We (my wife and I) have two cats. One of them, Puppy, was left by her feral mother when she was only hours old, and my wife and her ex rescued the other, Fifi, from the shelter when Puppy was about 8 weeks old. Both are female, spayed before their first heat, and healthy.
We're having a whole host of behavior problems with Puppy. Puppy was bonded to my wife's ex, who told us we had to take them when she got a new pet. We're happy to have them, but Puppy was a lot happier with my wife's ex.
Puppy likes my wife ok, and will allow her to brush her (she has long hair so that's a relief), pet her, etc. Puppy can scarcely tolerate me, however. She hisses at me whenever I come in the room, and will growl at me. She does a little better if I talk to her in a high-pitched voice when I come in, although it makes no difference if she's not feeling well. Puppy also has a habit of hissing at Fifi for no "good" reason (in our opinion...it's usually because Fifi has a toy Puppy wants or because my wife is petting Fifi and Puppy wants attention).
While the problems with Fifi and myself are annoying, the biggest behavior problem we're having with Puppy right now is her habit of consuming all sorts of things that simply are not food...or can hardly be construed as food. There're only so many times we can reasonably have the vet operate on intestinal obstructions, and it can't be easy on her, either.
At different times, Puppy has chewed on blankets, comforters, my wife's clothing, electrical cords, every type of string and ribbon imaginable. Puppy has eaten the tails off of Fifi's mice, rubber bands, the little plastic rings from around milk jug tops, portions of blankets.
What really put us over the top with this was discovering a spot of vomit last night that contained a bunch of chewed-off plastic bristles from the broom (which she's had access to for more than two weeks with no issues). We're at a total loss when it comes to anticipating what Puppy is going to eat next and how to prevent it. We have to keep her in our bedroom because our roommate cannot be trusted to not leave out any of the things we know of that Puppy eats, and we simply cannot Puppy-proof the entire apartment.
My wife says that over the years, she's tried a variety of things to keep Puppy from eating EVERYTHING she can sink her teeth into, including the Bitter Apple spray (which both cats like, so it actually encourages them to chew on stuff), hot sauce, and red pepper powder.
Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? How do we guess what she's going to "try" next?
Any help is greatly appreciated...
We're having a whole host of behavior problems with Puppy. Puppy was bonded to my wife's ex, who told us we had to take them when she got a new pet. We're happy to have them, but Puppy was a lot happier with my wife's ex.
Puppy likes my wife ok, and will allow her to brush her (she has long hair so that's a relief), pet her, etc. Puppy can scarcely tolerate me, however. She hisses at me whenever I come in the room, and will growl at me. She does a little better if I talk to her in a high-pitched voice when I come in, although it makes no difference if she's not feeling well. Puppy also has a habit of hissing at Fifi for no "good" reason (in our opinion...it's usually because Fifi has a toy Puppy wants or because my wife is petting Fifi and Puppy wants attention).
While the problems with Fifi and myself are annoying, the biggest behavior problem we're having with Puppy right now is her habit of consuming all sorts of things that simply are not food...or can hardly be construed as food. There're only so many times we can reasonably have the vet operate on intestinal obstructions, and it can't be easy on her, either.
At different times, Puppy has chewed on blankets, comforters, my wife's clothing, electrical cords, every type of string and ribbon imaginable. Puppy has eaten the tails off of Fifi's mice, rubber bands, the little plastic rings from around milk jug tops, portions of blankets.
What really put us over the top with this was discovering a spot of vomit last night that contained a bunch of chewed-off plastic bristles from the broom (which she's had access to for more than two weeks with no issues). We're at a total loss when it comes to anticipating what Puppy is going to eat next and how to prevent it. We have to keep her in our bedroom because our roommate cannot be trusted to not leave out any of the things we know of that Puppy eats, and we simply cannot Puppy-proof the entire apartment.
My wife says that over the years, she's tried a variety of things to keep Puppy from eating EVERYTHING she can sink her teeth into, including the Bitter Apple spray (which both cats like, so it actually encourages them to chew on stuff), hot sauce, and red pepper powder.
Has anyone dealt with a similar problem? How do we guess what she's going to "try" next?
Any help is greatly appreciated...
