.. It annoys the heck out of them and it should stop.
What kind of food are you giving him? I've read that food that is more meat based than wheat based is the best.
I might add that the cat seems like he needs to drain some serious energy. Get a mouse on a pole and play with him for a little while. That may cull his sinkjumping endeavors.
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What do you suggest for that? Our cat Maya does use her box most of the most but on occasion, she has gone outside it for no apparent reason. She also has a habit of pawing for sometimes minutes after she uses it, sometimes flicking older...excrement out onto the floor. She's done it for a long time now and we've just lived with it but if there's a way to deal with it, I'm all ears.
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Tape didn't faze our cat, but is a good suggestion to try. Anything you know he doesn't like can be used as a deterrent. Problem is ours is very stubborn and willful and does not understand that the world does not exist for his amusement. He also enjoys gravity. The fact that he can knock things over is so fun for him, that just about everything gets smacked to see if it will fall over. Including me. Did I mention he's a bully? Just about the only one he doesn't bully is Quintin. It's so not fair.
Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
Is she urinating or defecating outside the box? Urine is generally either an infection or territorial. Feces is more about the box being too dirty or not liking the litter. Some cats are more picky about having really clean boxes and won't poop if there's already poop in the tray. The excess digging/covering is a sure sign they think it's too dirty. Most of ours are fine with the trays being shared and therefore having multiple piles in it. But our cat Luna will spend 5-10 minutes covering and recovering and spilling it out of the box. Sometimes she'll scoop litter out to cover anything she accidentally flung out of the tray in the process.
Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.
My sympathies, DSGamer - that's no fun for any of you guys.
If there's a chance that the behavior might be stress-related I'd highly recommend trying Feliway. Our cat Salome has always been skittish, sprinting off and hiding at the slightest provocation. We got a Feliway diffuser before we added a dog to the household, since we were worried she'd panic and send off strong prey signals. Salome didn't freak out once, which is saying something, considering this is the dog we brought home:
We used the diffuser for about two months - starting a week before we brought Bazino (our dog) home. Salome's pretty acclimated now, and although she's not happy we have a dog, she's pretty tolerant of him being around. She'll even curl up next to him on the sofa sometimes.
I don't know whether that'll help your kitty, but it may be worth checking out. Either way, I hope you guys find something that works.
Quintin_Stone wrote:
If you have a medium to long haired cat, feces can sometimes get caught on their fur and dragged out of the box accidentally. Happens with one of mine from time to time.
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I hear that this will cure all problems related to a poorly behaved cat.
One dose should do it.
I have to concur with both of these. Of course, you may have both of these covered, but if you don't, they can be significant factors in any dysfunctional behavior of a cat or any animal. Animals are very prone to becoming stir crazy if they're not given enough attention or room to let it all out.
Our smaller cat has a similar problem, DSGamer. Left to her own devices, she'll scratch at the bedroom door until one of us gets irritated enough to open it, then runs away down the hall rather than coming inside. She also sometimes follows us around during the day, clawing at any doors in the way, but that's not nearly as bad.
We corrected the problem by setting the bathroom up as a Kitty Time Out Room before bed (removing the bathmats, putting down an old towel, closing the toilet lid, and moving the toilet paper onto a high shelf). The second she claws at the door, we run out, grab her, put her in that room and close the door. We'd feel bad if she was freaked out by that, but she takes it in stride (doesn't run away from us when we go to put her in, rarely claws at the bathroom door) and doesn't seem upset in the least when we let her out the next morning. It still happens a few times a month, but that's certainly better than multiple times per night.
Trimming their claws can also help. It's a pain-in-the-butt (even with an appropriate pair of specialized claw trimmers), but it's worked well when one of ours shows signs of developing a clawing/scratching problem.
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*Legion* wrote:
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This is my opinion about how to make cats behave.
First, you have to realize that there is no solution. Only suppression. Your cat will not give up. He will not sleep. You must last longer, be stronger, more resolute. You must become an unbeatable entity in his mind. You have let the VC into your house. Furry little VC with claws.
I recommend treating the cat like an object when you show affection. This is how your cat treats you. Rub your chin on his head to mark him as an item you own. Everytime the cat comes to you, do this. Sometimes, just do it because you think the point needs to be made.
Use technology and your house to control the cat. Scatmats are great. They won't hurt the cat, but you can build "moats" that the cat will not cross. Keep a squirtgun on hand at all times. I recommend a one-hand super soaker. Keep it loaded and ready to go every day. Liberally use this on the cat anytime he does something he should not. Then use it anytime it makes you laugh. Your cat will jump up on the counter and you will spray him. He'll do it again and again and again. He's pushing your buttons. So push his buttons. Lock him in rooms at night. Lock him in rooms when he eats. Cats have no opposeable thumbs. Exploit this weakness.
I will admit, there is a slim chance, that my advice will make things worse, or turn your cat into a monster cat who takes out his aggression on everything and everyone around him. Luckily there isn't enough statistical evidence to prove that.
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Don't trim cats claws with anything other than a pair of claw trimmers. Using a normal fingernail clipper may cause their nail to split which is going to be extremely painful for the cat. Just make sure you don't cut into the quick (the pink part) and you'll be good. If you get a new kitten, make sure you handle their paws a lot. If you get them used to you handling their paws then clipping them shouldn't be a problem.
As for the behavior, I wish I could help you. Our cats love to scratch at carpet, especially by doors. Closed doors are hardly an option around here! The best thing you can do, far as I'm concerned, is exercise your cats as much as possible. Like dogs I have no doubt that the majority of behavioral issues are simply a cause of pent-up energy and aggression.
Try out different toys and see what really gets them going. Our cats love drinking straws so we currently have a couple dozen scattered around the house from them playing. Our one cat loves to play fetch, especially with foam balls. The other cat likes anything that slides easily along the floor.
I try to play with our cats as much as possible but I have no doubt that they're still not getting nearly as much exercise as they should. It's something I keep trying to get myself to work on.
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My only caution is here to not lock them up in an area that you don't want them to see as punishment.
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1. I second the Feliway motion - we used the diffuser when we introduced our two cats, and it calmed both of them down hugely. It's certainly worth a try before going to my second suggestion, which is:
2. You might talk to a feline behaviorist about your "Bad Cat" - it sounds like he might be a good candidate for medication. Drugs like Anafranil and Prozac can work wonders for cats with compulsive behaviors like door scratching and food obsession. Ask your vet to refer you to someone, or call the nearest vet school for a referral. Let us know what you decide to do. Good luck!
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Until you meet a woman that likes cats. Then she'll want you to "change".
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We found that our cats absolutely love scratching on a post wrapped in sisal or manila rope - that may help some with the scratching. We had some carpet and furniture scratching issues before we hit on the rope. Your cat might be in a different league, but it's cheap and might be worth a shot.
Also, a low-powered laser pointer is an excellent tool to wear a cat into a state of exhaustion with very little effort on your part.
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MaverickDago wrote:
Bad kitty, that my pot pie!
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I so much wanted to post something about killing/eating cats, but didn't have the guts. Good show, sir.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"If ads put your sanity to the test
come on down to Rat Boy's nest!
light up a stogie, and soon you'll see
how rock can be commercial-free!
'I'd hit it!'" - HP Lovesauce
You know, Koshnika's solution worked really well in the past for us.
Especially on horses. Whenever you want a horse to stop chewing on a certain tree (especially if the bark is poisonous to them...) you can just make a paste out of cayenne pepper and a bit of water and apply it (not too liberally) to the tree. They never touch it again.
We only used it one other time and it was because of our cats. They kept climbing on top of the cars in the garage. So we covered the cars, then we put some of that pepper paste on top of some really old bedsheets and draped those over top of the already covered cars. We put out extra water that night, just in case.
Haven't seen paw prints on a vehicle in the garage since then.
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My grandpa always had a solution for cat problems. The real issue was making sure the neighbor lady was away when he shot them.
*runs away*
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So he wants to watch you pee. Is that so wrong?
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One word comes to mind. Cattleprod. Now that's escalation!
(@)
One of our cats has been pretty psycho-trouble free due to being chased around the house by the dog a few times a day. My dog and that cat need each other. Their mutual hatred leads to a harmonious natural balance that pleases them both.
If you don't have a dog this solution will not work.
You want to know how to deal with a cat? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue.
...
Ok, I'll stop. I'm sorry, I just can't not quote that movie sometimes.
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*Legion* wrote:
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I'm pretty itchy on the trigger finger for telling women, "Don't try and change me, babe."
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Cats are freaking weird. We went to L.A. for a month to explore moving there, had someone checking up on our two cats every day, but when we got back the female had licked all the hair off her belly. Apparently developed a nervous tic from abandonment fears. We put her on sedatives for a short while and it helped matters, but she's remained an over-groomer ever since.
This cat also got up to 19 pounds (unrelated... has always been constantly hungry), always trying to eat the other cat's food, but we got her down to a more ideal 11 pounds by strictly regulating their feeding times and amounts (so they know what to expect... that's really helped) and feeding them in different rooms.
Good luck! Your avatar always frightened me. I never thought it was a cat you actually owned.
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