That dang cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is a good dang thing I love my Merlin!!!!!!!!!!!!

He has been so irritating lately!!!!!!!! And I KNOW why!!! It is because we are going through a really bad cold spell here in Iowa this past week....temps below zero, and Merlin doesn't like it....at all. He is usually an indoor/outdoor cat....comes and goes at will....but lately, it is too cold for his blood, and who could blame him, so he stays inside. BUT....he gets bored.....VERY bored!!!!

He is trying my very patience!!!!

He has knocked food off the kitchen counter, which he knows he is not supposed to even be on the counter, he has tried to knock pictures off the wall, and yesterday.....I went grocery shopping and they had some "lite" roast beef in the deli case...looked pretty good...but it was $5.00 a lb....kind of expensive on my budget...but I decided what the heck, I am on a diet, and lite roast beef sounded like something hubby would like as well as good for my diet. So I splurged and bought a pound and a half.....cost me over 7 dollars for the bag!!!!
Not cheap!

Come home...hubby helps me carry in groceries. He put them right inside the front door...I carried a couple of them into the kitchen and started putting them away....I come back out to get the rest of the bags (hadn't been more than 5 minutes).....and there is Merlin's dang tail sticking out of one of the bags!!!!!!!! I reached in and gently pulled him out by the scruff of his neck and there in his mouth is some of my 7 dollar roast beef!!!!! I looked and of course, the bag had been chewed through, clawed and mauled to death. He got his hiney smacked a couple times (not hard, I would never hurt him for anything) and tossed outside for a bit. :tounge2:

I was able to save some of it...the part where he hadn't touched, and put it into a freezer baggie, but quite a bit of it was lost, because even though he hadn't chewed on it all, alot of it had claw marks on it from him trying to get into the bag!!!

Then today, I came home and found my big potted plant that is in my bedroom turned over, and all the dirt dug out of it!!!!! He NEVER acts like this!!!!! It is simply because he can't go outside because it is too cold, so he is bored!!!!!!

It's a good thing I love him so much or his @ss would be booted to the curb right now!!! :laughing:

Can't wait till this cold spell is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Debby,

LOL The visual is funny,sorry to laugh. I know you don't smack hard, but instead of smacking next time, just pick him up, hold him out in front of you with his face to you, blow one quick breath in his face, tell him "NO!" and set him down. Trust me, smacking a kitty even lightly does no good whatsoever and just gets them angry.

Originally posted by Debby
It is a good dang thing I love my Merlin!!!!!!!!!!!!

I come back out to get the rest of the bags (hadn't been more than 5 minutes).....and there is Merlin's dang tail sticking out of one of the bags!!!!!!!! I reached in and gently pulled him out by the scruff of his neck and there in his mouth is some of my 7 dollar roast beef!!!!! It's a good thing I love him so much or his @ss would be booted to the curb right now!!! :laughing:

Can't wait till this cold spell is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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At least he goes for the 'expensive' stuff!!! Merlin has good taste, you have to give him credit for that!!!!!

:tounge2:

G'day Debbie. I know you're on a tight budget at the moment so maybe you could give Merlin 'new' toys to play with to ease his boredom like toilet rolls strung together, a tissue box with a scrunched up piece of paper or a ping pong ball inside, shredded paper, a big cardboard box etc. Just anything safe for him that you would usually throw away or recycle that you could clean and give to him to play with.

Good luck with Merlin's cabin fever!

Originally posted by hissy
Debby,

LOL The visual is funny,sorry to laugh. I know you don't smack hard, but instead of smacking next time, just pick him up, hold him out in front of you with his face to you, blow one quick breath in his face, tell him "NO!" and set him down. Trust me, smacking a kitty even lightly does no good whatsoever and just gets them angry.

Click to expand...

You are right as usual! Spanking his hiney got me nothing but a dirty look....and of course I didn't "spank' hard. I will try the blowing my breath in his face thing next time....you are so good at this stuff!!! (Knowing what to do) But maybe I should have hubby do it then...his breath is way worse than mine!

Kass....it actually was kinda funny! :tounge2:

Tania...thanks for the ideas!!!!!!!! Good to see you again! I have missed you!!!!

The picture I have in my head is funny Debby! That roast beef sure sounded good too!:tounge2: I bet ole' Merlin was loving every bite of it!!

I guess I've lived with cats too long...I wouldn't have done anything to the meat other than cook it! I figure a few munched spots on a cooked roast would be no worse than all the cat hairs that end up in my mouth daily and all the kitty kisses and licks as I get.

me too. I give my kitties tastes of whatever I'm eating from the same spoon I eat from... yet it grosses me out when someone does that to a baby!

Leave it to a cat, to go for the good stuff!

When we come home, with groceries, Rowdy has to inventory each bag and climb into the pantry, refrigerator and freezer, as they're being put away. So far, she hasn't eaten anything, though.