jumping on bathroom counter and stealing my hair bands!

Hi Everyone,

I need some advice. Resently my cat, Carnie, has been jumping onto the bathroom counter and stealing my hair bands. I've tried putting double sided tape and spraying him with water, when I catch him, on the counter and so far it doesn't work. He just steps on the sticky tape shake the paws and jumps to an area free of tape or just looks at me with a glare almost saying "what do you think you're doing?" I know I should put the hair bands away after I'm done but I keep forgetting. Any suggestions on what else I can try? BTW I find my hair bands downstairs either on the kitchen floor or in the water bowl. *sigh* heeeeee

Ro-zie

Hair bands can actually be dangerous if your kitty tries to eat them.

My cat is like that too. The bathroom is full of fun things, and honestly there is just no trusting mine! He is allowed in there with humans, but never alone. Once you get in the habit, keeping the door closed isn't a big deal. I hear all those tips on training, but I know my cats, and even if I got them to stop doing something when I wasn't looking, it would still be the first thing they would do as I walked out the door!

I can relate to this since I've got 3 cats who adore hair ties! The only solution that I've found is putting them out of reach of them. I'm forgetful too and I end up find one or two of them in their favorite hiding places. My only thought is...do you have cat toys that resemble hair bands? If so, they probably think that it's one of their toys. Another thing that I ended up doing was changing the kind of hair bands that I have. I get those big fabric like ones so at least if they do get a hold of one, they can't swallow it or chew it apart as easy.
Sorry I'm not much help...this is just what happens to work for us.

I have to agree with alicat, hair bands and rubber bands are very attractive to cats and also very dangerous for them to have. I would put a sealed container right on the counter and just pop those bands into the container when I take them off, and seal the container and go from there. Having had to rush a curious kitty to the vet a few years ago for an obstruction and having them surgically remove a rather large and expensive piece of rubber band cured me of just setting rubber bands down on my desk and forgetting about them.

Our little girl likes to do that too, but we keep them put up because she will eat them. She also likes to steal the cap off my daughters water bottle too. I think she just gets bored easily, like a border collie, and goes around looking for things to do, even though she has toys around. There arent' many toys I can leave out for her since she likes to eat everything. I'm going to try a homeopathic remedy on her that I gave to my dog when she was young and eating anything indigestable that she could get ahold of. It stopped her from doing it any more, but my cat may need a different remedy to stop her, or it may just be a personality trait that I can't change.

Thanks everyone for your fast response. I do have the thick fabric bands, that Michelle mentioned. Unfortunately I'm unable to close the bathroom door since there's no door to close. It's the master bathroom so it's attached to the room. I do have plastic toys rings that I bought in the petstore resently, and come to think of it they do resemble the bands. It's just been resent that Carnie's been jumping on the counter. He never has done that before or perhaps he's been doing it all along and I just cought him in the act. The funny thing is he doesn't chew on the bands he just swats them on the floor and chases it. *silly kitty* He'll get the band from the counter bring it downstairs to the kitchen and start swating the thing. My other one plays with the band too but he goes a bit further he'll dump them in the water bowl. *sigh* I even found a small ball in the bowl one time. I guess the best thing to do is putting them away right after I'm done or put them in a container like hissy suggested.

Thanks everyone!
Ro-zie

When I had long hair, I wrapped my hairbands and "scrunchies" on a long piece of PVC pipe. That way they were always at hand and together. Maybe a chunk of broomhandle? or a vertical paper towel holder?

heeeeeeey...that's not a bad idea! why didn't I think of that?

Thanks!
Ro-zie

Blondie likes them, too. We have a drawer of the dresser we call the "Sin Drawer", where we put all the contraband we take away from the kitties, mostly him. He has a particular fondness for bottle caps and scrunchies. I know he can't swallow the scrunchies, but who wants to put up their hair in something covered with cat spit!?

he likes to steal my comb when I'm combing my hair. Then he'll bury it in the litter box.

Originally posted by ooshaunaoo
he likes to steal my comb when I'm combing my hair. Then he'll bury it in the litter box.

Click to expand...

Eeeeewww! That is too funny!

LOL that's to funny! :laughing: And we all thought our kitties were little innocent :angel2:

ooshaunaoo when he barries your brush will he give you the "I didn't do it" look?

Ro-zie

He's proud that he hides it.

LOL way to funny

Myste...that's a great solution! I kind of do the same thing, but I use my hairspray bottle instead since usually I'll need the hairspray when I put my hair in the tie.
Just my 2 cents...well, I guess it's more like 4 cents cuz of my first post!

When I read that I started to think... after I open the milk for the first time and you have that little plastic thing that goes around the lid so that the milk can't be opened I give it to my cat to play with. I usually watch her for a bit becuase it's too cute, but I just walk away and let her go after it then end up sweeping it up in a few day. Is that a safe thing to do? could my cat choke on it? She doesn't eat things that aren't real food and she's never choked before.

Hi Jelly,

I don't see why not as long as she doesn't swallow any pieces of it. I've seen ring toys that resemble such things. The rings are a much harder plastic.

Ro-zie

She may not choke on it, but she will if given the chance eat it. My vet has warned me about letting the cats have the ring off the milk jugs and said to give them the lid instead, which I do. They love playing with those and they don't chew them up and swallow those either.

Ok, thanks hissy and ro-zie, i'll try giving her the lids!