Is Reeses "Out of Control"?

Ok, I know she's not out of control, but I have a friend who tells me that whenever I tell him of things she does. Trying to get in my dresser at 4am and making a racket until I feed her, getting on places we don't really want her to be, like counters and stuff, and just generally having the run of the house. I'm sure he's most likely just kidding, but it still makes me feel like we're not doing something right with her.

She's a great cat, very gentle, doesn't claw furniture or chew our belongings (well she chews pot holders if left on the counter but that's it), doesn't scratch, has never hissed. She just doesn't listen and she can be mischevious But I know that alot of us here have mischevious cats, but I think some of it could be changed by us.

I know that my getting up to feed her when she makes a racket in the morning is something I shouldn't do. It's like with kids, you don't give in! But can I reverse her way of thinking that eventually I'll cave? We also don't know what to do with her getting on things we don't want her on, mainly the counters, and the kitchen table if we eat there (which is rare), but we've tried everything and it doesn't matter.

My friend's cat, who they've had since she was a kitten, is very well trained right down to, they let her lay on the back of the couch, but only on one side. She's so well trained that now that that side of the couch is sagging because of her, they want her to switch to the other side and she wont *lol* He told me that probably because we got her when she was about a year and a half, and quite possibly she could do whatever she wanted at her old home, that she's probably never going to listen.

I don't have any regrets about Reeses and things she does, I just feel that sometimes I'm not a good "cat parent" when it comes to her limits. Should I feel this way?

My mother's cat gets up on the dressers at 4am too, and my mother gives in so I told her she created a monster by starting that bad habit. She also howls until she receives breakfast and if she doesn't get fed in "time" she pulls on your ankle and tries to knock you down.

So Reeses is not alone and I don't think she is bad. Everyone raises children differently, just the same as cats. Nothing you are doing is wrong. Reeses is just Reeses.

aww NO ! you do the very best for her, you love her, care for her, feed her, she gets the best health care and she's pretty famous, bet your mates cats isnt know all over the world
All of what you describe are the things that make her Reeses and thats why you (and all of us) love her so much

I don't think you should feel that way at all. The things your cat does are, IMO, normal things that cats do! I've never thought that cats should "behave" the way that dogs do - they're just two completely different animals. I know that you can train a cat to some extent, but it's nothing like how you can train a dog. Wonton does naughty things - pulls my lingerie out of it's cupboard, climbs up on the food shelf (although he usually just sits there, once he knocked over a bag of rice.. picture a five pound bag of rice spilled ALL OVER the kitchen floor).. things like that - but I may get annoyed sometimes, but I don't really get angry. He's just being a cat I dont think you should take your friends comments to heart. Every cat is different. That's great that there's is trained like that, but there's nothing wrong with Reeses

No, you shouldn't feel bad at all. I'm always suspicious about "well trained cats". I suspect it's a happy convergence of what the cat wants to do and what their humans want as well, rather than them having trained the cat so well.
I have naughty cats. I'm sure we could have done more to discourage certain behaviours, but at the end of the day, I think they're very normal cats.

But I just wonder if we did create a monster Well with certain things, we tried to stop her from doing them but she does it anyway.

Puh-Lease!
Reeses doesn't sound bad at all.
Try having 3 kittens under 7 months old!

4 am feedings and breaking things are minor in this house!

Try being woke up at 3 am by the sound of your bathroom MIRROR being broken into a million peices and your shower curtain on the floor because Bo decided he was going to try jump from the medicine cabinet to the shower rod


Now THAT'S outta control

You know you're a good kitty parent!! We all certainly do

Do you care about getting up early to feed her? If you want to break that behaviour you can, but if you don't mind doing it, then why should your friend care?

We got an automatic cat feeder, which we have set to dispense 3 scoops of food at 6am and 7pm. It means they don't bug us for food - they sit by the feeder and annoy it until it goes off It also means they can get fed at 6am when they like to be fed, and if we're home last, we can relax knowing they'll be fed.

Stumpy gets on the table and kitchen counters as well and she KNOWS she's not allowed on there. We have a water bottle, and generally a loud no gets her off, but if that doesn;t work, shaking the water bottle gets her off. If she's still ignoring us (which isn't often), then she'll get a squirt at the feet.

There's rules in our house, and we stick to them because they're ones WE care about. Other people might not like cats on the couch, or cats on the bed, but that's how we run our house so we don't care what others think!

We have a blanket that covers the back of the couch where Lily likes to sleep so the fur covers that rather then the couch, then we just move the blanket when we have guests so they're not sitting in cat hair.

If you really care about enforcing a rule - then do it, if you don't care too much, then, don't bother even trying

Originally Posted by sarahp

You know you're a good kitty parent!! We all certainly do

Do you care about getting up early to feed her? If you want to break that behaviour you can, but if you don't mind doing it, then why should your friend care?

We got an automatic cat feeder, which we have set to dispense 3 scoops of food at 6am and 7pm. It means they don't bug us for food - they sit by the feeder and annoy it until it goes off

It also means they can get fed at 6am when they like to be fed, and if we're home last, we can relax knowing they'll be fed.

Stumpy gets on the table and kitchen counters as well and she KNOWS she's not allowed on there. We have a water bottle, and generally a loud no gets her off, but if that doesn;t work, shaking the water bottle gets her off. If she's still ignoring us (which isn't often), then she'll get a squirt at the feet.

There's rules in our house, and we stick to them because they're ones WE care about. Other people might not like cats on the couch, or cats on the bed, but that's how we run our house so we don't care what others think!

We have a blanket that covers the back of the couch where Lily likes to sleep so the fur covers that rather then the couch, then we just move the blanket when we have guests so they're not sitting in cat hair.

If you really care about enforcing a rule - then do it, if you don't care too much, then, don't bother even trying

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Well usually it works out that when she wakes me up I have to go to the bathroom anyway so no I don't really mind. But some days she still has a tiny bit of food left. I give her a bit more and rinse out the water dish. That usually makes her leave me alone for a few hours anyway

Yeah we tried the water bottle and it didn't work. I just had to pick it up and she'd run, but she didn't learn anything from it. If she's on the counter/in the sink/on the fridge/on the microwave (which she'll get on while something is cooking and then meow to tell me it's done) *lol* then she'll usually get down if we tell her no and come after her. She does get on the kitchen table, but we let her but that's because we never use it. If we do, then sometimes she'll jump up, but the last time, she stayed down and just sat on a chair after we told her no.

Oh yeah, Stumpy knows she's not allowed on the table, but she's constantly up there... There's some things you can't stop, but you can discourage as much as possible You know as soon as you leave the house, they go and lounge everywhere they're not supposed to

I don't think Reeses can be any naughtier than Radar, we have to shut him out of the room when we have visitors because he will attempt to play with them - which to him means that he is the lion and they are the antelope and he has to stalk and fell them! The trick is to eject him from the room and shut the door before he grabs a guest's arm or leg to wrestle them to the floor. Now although he is playing and doesn't break skin, that is bad behaviour and very embarrassing for us

I don't think you have anything to worry about

Originally Posted by sarahp

Oh yeah, Stumpy knows she's not allowed on the table, but she's constantly up there...

There's some things you can't stop, but you can discourage as much as possible

You know as soon as you leave the house, they go and lounge everywhere they're not supposed to

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Yeah she's not supposed to be on the coffee table but one day I was leaving and out of the corner of my eye I saw her jump out. You little... *lol*

The question more is: Would you rather have that well behaved cat that did EVERYTHING you commanded it to or a cat much like Reeses?

IMO, I love to see/hear kittens play even if they're getting into stuff they aren't suppose to. I'll be mad at first, but afterwards I'll laugh about it. It's just part of their personality, their charm.

Aren't all cats like that? I can't imagine there is a cat that is perfect all of the time. That wouldn't be a cat at all

Like a previous poster said - if its something you really care about, keep enforcing it, and eventually she'll see you mean business and listen. But if it doesn't bother you then don't worry about what your friend has to say about it. My boys know they're not allowed on the table or the counters, and they'll get down if I ask them to.

But I always say "The key to having a well-behaved cat is to minimize their chances of getting into trouble!" So if they make a mess of something, it was my fault for leaving it where it could be messed with.

Of course, that's more limiting for some of us than others! I'm lucky, my two aren't much for jumping!

Well Really the only thing we try to enforce are the counters and we usually can't catch her quick enough to learn I hear a "thud" when she jumps up, and one as soon as she hears me coming *lol*

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Aren't all cats like that? I can't imagine there is a cat that is perfect all of the time. That wouldn't be a cat at all

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Two NOT perfect cats here thank you very much
Penelope was just caught licking her "very private" areas on the DINING ROOM TABLE!!

See - Reeses is so not alone - look at all these crazy cats here!!

Originally Posted by Nellers

Two NOT perfect cats here thank you very much

Penelope was just caught licking her "very private" areas on the DINING ROOM TABLE!!

See - Reeses is so not alone - look at all these crazy cats here!!

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Reeses licks herself and then stops in mid pose to look at us as if to say "What?"

Thanks as usual for everyone who reassured me that I'm not alone. I didn't expect any less..in fact when he said that I had a few TCS cats that came to mind that make Reeses look like a Saint, which she is *lol*

I mean how could you say this face is out of control?

Originally Posted by ReesesPBC

Reeses licks herself and then stops in mid pose to look at us as if to say "What?"

Thanks as usual for everyone who reassured me that I'm not alone. I didn't expect any less..in fact when he said that I had a few TCS cats that came to mind that make Reeses look like a Saint, which she is

*lol*

I mean how could you say this face is out of control?

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I love the mid-lick "what?" face

Good grief- Reeces sounds angelic compared to our two cats

I'm hoping they will grow out of it