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I walk my cat but he is never satisfied

post #1 of 5
5/4/10 at 4:41pm
Thread Starter 
Hello,

I have a 5yo male russian blue cat

When he was young he could roam a bit outside my apartment.

Now since I live on the 2nd floor he can't roam freely. I do walk him and he's fantastic on a leash (like a dog) but he is never satisfied. Sometimes 10 minutes after a 30 minute walk he is crying and scratching at the door.

Now he basically scratches and cries (horribly sad sounding) every day as soon as I get home from work, and will do so throughout the evening. I am not able to walk him every day (but even when he gets walked he wants more...). It gets very frustrating to have him 'complaining' and seemingly stressed out all the time.

Any suggestions to curbing his behavior? The spray water bottle doesn't work anymore. Neither does giving him attention, or yelling "NO" or hissing.

Hope this great forum community can help!!

Nate
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post #2 of 5
5/4/10 at 5:43pm
I have a cat like that, too!

I would recommend reading STARTING FROM SCRATCH: HOW TO CORRECT BEHAVIOR IN YOUR ADULT CAT by Pam Johnson-Bennett. I was able to get it from our local library. She says the trick is to make the inside of your house as interesting as the outside. She says that we need to 'play' with our cats for a half an hour a day (2 fifteen minute time slots) as a minimum. I have a couple of wand toys, one I bought which has feathers and one I made with a broken chopstick and string.

What she says is to get to your cat 'just before' he does the bad behavior with a wand toy. I can usually tell - when my cat starts to walk to the window. And today before he got there, I enticed him with the feather wand - which kept him busy for 15 or more minutes. It seemed to work. I praised him with treats and toys. Eventually, he tired of the game, and curled up on the couch and went to sleep.

I haven't quite finished reading the book, but it really has some good advice.

Lin
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post #3 of 5
5/4/10 at 5:50pm
I also meant to add to my previous email, that the author says that negative reinforcement doesn't work in cats, that they are predators and that spray bottles and coins in cans just make cats more aggressive. She says that for cats you should only use positive reinforcement. Negatives work in dogs - they understand the word 'no,' but if cats are hit or sprayed with water, etc, it just makes them stressed out and afraid, and so they can become more agressive..

Lin
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post #4 of 5
5/4/10 at 6:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Linni View Post
I have a cat like that, too!
Glad I am not the only one! Thanks for the book reference


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post #5 of 5
5/4/10 at 6:23pm
Personally, I think that indoor cats should be strictly indoors and taking them outside only confuses them. I don't really have any data to back this up; it's just my opinion.
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