Here is some background: I adopted 2 young cats about 8 months ago (both females, spayed). Their names are Pip and Squeek and they were litter mates and have never been separated. They are both almost 1 year old (the shelter guessed their birthdate was in August).
So my two little devils have been driving me crazy...
First off, they absolutely love to be on the counter tops (which I'm obviously not fond of). They have almost gotten burnt a few times trying to jump up onto the stove while I'm cooking which in turn makes me jumpy. The secondary annoyance is they jump up and try to steal food that is on the counter. The only solution I've found is to keep a spray bottle on the counter in view while cooking to deter them (which I dislike doing because they start to avoid me after a few squirts).
When I'm not home to deter them, I've tried covering my counter tops with double sided sticky tape, orange/citrus oils, apple bitters and "traps" to scare them off - they are resilient and have actually come to like the taste/smell of the citrus and apple bitters (I rubbed apple bitters onto my kitchen blinds because they were chewing them and I found that one or both had licked off all the places I'd sprayed and chewed the blinds even more). I no longer leave any food on the counter as they will literally eat anything (so far they've stolen breads, chocolates, garlic, and some other strange foods) even though they are not hungry - they've done this immediately after I've just fed them dinner.
Second, and this is really the one that drives me crazy
- they have recently begun chewing on my shoes!!! I'm at my wits end on this one - they can demolish a pair of shoes in less than five minutes (my most recent pair were destroyed this afternoon in the time it took me to walk from the front door to the kitchen and microwave some food for LITERALLY 90 seconds and come back) - chewing on any straps and eating them (I have yet to find any chewed pieces so I can only assume they are swallowing them).
I have a small shoe cabinet for both my shoes and my fiancee's but there simply isn't enough room to keep ALL the shoes in the closet at once - often a few pairs get left out because there is no space. Now my sneakers have managed to hold up against them but my dress shoes are taking the most abuse - they have literally eaten a total of 6 pairs of shoes. I dont' know what to do to break this habit - I've thought about rubbing/spraying my shoes with something that tastes bad to them, but the citrus oils and apple bitters I already know they don't mind.
Can someone please help me with these problems? I hate coming home and getting angry at them - I've been really stressed and tired from their bad behavior. I'm almost ready to give them to a friend who has expressed interest in either one or both of the cats. That would be my absolute last resort but I'm literally going crazy and getting mad at them constantly!! Please somebody, if you have any advice - I'd really appreciate it! I'm about ready to snap!
So my two little devils have been driving me crazy...
First off, they absolutely love to be on the counter tops (which I'm obviously not fond of). They have almost gotten burnt a few times trying to jump up onto the stove while I'm cooking which in turn makes me jumpy. The secondary annoyance is they jump up and try to steal food that is on the counter. The only solution I've found is to keep a spray bottle on the counter in view while cooking to deter them (which I dislike doing because they start to avoid me after a few squirts).
When I'm not home to deter them, I've tried covering my counter tops with double sided sticky tape, orange/citrus oils, apple bitters and "traps" to scare them off - they are resilient and have actually come to like the taste/smell of the citrus and apple bitters (I rubbed apple bitters onto my kitchen blinds because they were chewing them and I found that one or both had licked off all the places I'd sprayed and chewed the blinds even more). I no longer leave any food on the counter as they will literally eat anything (so far they've stolen breads, chocolates, garlic, and some other strange foods) even though they are not hungry - they've done this immediately after I've just fed them dinner.
Second, and this is really the one that drives me crazy
I have a small shoe cabinet for both my shoes and my fiancee's but there simply isn't enough room to keep ALL the shoes in the closet at once - often a few pairs get left out because there is no space. Now my sneakers have managed to hold up against them but my dress shoes are taking the most abuse - they have literally eaten a total of 6 pairs of shoes. I dont' know what to do to break this habit - I've thought about rubbing/spraying my shoes with something that tastes bad to them, but the citrus oils and apple bitters I already know they don't mind.
Can someone please help me with these problems? I hate coming home and getting angry at them - I've been really stressed and tired from their bad behavior. I'm almost ready to give them to a friend who has expressed interest in either one or both of the cats. That would be my absolute last resort but I'm literally going crazy and getting mad at them constantly!! Please somebody, if you have any advice - I'd really appreciate it! I'm about ready to snap!