Hello, and questions

Hello all,

I'm new here, and I have a few questions pertaining to my cat, Miranda.

About 10 months ago, my roommate and I took her in from the street, when she was probably not much more than a year old. She has feline leukemia (which seems to be in some sort remission thanks to our Vet), and had a broken jaw that didn't heal properly, leaving her a snaggle tooth.

After some care, she became much less sickly, and is now a very active kitty. However, she does some very strange things. About 2 or 3 times a day, she runs around the house, and attacks invisible prey... I read somewhere that might be a symptom of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? There's no harm in this, though. She's an indoor cat, so she could probably use the exercise. she's also fasincated with "grooming" and nibbling at out fingers, but we just find that endearing.

I'm a grad student, and my roommate was one until this year. We're on our computers a lot. When we're not at our computers - usually when we're in bed - she likes to hop up and play on the keyboards. This only gets her thrown out of our bedrooms, yet she persists. My roommate thinks she might be jealous of the computers in some way. I'd like to be able to let her sleep in my room at night, but I can't if she's going to be doing that. How can we get her to stop?

Also, I noticed lately she's drinking water from anywhere but her bowl. I just took her out of a slightly wet bathtub, where she was lapping up water, and put her by her bowl, which had fresh water, and she had no interest! She then went back to the bathtub for more water. I tried putting by her bowl and petting her, and I even gave her a treat, but it was no good. How can I get her to drink from her bowl more consistently.

Thanks in advance! Here's my baby:

There are medications a vet can prescribe to help with her problem should it turn out to be a disorder. She is a street kitty so she will have these bursts of energy usually around the time the sun goes down which is when the prey is out and it is in her nature to hunt, so if there is nothing to hunt, she will still have the energy in her and she has to do something.

I would get a hard, plastic cover for your keyboards and spray the plastic down with lemon scented air freshener, or vinegar, that will keep the cat off the keyboard.

As far as her drinking out of everything but a bowl, make sure her water bowl is wide enough so her whiskers do not touch, or purchase a fountain for her. You can follow this link and find some really nice here: Stroller Fountains is a good one for cats.


Meowhoo

To Vikki:

Can't do anything with my keyboard - she can still get at it. My roomie has a laptop, and she's worried about the cat's weight on it. I'll try putting something up here tonight. I don't think her drinking from the tub, etc, is too bad, but it was just bugging me. But if it's normal cat behavior, then that's ok. Last time she was at the Vet, she was still sickly, and we hadn't yet discerned her behavior patterns. I'll ask next time, though.

To hissy: She probably does have excess energy. I was just out of town for a few weeks, and my roommate commutes to work and is gone 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. Since I've been back, I've been a bit distracted, but I'll set aside more time to play with her. She's always been like this, though. I'll look into the keyboard cover and the fountain - thank you